A group of over 50 House Democrats, led by Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD) have come up with a plan to SAFELY reopen our country, and it is brilliant in it’s simplicity. It is contained in H.R. 6525 - the Reopen America Act of 2020 (RAA), which is a mere 22 page piece of proposed legislation designed to reopening the US economy without causing a second spike in COVID-19 cases. You can read the whole Bill via the bolded link above. Also, you can get a quick rundown on it from Raskin's Site which he set up to announce the Bill.
From Raskin's Site, the basic concept of the Bill rests on the following:
The RAA rests on the idea that two public health conditions must be met for America to reopen safely and durably: 1) social distancing must have lowered infection rates sufficiently to allow hospitals to properly care for the infected population and 2) public health safeguards must be able to keep transmission rates below one.
In general:
The RAA invites states, coalitions of states, the District of Columbia, territories, and tribal governments to submit their detailed reopening plans to the HHS Secretary and upon approval, receive federal funding for the costs associated with implementing them. In evaluating whether a plan can keep infection and transmission rates low, the Secretary will be advised by an expert advisory panel and guided by scientific principles and data. Upon approval of a plan, states will receive federal funds to pay for state costs associated with a safe reopening to make sure that testing, treatment, contact tracing and other public health measures are in place.
Each State puts together a plan that fits its population and infection circumstances, the Federal government approves the plan and provides States with adequate $$ to implement their plan. Simple and effective.
Also:
Because the states have been laboring under conditions of supply scarcity and vicious interstate competition and bidding wars, the RAA creates a federal Health Equipment Production Board to activate industry to generate all the tests, protective equipment, ventilators, and effective treatments necessary to reopen commerce and social life in a way that puts public health first. The Board will be responsible for ensuring national and regional availability of medical supplies and equipment needed for COVID-19 response and the safe implementation of reopening plans. It will be empowered to procure and distribute supplies and equipment as needed. The Board will also assure manufacturing and distribution capacity so the government is ready and able to produce and distribute as rapidly as possible coronavirus treatments and vaccines as they become available. If necessary, the Board can invoke the authorities of the Defense Production Act.
Lastly, this Act has legs. Besides the fact that it has 50 Dem. co-sponsors, one of them is Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) meaning it has leadership support.
I am sure the GOP will have reasons to oppose this, if for no other reason than it was written by Democrats. Still, it will be difficult for them to oppose an Act entitled: the Reopen America Act. Their only recourse will be to argue that the protections in the Act to support a SAFE reopening are unnecessary. I am sure there is a large contingent of Americans who would favor a more risky reopening.
Saturday, Apr 18, 2020 · 9:59:51 PM +00:00
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Doctor Who
UPDATE: First, thanks for the Rec. List All! But to be honest a Breaking News Diary is not that difficult to write and the Recs. are more about people who appreciate getting a “heads up” on new developments than anything about the quality of the writing. So I’m not going to be patting myself on the back.
I have read through most of the comments, and some are critical of the Dem. Plan. Now before I engage in a little push back, let me say I by no means think the plan is perfect. For instance, I worry about having an HHS Board, connected to the Trump administration, doing approval of the State plans. The possibility of political shenanigans associated with such approvals cannot be ignored.
However, as soon as a State or consortium of States get a plan approved, there is nothing to say that other States can’t copy the same plan to get a quick approval (no penalty for copying). This would make it very difficult for HHS to disapprove a State plan that is virtually identical to the one it just approved.
Now for the push back. No matter what you think of the plan itself, Trump was never going to come up with a plan that would SAFELY reopen the Country. So I applaud the Democrats for taking the lead. I also think it strikes the right balance of State and Federal partnership. A top down, one size fits all Federal plan would never get the Republican support needed to get through the Senate. Lastly, some pessimistic comments say Mitch and other Republicans will not let a Dem. Plan pass. That may be true. But it will put the GOP on the defensive, and that’s always a good thing.
