| House Democrats rolled out a mammoth coronavirus relief package on Tuesday, arguing that now is the time for more spending as they push to bring Republican lawmakers to the negotiating table. The proposal — a monstrous $3 trillion, 1,815-page bill — is expected to be voted on Friday, according to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), and serve as an opening salvo in eventual negotiations with Republicans, who are playing a waiting game in deal-making. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called on the GOP to end its self-imposed “pause” in discussions, pointing to rising unemployment figures and ongoing economic damage. "We must think big for the people now because if we don’t it will cost more in lives and livelihood later. Not acting is the most expensive course,” Pelosi said in a speech on Tuesday. “We are presenting a plan to do what is necessary to deal with the corona crisis and make sure we can get the country back to work and school safely.” The Associated Press: Pelosi unveils $3T virus bill, warns inaction costs more. READ: House Democrats' $3 trillion coronavirus relief package. As Cristina Marcos notes, the $3 trillion bill — which would be the largest bill in U.S. history, if passed — contains a grab bag of Democratic priorities, including billions for food assistance, state and local governments, contingency plans for vote-by-mail in the November elections, another round of direct stimulus payments to individuals and hazard pay for essential workers on the front lines of the pandemic. Despite the Democratic laundry list of policies, the bill may not earn the support of the entire caucus because some of Pelosi’s colleagues do not believe the legislation goes far enough. Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, sent a letter to Democratic leadership on Tuesday pushing to delay a vote on the bill until next week to allow time for potential amendments, including federal payouts for all workers’ salaries up to $100,000 and direct federal grants to businesses to help afford continued rent. The Hill: Eight surprises in the House Democrats' $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill. The Washington Post: House Democrats unveil coronavirus rescue bill that would direct more than $3 trillion to states, individuals, health systems. The Associated Press: Dems’ $3 trillion COVID-19 recovery bill would increase state aid and back hazard pay for essential workers. Democrats unveiled a bill they know won’t become law as a strategy to bring GOP negotiators to the table. But on Tuesday, Republicans said they will first evaluate the effects of $2.8 trillion already enacted as COVID-19 relief before signing on for more. "What you've seen in the House, Nancy, is not something designed to deal with reality, but designed to deal with aspirations. This is not a time for aspirational legislation, this is a time for practical response to the coronavirus pandemic," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters after the bill was released, with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) deeming the bill “dead on arrival” in the Senate (The Hill). However, as Alexander Bolton writes, Senate Republicans are privately putting together a wishlist of their own for the next COVID-19 relief package, which some believe will set the stage for a bill to be passed this summer. Chief among those ideas: a litigation shield for businesses that reopen as the pandemic carries on and a reform of beefed-up unemployment benefits that Congress approved in March that critics say are making it tougher to hire lower- and middle-income workers. The Hill: Democrats' coronavirus relief bill reins in president's ability to remove IGs. The Hill: House Democrats' bill would create a second round of direct coronavirus relief payments. The Washington Post: At least 100,000 small businesses in America permanently shut because of coronavirus stay-at-home orders and economic duress, economists project. As the $3 trillion price tag tied to Pelosi’s proposal began to sink in on Capitol Hill, the administration’s top public health and infectious disease experts testified that the United States is a long way from putting COVID-19 in the rearview mirror, no matter how eager anyone may feel to reopen restaurants, put children back in classrooms and day care centers, and book summer travel. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, voiced near-term caution, along with more upbeat predictions about the eventual development and approval of a COVID-19 vaccine, perhaps next year. Fauci repeated that his expert advice to President Trump, governors, lawmakers and the public is not about the economy, but about human health, a lethal virus and how to halt its spread. “My concern is that if some areas, city, states or what have you, jump over those various checkpoints and prematurely open up without having the capability of being able to respond effectively and efficiently, my concern is that we will start to see little spikes that might turn into outbreaks,” Fauci told senators on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee during virtual testimony in which some members, including the chairman, and witnesses participated from their homes (The Hill). Fauci’s message was no surprise: Reopen too soon, or with inadequate preparations, and more people will be infected and many more than the current 82,000 will die. New outbreaks will revive stay-at-home restrictions, lessen public confidence and hobble the twin goals of both a healthy population and revival of the economy, he added. “If we do not respond in an adequate way when the fall comes, given that it is without a doubt that there will be infections that will be in the community, then we run the risk of having a resurgence,” he said, noting that a vaccine will not be available in time for the customary back-to-school season. Fauci and other U.S. public health advisers previously warned that a seasonal resurgence of flu in addition to the continued presence of COVID-19 this fall could overwhelm some hospitals if states and cities are not careful. This scenario envisions “waves” of contagion, not a single peak, plateau and ebb of infections before COVID-19 “disappears,” as Trump is fond of saying. 
© Getty Images Another item from Tuesday’s testimony was an admission under senators’ grilling that the Health and Human Services Department mismanaged control over the distribution of the experimental drug remdesivir, which has shown promise in treating patients, especially in the early stages of COVID-19 illness. Senators complained that HHS distributed the scarce drug to states rather than to major hospital centers with identified and immediate patient needs. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn, part of HHS, assured senators that lessons had been learned. The Wall Street Journal reported that immunologist Deborah Birx, coronavirus policy coordinator at the White House, complained in a May 7 email to her senior colleagues, including Fauci, that there had been a “misalignment” in the administration’s handling of remdesivir (The Hill). The Hill: As Niall Stanage writes, Fauci’s science-based caution contrasts with Trump’s political optimism, his sweeping superlatives and impatience. Opinion polls show Fauci is trusted by a majority of Americans across parties, a caution flag for the president. “There is certainly not a confrontational relationship between me and the president,” Fauci said during the Senate hearing, adding that when he gives Trump advice, “he hears that, he respects it, he gets opinions from a variety of other people” (The New York Times). The Hill: Five takeaways from the Senate testimony. Politico: Fauci fatigue has set in among some Republicans. Others, however, are speaking up in the director’s defense. Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney is the third-highest ranking Republican in the House. 
© Twitter Morning Report exclusive: Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, sent a letter Tuesday night to acting Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell and Attorney General William Barr calling for the release of all information surrounding the circumstances under which Obama administration officials sought to learn the identities of Trump associates about whom intelligence was gathered, a process in which senior advisers seek to “unmask” certain intelligence identification. The request by two GOP committee chairmen relates to Michael Flynn and others. The Justice Department said on Tuesday it does not intend to disclose former officials who requested “unmasking.” It is unclear whether Grenell will furnish the information. READ the letter HERE. | 
