Congress reaches deal on $900 billion COVID bill as GOP Senate rift widens

BY JACK CROWE

December 21, 2020

CONGRESS REACHED A DEAL SUNDAY on a $900 billion COVID relief bill after months of gridlock borne of Speaker Nancy Pelosi's refusal to deliver a win for President Trump ahead of the November election.

Pelosi and Schumer have agreed to a $900 billion bill three months after turning down an offer of $1.8 trillion from Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who was dubbed "Washington's most eager man" by the press during negotiations thanks to his constant overtures to Dem leadership.

So, the timing of an election made Pelosi receptive to a bill half the size of the one she previously dismissed as too small. Pelosi herself was rather open about the calculation when she spoke last week to reporters about the broad outlines of the bill that's now been agreed to.

"It's for a shorter period of time, but that's okay now because we have a new president — a president who recognizes that we need to depend on science to stop the virus," Pelosi said, insisting "it was not a mistake" when asked if she should have settled in October for twice the spending she ultimately ended up with.

The speaker's willingness to deprive the country of relief for months for political gain is unsurprising considering what she's said she believes about the threat posed by President Trump. The more interesting development in negotiations came on Friday, when Senator Ron Johnson blocked a standalone bill introduced by fellow Republican Senator Josh Hawley that would have provided every American with a $1,200 check.

Hawley sponsored the bill with Senator Bernie Sanders, partnering with the left flank of the Democratic party to make a stand against the wing of his own party which he believes has been captured by an unthinking pro-corporate ethos.

"We bailed out the banks to such a tune that now they've got money left over," Hawley said on the floor Friday afternoon. "Wall Street is doing great. Big Tech, they're doing great. The big multi-national corporations, fantastic."

"Working people? Working people are living in their cars. Working people can't go to the doctor. Working people can't pay their rent. Working people can't feed their children," he continued. "And it is no answer for this body to tell them, go get in an unemployment line."

In explaining his rationale for blocking the bill, Johnson appealed to "future generations," returning to a deficit hawkery that seemed long since abandoned under President Trump, but which is guaranteed to make a comeback under a Democratic administration.

"When I first got here, I ran because we were mortgaging our kids' future," Johnson said. "I'm not heartless. I want to help people. I voted to help people. I voted for the $2.2 trillion CARES Act, but I also am concerned about our children's future."

The action on the Senate floor on Friday provides the neatest encapsulation of a rift that will only widen over the next four years as traditional Republicans revert to their anti-spending roots while an emergent populist wing stakes out new ground, somewhere to the left of the establishment Democratic majority.

Congress Reaches Deal on COVID Relief Bill

Congress on Sunday reached a deal on a nearly $900 billion coronavirus relief package after months of stalled negotiations between Democrats and Republicans.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that party leaders in both the House and Senate had agreed on another relief bill to be passed in the near future.

"Moments ago, in consultation with our committees, the four leaders of the Senate and the House finalized an agreement," McConnell said from the Senate floor. "There will be another major rescue package for the American people."

"Today, we have reached agreement with Republicans and the White House on an emergency coronavirus relief and omnibus package that delivers urgently needed funds to save the lives and livelihoods of the American people as the virus accelerates," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced in a joint statement on the deal.

Countries Restrict Travel to U.K. in Effort to Stop Spread of New Coronavirus Strain

An increasing number of European countries have moved to restrict travel from Britain in an attempt to keep a more contagious strain of the coronavirus from spreading past England's borders.

France suspended freight transit across the English Channel for 48 hours, leaving thousands of truck drivers stuck in their vehicles on Monday as traffic leading to England's ports came to a standstill.

European Union leaders are set to meet on Monday to draw up a "common doctrine" for handling the threat posed by the new variant, which officials say is 70 percent more contagious than other strains of the virus.

Surgeon General Says Immigration Status Will Not Affect Access to Coronavirus Vaccine

Surgeon General Jerome Adams said Sunday that immigrants in the U.S. illegally will have access to the coronavirus vaccine and assured that their medical information collected when they receive the shot will not be used against them in a legal context later.

"No one in this country should be denied a vaccine because of their documentation status," Adams said Sunday on CBS. "Because it's not ethically right to deny those individuals."

"Your information when collected to get your second shot if you get the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine will not be used in any way, shape, or form to harm you legally," Adams said federal officials have informed him.

Biden Press Secretary Says He 'Will Not Be Discussing an Investigation of His Son' with AG Candidates

President-elect Joe Biden will not be discussing any federal investigation of his son Hunter Biden's business dealings with any candidates for attorney general, Biden's incoming press secretary said Sunday.

Jen Psaki was asked by Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace whether Biden would promise to allow the U.S. attorney for Delaware to proceed with an investigation into Hunter Biden's taxes.

"He will not be discussing an investigation of his son with any attorney general candidates. He will not be discussing it with anyone he is considering for the role. And he will not be discussing it with a future attorney general," Psaki said.

"It will be up to the purview of an attorney general in his administration to determine how to handle any investigation," continued Psaki, who previously served as former president Barack Obama's communications director. "As you know, U.S. attorneys, that's a personnel decision, we're far from there at this point in the process."

Dem Rep. Ayanna Pressley: Georgia GOP Senate Candidates are 'the Bonnie and Clyde of Corruption'

Representative Ayanna Pressley (D., Mass.) on Friday night called out Republican senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, dubbing them "the Bonnie and Clyde of corruption."

Pressley's comments came during an appearance on MSNBC's The ReidOut, while discussing "get out the vote" efforts for the January 5 Senate runoff elections in Georgia.

"Georgia, do your thing. I know we're asking a lot of Georgia. But do your thing, Georgia," Pressley, a member of the progressive "Squad," said. "Do what you do."

"All eyes are on Georgia. [Senate majority leader] Mitch McConnell [R., Ky.], Loeffler, Perdue — they are the Bonnie and Clyde of corruption," she said. "They are all the same. We need to regain control of the Senate. Georgia, do what you do."

Pompeo: Russia Is 'Pretty Clearly' Behind Massive Cyberattack on U.S.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday that a cyberattack that compromised federal agencies and critical infrastructure this week was "pretty clearly" the work of Russia.

"[T]here was a significant effort to use a piece of third-party software to essentially embed code inside of U.S. Government systems and now, it appears, systems of private companies and companies and governments across the world as well," Pompeo said in an appearance on the Mark Levin Show.

"This was a very significant effort, and I think it's the case that now we can say pretty clearly that it was the Russians that engaged in this activity," he added.

FDA Approves Moderna's Coronavirus Vaccine

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday formally granted emergency use approval for Moderna's coronavirus vaccine.

The Moderna vaccine's approval comes one week after the agency granted emergency approval to Pfizer and BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine, marking an important step in the fight against the virus as the U.S. continues to set a number of grim milestones.

The Pfizer vaccine was rolled out to a number of health-care workers and long-term-care facility residents this week. The U.S. could see 6 million doses of the Moderna vaccine distributed next week.

McCarthy Says Swalwell 'Should Not Be on Intel' Committee after FBI Briefing

House Leader Kevin McCarthy on Friday received a closed-door FBI briefing on Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell's relationship with a suspected Chinese spy, saying afterwards that he thinks Swalwell should not be on the House Intelligence Committee.

"He should not be on Intel," McCarthy said at the Capitol after the FBI briefing. "I just think there are definitely 200 other Democrats that I know could fill that place."

Between 2011 and 2015, a suspected Chinese intelligence operative, Christine Fang, developed close relationships with Swalwell and a number of other American politicians as part of a Chinese political intelligence operation.