Month: March 2020

Congress is moving swiftly on a supplemental appropriations package that seeks to address the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19. House lawmakers overwhelmingly passed the $7.8 billion package yesterday afternoon after the bill’s release was delayed over issues pertaining to vaccine pricing, telehealth coverage, and hospital reimbursement. The Senate is expected to quickly follow suit and pass the funding bill prior to the end of the week.

Former Vice President Joe Biden turned in a strong showing at yesterday’s “Super Tuesday” primary elections, winning ten out of the 14 states up for grabs: TX, NC, VA, MA, AK, AL, ME, TN, OK, and MN. While votes are still being counted in several states, Vice President Biden’s performance is projected to propel him over Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) — who won CA, VT, UT, and CO — on the delegate leaderboard. Meanwhile, former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg suspended his campaign this morning following yesterday’s results and endorsed Vice President Biden, thus further consolidating moderate Democratic support around the former Vice President’s candidacy. The next contests in the Democratic presidential primary will take place on Tuesday, Mar. 10, as voters will head to the polls in ID, MI, MS, MO, ND, and WA.

The polls are open in 14 states today as the pivotal “Super Tuesday” Democratic primary elections get underway. With Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and former South Bend, IN Mayor Pete Buttigieg officially out of the race, former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) are projected to battle head-to-head for the lion’s share of more than 1,300 delegates at stake from today’s contests. Sen. Sanders currently enjoys a narrow six delegate lead (60) over Vice President Biden (54), with 1,991 needed to clinch the Democratic nomination.

Both chambers of Congress will resume legislative business later this afternoon. As Congressional appropriators continue work on an emergency spending package to bolster coronavirus response efforts, consideration of the supplemental funding bill could occur as early as Wednesday in the House amid rising concerns about a domestic outbreak of the virus. The final figure for the measure is expected to fall within the $6-8 billion range after lawmakers expressed bipartisan concerns that President Donald Trump’s $2.5 billion request would be inadequate.