Monthly Archives: March 2020

In just over 24 hours, some 12,000 people shared a post from the Kenosha County Democratic party slamming the coronavirus vote by Wisconsins Republican congressional delegation.

The emergency measure which includes free testing for COVID-19, paid emergency leave and other emergency appropriations easily passed both houses of Congress and was signed into law by President Donald Trump on March 18, 2020.

But it passed without much help from Wisconsin.

The Kenosha Democrats seized on that fact in a March 19, 2020, Facebook post. The post explained the bill, commented on gerrymandering and noted the GOP no votes from purple Wisconsin went beyond the breakdown from even the deepest red of the red states.

It was accompanied by a graphic with pictures of U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson and U.S. Reps. Mike Gallagher, Glenn Grothman, Jim Sensenbrenner and Bryan Steil that said this: "WI is the ONLY state where all Republicans voted against protecting its citizens."

This post was flagged as part of Facebooks efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

Lets check it out.

The votes

The bill passed 363-40 in the U.S. House and 90-8 in the U.S. Senate.

Indeed, all five Republicans in the Wisconsin delegation cast a no vote, according to roll calls published by ProPublica. All four state Democrats voted for the bill.

And, yes, that clean sweep of Republican votes was unique around the country.

In Oklahoma both Republican senators voted against the bill, but two of three Republican representatives supported it. Iowas lone Republican representative voted no, but both Republican senators there supported the bill.

The summary

That leaves us to look at the characterization that Wisconsin Republicans "voted against protecting (the states) citizens"?

Like anything in politics, its more complicated than that. In various statements issued after the votes, the states Republican lawmakers didnt object to the concept of providing help amid the pandemic, but they took issue with numerous specifics in the bill and how the process was handled.

Sensenbrenner objected to spending money on a bill that he said stretched 100 pages and was presented with less than 30 minutes to review.

"We do not know the full cost of this legislation," he said in a statement. "I am not a fan of passing bills to find out what is in them."

Steil told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he voted against the bill because it "places a heavy government mandate on Wisconsin small businesses that are already suffering negative consequences from coronavirus."

Gallagher echoed those comments in a statement, saying he feared the bill would hurt small businesses.

"This bill, while well-intentioned, contains a number of unclear provisions that could force small businesses in Northeast Wisconsin to lay off workers or cause them to close their doors altogether," Gallagher said. "Let me be clear: H.R. 6201 contained a number of good provisions like free testing that weve already successfully fought for. But I have serious questions as to whether the best way to support those needing paid and sick leave is through tax credits to small businesses instead of direct payments to those affected."

Lori Hawkins, chair of the Kenosha County Democratic Party, defended the description in the Facebook post. She said the bill guided both testing and treatment to help control the spread of the disease.

"A 'no' vote by our elected officials was a vote against protecting their constituents from this highly contagious disease which has already been deadly to residents in Wisconsin," she said in an email.

Our ruling

A viral Facebook post said Wisconsin "is the only state where all Republicans voted against protecting its citizens."

It is indeed the only state where all Republicans opposed the bill, which has now become law.

But its a bit of an exaggeration to summarize their decisions as a vote "against protecting (Wisconsin) citizens." And of course this is expected to be just the first of many bills addressing the coronavirus fallout.

We rate this claim Mostly True.

See the original post here:

Yes, Wisconsin is the only state where all Republicans opposed coronavirus bill - PolitiFact

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Republicans Found a Way to Mail Checks and Still Screw People Over - Slate

"This is not like the financial meltdown, where you had banks that made bad decisions and asked the government to bail them out," said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). "We are basically telling people not to go out, not to spend money at these stores, and in some jurisdictions, not go to work. ... It's an unprecedented challenge."

Republicans are eager to make that argument as they embark on a wide-ranging rescue mission and fend off charges that theyre ditching their free-market principles. Senior administration officials have been careful not to refer to President Donald Trumps plan as a bailout a tacit acknowledgement that the proposal could spark a revolt while being politically toxic for the GOP down the road. Some outside conservative groups are already urging lawmakers on Capitol Hill to reject direct aid for industries.

But at least for now, Republicans are mostly brushing aside long-held cost concerns in order to salvage the economy and perhaps Trumps reelection, as well as their own.

The term bailout does give everyone pause, and justifiably so, said Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus.

But even Biggs, who voted against the Houses $100 billion coronavirus bill last week, didnt entirely shut the door on supporting the next round of stimulus. We do want this country to be strong, he said. You have to consider future generations.

Particularly in the face of an extraordinary public health crisis which Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) compared to World War II lawmakers are calculating that there is a far greater risk if they dont take aggressive steps to protect the economy.

Rep. Andy Biggs. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Tuesday pitched Senate Republicans on whats likely to be a $1 trillion package, with around $500 billion in direct cash payments for individuals as well as money for emergency loans for small businesses hit by the economic slowdown and assistance for the airline industry.

GOP Rep. Peter King of New York, who backed the 2008 financial industry rescue, said he is inclined to support whatever Trump and GOP leadership come up with, even if its not ideal.

In ordinary times, some would have those concerns, about the cost and the deficit, King said. But, he added, in times of crisis, you cant let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Trumps strong support for a stimulus package could also provide Republicans with some much-needed political cover especially if it means resuscitating the economy, which was supposed to be the GOPs crown jewel in the 2020 elections.

Last Friday, the Capitol was at a standstill waiting for Trump to tweet his support for the Houses coronavirus relief bill, which expands access to free testing, provides $1 billion in food aid and extends sick leave benefits to vulnerable Americans. When Trump finally did, all but 40 Republicans ended up voting for the legislation.

But some GOP lawmakers were frustrated that they voted in the early hours of Saturday morning on a bill they didnt have time to fully read. And the legislation was so hastily written that the chamber had to pass 90 pages of technical corrections on Monday.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Mnuchin sought to alleviate some concerns during a conference call with ranking members and GOP caucus leaders on Tuesday during which they walked lawmakers through the changes and vowed to be more inclusive in the next phase of their economic response. But Republicans also recognize the sense of urgency and the need to act fast.

Rep. Tom Cole. | Matt Rourke/AP Photo

Would you like to slow it down? Yeah, were talking about a lot of money here. But were also talking about an unprecedented challenge to the economy, said Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, the top Republican on the House Rules Committee, who was on the call. The sheer speed with how this virus spreads requires a speedy response.

Having lived through [Troubled Asset Relief Program] calls and TARP meetings, Cole added, theres just not been the level of acrimony.

The GOPs early embrace of a pricey stimulus package caps a transformation of the party that has been three years in the making. Trump has kept a firm grip on the GOP, overseeing a massive tax cut and putting the deficit on track to surpass $1 trillion.

There are still a number of fiscal hawks and conservative hard-liners who have pushed back against deficit-busting bills and they are certain to raise concerns during the coming debate.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is vowing to offer an amendment to cut spending from other programs for every dollar added in stimulus spending, while the Club for Growth and other conservative groups backed by megadonor Charles Koch are urging lawmakers to reject any tax-payer funded bailouts that provide direct relief to industries hit by the coronavirus.

Rep. Louie Gohmert. | Shawn Thew-Pool/Getty Images

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) even threatened to hold up quick passage of the Houses revised coronavirus bill, though he eventually backed off. Still, his antics sparked some concern among Republicans that the partys right flank will get in Trumps ear and sour him on the idea of a massive economic relief plan.

What we do have to worry about is Louie Gohmert, a few others, getting to Fox News, said one GOP lawmaker. If momentum [against it] builds up on its own, the president may turn on it.

But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is undeterred, vowing to press ahead with the stimulus package at warp speed.

These are not ordinary times. This is not an ordinary situation, the Kentucky Republican told reporters. So it requires extraordinary measures.

John Bresnahan contributed to this report.

More:

Republicans suddenly find a bailout they can back - POLITICO

That's according to a new Pew Research Center national poll -- one of the first comprehensive looks we've gotten at how the virus is impacting public opinion since people began to take the idea of social distancing seriously over the past week.

Given the seriousness of the threat posed by the coronavirus -- some projections suggest hundreds of thousands of people could die before a vaccine is developed -- the disconnect between what the media is reporting and how people are perceiving those reports is concerning.

And while Republicans are far more likely to doubt the media's ability to not overhype the illness, Democrats, too are skeptical -- with 22% saying the media is "greatly" exaggerating the threat and 27% saying they are "slightly" exaggerating it.

The GOP number, however, is the one that stands out, given that far more Republicans believe the media is greatly pumping up the dangers of coronavirus than think the media is getting it about right (17%) or underestimating the threat (6%).

Even as most medical professionals were warning of the spread of the virus, many of Fox News' most prominent voices were dismissing it as nothing more than the latest attempt by Democrats and the media to hurt President Donald Trump.

And of course, Trump has spent much of his presidency seeking to undermine the credibility of the media in the eyes of his supporters -- repeatedly referring to the media as "fake" and insisting, without evidence, that the press made up bad stories about him.

Now, at a time when we need a common set of facts and set of information distribution channels we can trust, we don't have them. That is not an accident.

The Point: Trump's war on the media -- and Fox News' helping hand -- has consequences. We are seeing them now.

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A staggering number of Republicans think the media is exaggerating the coronavirus - CNN

A pair of GOP lawmakers urged Twitter to ban scores of Chinese government accounts that attempt to "spread propaganda and whitewash" evidence suggesting China downplayed and covered-up early indications of the coronavirus's impact.

Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsinin a letter to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey stressed that the Chinese government was using the platform to "disseminate propaganda" amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Both pointed to the Communist Party of China's (CCP) obfuscation over the origins of the coronavirus in recent weeks, when Chinese senior officials alleged without evidence that the US Army "brought" the virus to their country.

"We believe this behavior more than warrants their removal from the platform," the Sasse and Gallagher said in the letter. "Additionally, given the humanitarian importance of free and open access to the internet, we believe that access to social media platforms should be denied to government officials from countries that prohibit their own populations from accessing this very content."

Similar to other authoritarian countries like Iran, Twitter is officially blocked in China. In 2019, Twitter removed nearly 4,800 accounts, over 1,600 of which sent out 2 million tweets that frequently shared news content "with an angle that benefited the diplomatic and geostrategic views of the Iranian state."

Chinese President Xi Jingping and President Donald Trump. Getty Images / Thomas Peter-Pool

Despite the official ban, state-influenced media organizations like Xinhua, as well as Chinese government officials, have accounts on the social media platform.

"When did patient zero begin in US? How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals? It might be US Army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian tweeted on March 12. "Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation."

The novel coronavirus is widely believed to have originated from wild animals, with early cases in December indicating it may have spread from a wildlife market in Wuhan, China.

"While the coronavirus pandemic is afflicting families, governments, and markets around the world, the Chinese Communist Party is waging a massive propaganda campaign to rewrite the history of COVID-19 and whitewash the Party's lies to the Chinese people and the world," the Republicans said.

The Republican letter comes days after a party colleague, Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana, was blocked on Twitter by Zhao. Neither Banks nor Zhao previously tweeted to each other; however, the Republican has been critical of the CCP for targeting "politicians that are generally critical of China," the lawmaker previously said to Insider.

Some Republican lawmakers and personalities have also suggested that the Chinese government could have manufactured the disease. Republicans like longtime China-hawk Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas pointed to the proximity of the Wuhan wildlife markets to a Chinese "superlaboratory" and questioned whether the coronavirus may have been developed there.

Cotton has yet to provide evidence of the suggestion, but referenced the Chinese government's indisputable sequence of suppressing information and downplaying the outbreak in its early stages, and alleged it was "lying about it from the very beginning."

Chinese officials have been accused of lowering the number of positive cases and tamping down on reports since December, prior to when the virus's spread was formally acknowledged by the government. The lack of transparency and action has been scrutinized in the US, where lawmakers claim that the information may have allowed the country to better prepare for the pandemic.

The hawkish sentiment towards the CCP comes as the White House is pushing talking points that accuse Beijing of a "cover-up," according to a US State Department cable and two officials cited in a Daily Beast report.

"The [CCP] is waging a propaganda campaign to desperately try to shift responsibility for the global pandemic to the United States. This effort is futile," the cable said, according to The Daily Beast. "Thanks to the cover-up, Chinese and international experts missed a critical window to contain the outbreak within China and stop its global spread. Saving lives is more important than saving face."

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Republicans call for Twitter ban against the Chinese government - Business Insider - Business Insider

MADISON, Wis. The Latest on the coronavirus outbreak in Wisconsin (all times local):

3:15 p.m.

Wisconsin's Republican legislative leaders accused Democratic Gov. Tony Evers of spreading confusion, anxiety and uncertainty with plans to issue an order closing all nonessential businesses and urging people to stay at home.

Evers had said Friday he didn't envision needing to issue such an order but now does at the advice of public health officials, businesses and local leaders as a way to slow the spread of COVID-19.

But Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald faulted Evers for changing course. The Republicans said there "needs to be a better understanding as to why the decisions are being made, because of the impact on the economy, businesses and residents of the state."

Evers said details about what businesses would be considered essential and how long the order will be in place would be coming on Tuesday. He said in general health care facilities and grocery stores would be exempt, but numerous other exemptions in line with federal guidelines were expected.

The Evers plan drew praise from numerous health care groups, who said it would help with the effort to fight the virus before it overwhelms the state's hospitals and clinics.

___

2:45 p.m

A 33-year-old Wisconsin state representative from Milwaukee says he has tested positive for COVID-19, becoming the first member of the Legislature known to have contracted the disease caused by the coronavirus.

Democratic Rep. David Bowen said Monday that the confirmation came over the weekend after he had been running a fever late last week. Bowen said he is quarantined at home and "still fighting symptoms."

Bowen said he learned last week from the Shorewood Health Department that he had been in contact with a fellow local elected official who had tested positive. He said he immediately quarantined himself and after he started to show symptoms himself got tested.

"It is imperative that this virus be taken seriously and that individuals minimize social interactions and stay home to prevent further spread of this virus and its immobilizing symptoms," Bowen said. "Had I known of my status even earlier, I would have reduced my exposure to others who may potentially have gotten the virus from me."

There are 416 confirmed cases in Wisconsin and five deaths, three of them in Milwaukee County.

___

1:55 p.m.

A fifth person has died from COVID-19 in Wisconsin, while the number of confirmed cases topped 400 on Monday, according to the latest figures from the state Department of Health Services.

The Milwaukee County medical examiner said the latest death was of a 54-year-old African American man. That is the third COVID-19 death in Milwaukee County. The other two deaths were in Ozaukee and Fond du Lac counties.

The number of confirmed cases on Monday increased to 416 from 381 the day before. There are now confirmed cases in 30 of Wisconsin's 72 counties.

The mayor of Superior in northwest Wisconsin on Monday urged people not to go shopping after newly confirmed cases had recently been out in public shopping.

___

12:01 p.m.

Wisconsin's finances are stronger than before the onset of the last recession in 2007, but are about average when compared with other states, according to a new report released Monday by the nonpartisan Wisconsin Policy Forum.

The report comes amid financial turmoil caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, mass closures and skyrocketing unemployment. Gov. Tony Evers said Monday he was going to order on Tuesday that all non-essential businesses close, likely forcing more people out of work. He argues the move is needed to further stop the spread of the virus.

The Wisconsin Policy Forum report said Wisconsin has a relatively strong $2 billion unemployment insurance fund, bolstered cash balances that can help cover short-term bills and other improvements in basic measures of financial strength such as higher reserves.

But it also cautions that in terms of total preparedness it is no better than average when compared to other states and will need federal aid to address the challenges citizens will face. Wisconsin is behind most stats on debt per capita and the total amount of savings it has relative to expenses.

___

10:45 a.m.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison has canceled its planned graduation ceremonies that were to take place May 8 and May 9 and will instead offer a "virtual ceremony."

The decision from UW-Madison announced Monday was not unexpected given similar moves made by universities across the country. UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank said the university and senior class officers were developing a virtual commencement that will be posted online May 8 for all graduates to watch.

She also says an in-person event at a future date after the public health crisis has subsided is being planned.

About 7,000 undergraduate degrees are typically handed out at the May graduation ceremony that attracts about 40,000 people.

"Of all the decisions we've had to make in this extraordinary time, this one has been the most heartbreaking for me," Blank said. "We held out on this decision as long as possible, in hopes that the outlook for late spring might brighten and we'd be able to gather as usual."

But she said given the state and federal guidelines against gatherings of more than 10 people, there was no way any graduation ceremonies could proceed, including smaller ones in schools, colleges, departments or other campus organizations.

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Republicans accuse Evers of causing confusion with order - Minneapolis Star Tribune

President Donald Trump was criticized by a top former official in his administration over his plans to re-open the economy.

Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) laid out his arguments in a Twitter thread.

"Theres a strong and understandable desire to return to better times and a functioning economy. But it should not be lost on anyone that there's no such thing as a functioning economy and society so long as COVID-19 continues to spread uncontrolled in our biggest cities," Gottlieb wrote.

"So long as COVID-19 spreads uncontrolled, older people will die in historic numbers, middle aged folks doomed to prolonged ICU stays to fight for their lives, hospitals will be overwhelmed, and most Americans terrified to leave homes, eat out, take the subway, or go to the park," he continued.

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Failure of the worst kind: Republican blasts Trump for forcing states to compete with each other to obtain protective gear - Raw Story

President Donald Trump was criticized by a top former official in his administration over his plans to re-open the economy.

Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) laid out his arguments in a Twitter thread.

"Theres a strong and understandable desire to return to better times and a functioning economy. But it should not be lost on anyone that there's no such thing as a functioning economy and society so long as COVID-19 continues to spread uncontrolled in our biggest cities," Gottlieb wrote.

"So long as COVID-19 spreads uncontrolled, older people will die in historic numbers, middle aged folks doomed to prolonged ICU stays to fight for their lives, hospitals will be overwhelmed, and most Americans terrified to leave homes, eat out, take the subway, or go to the park," he continued.

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Republican calls for a State Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer to repent for sins that brought on coronavirus - Raw Story

One of the critiques that is often leveled at the NeverTrumpers is that, even as they reject the current presidents words and deeds, they fail to assume any responsibility for how we got here. That isnt true of Stuart Stevens, who once served as Mitt Romneys campaign strategist. Hehas writtena courageous piece titled, Republicans like me built this moment. Then we looked the other way.

The failures of the governments response to thecoronavirus crisiscan be traced directly to some of the toxic fantasies now dear to the Republican Party. Here are a few:Government is bad. Establishment experts are overrated or just plain wrong. Science is suspect. And we can go it alone, the world be damned.

As the country deals with the fallout of this administrations failure to respond to a pandemic, it is important to remember that it didnt all start with Donald Trump.

During his 1981 inaugural address, the patron saint of the Republican PartyRonald Reaganfamously said that Government is not the solution to our problem, governmentisthe problem. He was articulating a foundational principle of the modern-day GOP, which sees government as the enemy of free-market capitalism.

Leading up to Reagans election, Republicans used the so-called Southern Strategy to win over support from the majority of white Americans for their efforts to dismantle the federal government. Harkening back to the Civil War, they did so under the banner of state rights, and by claiming that federal government initiatives were designed to help those people.

During the Reagan era, a strategy to starve the beastwas incorporated, which promoted tax cuts as a way to reduce federal revenue. One of the main proponents of that strategy was Grover Norquist, who famously said, I dont want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.

Fast forward to 2016 and we have Donald Trump running for president on a promise to drain the swamp. As we now know, that wasnt an allusion to ending corruption. While serving as White House chief strategist, Steve Bannonexplainedthat the goal was the deconstruction of the administrative state. Through a combination of incompetence and malevolence, they have been wildly successful in those efforts.

Because most of the programs and regulations administered by the federal government are supported by the majority of Americans, advocating for their dissolution has always required subterfuge. That is why one of the fallbacks has always been to employ racism. But when it came time to starve the beast, Republicans invented the lie of trickle-down economics, suggesting that tax breaks to the wealthy would somehow trickle down to the rest of us.

All of that meant that, as David Robertswrote, Republicans became the post-truth party.

Republicans thus talk about taxes and spending and regulation in the abstract, since Americans oppose them in the abstract even as they support their specific manifestations. They talk about cutting the deficit even as they slash taxes on the rich and launch unfunded wars. They talk about free markets even as they subsidize fossil fuels. They talk about American exceptionalism even as they protect fossil-fuel incumbents and fight research and infrastructure investments.

In short, Republicans have mastered post-truth politics. Theyve realized that their rhetoric doesnt have to bear any connection to their policy agenda. They can go through different slogans, different rationales, different fights, depending on the political landscape of the moment. They need not feel bound by previous slogans, rationales, or fights. Theyve realized that policy is policy and politics is politics and they can push for the former while waging the latter battle on its own terms. The two have become entirely unmoored.

In order to sell those lies, Republicans had to reject things like facts, science, and math. Experts on those matters were labeled elitists (most often relegated to liberal coastal states) who were attempting to silence the heartland. That became a rallying cry of the so-called populists during the 2016 election. This cartoon captures what it means to reject elitists who happen to be the experts.

That attitude helps explain how we wound up with a man in the White House whose major claim to fame had previously been to star in a reality television series.

As the saying goes, Im old enough to remember that Republicans howled when, during a 2004 debate, John Kerrysuggestedthat a presidents decision to go to war should pass a global test of legitimacy. Four years later, they accused President Obama of leading from behind when he attempted to partner with our allies. Those were the harbingers to Trumps isolationism captured by his America First mentality.

A Republican president is now presiding over the federal governments response to a pandemic. He is doing so with a bureaucracy that has been decimated, while he lies, rejects the advice of experts, and assumes that a virus can be stopped by building walls. Stevens sums it up by writing, What is happening now is the inevitable result of a party that embraced fear, weaponized xenophobia, and regarded facts as dangerous, left-wing landmines that must be avoided.

Of course, the first order of business for all of us is to get through this pandemic as best we can. But we should never forget that it wasnt just Trump that failed in his response. He is heir to decades of Republican principles that paved the way for needless suffering on a massive scale.

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A Republican admits that the toxic fantasies of his party have led us to an unprecedented crisis - AlterNet

Asked if he would extend current guidelines on social distancing if it was recommended by public health experts, Trump said: "If it were up to the doctors, theyd say lets keep it shut down, lets shut down the entire world ... We cant do that."

Trump launched the federal government's "15 days to slow the spread" campaign last week, advising Americans to limit social gatherings to 10 people, work from home and avoid discretionary travel.

In a late-night Twitter stream, he retweeted several posts advocating letting the guidelines lapse at the end of the 15-day period.

"The fear of the virus cannot collapse our economy that President Trump has built up," one of Trump's retweeted posts said. "The People are smart enough to keep away from others if we know that we are sick or they are sick! After 15 days are over the world can begin to heal!"

Trump also retweeted a post saying "Flatten the curve NOT the Economy" and another saying: "15 days, then we keep the high risk groups protected as necessary and the rest of us go back to work."

In an appearance on Fox News, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, 69, said: "No one reached out to me and said, as a senior citizen, are you willing to take a chance for your survival in exchange for keeping the America that all America loves for your children and grandchildren?

"And if thats the exchange, Im all in."

Patrick, who is essentially the state's vice-governor, continued: "I just think there are lots of grandparents out there in this country like me - I have six grandchildren - that, what we all care about, and what we love more than anything are those children. And I want to live smart and see through this but I dont want the whole country to be sacrificed."

Speaking on Fox News White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said: "The President is right. The cure can't be worse than the disease. And we're going to have to make some difficult trade-offs."

The toughest measures to prevent the spread of the virus - such as stay-at-home orders and closures of non-essential businesses - have all been taken by state governors and mayors, rather than the federal government.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.Credit:AP

But if the Trump administration were to soften or remove its guidelines, it could embolden Republican-controlled states to avoid taking action and discourage conservative Americans from practising social distancing.

Confirmed coronavirus cases continue to rise in the US as testing becomes more widely available. At least 500 people have died from the illness and over 43,000 people have tested positive.

Democrats and Republicans have still not been able to agree on the final form of a massive economic rescue package that remains stuck in the Senate. On Monday afternoon (Tuesday AEDT) Democrats again voted to block the bill from proceeding to a vote.

Democrats particularly oppose what they are calling a $US500 billion ($845 billion) "slush fund" that would be under control of the US Treasury Secretary.

Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer said he was "very close" to reaching a deal with the Trump administration on what would be the "largest emergency funding bill in American history".

"Our goal is to reach a deal today," he said.

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Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell slammed his Democratic Senate colleagues.

"They out to be embarrassed," he said.

"This is not a juicy political opportunity, this is a national emergency... The country doesn't have time for these political games."

The cost of the Senate bill is currently $US1.6 trillion and that amount is likely to grow even larger as negotiations continue.

Matthew Knott is North America correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

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Republicans say the virus fight may cost the economy too much - Sydney Morning Herald