Coronavirus: The Hill and the Headlines, December 23 2020

In Washington:

• On Tuesday evening, President Donald Trump threatened to turn a month’s worth of negotiations and passage of the COVID-19 and FY2021 omnibus appropriations bills upside down by suggesting that he might veto the bill.  Trump released a video speech calling the $900 billion stimulus package a “disgrace,” claiming that the bill was full of “wasteful spending.”   The  “wasteful” spending that the President read as part of the COVID relief deal were provisions from the Consolidated appropriations portion of the bill and was much of the funding in the President’s budget request.  Trump suggested that he wouldn’t sign the legislation unless Congress increased the individuals’ stimulus check from $600 to $2000. Again, the President failed to mention that the $600 was the amount that his Treasury Secretary, Steve Mnuchin, proposed and negotiated. Meanwhile, the stopgap keeping the government running is scheduled to end on Monday at 11:59 p.m.  

Democrats, who have been pushing for months to have more money in the stimulus, are more than happy to oblige the President with his request.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) tweeted that Republicans had "repeatedly refused to say what amount the president wanted for direct checks. At last, the president has agreed to $2,000…Let’s do it.”  House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) tweeted that the House plans to vote on a direct payment bill on Thursday and pushed the President to work with them on the relief.  Democrats are waiting for a response from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) on whether he will consent to a unanimous consent request.  Many Republican lawmakers have been opposed to more funding and GOP leadership is now under pressure to either work with Democrats on passing the relief or take a chance that the President is bluffing.  Either way, House Republicans will be forced to go on the record to show whether they will support the President and more aid to Americans.  Senate Majority Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has not publicly responded to the president’s demands.

• Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech were able to come to an agreement with the Trump administration to supply the U.S. with 100 million more doses of their coronavirus vaccine by this summer. The $1.95 billion deal doubles the overall U.S. order for the vaccine to 200 million doses. Pfizer and BioNTech said they can supply 70 million doses by June 30, with the remaining 30 million doses delivered by the end of July.
• The U.S. government is investing $356 million into Merck’s experimental therapy, MK-7110, to treat severe COVID-19 cases.  The funding will go toward manufacturing 60,000 to 100,000 doses of the protein and immune modulator.   Merck will have the doses ready to ship to the Health and Human Services in the first half of 2021 and rely on the Food and Drug Administration authorizing it for emergency use.
• On Tuesday, the World Trade Organization (WTO) released a report, “Developing and Delivering COVID-19 Vaccines Around the World,” examining how trade policy could help or hinder the worldwide distribution of the coronavirus vaccine.  Section C of the report provides a list of trade issues that countries may need to consider when producing and delivering the vaccine.
• Tuesday, Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House’s coronavirus response coordinator, confirmed that she is planning to retire from government service as soon as she finishes aiding the Biden transition team’s preparations.  “I want to ensure the transition goes well,” Birx told Politico, “meaning I will stay as long as needed and then retire.”

In the News:

• The U.S. has more than 18.2 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 323,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. It was only eight days ago the country reached 300,000 COVID fatalities.  Globally, there have been more than 78.2 million cases and 1.7 million deaths.
• France reopened its border today to trucks from England, but drivers will need to take a rapid coronavirus test before departure.
• Airlines are preparing to call back tens of thousands of workers, expecting federal aid to cover carriers’ payroll through March and travel demand to pick up next summer.
• California is on the brink of surpassing 2 million confirmed cases and it could see 100,000 hospitalizations in January. As of Tuesday, the state has a 1.4% ICU capacity and 22,900 deaths. 
• Arkansas plans to build two facilities that will provide over 100 additional hospital beds in case the state runs out of capacity in the near future, Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced Tuesday. 

Authored by Ivan Zapien