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!”
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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.
Trump urges Republicans to ‘nationalize’ voting
Massive Minnesota fraud case puts AG Keith Ellison under microscope as climate ties resurface
Norwegian royals implode with Epstein emails, son re-arrested ahead of his rape trial
Teachers unions lead Portland uprisings against ICE with children present
Multi-level marketing ventures found to fund Republicans and win concessions
DOJ opening civil rights probe after Catholic school in California broken into, vandalized
Groundhog Day and Friday the 13th
Savannah Guthrie asks for prayer as her mother remains missing: ‘We need you’
Planned Parenthood drops lawsuit challenging Trump administration’s Medicaid cuts
San Francisco uncovers nine secret drug and gambling dens disguised as convenience stores
Dozens of House Republicans Demand Mitch McConnell ‘Stop Stalling the SAVE Act’
Jeffries says GOP ‘done eff’d up in Texas,’ vows they won’t win five seats: ‘They can’t ignore it’
Chuck Schumer Lambasted After Comparing the SAVE Act to Jim Crow
Trump administration blocked from ending Temporary Protected Status for Haitians
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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.
