Get all the latest news on coronavirus and more delivered daily to your inbox. Sign up here.
President Trump demanded on Monday that the Senate “stop playing partisan politics” and pass a massive stimulus bill meant to jumpstart a flagging economy battered by the coronavirus pandemic, while saying he hopes the administration’s guidelines on social distancing will end soon and not go on for “months.”
“They must pass the Senate bill as written and stop playing partisan politics,” Trump said during an evening news conference with the White House coronavirus task force. “They have to make a deal.”
He added: “This should not be a time for political agendas.”
Trump struck a much more somber tone than some of his previous press conferences on the outbreak, admitting that the numbers of people infected are going to rise. He did say, however, that he was optimistic that the country could begin opening up again in weeks, not months.
“I’m not looking at months,” he said. “This is going away. We’re going to win the battle.”
During the lengthy press conference, the president — who recently tested negative for the virus — revealed that first lady Melania Trump has also been tested and the results came back negative. Also during the briefing, taskforce member Dr. Deborah Birx revealed she had a low-grade fever over the weekend and tested negative, too.
While Trump did not specifically call out Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., or other Democrats in the Senate, his comments on Thursday hit on arguments made by his fellow Republicans that Democrats are using the coronavirus pandemic as an opportunity to push unrelated political agendas.
During a speech on the Senate floor earlier in the day, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., McConnell accused Democrats of trying to extract concessions from airlines over their “carbon footprint,” with the economy hanging in the balance.
“They ought to be embarrassed,” he said. “This is no time for this nonsense.”
Among the demands Schumer wants included in the bill are new collective bargaining powers for unions, higher fuel emissions standards for airlines, and expanded wind and solar tax credits.
Democrats had also complained that the draft aid package did not go far enough to provide health care and unemployment aid for Americans, and failed to put restraints on a proposed $500 billion “slush fund” for corporations, saying the ban on corporate stock buy-backs are weak and the limits on executive pay would last only two years.
“We Democrats are trying to get things done, not making partisan speech after partisan speech,” Schumer said earlier Monday while calling the legislation an exclusively Republican-authored bill.
Speaking to reporters Monday, Trump said that the bill needed to be passed to mitigate any more financial fallout from the COVID-19 outbreak.
“This is not a country meant to be shut down,” he said. “We are not going to let this turn into a long-lasting financial problem.”
It seems, however, unlikely that any legislation will be voted ono the Senate on Monday as Schumer and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin continue to work out a version of the bill that will appease both sides.
Along with the Senate bill, Trump during the briefing also addressed concerns about price gouging and reports of people hoarding medical supplies – such as face masks and hand sanitizer – that are desperately needed by health care workers battling to stop the spread of the contagion.
Earlier in the day, Trump signed an executive order meant to curtail price gouging and hoarding, and also warned that federal law enforcement would take strict measures in prosecuting any person found to hoarding, raising prices, or selling fake cures for the pathogen.
“It will be a crime to stockpile these necessities,” Trump said. “As president, I will always fight against Americans being exploited.”
Speaking to reporters, Trump also called out the reports of hostility directed at Asian-Americans amid the outbreak.
Trump has been criticized by Democrats for labeling the contagion the “Chinese virus” but has denied the term is racist. He claims he uses the phrase as part of an attempt to be accurate about where the first cases originated.
“The spreading of the virus is not their fault,” Trump said of Asian-Americans.
The White House press briefing was noticeably less crowded then it was even a day ago as the administration enacted strict limits on the number of people admitted to the briefing after it was reported that a member of the press corps has a “suspected case” of the coronavirus.
Trump acknowledged that reporters were now practicing social distancing and wish the journalist a speedy recovery.
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
