Support is building among Republicans for reopening the economy sooner rather than later, but not all GOP lawmakers are on the same page.
Some conservatives are pushing more aggressive timelines while some moderates adopting a more cautious approach.
Republicans are wrestling with the looming threat of a second wave of coronavirus infections and the more immediate reality of rising unemployment, with 4.4 million more Americans applying for jobless benefits last week.
Those senators, however, aren’t aligning themselves with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) and his abrupt decision to reopen gyms, hair and nail salons, bowling alleys, tattoo parlors and massage parlors starting Friday.
Trump on Wednesday said he told Kemp that he “strongly” disagreed with the governor’s timeline. The president went after the governor again at Thursday’s White House press briefing.
“I’m not happy about it, and I’m not happy about Brian Kemp,” Trump said, noting that Kemp’s decision is in violation of federal guidelines. “I told him that. I said, ‘You’re not in the guidelines but I’m letting you make your own decision. I don’t want this thing to flair up because you’re deciding to do something that is not in the guidelines.’”
Georgia had reported more than 21,000 cases of coronavirus and 871 deaths as of Thursday.
Alexander, who isn’t seeking reelection, says people shouldn’t go back to work until health experts have a better sense of who’s infected and who needs to be quarantined.
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“I don’t think Tennesseans and Americans want to go back to work, back to school, unless we know whether we have the virus or the people who have it have been isolated. I’m focused on a new technology to produce tens of millions of diagnostic tests that’ll be ready this summer,” Alexander told News 4 Nashville this week.
He said new testing and treatments are needed, and the process for reopening the economy needs to be methodical.
Alexander said he supports Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s (R) decision to allow a “Safer at Home” order expire at the end of the month but he says it’s too soon to allow kids to return to school without more testing.
“So for phase one, we have enough tests for people who are sick. But for going back to school, I don’t think we do, and we’re going to need a new technology to do it,” he said Wednesday on Fox Business.
Collins, who is one of the most vulnerable senators up for reelection this year, said Maine doesn’t have enough resources to conduct the testing she thinks is necessary to reopen the state economy.
“Widespread testing will be essential for helping medical professionals determine when it is safe to reopen the economy and for giving people the confidence to go back to school, sporting events, and other public forums,” Collins said in a statement Wednesday.
She added that increased testing should be a “joint effort,” with the federal government playing “the leading role.”
“States like Maine simply lack the resources to conduct the necessary number of tests on their own. We need to act now to scale up production,” she said.
Cassidy has expressed concern about “the financial health” of the country, which he said is getting “pummeled.”
But he is leery of reopening the economy along the guidelines unveiled last week by the Trump administration without increased testing.
“I would like to have, in conjunction with this, though, widespread testing and knowing who is positive, who’s not. If you are at risk and you’re not immune, then by golly you better take real strong precautions. If you are immune and you are no increased particular risk, you have a lot more freedom,” he said on “Full Court Press” with Greta Van Susteren.
A spokesperson for Cassidy said the Louisiana senator “believes in a more targeted approach” than what Kemp is advocating in Georgia, adding that Cassidy thinks “different states will have different approaches.”
“If the CDC were using the testing and contact tracing he is calling for, then it could analyze not just states, but cities or even neighborhoods to evaluate the risk of an outbreak in specific areas,” the aide added.
Cassidy is also pushing a bipartisan plan to set up a $500 billion fund for hard-hit states, a plan he pitched during a Thursday conference call with colleagues.
McConnell on Wednesday said he would be in favor of allowing some states to declare bankruptcy if they face irrecoverable fiscal shortfalls. That comment drew bipartisan backlash, particularly from Republicans like Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan.
Senate GOP aides acknowledge there are conflicting views within the GOP conference over how to proceed.
“Everybody will have their own position. Everyone will be reliant on what their state does. We will trust governors to make decisions that are based on whatever their needs are,” said a Senate GOP aide after Republican senators held a conference call Thursday.
“I think that most Republicans would like the economy to be open sooner rather than later. But we’re not going to come out with a unified Republican plan,” said the aide.
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Many Senate Republicans are pushing for their states to start loosening restrictions on businesses immediately.
Toomey, who last week called the economic lockdown “draconian,” released a plan Thursday calling for two-thirds of Pennsylvania to resume some economic activities.
He argued that many hospitals, especially in central and western Pennsylvania are at low capacity.
He has introduced a three-phase plan to reopen Pennsylvania, which has had more than 37,000 coronavirus cases.
Phase one would allow businesses to open if they can adopt social distancing and hygiene protocols and if they’re located in counties with declining or limited coronavirus cases.
The second phase would allow higher-trafficked establishments such as restaurants, bars and gyms to open with proper social distancing and hygiene protocols and allow schools to resume under the supervision of state and school districts.
The final phase would relax restrictions on restaurants, bars and gyms and allow entertainment venues like theaters and concert halls to begin reopening. The third phase would depend on increased testing capacity and the development of effective therapies.
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Other Republicans, however, have voiced support for a more aggressive timeline.
McConnell said he is urging Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) to begin allowing businesses to reopen.
“The ultimate solution to this is to get the economy back up and running. I’m encouraging our governor, for example, and he’s already doing it, to begin to make steps in the direction of opening up the economy,” the GOP leader told Fox News.
Cruz has been at the forefront of calling for workers to be allowed to return to their jobs.
“If we continue shelter-in-place, that’s going to be devastating for the economy,” Cruz told the Temple Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday. “For young healthy people, it makes sense to go back to work.”
The Texas conservative said the health quarantines have accomplished their goal in making “meaningful progress in flattening the curve and slowing the rate of transmission.”
“What we’ve talked about all along, flattening the curve and limiting the spread — that has occurred. We’ve significantly flattened the curve in Oklahoma and several other states,” he told Fox 25 in Oklahoma City.
OTTAWA – Canada’s unemployment rate held steady at 6.5 per cent last month as hiring remained weak across the economy.
Statistics Canada’s labour force survey on Friday said employment rose by a modest 15,000 jobs in October.
Business, building and support services saw the largest gain in employment.
Meanwhile, finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing experienced the largest decline.
Many economists see weakness in the job market continuing in the short term, before the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts spark a rebound in economic growth next year.
Despite ongoing softness in the labour market, however, strong wage growth has raged on in Canada. Average hourly wages in October grew 4.9 per cent from a year ago, reaching $35.76.
Friday’s report also shed some light on the financial health of households.
According to the agency, 28.8 per cent of Canadians aged 15 or older were living in a household that had difficulty meeting financial needs – like food and housing – in the previous four weeks.
That was down from 33.1 per cent in October 2023 and 35.5 per cent in October 2022, but still above the 20.4 per cent figure recorded in October 2020.
People living in a rented home were more likely to report difficulty meeting financial needs, with nearly four in 10 reporting that was the case.
That compares with just under a quarter of those living in an owned home by a household member.
Immigrants were also more likely to report facing financial strain last month, with about four out of 10 immigrants who landed in the last year doing so.
That compares with about three in 10 more established immigrants and one in four of people born in Canada.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
The Canadian Institute for Health Information says health-care spending in Canada is projected to reach a new high in 2024.
The annual report released Thursday says total health spending is expected to hit $372 billion, or $9,054 per Canadian.
CIHI’s national analysis predicts expenditures will rise by 5.7 per cent in 2024, compared to 4.5 per cent in 2023 and 1.7 per cent in 2022.
This year’s health spending is estimated to represent 12.4 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product. Excluding two years of the pandemic, it would be the highest ratio in the country’s history.
While it’s not unusual for health expenditures to outpace economic growth, the report says this could be the case for the next several years due to Canada’s growing population and its aging demographic.
Canada’s per capita spending on health care in 2022 was among the highest in the world, but still less than countries such as the United States and Sweden.
The report notes that the Canadian dental and pharmacare plans could push health-care spending even further as more people who previously couldn’t afford these services start using them.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
As Canadians wake up to news that Donald Trump will return to the White House, the president-elect’s protectionist stance is casting a spotlight on what effect his second term will have on Canada-U.S. economic ties.
Some Canadian business leaders have expressed worry over Trump’s promise to introduce a universal 10 per cent tariff on all American imports.
A Canadian Chamber of Commerce report released last month suggested those tariffs would shrink the Canadian economy, resulting in around $30 billion per year in economic costs.
More than 77 per cent of Canadian exports go to the U.S.
Canada’s manufacturing sector faces the biggest risk should Trump push forward on imposing broad tariffs, said Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters president and CEO Dennis Darby. He said the sector is the “most trade-exposed” within Canada.
“It’s in the U.S.’s best interest, it’s in our best interest, but most importantly for consumers across North America, that we’re able to trade goods, materials, ingredients, as we have under the trade agreements,” Darby said in an interview.
“It’s a more complex or complicated outcome than it would have been with the Democrats, but we’ve had to deal with this before and we’re going to do our best to deal with it again.”
American economists have also warned Trump’s plan could cause inflation and possibly a recession, which could have ripple effects in Canada.
It’s consumers who will ultimately feel the burden of any inflationary effect caused by broad tariffs, said Darby.
“A tariff tends to raise costs, and it ultimately raises prices, so that’s something that we have to be prepared for,” he said.
“It could tilt production mandates. A tariff makes goods more expensive, but on the same token, it also will make inputs for the U.S. more expensive.”
A report last month by TD economist Marc Ercolao said research shows a full-scale implementation of Trump’s tariff plan could lead to a near-five per cent reduction in Canadian export volumes to the U.S. by early-2027, relative to current baseline forecasts.
Retaliation by Canada would also increase costs for domestic producers, and push import volumes lower in the process.
“Slowing import activity mitigates some of the negative net trade impact on total GDP enough to avoid a technical recession, but still produces a period of extended stagnation through 2025 and 2026,” Ercolao said.
Since the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement came into effect in 2020, trade between Canada and the U.S. has surged by 46 per cent, according to the Toronto Region Board of Trade.
With that deal is up for review in 2026, Canadian Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Candace Laing said the Canadian government “must collaborate effectively with the Trump administration to preserve and strengthen our bilateral economic partnership.”
“With an impressive $3.6 billion in daily trade, Canada and the United States are each other’s closest international partners. The secure and efficient flow of goods and people across our border … remains essential for the economies of both countries,” she said in a statement.
“By resisting tariffs and trade barriers that will only raise prices and hurt consumers in both countries, Canada and the United States can strengthen resilient cross-border supply chains that enhance our shared economic security.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
