Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders delivered an address on the coronavirus outbreak, rounding out three perspectives from the current president and the two Democratic challengers to his presidency.
Sanders, who trails former Vice President Joe Biden in the delegate race to the nomination, used his speech to contrast with his rivals. He called for the Trump administration to declare a national emergency and appoint an "emergency bipartisan authority of experts" to determine the next steps in the crisis.
Like Biden earlier, Sanders criticized the White House response, calling the administration incompetent and point out that its "incompetence and recklessness have threatened the lives of many, many people in this country."
Sanders and Biden both mentioned the lack of intensive care units and ventilators, an issue raised by health officials but one that the administration has not touched upon. The senator called for mobilizing retired medical professionals and medical students to increase medical care. He implored the nation to protect doctors, medical professionals, and nurses with proper instructions and personal protective equipment both because their safety is important and because "if they go down, then our capacity to respond to this crisis is diminished."
"Our country is at a severe disadvantage," Sanders said, "because we do not guarantee healthcare to people as a right."
During the speech, news came in that France's Emmanuel Macron called coronavirus the worst health crisis in a century, ordered changes to businesses and education and, echoing the very words Sanders was delivering across the Atlantic Ocean, said France will massively increase hospital capacity to deal with the novel coronavirus.
Both Democratic hopefuls today pleaded for an expansion of current practices. Biden called for mobile testing centers and Sanders for an expansion of community health centers.
Sanders also listed proposals to support people from low-income neighborhoods and working-class families, including calling for providing healthcare to immigrants regardless of immigration status, emergency funding for paid medical and family leave and a moratorium on evictions, foreclosures, and utility shutoffs.
Repeatedly, health officials and, now, the Democratic hopefuls, have said a choice between a paycheck and staying home when sick will expedite the spread of a virus in need of slowing down so as not to overwhelm America's health system likely to be overwhelmed in the coming weeks.
"Here is the bottom line and that bottom line is that in the midst of this unprecedented moment, we need to listen to the scientists, to the researchers, to the medical folks — not the politicians," he said of the spread of the virus as "on the scale of major war."
California Rep. Ro Khanna has a novel idea about how to solve the government shutdown: call in some experts."Why don't we get an independent group of experts? The President appoints two people. The House appoints two people. The Senate appoints two people," the Silicon Valley-based Democrat suggested. "Put them in a room ー six folks ー and have them come up with proposals that are going to be 6-0."
With Los Angeles public schools ending a third day without their striking teachers, a deal between the union and the district remains elusive, according to Joseph Zeccola, a 2018-19 L.A. County Teacher of the Year and one of more than 30,000 educators currently protesting in the country's second-largest school district. "We're at a standstill," Zeccola told Cheddar from the picket line on Wednesday. "The offers right now have not been good."
The U.S. needs to work on improving its relationship with China as well as stabilizing its own economy by ending the government shutdown, JPMorgan Chase chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon said on Wednesday.
The ongoing government shutdown will hurt franchisees, Fat Brands CEO Andrew Wiederhorn told Cheddar on Monday. The closure of the Securities and Exchange Commission may inconvenience companies like Fat Brands, which need access to the public markets, but its franchisees, who run outposts of Fat Brands restaurants like Fatburger and Ponderosa Steakhouse, can't seek loans or expand their businesses. "There is a trickle down effect to us, but it's pretty small. I think really it affects the small business owner ... and it's coming out of their pocket," Wiederhorn told Cheddar.
Airline passengers are facing long security lines as unpaid TSA officers have begun calling in sick due to the government shutdown. Staffing shortages led to the closure of an entire terminal at Houston's George Bush International Airport. Local Houston TSA President, Freddie Cuellar, says closing the terminal is the best way to utilize the staff who are able to come to work.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Wednesday Jan. 16, 2019.
President Trump has taken the government hostage, and House Democrats refuse to negotiate with a hostage-taker, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told Cheddar on Tuesday. "This is not about the wall, it's not about health care, it's not about ... spending. This is about a promise the president made, and he has now taken the government hostage," Hoyer told Cheddar's J.D. Durkin as the 25th day of the partial government shutdown dragged to a close.
Canopy Growth is planning its entry to the U.S. on the back of the new Farm Bill ー and aims to establish a hemp "hub" in New York, according to CEO Bruce Linton."New York is setting up a pretty progressive approach and we have an earlier first license under that system so we can actually create a hub," Linton told Cheddar on Tuesday.
As the government shutdown drags on, calls from some conservative corners have increased for President Trump to declare a national emergency in order to get federal employees back to work while diverting funds to build a border wall. However, conservative radio show host Erick Erickson is cautioning the president against doing just that.
The cannabis industry enjoyed a productive 2018, but the government shutdown may be turning the industry's green light to yellow. Cannabis stocks are up overall, but according to Debra Borchardt, co-founder and CEO of Green Market Report, the government shutdown has left some farmers and companies in limbo.
