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."
The Biden administration is making changes to federal student loan programs, bringing more than 3.6 million people closer to debt forgiveness under the new rules, providing 40,000 with immediate debt cancellation, and allowing several thousand more with older loans to get some relief. Rob Franek, Editor-In-Chief of the Princeton Review, joined Cheddar News to break down how these changes might impact the lives of student loan borrowers and addresses some of the pushback against doing even more. "This is not a bankruptcy bailout of industries that are supporting the American economy," he said. These are for students right now who would otherwise be hobbled financially if they didn't experience some sort of forgiveness overall."
After a secrecy-shrouded visit to Ukraine's capital, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Russia is failing in its war aims and “Ukraine is succeeding.”
Emmanuel Macron staves off the far right challenger Marine Le Pen in France, conservative lawmakers find themselves embroiled in varying controversies, and pickleball is hotter than ever in the U.S.
Catching you up on what you need to know on April 25, 2022, with Secretary of State Blinken and Defense Secretary Austin visiting Ukraine, Emmanuel Macron is reelected as president of France, Twitter is talking to Elon Musk about his purchase bid, and more.
An increasing number of countries are recognizing "Rights of Nature", a legal movement that says ecosystems and species have basic rights to exist and flourish. Grant Wilson, executive director at Earth Law Center joins Cheddar News to explain what the movement is aiming to achieve.
The saga surrounding Elon Musk's bid to buy Twitter has made its way to Washington, DC. A group of 18 House Republicans are calling on the social media platform's board to preserve all records and documents related to the company's response to the offer from the Tesla CEO. Caleb Silver, editor in chief of Investopedia, joined Closing Bell to discuss. "This is a long term play, but it's just a shot across the bow by congressional Republicans, who probably will end up taking the House, that they're going to be tough on Big Tech and they're going use Musk's bid for twitter to take it private, so that he can get the platform to be open source and remove its censorship."
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a bill dissolving Walt Disney World’s private government after the entertainment giant criticized a measure that critics have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law.
Autumn Peltier, an indigenous water activist, joined Cheddar News to talk about the lack of access to clean water among indigenous communities in Canada. “I say the government to hold themselves accountable for the promises that they make because Canada and indigenous people have a long history of broken promises and they still continue to this day to keep breaking promises with the nation's people," she said. "Less talk and more action is very much expected from me."
Robert Bonnie, farm production and conservation undersecretary for the USDA, spoke to Cheddar about climate-smart strategies to help farmers reduce carbon emissions from agriculture. "We share the costs of installing those practices on their lands in ways that will protect the climate and maintain agricultural productivity, and we're also partnering with farmers to draw in private investment in greenhouse gas emissions reductions provided by agriculture and forestry," he said. The hope is to get farmers and ranchers to produce climate-smart commodities to lessen the impact of climate change.
