Economy
Dem governors begin lifting covid restrictions
A number of states across the United States are beginning to loosen their respective’ COVID-19 restrictions.
California on Monday announced that a regional stay-at-home order is being lifted, saying that there are “positive signs” about the spread of the coronavirus.
Back in March, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) instituted the first statewide shutdown. This most recent regional stay-at-home order was enacted back in early December.
RELATED: Companies linked to Gov. Newsom received nearly $3 million in PPP loans
“Nearly all” of the regions that were previously affected by a stay-at-home order will return to the Golden State’s tier system for COVID-19 restrictions in the most extreme “purple” tier, a release by the California Department of Public Health reported. “Most indoor businesses are closed” in that tier, but places of worship and many outdoor businesses are allowed to open, albeit with modifications, according to Fox News.
As the number coronavirus cases has been plateauing in New York State after the holiday travel season, Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) announced Monday that New Yorkers should expect to see some restrictions be lifted later this week, with the governor stating he expects to make an announcement in the middle of the week.
“From the increased celebrations we believe [coronavirus cases] went up […] we believe we’re seeing a flattening and reduction,”’ Cuomo said during a Monday press briefing. “When [cases] are down, open up the valve, allow more economic activity through the pipes.”
This comes after Cuomo reversed course earlier this month and said publicly that “we must reopen the economy.”
“We simply cannot stay closed until the vaccine hits critical mass,” he tweeted on January 11. “The cost is too high. We will have nothing left to open. We must reopen the economy, but we must do it smartly and safely.”
On Monday, public health officials in Illinois announced that indoor dining would return to four counties on Tuesday as new case numbers stagnate, according to WGN9 Chicago.
This also comes as teachers in Chicago public schools on Sunday voted against returning to in-person classes after the school district had voted in favor of resuming in-person learning.
The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) said that its members “chose safety” in its ongoing dispute with Chicago Public Schools (CPS), according to NBC News.
“We are not negotiating class size, benefits or staffing; we are bargaining for minimal risk of COVID-19 infection, and minimal risk of death,” the union said.
While not a U.S. state, starting this past Friday, the District of Columbia has allowed for the return of indoor dining in the nation’s capital, with them permitting 25% capacity for indoor restaurants and bars.
Last Wednesday after President Joe Biden was sworn in, Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser‘s (D) chief of staff, John Falcicchio, announced that the removal of certain barriers and fencing around the city after the high-security inauguration ceremony would correspond with the end of the “Inauguration Phase” of indoor dining.
“That aligns with the end of the Inauguration Pause on indoor dining which is set to expire on Friday, January 22, at 5 am,” Falcicchio tweeted. Restaurants will then be able to return to 25% indoor.”
You can follow Douglas Braff on Twitter @Douglas_P_Braff.
After hours of debate, the House voted Wednesday night to approve a bipartisan debt-ceiling deal, taking a step toward averting a default on U.S. debt. The measure passed with 314 members voting in favor and 117 members voting in opposition. 149 Republicans and 165 Democrats voted to approve the bill, while 71 Republicans and 46 Democrats voted against it.
National Review writes the measure’s passage secures “a victory for House speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who managed to keep his caucus together despite a challenge from House Freedom Caucus members intent on securing greater spending concessions from the Biden White House.”
The bill will now head to the Senate. McCarthy said the measure is the “largest spending cut that Congress has ever voted for,” but faced opposition from members of his caucus who believe the deal “didn’t go far enough in restoring pre-Covid spending levels.”
In his speech on the House floor Wednesday before the vote, McCarthy pleaded with his colleagues to support what he had bargained for with Biden:
“They demanded a clean debt limit, which really means they spend more and you pay more in taxes. House Republicans said ‘no’,” McCarthy said.“Over the past four months, we fought hard to change how Washington works. We stopped the Democrats from writing a blank check after the largest spending binge in American history… The Fiscal Responsibility Act is the biggest spending cut in American history.”
National Review reports:
The agreement suspends the nation’s $31.4 trillion debt limit through January 1, 2025, and caps spending in the 2024 and 2025 budgets.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has estimated that the deal will reduce budget deficits by about $1.5 trillion between 2023 and 2033. Director of the CBO Phillip Swagel projected that there would be reductions in discretionary outlays of $1.3 trillion over the 2024–2033 period. Mandatory spending would decrease by $10 billion, revenues would decrease by $2 billion over the same period, and the interest on the public debt would decline by $188 billion.
Biden warned of the consequences of default, saying what would follow would include an economic recession, devastated retirement accounts, and millions of jobs lost.
“I made clear from the start of negotiations that the only path forward was a bipartisan budget agreement,” explained Biden on Twitter. “No one got everything they wanted. But that’s the responsibility of governing.”
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