| | | | | |  | | By Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer | Presented by |  | | | | | | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | A QUIET, BEHIND-THE-SCENES BATTLE IS BEGINNING TO BUBBLE in the House between REPUBLICANS and DEMOCRATS over a rules change that would make it easier for the chamber to hold votes in the middle of this pandemic. HOUSE DEMOCRATS are exploring a change to the rules to allow for PROXY VOTING, where one member in Washington would be able to cast their vote for an absent lawmaker in the case of an emergency. But HOUSE REPUBLICANS privately say they don't want to alter the chamber's procedures in the middle of this pandemic, worried that they would be hastily overhauling 200 years of precedent without adequately exploring the upsides and pitfalls. The leadership -- including House Minority Leader KEVIN MCCARTHY -- is among the skeptical. SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI could, theoretically, push through a rules change with just Democrats if she had 216 of her members in town. But the proxy system is complicated, and would likely require cooperation between the two parties. As envisioned, it would, theoretically, require lawmakers who can't make it to the House during a recorded tally to communicate their absence to their leadership, who would then pair them up with someone in D.C. who could cast a vote on their behalf. IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS, harmony between the two parties will be important. The House and Senate will need to pass a new spending package, and PELOSI and MCCARTHY will likely need to work together to make sure there are enough people in the chamber to vote -- the package cannot pass by unanimous consent, sources say. MCCARTHY has some leverage here. There's some chatter in GOP LEADERSHIP that a sudden attempt to change the rules could sour the mood. Although, of course, PELOSI could first pass the spending bill and then change the rules. (h/t Heather Caygle for help, as always) THE SENATE will meet today in a pro-forma session at 4 p.m. Republicans and Democrats have not yet finalized a deal on small business and other funding, but they hope to today. BREAKING OVERNIGHT ... @realDonaldTrump at 10:06 p.m.: "In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!" IMPORTANT TO NOTE: WSJ'S REBECCA BALLHAUS and MICHELLE HACKMAN: "Administration officials said the order wouldn't make substantial changes to current U.S. policy. Even without an executive order, the administration has already all but ceased nearly every form of immigration. Most visa processing has been halted, meaning almost no one can apply for a visa to visit or move to the U.S. Visa interviews and citizenship ceremonies have been postponed and the refugee program paused ... Migrants caught crossing the border are now immediately expelled once they are found. "The executive order is expected to include exceptions for migrant farmworkers, who make up about a 10th of the workforce on U.S. farms, and health-care workers, particularly those helping treat coronavirus patients, an administration official said. It is not expected to address the removal of immigrants already in the U.S. or the visa renewal process, the official said." WSJ Good Tuesday morning. CONTANGO! ... BEN LEFEBVRE: "Oil prices go negative — and Washington is paralyzed over what to do": "U.S. oil futures prices fell to their lowest-ever level by far on Monday, at -$37.63 per barrel, meaning owners of the futures contracts were paying to offload them. It broke the previous low price record near $10 a barrel set in 1986 and comes as policymakers struggled to address the glut of crude that has seen the industry reverse a decade-long boom and sink into a deep recession that threatens to push dozens of companies into bankruptcy. "U.S. policymakers for decades have focused their policies on ensuring the oil supply shocks that damaged the U.S. economy in the 1970s would not return, and they created a national reserve to backstop the market and ensure supplies were available to fill up the nation's fleet of automobiles and trucks. But with U.S. production hitting record levels late last year and storage tanks now brimming with fuel, Washington has few tools at its disposal to lift oil prices to levels needed to sustain the energy industry. "'The U.S. government's ability to fundamentally change this situation are minimal,' said Raymond James oil analyst Pavel Molchanov. 'The real problem is the fact that upwards of 20 percent of global oil demand is currently offline, mainly due to the Covid-related lockdowns.'" -- FT, by Hudson Lockett in Hong Kong and Myles McCormick in London: "The fall was partly the result of a market technicality, with Tuesday marking the final trading day of WTI futures contracts for delivery in May. A lack of capacity to store the crude at its delivery point in Cushing, Oklahoma as contracts came due left traders desperate to offload contracts rather than take on the physical product without anywhere to put it." -- MAKING LEMONADE, via WSJ's Ryan Dezember: "The collapse in current oil prices, combined with the expectations that a lot of economic activity will resume by autumn, has resulted in a market condition called contango -- in which prices for a commodity are higher in the future than they are in the present. "One of the great trades in modern history involved steep contango and a fleet of oil tankers. In 1990, Phibro, the oil-trading arm of Salomon Brothers, loaded tankers with cheap crude just before Iraq invaded neighboring Kuwait and crude prices surged. The trade's architect, Andy Hall, rose to fame, bought a century-old castle in Germany and became known for a $100 million payday. Present market conditions have inspired emulators. "In the past four weeks, nearly 50 long-term contracts have been signed for [oil tankers], Mr. Giveans said. Jefferies has identified more than 30 of them as being intended for storage, usually because they are leased without discharge locations. The coast of South Africa offers popular anchorage since it is relatively equidistant to markets in Asia, Europe and the Americas." THE PRESIDENT, during the coronavirus briefing Monday evening, said the United States is considering putting 75 million barrels in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve: "That would top it out. That would be the first time in a long time it's been topped out. We'd get it for the right price." | | | | A message from PhRMA: In these unprecedented times, America's biopharmaceutical companies are coming together to achieve one shared goal: beating COVID-19. We are dedicating our top scientists and using our investments in new technologies to speed the development of safe and effective vaccines. Explore our efforts. | | | IN OTHER NEWS ... CNN: "U.S. monitoring intelligence that North Korean leader is in grave danger after surgery," by Jim Sciutto, Joshua Berlinger, Kylie Atwood and Zachary Cohen: "Kim recently missed the celebration of his grandfather's birthday on April 15, which raised speculation about his well-being. He had been seen four days before that at a government meeting. Another US official told CNN Monday that the concerns about Kim's health are credible but the severity is hard to assess. "Kim received the cardiovascular system procedure because of 'excessive smoking, obesity, and overwork,' according to the news site, and is now receiving treatment in a villa in Hyangsan County following his procedure." -- AND/BUT ... SOUTH KOREAN OFFICIALS SHOOTING THIS DOWN ... YONHAP: "South Korea has seen no unusual signs suggesting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is ill, government officials said Tuesday ... 'There is nothing unusual going on in North Korea. It's not true,' a government official told Yonhap News Agency on condition of anonymity, referring to the CNN report ... Presidential spokesman Kang Min-seok also said that nothing unusual has been detected in the North. 'No unusual signs have been identified inside North Korea,' Kang said. 'There is nothing we can confirm with regard to Chairman Kim's alleged health problem.'" Yonhap News Agency ... NK News: "Life continues as normal in Pyongyang" -- READ THIS FASCINATING thread from Anna Fifield -- Beijing bureau chief for WaPo -- who wrote a book about North Korea, and delved deep into Kim Jong Un's health. WHERE THE PPP IS GOING ... AP: "Publicly traded firms get $300M in small-business loans," by Reese Dunklin, Justin Pritchard, Justin Myers and Krysta Fauria: "Companies with thousands of employees, past penalties from government investigations and risks of financial failure even before the coronavirus walloped the economy were among those receiving millions of dollars from a relief fund that Congress created to help small businesses through the crisis, an Associated Press investigation found. "The Paycheck Protection Program was supposed to infuse small businesses, which typically have less access to quick cash and credit, with $349 billion in emergency loans that could help keep workers on the job and bills paid on time. "But at least 75 companies that received the aid were publicly traded, the AP found, and some had market values well over $100 million. And 25% of the companies had warned investors months ago — while the economy was humming along — that their ability to remain viable was in question." AP -- ZACH WARMBRODT: "Banks warn that new small-business funding could evaporate in 2 days" GOOD TO BE CONNECTED ... "White House, GOP face heat after hotel and restaurant chains helped run small business program dry," by WaPo's Jonathan O'Connell ... "In Race for Small-Business Loans, Winning Hinged on Where Firms Bank," by WSJ's Ruth Simon and Peter Rudegeair THE AIRLINE BAILOUT -- "Treasury officials finalize agreements with airlines for coronavirus-related relief," by WaPo's Lori Aratani: "Treasury Department officials announced Monday that they have finalized agreements with Allegiant Air, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines and United Airlines to provide billions in grant money aimed at keeping thousands of workers on the job. "In addition, officials said they are working to finalize agreements with five other major carriers: Alaska Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue Airways and SkyWest Airlines, all of which have indicated that they plan to participate in the Payroll Support Program, part of the $2 trillion coronavirus relief package known as the Cares Act. ... "About $2.9 billion in initial payments were made Monday to approved applicants, including two major airlines and 45 smaller carriers, officials said. Additional payments will be made to airlines on a rolling basis. The dollars are to be used to pay employees, including pilots, flight attendants and maintenance workers. "Under the terms of the agreement, airlines must agree to pay back 30 percent of what they receive. They also must issue warrants to the government and agree not to furlough workers until Sept. 30. They cannot issue dividends or buy back their stock until late 2021, and they must limit executive compensation." THE REOPENING ... NANCY COOK: "Trump faces his next coronavirus test": "President Donald Trump's political fate now hinges on a simple premise: Everybody who needs a coronavirus test must be able to get a test. "More than five weeks into a devastating shutdown of the U.S. economy, Trump's aides and advisers inside and outside his administration now view disapproval of his preparedness for the coronavirus pandemic as his biggest political liability heading into the 2020 election. "The president and his team in the White House are rushing to counter perceptions and develop a coherent message about the nation's ability to test Americans for the coronavirus quickly and broadly, a prerequisite governors and business leaders have outlined to successfully get the economy back on track." POLITICO -- "Murphy: Testing capacity must double before New Jersey can reopen," by Sam Sutton -- LAT: "Newsom resists pressure to ease California's coronavirus stay-at-home order," by Phil Willon in Sacramento -- GEORGIA AS AN EXPERIMENT ... ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION'S ALAN JUDD and GREG BLUESTEIN: "Gov. Brian Kemp took the first step Monday to reopen a Georgia economy battered by social restrictions to contain the coronavirus, even as public health experts warned he was all but inviting a new wave of infections. "'It's a very big risk,' said Dr. Marc Lipsitch, a professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. 'If you open up enough, it's almost for certain' the virus will hit Georgia again. It's just waiting for more susceptible people and more contacts. That's how viruses work.' "But Kemp said his decision to allow certain businesses -- gyms, barber shops, tattoo parlors and bowling alleys, among others -- to open their doors on Friday is a 'measured' approach to balancing economic and public health concerns. "Reopened businesses will have to follow social distancing guidelines, screen workers for fever and respiratory illnesses, and take other steps to minimize the risk of transmitting the virus. 'We have been surgical, targeted and methodical,' Kemp said at a news conference outside the state Capitol, 'always putting the health and well-being of our citizens first, and doing our best to protect lives — and livelihoods — in every part of Georgia.'" AJC REALITY CHECK: "Tracking the virus may require 300,000 workers. We're nowhere close," by Dan Goldberg and Alice Miranda Ollstein: "The country only has a fraction of workers needed to trace the coronavirus, as health departments are scraping together a rag tag army of graduate students, workers from a city attorney's office and even librarians. "Before the pandemic, state and local health departments had fewer than 2,000 workers carrying out contact tracing — the detailed investigatory work to track and stop outbreaks of everything from syphilis to measles. The real number needed could be somewhere between 100,000 and 300,000 — an astronomical figure that seems near impossible to reach without a massive national program to build a highly trained public health workforce." POLITICO | | | | A message from PhRMA:   In these unprecedented times, America's biopharmaceutical companies are coming together to achieve one shared goal: beating COVID-19. Explore our efforts. | | | CASH DASH -- "Biden raised campaign-best $46.7 million in March," by Scott Bland: "Joe Biden raised $46.7 million in March, his campaign announced Monday, notching his best fundraising month of the campaign — and besting President Donald Trump — as he took control of the Democratic primary. "The fundraising, prompted by Biden's strong win in South Carolina's primary on the last day of February and a cascade of Super Tuesday victories, amounted to more than half of what Biden had raised in the entire campaign prior to that month. Biden raised just over $88 million from the second quarter of 2019 through the end of February." POLITICO -- SETH MACFARLANE -- the creator of "Family Guy" -- gave $1 million to Senate Majority PAC ... Timothy Mellon gave $7.5 million to Senate Leadership Fund TRUMP'S TUESDAY -- The president will meet with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo at 4 p.m. in the Oval Office. The coronavirus task force will hold a press briefing at 5 p.m. -- WHAT ARE THE CHANCES that we get a TRUMP/CUOMO appearance in the briefing room? | | | | WAS A "PANDEMIC PLAYBOOK" IGNORED? - TODAY: The Obama White House left a "pandemic playbook" for the Trump administration that hasn't been utilized during the Covid-19 outbreak. Join POLITICO health care reporter Dan Diamond today at 4 p.m. EDT for a virtual discussion with Beth Cameron, former member of the National Security Council's pandemic response team. What steps should be taken to prepare for the possibility of a second wave or an outbreak in the fall? What impact will the Trump administration's decision to cut funding to the WHO have? Cameron shares her thoughts and answers your questions. Submit yours by tweeting it to @POLITICOLive using #AskPOLITICO. REGISTER HERE TO PARTICIPATE. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOK READS | | | 
PHOTO DU JOUR: South African National Defense Forces patrol after pushing back residents into their homes following protests over a lack of food, on the outskirts of the Alexandra township in Johannesburg, on Monday, April 20. | Jerome Delay/AP Photo | AP'S TED ANTHONY: "Mid-April in America is an unforgiving time, and now this": "For a generation, mid-April has delivered some of American life's most cataclysmic moments — a week when young men have shot up schools, terrorists have blown up fellow humans, members of a religious sect have burned to death in their compound and environmental calamity has sullied the ocean. "Now, as those traumatic, unwelcome anniversaries of the past 27 years roll by in the space of a single spring week, overlay one of the most disruptive moments in all of American history, even as it is still unfolding: the coronavirus, and the efforts to contain it. "What is it about this one particular week in April, anyway? And what does it mean — for survivors, and for all Americans — to move through this barrage of violent memories knowing that life as we know it, at least for now, has gone away?" BETSY WOODRUFF SWAN: "State report: Russian, Chinese, and Iranian disinformation narratives echoing each other": "China, Iran and Russia are using the coronavirus crisis to launch a propaganda and disinformation onslaught against the United States, the State Department warns in a new report. "The three governments are pushing a host of matching messages: that the novel coronavirus was an American bioweapon, that the U.S. was scoring political points off the crisis, that the virus didn't come from China, that U.S. troops spread it, that America's sanctions are killing Iranians, that China's response was great while the U.S.'s was negligent, that all three governments are managing the crisis well, and that the U.S. economy can't bear the toll of the virus. "The report, which is not public, was produced by the department's Global Engagement Center (GEC) — a fledgling office focused on the global information wars -- and reviewed by POLITICO. It makes the case that propaganda and disinformation narratives from those country's governments have converged as coronavirus has spread. And it says that while the three governments have pushed out the same messages in the past, the global pandemic has seen the convergence of their messaging accelerate." POLITICO HOT ON THE LEFT ... THE ATLANTIC'S GEORGE PACKER: "We Are Living in A Failed State" WHAT POTUS IS READING ... NATIONAL REVIEW'S RICH LOWRY: "How the Media Completely Blew the Trump Ventilator Story" | | | | A message from PhRMA:   America's biopharmaceutical companies are coming together to achieve one shared goal: beating COVID-19. | | | VALLEY TALK -- "Coronavirus protests test Facebook's free speech pledges," by Steven Overly: "The right-wing anti-lockdown protests breaking out around the U.S. are presenting the latest no-win quandary for Facebook, as the world's largest social network tries to fulfill its pledge to remain politically impartial amid a pandemic that has killed more than 42,000 Americans. "The company has taken tentative steps so far — blocking protesters from using Facebook to organize in-person rallies in California, New Jersey and Nebraska — but not in other places, such as Michigan, Texas and Virginia, where people have rallied together outside state capitols in defiance of orders to self-isolate at home. "But Facebook's partial takedowns were still enough to bring a political brushback from some Republicans in Washington, where GOP lawmakers have repeatedly threatened to enact legal consequences for internet companies over what they consider to be a pattern of anti-conservative bias in Silicon Valley." POLITICO -- BE THE FIRST to listen to Anna's conversation with Fidji Simo, head of the Facebook APP who reports directly to Mark Zuckerberg, on the company's new policy, how they are shifting resources during the coronavirus pandemic and more in the latest Women Rule podcast out Wednesday. Subscribe and listen MEDIAWATCH -- Brett Pulley will be rejoining Bloomberg as Atlanta bureau chief. He most recently was EVP at Weber Shandwick, and previously was dean of Hampton University's Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications. -- Miguel Franco is now VP of government affairs at NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises. He previously was chief of staff to Rep. Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.). | | | | JOIN TODAY - DESANTIS, UNEMPLOYMENT CLAIMS, AND FLORIDA'S STRUGGLE WITH COVID-19: Florida can't keep up with unemployment claims in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Join Florida Playbook co-authors Matt Dixon and Gary Fineout today at 9 a.m. EDT to learn how Gov. Ron DeSantis is juggling the meltdown of the unemployment website with efforts to reopen the state despite an increase in deaths. Have questions? They'll answer as many as they can. REGISTER HERE TO PARTICIPATE. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Send tips to Eli Okun and Garrett Ross at politicoplaybook@politico.com. EAST WING ARRIVAL LOUNGE -- Marcia Lee Kelly will be senior adviser to first lady Melania Trump, and Emma Doyle will be deputy chief of staff for policy. Kelly previously was director of White House management and administration and director of the office of administration. Doyle previously was principal deputy chief of staff in the West Wing. TRANSITIONS -- Oriana Piña is now director of Hispanic media for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. She most recently was a senior associate at SKDKnickerbocker. ... Sean Brislin will be deputy campaign manager and political director for Matt Rosendale's House campaign in Montana. He previously was deputy finance director at the Club for Growth. ... Diane Miller has been named head of Strategic Elements' D.C. office. She previously was VP of public affairs at the American Wind Energy Association. WELCOME TO THE WORLD -- Tara Brown, Mid-Atlantic regional director for AIPAC, and Ari Mittleman of Keystone Strategy + Advocacy welcomed Eliora Galit on Sunday night. Pic BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Saagar Enjeti, host of "Rising" at The Hill TV. What he's reading during social distancing: "I'm currently reading 'Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945' by David Kennedy. The book is a fantastic, readable account of the New Deal. Our politics today are much more like the 1910s to 1930s than anything else in living memory, I try my best to understand how our country dealt with similar things the last time around and what we might learn from history." Playbook Q&A BIRTHDAYS: NYT's Jodi Kantor is 45 ... Queen Elizabeth II is 94 ... Ken Duberstein is 76 ... Matt Rivera ... Bill Neidhardt, former Midwest press secretary for Bernie Sanders' campaign ... Felix Salmon, chief financial correspondent at Axios and host of the "Slate Money" podcast ... Lauren Weber, Midwest correspondent for Kaiser Health News, is 29 ... Farmer Mac's Greg Lyons ... BBC's Caroline Wyatt ... Binghui Huang ... Connecticut Democratic Party Chairwoman Nancy Wyman ... Justin Wilson ... Collin O'Mara, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation ... Will Boyington ... Jay Cranford, senior partner at CGCN Group ... Google's Brian Tschoepe ... ... Brad Cheney, senior adviser at the Majority Group ... WaPo's Katherine Finnerty ... Ben Sparks ... SKDKnickerbocker managing director Jon Reinish ... John Kraus ... Paige Reffe (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) ... Simone Wai ... Steven Chlapecka (h/t Ali Zaidi) ... CNN's Eric Weisbrod ... Bob Blaemire ... Craig Johnson, CEO of Long Point Advisors ... Russ Cherry ... Ashlee Palmieri, SVP at J Strategies (h/t Adam Morey) ... Paul Haenle, director of the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center, is 54 ... Nate Palmer is 46 ... Jeff Foreman ... Dominic Bellone ... Harry L. Williams, president and CEO of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund ... Chuck Colbert ... Peter Van Voorhis ... Hessy Fernandez ... Marty Steinberg | | | | A message from PhRMA: In these unprecedented times, America's biopharmaceutical companies are coming together to achieve one shared goal: beating COVID-19. The investments we've made have prepared us to act swiftly:
· Working with governments and insurers to ensure that when new treatments and vaccines are approved, they will be available and affordable for patients
· Coordinating with governments and diagnostic partners to increase COVID-19 testing capability and capacity
· Protecting the integrity of the pharmaceutical supply chain and keeping our plants open to maintain a steady supply of medicines for patients
Explore our efforts. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
