ICYMI: Top takeaways from this week's "Face the Nation": Experts skeptical of White House COVID goals
Dire risks like food shortages, growing joblessness rates and now a new health advisory for young children are creating fresh concerns as the country attempts to slowly reopen. But experts and policymakers are not as optimistic as the administration appears to be in advances towards a return to normal.
Here's the big takeaways from Sunday's episode of "Face the Nation" with Margaret Brennan
1. "The perfect storm": A spike in food prices & joblessness
- "40 percent on average of the people that we're seeing now have never relied upon the charitable food system before now. So we're definitely seeing different people showing up," Feeding America CEO Claire Babineaux-Fontenot told "Face the Nation" Sunday.
- "There were nearly 40 million people who were food insecure and over 11 million of them were children. So we've had a challenge for a while. This pandemic has just heightened that challenge. And a lot of people are in need of help right now."
- What is needed? Food for food banks & a congressional boost to SNAP: The $3b in food that the USDA has pledged to purchase from farmers to distribute to food banks is a step in the right direction. But Feeding America said it is not enough.
- "For every one meal that we're able to provide in the charitable food system, SNAP can provide nine. And one of the interesting things about SNAP is not only is it good for people right now in the middle of a pandemic and an emergency, but it's also good for the economy. We have data that shows that for every dollar invested in SNAP, the return is $1.70. So there are lots of good reasons for all of us to be thinking about and urging our members of Congress to pass additional legislation so that we can increase access to SNAP and so that we can increase the thresholds in terms of how much people can receive from SNAP."
- Why that matters: The United States hasn't seen a dire hunger crisis in some time -- bringing a harsh reality to the COVID crisis. Americans lining up for food hearkens back to an era of the Great Depression, an image many thought would remain in the history books.
2. "Time is of the essence" to bring much-needed relief
- After passing a $3T rescue package through the Democratic majority House that she leads, Speaker Nancy Pelosi told "Face the Nation" that "time is of the essence" and that she had "no red lines" when it comes to negotiating with Republicans on a bipartisan solution that could become law. Republicans have said liability protections for employers must be included in any potential new rescue.
- What Pelosi said: "We have no red lines. But the fact is, the best protection for our workers and for their employers is to follow very good OSHA mandatory guidelines. And we have that in our bill. And that protects workers, protects their lives as well as protects the employer, if they follow the guidelines. Remember, when people go to work, they go home. They could bring it home to their children or they could bring it home to a senior living in their home. This is beyond just the individual at work."
- But economic experts say more is needed: Former National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn said while he agreed with Pelosi for the most part, the U.S. needs to decide whether the next round of financial emergency aid is aimed at responding to the crisis or stimulating an economic recovery.
- "If we're trying to respond to the crisis, we're right. And this is where I agree with the Speaker. We have to get the states money to help them respond to the crisis. If we're trying to stimulate economic growth, which would be the second half of the equation, we would use a different set of tools to stimulate economic growth. And we have a huge toolbox of tools we can use to stimulate economic growth."
- Why this matters: The House-passed coronavirus relief bill known as the HEROES Act faces no chance of passage in the Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has dismissed the behemoth measure. The White House issued a veto threat Thursday, saying the legislation is "more concerned with delivering on longstanding partisan and ideological wishlists" then focusing on the country's recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
- Republicans have suggested waiting until June or July before passing another relief package, which would give Congress time to reassess the needs of Americans and businesses as states begin to reopen. But Pelosi stressed that as local and state governments face cash crunches because of lost revenue, ensuring they have access to federal aid is crucial.
3. Economic relief: What to do & what not to do
- Gary Cohn told "Face the Nation" the extraordinary measures attached to unemployment benefits under the CARES act should be adjusted. He also opposes the payroll tax cut that President Trump supports.
- What Cohn said: "When we first started the enhanced unemployment benefits, we did it for a specific purpose. We wanted to and we needed to get people out of the economy. We needed them to stay home. So we changed the definition of unemployment. We said, look, stay home. Don't look for a job. We don't want you to leave your house. Now, I think we have to go back to the more traditional definition of unemployment. If you're unemployed, you get benefits. But if you need to be looking for a job and if you get offered a job, you should have to take that job and you should come off of unemployment benefits. We need to transition out of the extraordinary measures that were justifiable 60 days ago, 90 days ago, into the- the real world of what is the- the continuous definition of unemployment."
- Cohn opposes the payroll tax cut that President Trump supports. Why? "payroll tax cuts puts money in the pockets of people who are working. Right now, we're talking about the unemployed people. Payroll tax cut doesn't help an unemployed person, so I'm not in favor of a payroll tax cut."
- Rollback tax cuts, keep SALT deduction: Despite the fact that Cohn was the architect of the Trump tax cuts, the President's signature legislative achievement, he now says those will likely have to be rolled back to pay for emergency measures. He also advocated for the cap on the SALT deduction, the state and local tax deduction, to remain in place.
- "We now understand that we have to be in the positions of federal government to spend two to five trillion dollars at a moment's notice to support our infrastructure and support our economy. That said, we need to sit down to look at both sides of the equation. We need to sit down and look at the revenue side of the equation, and we need to look at the expense side of the equation. So I would say, yes, that the tax situation in the United States has to be readjusted. Everything should be on the table."
- "...We gave big tax breaks to lower income earners and we taxed higher income earners. And in fact, in the HEROES bill, you'll see they're trying to roll back the SALT deduction. The SALT deduction was a way that we taxed most of the higher earners. Only the top 30 percent of earners really use the SALT deduction. They're the ones that own the big homes and pay the big real estate taxes and pay big state income taxes then they're using that deduction. Rolling that deduction back does not make sense right now when the federal government needs money in this environment."
- Why that matters: Even Cohn, a major architect of the president's sweeping tax cuts, had to admit that they really aren't working for those that need help the most right now. A sign more needs to be accomplished for the suffering American workforce. With changes to the unemployment benefit process, a "transition out of the extraordinary measures that were justifiable 60 days ago" says Cohn, more jobless Americans who are currently under strict stay-at-home orders can receive some much-needed relief.
4. Health experts spar on COVID vaccine development
- "...it's not a pledge, It's a goal," HHS Secretary Alex Azar told "Face the Nation" of the Trump Administration's plans to have 300 million vaccine doses by January. He said there may be "one or multiple vaccine candidates to be able to have."
- What Azar said: 'We have hundreds of millions of people. So 300 million is the goal and by January that we would set, whether by one or multiple vaccine candidates to be able to have."
- But some were less than convinced: Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb was skeptical about the Administration's goal of having enough vaccine for all Americans. He said it would more likely be half that amount by January. It will more likely be 2021 before all Americans can be inoculated.
- What Gottlieb said: "It's very hard to get to the point where you're manufacturing at high, high quantities. I would say that's probably more likely a 2021 event that we're going to have the vaccine available in sufficient quantities to mass inoculate the population."
- Azar's defense of CDC: The HHS Secretary defended the CDC after White House Adviser Peter Navarro said that the CDC let the American people down when it comes to testing. Azar disputed that while acknowledging that there was an "issue as they scaled up manufacturing of tests to get them out to about 90 public health labs."
- "I don't believe the CDC let this country down. I believe the CDC serves an important public health role."
- Why this all matters: A number of unanswered questions remain since the vaccine development is still underway. Azar was not able to say at this point whether 300m doses means that all 300m+ Americans will be able to get a shot in the arm or if that dosage is sufficient given that it may require booster shots.
- As Azar put it: "That's actually going to be part of the development programs that you study. Is do- is it a single shot? Do you have a multiple with a booster or what type of immune response do you get your- that's why you don't go into battle with just one target here. So we had a hundred candidates originally. We've narrowed it to 14. And we're going to keep narrowing that down to maybe four or five, six, that we really place the big financial bets behind and drive on. And we might actually have multiple vaccines, some appropriate for different populations and different settings as we see the data get generated here."
5. Young children exposed to new COVID risks
- Dr. Scott Gottlieb called recent reports of a mysterious illness appearing in children that may be associated with the coronavirus "deeply concerning."
- What Gottlieb said: "There appears to be some kind of post-viral syndrome associated with this virus. The WHO and the CDC have now stepped forward and said they've associated with this virus, although it's not definitive, the causal relationship," Gottlieb said Sunday on "Face the Nation." "It appears to be some kind of post-viral immune type phenomena. We see this in other kinds of viruses. What we don't know is the denominator."
- What kind of spread should we expect? Gottlieb said it remains unknown how many children, who were initially thought to be largely spared from coronavirus symptoms, have been infected, and warned that if as many as 20 million Americans have had the illness, many children likely have as well.
- Why this matters: Children, who were once believed to be showing little sign of impact from COVID-19, are now at a heightened risk. The Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday issued new guidance urging health care providers to report young patients with multisystem inflammatory syndrome to state and local health departments.
Missed Sunday's episode? Click here to watch the show. "Face the Nation" airs Sunday mornings on CBS. Click here for local listings.