A deal on coronavirus stimulus bill remains elusive as Pelosi’s deadline looms

At first, the IRS said inmates were eligible for stimulus payments up to $1,200.

Then the agency walked back that decision, telling correctional facilities to intercept stimulus checks that the agency had already issued. Spouses of the incarcerated were told they had to return the part of relief money intended for incarcerated individuals.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (Cares) Act provides economic impact payments or stimulus payments of up to $1,200 for individuals and $2,400 for taxpayers filing a joint tax return. There was nothing in the law prohibiting prisoners from receiving stimulus payments.

When Natalie Smith walked into her macroeconomics class recently, she felt a wave of euphoria.

To see her classmates and professor in person, take notes and ask questions without having to awkwardly unmute herself on Zoom — “I was unnaturally happy,” she said, laughing. “I’ve never been so happy to attend an economics course.”

Never mind that her temperature was scanned when she walked into the building, that everyone was wearing masks and that she was in Italy, thousands of miles from Washington, D.C., where she had expected to study this fall.

After initial fears that a return to in-person learning at public schools across New York City could cause the spread of the coronavirus to worsen, initial testing data shows a more promising outlook: Out of 16,298 tests taken in the first week of the program, just 20 staff members and eight students were positive. The low infection rate is due in part to smaller class sizes and social distancing, according to the report in the New York Times.

New York’s school system, the nation’s largest, was the first big-city system to reopen in September. The testing is a bright spot and suggests that the guidelines and testing procedures it implemented could serve as a potential blueprint as U.S. school districts navigate how to safely return during the pandemic.

D.C. health officials on Monday added eight states to the city’s list of locations considered “high-risk” for travel because of the coronavirus pandemic, raising the total of states under the designation to 39 as new cases continue to surge across the country.

A state is considered high-risk if its seven-day rolling average number of new coronavirus cases is 10 or more per 100,000 people. Under an order from Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D), anyone who comes to the nation’s capital from a high-risk state for nonessential reasons must self-quarantine for two weeks.

Standing at a lectern in front of a backdrop reading “Protecting America's Seniors,” President Trump offered unusually sober advice about the coronavirus pandemic to a group of older Floridians on Friday.

“So whether you’re Republican or Democrat,” he said, reading from the teleprompter, “we must choose facts over fear.” Looking away from the prompter briefly, he added, “We have to — science over hysteria; hope over despair; and the common good over partisan politics.”

He urged those listening not to simply go out and do what they wanted because “the president said, ‘Let’s get out.’” For younger people, though? Different advice and a different tone.

The White House and Congress are fighting over an economic relief bill, and odds appear low they will reach a deal before the November election. Yet hundreds of billions of dollars already set aside by lawmakers to support the Federal Reserve’s emergency aid programs may never be touched, illustrating the unevenness of Congress’s bailout decisions from earlier this year.

In March, Congress allotted $454 billion to the Treasury Department to support the central bank’s emergency lending programs, including those for struggling businesses and local governments. Of that pot, only $195 billion has been specifically committed to cover any losses the Fed might take, including though loans that companies fail to repay. Seven months into the crisis, the remaining $259 billion still has not been committed to any of the Fed’s specific programs or for any other purpose, and it is unlikely that it will be anytime soon.

House Democrats and the Trump administration remained far apart Monday in economic relief negotiations, and a resolution looked unlikely ahead of the Tuesday night deadline set by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for a deal that could pass before the election.

President Trump seemed to downplay chances for an outcome, telling reporters that “Nancy Pelosi, at this moment, does not want to do anything that’s going to affect the election.”

But Pelosi insisted in a call with Democratic colleagues that she did want to pass legislation before the election, saying she didn’t want to carry “the droppings of this grotesque elephant into the next presidency,” according to a person on the call who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss it. The elephant comment was first reported by Politico.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday strongly recommended in newly issued guidelines that all passengers and workers on planes, trains, buses and other public transportation wear masks to control the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The guidance was issued following pressure from the airline industry and amid surging cases of the coronavirus in the United States and strong evidence on the effectiveness of masks in curbing transmission, according to CDC officials.

The recommendations fall short of what transportation industry leaders and unions had sought, and come long after evidence in favor of mask-wearing was well established.