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Capital Journal
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Good morning from the WSJ Washington bureau. The U.S. is preparing for a prolonged shutdown and more states have ordered residents to stay at home as the death toll in the U.S. from the novel coronavirus passes 3,100. We hope you're doing well. Take care of yourselves.
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Trump's Day: President Trump participates in a phone call with network service providers. The Coronavirus Task Force has a press conference at 5 p.m. E.T. (If you missed it: Mark Meadows has officially joined the White House as chief of staff, and resigned as a North Carolina congressman.)
Markets: U.S. stock-index futures and equity markets in Europe rose, with global stocks poised to close out their worst quarter since the financial crisis.
China: China said for the first time that it excluded people who were infected with the novel coronavirus but haven’t shown symptoms from its national tally, as questions arise about its accounting of the disease.
Coronavirus Cases: The number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 rose to more than 787,000 across 178 countries and regions, while deaths world-wide topped 37,800 on Tuesday. The U.S. has reported more than 164,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases, the most of any country, and more than 3,170 deaths. Here are the CDC's latest guidelines.
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Readers: Have a question about how Washington is responding to the coronavirus crisis? We'll try to answer them in our regular newsletter videos. Send your question to capitaljournal@wsj.com.
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The USNS Comfort has been deployed to New York to help out with the coronavirus pandemic. PHOTO: BRYAN R. SMITH/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
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The U.S. prepared for a prolonged shutdowns as a striking new reality from the coronavirus pandemic spread across America. State and federal leaders are taking steps unprecedented in modern times to fight the global coronavirus pandemic, Jennifer Calfas, Chong Koh Ping and Ann M. Simmons report.
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More states ordered residents to stay at home—with some officials emphasizing their orders are requirements, not suggestions.
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Democratic and Republican governors have also called for more supplies, stressing the severe shortages of equipment that medical professionals on the front lines need to do their jobs.
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In New York—the site of the worst outbreak in the country, with more than 66,000 confirmed cases—a U.S. Navy ship outfitted with 1,000 hospital beds arrived, and medical tents sprung up in Central Park.
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NYU Langone Health, a top academic medical center, told emergency-room doctors that they have “sole discretion” to place patients on ventilators and institutional backing to “withhold futile intubations.”
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Florida, unlike other hard-hit states, has avoided a broad coronavirus lockdown. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has sought to avoid the economic pain of statewide shutdowns.
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President Trump said Monday that the U.S. should have enough medical equipment to handle the surge of cases when they peak in the coming weeks.
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The Justice Department is examining whether lawmakers traded ahead of the market turmoil caused by the coronavirus pandemic based on confidential briefings they received, Aruna Viswanatha and Dave Michaels report.
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Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has led the central bank into uncharted waters. The 107-year-old institution has moved faster and farther in just weeks than it did during the 2008 financial crisis, which unfolded over 18 months. Jerome Powell’s team reached for methods used then, while creating new tools on the fly, Nick Timiraos reports.
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Just as new fronts are opening up in the health battle against the coronavirus, so too is the next front in the policy debate over how to contain the economic carnage, writes Gerald F. Seib. Specifically, the question is this: Is it already time for Washington to prepare another big economic-stimulus package?
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Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has become Washington’s deal-maker in trying to keep the coronavirus crisis from throwing the U.S. into the deepest downturn since the Great Depression, report Kate Davidson and Bob Davis. His ability to keep President Trump’s trust while working with Democrats and others Mr. Trump distrusts will be all the more needed in the weeks ahead.
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Pelosi: 'We Must Do More to Help Our Helpers'
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House Democrats are beginning to sketch out their priorities for the next piece of legislation responding to the coronavirus pandemic.
Even before Congress completed a massive $2 trillion economic relief bill last week, lawmakers and aides were anticipating that they would soon begin work on another piece of legislation, the fourth in a series of bills responding to the virus’s spread. The pandemic has brought much of the economy to a standstill.
In a press call on Monday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) said she wanted the next bill to provide more medical equipment and workplace protections to health-care workers. Both chambers of Congress have left Washington after finishing the last bill and several lawmakers contracted the disease.
“We must do more to help our helpers in this moment of national crisis,” she said. “Delays in producing enough [personal protective equipment] and ventilators will cost lives that should not have to be lost.”
That priority is one among many she and top House Democrats laid out on the call Monday, calling additionally for:
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An additional round of direct financial assistance to American taxpayers, beyond the $1,200 many will receive under the last bill
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Investments in infrastructure to stimulate the economy and expand broadband access
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More aid to state and local governments
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Further expansion of paid family and medical leave
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Pension reform
Several of the provisions, including infrastructure, are policy issues that House Democrats had been eyeing prior to the outbreak in the U.S. Mrs. Pelosi said that lawmakers will continue to work on the measures remotely and would aim to prepare specific legislation in the coming weeks.
She ruled out the possibility of voting on bills from outside of Capitol Hill, which some lawmakers have called for as the virus has spread among members of Congress.
“I would not suspect that we would have any bipartisan legislation before we return after Easter and Passover, but we’re getting ready, and in some cases we are ready, but get further prepared in light of the increasing challenge we face,” she said.
Write to Andrew Duehren at andrew.duehren@wsj.com.
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Debate Over Defense Production Act
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Podcast: A Cold War-era law gives the president powers to mobilize private companies to help in emergencies. WSJ's Andrew Restuccia and Stephanie Armour explain why President Trump has been reluctant to put the law to use in the fight against the coronavirus.
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Why Unemployment Means More Money for Some Under Stimulus Bill
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Under the new coronavirus stimulus package signed by President Trump, some workers may earn more money from unemployment benefits than what they earned before being laid off.
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Photo: Anna Watts for The Wall Street Journal
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Get an early morning briefing about the coronavirus each weekday and a weekly Health newsletter once the crisis abates. Sign up here.
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Well-funded Democratic nonprofits and super PACs are adjusting their messaging and tactics in response to the coronavirus pandemic as they pour tens of millions of dollars into ad campaigns and digital platforms in an attempt to beat President Trump in November, Tarini Parti and Chad Day report.
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The left-leaning groups have spent months polling, interviewing voters in battleground states and building digital outreach operations to avoid any missteps from 2016.
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Now that the pandemic has shut down traditional canvassing and campaigning, the groups say they are leaning more on that digital infrastructure.
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Two Republican-led groups have filed complaints with the Federal Election Commission against billionaire Michael Bloomberg, alleging the recent transfer of $18 million from his presidential campaign to the Democratic National Committee violates campaign finance laws, Tarini Parti reports.
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The Trump administration is completing new rules on tailpipe emissions. The rules would slash the emissions targets that auto makers must reach over the next five years, according to people familiar with the situation. They would require auto makers to achieve 1.5% annual increases in fleetwide fuel efficiency through 2026, using an industry measure that takes both gas mileage and emissions reductions into account, reports Timothy Puko.
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That requirement would be down from a 5% annual increase in efficiency mandated by the Obama administration.
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From reporter Timothy Puko:
The rule might be completed but the issue is far from settled. The Trump administration took three years to craft rules and sort out internal squabbling. California and environmental groups are widely expected to sue, which would create still more months—maybe years—of conflict. If Mr. Trump doesn’t win re-election, a Democratic replacement will likely start the process over again, going the other way. Opponents, and auto makers themselves, had warned if the administration pushed an aggressive rollback, it could cast these rules into question well beyond the years they were supposed to start taking effect. That day is arriving for auto makers.
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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told his brother, Chris, on CNN that he isn't planning to run for president and hasn't even thought about doing so. (The Hill)
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While they cope with the coronavirus crisis, government officials also must think about how to prepare for the next epidemic. (Foreign Policy)
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Iconic retailers now laying off workers may not qualify for loan money under the new stimulus bill. (Politico)
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This newsletter is a production of the WSJ Washington bureau. Our newsletter editors are Tim Hanrahan, Kate Milani, Troy McCullough and Daniel Nasaw. Send feedback to capitaljournal@wsj.com. You can follow politics coverage on our Politics page and at @wsjpolitics on Twitter.
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