With Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine receiving emergency use approval, there is still the hurdle to clear of getting it to the people. Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.) is concerned about whether or not states will be able to effectively distribute the vaccines.
"This is a mammoth undertaking, and I believe that they're going to need some extra help," Smith told Cheddar, about funding needs in a new COVID relief bill.
Under the current strategy, states will receive shipments from the federal government then decide how to administer the vaccines to residents, with frontline and essential workers being at the top of the list.
"We have a big state and large rural communities, and so, one of our big issues is making sure that we get those vaccines, especially the ones that require supercooling," Smith added.
Despite some bipartisan agreements to extend federal aid to states, according to Smith,
"Mitch McConnell has done nothing but pour cold water on this," she said. "The big hold up is that he and others in his party don't want to provide help for states for the additional needs that they have around COVID and insisting on this massive immunity to corporations from any kind of legal liability around COVID."
Continued Testing Roadblocks
As cases surge across the country, Smith said the lack of a national strategy in developing and accessing tests, persists in being an issue that is "stymying our efforts" to beat COVID-19.
"What we are hearing from these testing companies that they are still experiencing shortages around some of the supplies that they need to do the tests, including swabs and reagent, and they are also quite worried about shortages of personal protective equipment, which are so necessary for completing these tests," she said, also noting that paying for the testing has also raised questions.
Smith also pointed out that there were shortfalls in testing children, who may spread the disease.
Continued Quarantines
Minnesotans have been under lockdown order for the past three weeks and could be in for additional quarantine time as Governor Tim Walz is expected to make a decision next week. Smith said while it's hard for residents to be away from family, especially during the holidays, the lockdown, along with mask-wearing, is necessary if we want to have a chance at finally beating the virus.
"Every day, more people are dying from COVID-19 than we lost in 9/11, and unless we are able to turn that tide, we're going to be seeing just a tragic winter. That's over 3,000 souls every day that we are losing," she said.
President Donald Trump says a deal struck by Netflix last week to buy Warner Bros. Discovery “could be a problem” because of the size of the combined market share. The Republican president says he will be involved in the decision about whether federal regulators should approve the deal. Trump commented Sunday when he was asked about the deal as he walked the red carpet at the Kennedy Center Honors. The $72 billion deal would bring together two of the biggest players in television and film and potentially reshape the entertainment industry.
Real estate software company RealPage has agreed to stop sharing nonpublic information between landlords as part of a settlement with the Department of Justice.
A legislative package to end the government shutdown appears on track. A handful of Senate Democrats joined with Republicans to advance the bill after what's become a deepening disruption of federal programs and services. But hurdles remain. Senators are hopeful they can pass the package as soon as Monday and send it to the House. What’s in and out of the bipartisan deal has drawn criticism and leaves few senators fully satisfied. The legislation includes funding for SNAP food aid and other programs while ensuring backpay for furloughed federal workers. But it fails to fund expiring health care subsidies Democrats have been fighting for, pushing that debate off for a vote next month.
Sabrina Siddiqui, National Politics Reporter at The Wall Street Journal, joins to break down the SNAP funding delays and the human cost of the ongoing shutdown.
Arguments at the Supreme Court have concluded for the day as the justices consider President Donald Trump's sweeping unilateral tariffs in a trillion-dollar test of executive power.
President Donald Trump said he has decided to lower his combined tariff rates on imports of Chinese goods to 47% after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on curbing fentanyl trafficking.
The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Wednesday for a second time this year as it seeks to shore up economic growth and hiring even as inflation stays elevated. The move comes amid a fraught time for the central bank, with hiring sluggish and yet inflation stuck above the Fed’s 2% target. Compounding its challenges, the central bank is navigating without much of the economic data it typically relies on from the government. The Fed has signaled it may reduce its key rate again in December but the data drought raises the uncertainty around its next moves. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters that there were “strongly differing views” at the central bank's policy meeting about to proceed going forward.
U.S. and Chinese officials say a trade deal between the world’s two largest economies is drawing closer. The sides have reached an initial consensus for President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to aim to finalize during their high-stakes meeting Thursday in South Korea. Any agreement would be a relief to international markets. Trump's treasury secretary says discussions with China yielded preliminary agreements to stop the precursor chemicals for fentanyl from coming into the United States. Scott Bessent also says Beijing would make “substantial” purchases of soybean and other agricultural products while putting off export controls on rare earth elements needed for advanced technologies.
