Weekly Update: 6/8/20

Weekly Update: 6/8/20

California

California is suing Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and the U.S. Department of Education for what the state alleges is a failure to implement its student loan forgiveness program for people who work in public-service jobs…

Gov. Gavin Newsom called for California to prohibit a police head restraint technique and to regulate how law enforcement agencies across the state manage protests as demonstrations continue over the death of George Floyd…

California set a new single-day record for confirmed coronavirus cases on Friday, 6/5, as a surge of new positive tests pushed the number of cases statewide above 125,000.

On Friday, 6/5, the California Department of Public Health released interim guidance for schools and school–based programs. 

Coronavirus

Trump administration officials increasingly expect to spend up to $1 trillion in the next round of economic stimulus, though action on a measure is unlikely until at least next month…

President Trump announced that there was “tremendous progress” on combatting the coronavirus pandemic and said the development of therapeutics and vaccines is going “incredibly well.”

Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn also said the White House Coronavirus Task Force has yet to see a relationship between states reopening and increased cases of COVID-19 (Bloomberg Law).  

The White House’s coronavirus task force has all but vanished from public view as President Trump pushes Americans to put the outbreak behind them and resume normal social and economic life…

The World Health Organization is now recommending that people aged 60 or older and people with underlying health conditions should wear a medical mask, rather than a cloth mask, in areas where there is community transmission of the virus that causes COVID-19 or where they cannot maintain social distance from others…

President and Administration

On Sunday, 6/7, President Trump ordered the National Guard to begin withdrawing from Washington, D.C., now that “everything is under perfect control” after the protests over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody…

On Friday 6/8, President Trump signed H.R. 7010 into law, giving businesses more leeway on how they spend funds through the Paycheck Protection Program (Politico). 

President Trump and his allies today lashed out at activists and some Democrats for their support of the "defund the police" movement, seeking to draw a contrast with the administration's embrace of law enforcement amid nationwide protests….

Education

 “Eighteen attorneys general filed a lawsuit against U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and the U.S. Department of Education in an effort to block the department’s final rule under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 from taking effect 8/14…

Congress

With the additional $600-a-week unemployment benefits set to expire in July, Congress is concerned over what to do next…

Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) has introduced legislation (S 3612) that would make further changes to the PPP and give borrowers a second tax benefit on COVID-19 small-business loans…

House and Senate Democrats are expected to release a bill today to reform the country's police departments…

Senate Democrats introduced legislation to limit presidential power under the Insurrection Act after President Trump warned that he could deploy active military troops into U.S. cities….

Election 2020 

After the protests calling to defund police nationwide, President Donald Trump is seeking to tie Joe Biden to activists’ calls to “defund the police” in an attempt to paint his 2020 presidential opponent as weak on crime and vilify Democrats pushing for police reform, even though Biden hasn’t embraced the slogan (Bloomberg). 

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee launched a new online hub today, 6/8, aimed at engaging with voters and candidates ahead of November’s general elections. FlipTheSenate.com will help voters register to vote, create a voter protection program, and open field offices in critical states across the country. Additionally, viewers will be able to find out more information about volunteering (The Hill). 

Sen. Kamala Harris’ (D-CA) prospects for becoming Biden’s running mate might be complicated by her own record as a prosecutor, in spite of her strong words in support of those protesting police brutality across the U.S…

Weekly Update: 6/1/20

California

Cities across California set curfews for residents as protests and riots occurred throughout the weekend in response to the death of George Floyd. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti put the city under curfew as businesses burned, and anger erupted.,,,

California and nearly two dozen other states on Wednesday, 5/28, filed suit against the Trump administration, arguing that its decision to weaken fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks puts the public’s health at risk and is based on flawed science…

 Coronavirus

 The coronavirus crisis has claimed more than 100,000 American lives and is the worst public health disaster in a century…

Moderna, one of the pharmaceutical companies developing a Covid-19 vaccine, reports it started a mid-stage trial and given doses to the first patients….

President and Administration

The White House’s top domestic policy adviser today said President Donald Trump is exploring a range of bipartisan initiatives intended to unify the country amid a nationwide eruption of racial unrest and protests that have ravaged major American cities….

Amid the ongoing demonstrations, on Sunday 5/31, President Trump tweeted that he was preparing to formally label anti-fascists activists (ANTIFA) as a terrorist organization…

In the wake of the pandemic, Trump officials have pushed to seal the national border as the administration is engaged in a pressure campaign against immigrant parents to get them to give up either their kids or their legal claims to protection in the U.S…

Education

On February 28, 2020, the U.S. Department of Education published a policy interpretation and request for comment concerning a change in policy regarding the use of Federal vocational rehabilitation (VR) funds reserved for pre-employment transition services…

The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services is holding a webinar on June 4 to highlight free resources for teachings and parents aimed at exploring potential strategies and innovative approaches to address the critical needs of students with disabilities during the COVID-19 era (OSEP).

Three school districts in Maine lost federal funding to provide crucial mental health services to at-risk kids because of the state’s medical marijuana law…

Congress

The Senate is back in session this week. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) released an updated floor schedule for the House on Friday, 5/29, that would have lawmakers staying in their home districts for most of June before returning to Washington, D.C., for votes on June 30….

This week, the Senate is expected to try to pass legislation that would extend the amount of time businesses have to use loans under the Paycheck Protection Program…

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, announced his panel will hold a hearing on police use of force after the killing of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) unveiled a resolution to condemn police brutality and the excessive use of force against African Americans amid national fervor over the recent deaths of unarmed black people…

The Senate HELP Committee scheduled two hearings in the coming weeks focused on how to reopen schools this fall. The hearing on how to reopen colleges and universities is slated for June 4, and a hearing on K-12 schools will be on June 10. CAP will provide overviews of both hearings.

Weekly Update: 5/26/20

California

California announced that counties could reopen houses of worship at lesser capacity — a decision that came just hours after a southern California church seeking to reopen appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court after an appeals court rejection…

Los Angeles’s reopening schedule lags behind other parts of the state as California’s most populous county battles stubbornly high numbers — so much so that the White House’s coronavirus response coordinator, Deborah Birx, on Friday, 5/22, cited LA as an example of still-stricken metro areas that merit federal help” (Politico). 

Yesterday “California greenlighted in-store retail to resume statewide — one of the most significant fruits so far of ameliorating numbers, though counties like LA would still need to modify their standing orders if those directives bar in-person shopping…

The Trump administration has pulled its approval of freeway-adjacent homeless shelters in Sacramento and San Francisco and warned of similar issues elsewhere in California, a blow to Gov. Gavin Newsom's plan to use vacant land near highways as a housing solution…

California hospitality businesses could delay eviction and renegotiate their leases under new legislation that passed its first committee Friday, 5/22, despite opposition from business and real estate groups…

The Republican Party has thrown its full weight behind challenging California’s move to a mail-ballot November election during the coronavirus pandemic…

Coronavirus

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said today that there would "likely" be a fifth coronavirus relief bill "in the next month or so…

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), chairman of the Senate Small Business Committee, said there is bipartisan support for extending the current eight-week time period during which businesses must use the PPP loan money to pay employees and other expenses in order to have the loan forgiven. Below are details on three bipartisan bills that would modify elements of the Paycheck Protection Program. 

Apple and Google released their COVID-19 exposure-notification tools, along with changes that will help public health authorities gather more information on who has the virus. The system - called Exposure Notification - is an app that will notify users if they have come into contact with a person who has tested positive…

A new report from Facebook and the Small Business Roundtable looks at how small and medium-sized businesses are dealing with the impact of COVID-19 — and what they need on the road to recovery. The report can be found here.

President and Administration

The Congressional Budget Office said in updated projections that the U.S. economy will shrink at an annualized rate of almost 38 percent in the second quarter of this year…

Education

Great Lakes Educational Loan Services, a company hired by the Trump administration to collect and manage student loan payments, provided the wrong information on the credit reports of approximately 4.8 million student loan borrowers who got a break from their monthly payment under the coronavirus stimulus legislation…

A recent survey by the Institute of International Education found that 88 percent of colleges expect international enrollment to decrease in the coming year, and 70 percent anticipate that some international students will not be able to come to their campuses for in-person classes this fall…

Congress

The Senate is out of session this week for Memorial Day Break. The House was originally scheduled to also be out of session, but announced last week that they will be in session and hold votes tomorrow and Thursday. 

Weekly Update: 5/18/20

California

Bolstered by new coronavirus testing sites recently opened by the state, 23 rural California counties this week began to relax social restrictions and resume a resemblance of pre-pandemic life….

Governor Gavin Newson wants to direct discretionary federal coronavirus aid to school districts to help cushion the blow of a $15 billion loss in state funding, but districts are still expected to experience cuts to programs and the Local Control Funding Formula….

In short order, the coronavirus pandemic has ushered in a sweeping and historic emptying of California’s overcrowded prisons and jails, as officials have dramatically lowered the number of people held in custody…

President and Administration

President Donald Trump formally announced that Moncef Slaoui, the former head of vaccines at GlaxoSmithKline, and Army Gen. Gustave Perna, a general in charge of Army readiness, will lead the government’s effort to speed the development of potential coronavirus vaccines….

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that economic recovery will not happen unless there is a vaccine….

Education

As college administrators continue announcing plans to reopen their institutions this fall, two important questions have been largely lost in the debate: (1) What will it take for colleges to reopen responsibly as long as there is no vaccine or treatment for COVID-19; (2) How realistic is it that colleges can put measures in place by fall?

University of California president Janet Napolitano last week proposed a revision in the way the system admits students: a five-year plan to gradually reduce and eliminate the role of the SAT and ACT in admissions…

Congress

On Friday 5/15, the $3 trillion HEROES Act was passed the House of Representatives in a 208 to 199 partisan vote….

The House on Friday, 5/15, also approved the most radical change to its rules in generations, allowing its members to cast committee and floor votes from afar — the culmination of a months-long struggle to adapt the 231-year-old institution to the coronavirus pandemic…

Senators are beginning debate on a House-passed bill to reauthorize and update parts of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (HR 6172)….

Last week the FBI agents seized the mobile phone of Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, as part of an investigation into stock sales….

 “Public access to the U.S Capitol will be further restricted until June 9 due to the coronavirus pandemic, officials announced Friday, following an extension of the District of Columbia’s stay-at-home order…

2020 Election

Many of Biden’s friends, donors, and associated have pressured the presidential candidate to find his running mate….

Weekly Update: 5/11/20

California

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration sent a clear warning this week to counties defying his state’s stay-at-home order to fight the spread of the novel coronavirus: Keep it up, and you’ll lose disaster funding…

California is one of a handful of states where coronavirus cases and deaths are rising faster than researchers expected, according to the latest calculations in a widely relied-upon model of the COVID-19 outbreak….

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday, 5/8, became the nation’s first governor to order statewide vote-by-mail in the November election…

Congress

House Democrats as early as this week are expected to release legislation for the next coronavirus bill reported to cost trillions of dollars…

Senators return this week to an overdue debate on the limits of the government’s surveillance powers, even as President Donald Trump’s signature on what they may produce is not yet assured…

President and Administration

Even as coronavirus deaths mount and infections make inroads into the White House, President Donald Trump is maintaining his upbeat message about reopening the country and restarting the economy…

Two White House staffers — one of President Donald Trump’s military valets, who serves him meals and drinks, and Katie Miller, Pence’s press secretary and wife of the president’s aide Stephen Miller — have tested positive for the virus, launching it into Trump’s inner circle and the crowded halls of the West Wing…