• S. House Democrats propose new $3 trillion COVID-19 stimulus bill
  • Governor Charlie Baker files $1 billion supplemental budget to fight COVID-19
  • Fauci warns U.S. Senate committee of consequences to premature reopening
  • Colleges and universities get reality check from Dr. Fauci
  • Maine one of 17 states reopening without first hitting key milestones
  • Wednesday’s Silver Lining: Disney TV & Lin-Manuel Miranda are rising up.

 

  1. A Friday vote is planned in the U.S. House of Representatives on the fifth COVID-19 stimulus package, a $3 trillion bill entitled the “HEROES Act.” Details of the legislation include, $1 trillion to state, local, territorial and tribal governments and establishing a $200 billion “Heroes Fund” to extend hazard pay to essential workers. The bill would also send a second round of stimulus checks to millions of Americans, up to $6,000 per household, and extend the $600 weekly increase in unemployment insurance through January 2021. Senate Republicans have already vowed to defeat the bill.

 

  1. Governor Charlie Baker is asking the Legislature to approve a $1 billion supplemental budget. The bill covers a range of expenses, including purchasing protective gear, rate adjustments for human service workers, temporary field hospitals and shelters and the state’s contact tracing program. Baker said he anticipates that, after federal reimbursements from the CARES Act, this bill will have zero net cost to the Commonwealth.

 

  1. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, warned members of the Senate Committee on Health, Labor and Pensions that, if the the economy opens too quickly, the “consequences could be really serious.” Fauci expressed that, even in the best circumstances, rolling back restrictions results in new outbreaks. Closer to home, Governor Baker’s plan to reopen on May 18th may come as a relief to business but many scientists warn it’s too early.

 

  1. Fauci also offered a blunt reality check to college and university presidents anxious to reopen their campuses this fall, telling Congress it is unlikely there will be a COVID-19 vaccine or treatment widely available by this fall. While UMass and other university systems in Massachusetts have yet to decide the fate of their fall semester, many larger schools have acted – including the California State University system, which yesterday announced it will move all 23 campuses to remote instruction for the fall.

 

  1. A recent Associated Press review determined that 17 states did not meet a key White House benchmark for loosening restrictions – a 14-day downward trajectory in new or positive case rates. Yet many of those states have begun to reopen, including our neighbors to the north, the state of Maine.

 

  1. TALK LESS, SMILE MORE: On July 3, we’ll all be able to at last watch original cast of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Hamilton” from the comfort of our couches. The Walt Disney Company will release the live capture of “Hamilton” on Disney TV Plus. Originally it had been slated for movie theaters in October 2021. Raise a glass to freedom .…