Describing himself as a “wartime president” fighting an invisible enemy, President Donald Trump on Wednesday invoked rarely used emergency powers to marshal critical medical supplies against the coronavirus pandemic. Trump also signed an aid package — which the Senate approved earlier Wednesday — that will guarantee sick leave to workers who fall ill.
Trump tapped his authority under the 70-year-old Defense Production Act to give the government more power to steer production by private companies and try to overcome shortages in masks, ventilators and other supplies.
Yet he seemed to minimize the urgency of the decision, later tweeting that he “only signed the Defense Production Act to combat the Chinese Virus should we need to invoke it in a worst case scenario in the future.”
“Hopefully there will be no need,” he added, “but we are all in this TOGETHER!”
Dem Senator Who Called for RFK Jr to ‘Resign or Be Fired’ Is Backed By Big Pharma
Inside Senate GOP’s tense post-election reckoning as Thune clashes with Republican critics
Fed Up Over Soaring Power Bills, Georgia Voters Hand Spend-Happy Democrats Power Over What They Pay for Electricity
Marc Siegel hopes readers will ‘look for signs from God’ through his new book The Angels Among Us
Small town residents cry for help as immigrant influx fueled by trucking industry has unintended consequences
Pro-transgender Washington attorney general recuses himself from defending female-only sports ballot measure
UPS cargo plane, Copa Airlines passenger jet collide at Miami airport, leaving 2 injured
Breaking: Musk’s SpaceX Catches Its Own Starship Falling Back to Earth in Historic First
Officials Shocked as Tanker-Cruiser Crash Ends in ‘Literal Miracle on the Mississippi’ with No Fatalities
Dem Hecklers Scream ‘Traitor’ at Hakeem Jeffries for Not Impeaching Trump Fast Enough as He Gears Up to Become House Speaker
Johnny Depp Defeats Cancel Culture as ‘Ebenezer’ Storms to Number 1 in Triumphant Box Office Return
‘We Know It’s a Bomb’: Peoria Orders Immediate 1-Mile Evacuation After Device Found at Ethanol Plant
Hamas Faces Down Its Own Massacre as Eric Trump-Backed Company Mulls Deploying 1,000 Robot Soldiers in Gaza Terror Tunnels
Mexican Police Helicopter Chased Down U.S. Family’s Car, Shot 7-Year-Old American Girl in the Head Near Southern Border
College Football Chaos: Nationwide Flight Freeze Strands Ranked Teams, Forces Ole Miss-Oklahoma to Move Game Day
The mixed messaging came as Trump took a series of other extraordinary steps to steady the nation, its day-to-day life suddenly and fundamentally altered.
The Canada-U.S. border, the world’s longest, was effectively closed, save for commerce and essential travel, while the administration pushed its plan to send relief checks to millions of Americans.
Trump said he will expand the nation’s diagnostic testing capacity and deploy a Navy hospital ship to New York City, which is rapidly becoming an epicenter of the pandemic, and another such ship to the West Coast. And the Housing and Urban Development Department will suspend foreclosures and evictions through April to help the growing number of Americans who face losing jobs and missing rent and mortgage payments.
Dem Senator Who Called for RFK Jr to ‘Resign or Be Fired’ Is Backed By Big Pharma
Inside Senate GOP’s tense post-election reckoning as Thune clashes with Republican critics
Fed Up Over Soaring Power Bills, Georgia Voters Hand Spend-Happy Democrats Power Over What They Pay for Electricity
Marc Siegel hopes readers will ‘look for signs from God’ through his new book The Angels Among Us
Small town residents cry for help as immigrant influx fueled by trucking industry has unintended consequences
Pro-transgender Washington attorney general recuses himself from defending female-only sports ballot measure
UPS cargo plane, Copa Airlines passenger jet collide at Miami airport, leaving 2 injured
Breaking: Musk’s SpaceX Catches Its Own Starship Falling Back to Earth in Historic First
Officials Shocked as Tanker-Cruiser Crash Ends in ‘Literal Miracle on the Mississippi’ with No Fatalities
Dem Hecklers Scream ‘Traitor’ at Hakeem Jeffries for Not Impeaching Trump Fast Enough as He Gears Up to Become House Speaker
Johnny Depp Defeats Cancel Culture as ‘Ebenezer’ Storms to Number 1 in Triumphant Box Office Return
‘We Know It’s a Bomb’: Peoria Orders Immediate 1-Mile Evacuation After Device Found at Ethanol Plant
Hamas Faces Down Its Own Massacre as Eric Trump-Backed Company Mulls Deploying 1,000 Robot Soldiers in Gaza Terror Tunnels
Mexican Police Helicopter Chased Down U.S. Family’s Car, Shot 7-Year-Old American Girl in the Head Near Southern Border
College Football Chaos: Nationwide Flight Freeze Strands Ranked Teams, Forces Ole Miss-Oklahoma to Move Game Day
But as Trump laid out efforts to help the economy, markets plummeted. Gone were nearly all the gains that the Dow Jones Industrial Average had made since Trump took office.
The administration announcements came on a fast-moving day of developments across the capital, its empty streets standing in contrast to the whirlwind of activity inside the grand spaces of the White House and the Capitol.
The Senate overwhelmingly passed a second coronavirus response bill, which Trump signed Wednesday night. The vote was a lopsided 90-8 despite worries by many Republicans about a temporary new employer mandate to provide sick leave to workers who get COVID-19. The measure is also aimed at making tests for the virus free.
Meanwhile the administration pushed forward its broad economic rescue plan, which proposes $500 billion in checks to millions of Americans, with the first checks to come April 6 if Congress approves.
The White House urged hospitals to cancel all elective surgeries to reduce the risk of being overwhelmed by cases. The president was pressed on why a number of celebrities, like professional basketball players, seemed to have easier access to diagnostic tests than ordinary citizens.
