The Trump administration announced plans Friday to speed up coronavirus testing, introducing an emergency hotline for companies and private laboratories developing quicker tests and seems on a path to a multi-billion-dollar federal plan with Congress amid reports the president will declare a national emergency later today.
"I hope he does it, it's the right thing to do, it will free up states and local communities to act more aggressively," Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif. 7th District) told Cheddar on Friday.
The administration is catching up to warnings health officials have been making for weeks about the United States's lack of preparedness for what is now a pandemic. Bera, a physician himself, said the new measures will allow community health centers taking care of Medicaid patients to be reimbursed for telemedicine.
"If you can manage [sick patients] using technology, using telehealth, telemedicine and they can stay at home, that is actually a good thing, that will help slow the spread," he said.
Though telemedicine may help treat patients without potentially infecting those they come in contact with, a lack of test kits will impede physicians’ ability to track patients.
"What I’ve suggested to the administration is, look, if South Korea can do it, pick up the phone, call the Korean company that’s making these tests and see if you can’t just license those tests and get it sent over here if it’s taking so long for us to do it," he said.
While health workers attempt to slow the spread of the virus, politicians are still at work on a bill, which appeared to hit a roadblock today over disagreements about paid sick leave. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have been negotiating the plan, which House Democrats are expected to vote on today.
"We're told that they're pretty close," Bera said. "Workers, families, those hourly wage folks, they're going to be hurt immediately. This is America, we don't let people fall down like that."
After the Chicago teachers union voted to work remotely due to what they say is a lack of safety protocols amid the COVID-19 surge, the school system canceled classes on Wednesday, citing harm that remote learning has done to the city's children. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, joined Cheddar to discuss the issues surrounding the latest dispute between educators and schools. She said that the return to in-person learning would likely be halted until more COVID tests could be provided for districts. "This is a terrible situation for everybody, and we need the testing, and we need the masks," she said. "It's the omicron surge that has created this disruption, and we are trying to do the best we can. And this is the only school district that has this kind of action right now." The teachers might not be returning to their schools for at least two weeks amid the ongoing tensions.
Illinois State Senator Robert Martwick joins Cheddar News to discuss the new bill he co-sponsored allowing students in the state to take 5 mental health days without a doctor's note.
On Monday, President Biden announced his new plan to take on inflation by taking down the big meat monopolies - turning to the federal government's antitrust authorities to investigate the major meatpackers that control a significant share of the market. The White House plans to devote one billion dollars to aiding independent meat and poultry producers in an effort to undercut the few powerful meat producers that have control of the sector. Austin Frerick, deputy director of Thurman Arnold Project at Yale, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
As the pandemic drags on, so does the widespread great resignation. In November alone, 4.5 million Americans quit their jobs, marking a new record high, and showing a 9 percent jump from the month prior. On the flip side, the number of people filing tax paperwork to start new businesses is surging, with over 430,000 new businesses launching in November. Rhett Buttle, the founder of Public Private Strategies and national business advisor to the Biden for President campaign, joined Wake Up with Cheddar to discuss.
New York Attorney General Letitia James is ramping up a civil investigation into The Trump Organization. The AG's office has subpoenaed Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. They have refused to comply with the subpoenas. Bradley Moss, national security attorney, joins Cheddar News to discuss the next steps in this investigation.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has officially reduced the 110-year prison sentence of truck driver Rogel Aguilera-Mederos to 10 years, calling the initial lengthy sentence “unjust.” Dan Gilleon, constitutional attorney at Gilleon Law Firm APC, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Former Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams was sworn in as the newest Mayor of New York City. Adams is now expected to work on a number of issues such as crime and coronavirus. Erin Durkin,, reporter at PoliticoNY, joins Cheddar News to discuss more.
California's new composting law will affect what residents do in their kitchens. As of this week, Californians will have to recycle excess food in an effort to reduce emissions caused by food waste. Cities and counties will turn recycled food into compost or use it as a renewable energy source. California's new law is the largest mandatory residential food waste recycling program in the country. Rachel Wagoner, Director of the California Department of Resources, Recycling and Recovery called the law 'the biggest change to trash' since recycling started in the 1980s. She joined Cheddar Climate to discuss.
As the U.S. comes up on the first anniversary of the January 6 insurrection.,A.C. Thompson, investigative reporter at ProPublica, joined Cheddar's Baker Machado to discuss updates to American Insurrection by FRONTLINE, ProPublica and Berkeley Journalism’s Investigative Reporting Program. The documentary investigates the attack on the Capitol touched off by the lie that the presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump but with new information gleaned since the event including interviews with lawmakers and law enforcement and the evolution of groups like the Boogaloo Boys and the Proud Boys behind the attack. "In some ways those groups that were kind of the vanguard of January 6 are maybe no longer relevant because their message is everywhere," he said.
