McConnell outlines four-part stimulus plan

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday the Senate is crafting a four-part coronavirus stimulus package that would inject hundreds of billions of dollars into the economy and that he hopes lawmakers will pass “swiftly.” McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, has assigned top Republicans to draft the proposal, which is made up of aid to small businesses, direct cash payments to individual workers, help for big industries including the airlines, and more money for the nation’s healthcare system to deal with the virus. '“Our proposal will immediately help American workers, families, and businesses,” McConnell said Thursday. “Yes, it will help position our economy to thrive once again after this public health menace is behind us. This may not be the last economic legislation we pursue. But fundamentally, we have to beat back this virus.” McConnell did not announce when the package would be ready for a vote.

It will require buy-in from Democrats, who have the power to block legislation thanks to the 60 vote threshold required for passing it. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat who proposed his own stimulus plan, has expressed unhappiness that he is not involved in the initial drafting of the bill. “I have heard Leader McConnell has said he will sit down with our Democratic Senators to come up with a bipartisan package,” Schumer said Thursday. “That’s what we must do.”

Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, are not entirely left out of the negotiations. Both have been in regular contact with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who is President Trump’s point person on the negotiations with Congress. Democrats want the plan to include protections for workers, especially in the airline industry, which lawmakers have faulted for engaging in stock buybacks in recent years.

President Trump said during his press conference he would not object to placing conditions on the airline bailout. Republican Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Susan Collins of Maine released a small business stimulus plan on Wednesday that involves providing forgivable loans to small businesses that have been closed due to government’s guidelines to avoid the spread of the virus. “This is straightforward,” McConnell said. “A rapid injection of cash to help small businesses through this turmoil. Not some brand-new program with a long lead time, but an existing program that’s been tested.”

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/congress/mcconnell-outlines-four-part-stimulus-plan

Energy secretary requests $3B to buy emergency oil, far short of $20B floated by Mnuchin

Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said Thursday that he will ask Congress for $3 billion to fulfill President Trump’s order to buy low-priced oil to restock the nation’s emergency Strategic Petroleum Reserve. That funding would be sufficient to buy 77 million barrels, the full amount of open capacity in the SPR. It contradicts a statement from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who earlier Thursday told Fox Business that the U.S. government should “go out and buy $10 billion or $20 billion" of oil to fill up the reserve. However, the Energy Department would need nowhere near that amount, so it’s unclear how Mnuchin generated that higher number.

Brouillette told reporters on a press call that he had not seen Mnuchin’s comment and said he intends to call the treasury secretary to ask what he meant. The Energy Department has begun the process of fulfilling Trump’s order to fill the SPR to take advantage of low crude prices. The agency announced Thursday a solicitation for purchase of an initial 30 million barrels with the intent to eventually buy 77 million barrels. Brouillette said the agency will focus on buying sweet and sour crude from small to midsize U.S. oil producers that are “facing potentially catastrophic losses” from the coronavirus and “the intentional disruption to world oil markets by foreign actors.” Sellers must be U.S.-based and employ fewer than 5,000 people.

But Brouillette acknowledged DOE will need funding from Congress to fulfill Trump's order, which he hopes lawmakers provide in the third batch of a stimulus package being introduced to respond to the coronavirus pandemic. Congress could also reprogram existing funding from other accounts. “We are expecting Congress to be supportive of this,” Brouillette said. "This industry is of key importance to our national economy, and that is broadly recognized across the capitol.” Brouillette also acknowledged Trump’s move to buy low-priced oil to restock the SPR won’t halt the price crash rocking the shale industry, and he said that wasn’t the main rationale for doing it. "I don't anticipate this will drive oil prices up," he said. He said Trump’s decision makes good sense on energy security grounds while benefiting taxpayers. “Anyone who does personal investing knows you try to do best to buy low and sell high," Brouillette said.

Congress created the SPR in response to the Arab oil embargo in the 1970s as a way to mitigate supply disruptions. The SPR currently holds just shy of 635 million barrels of oil, according to Energy Information Administration data.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/energy/energy-secretary-requests-3b-to-buy-emergency-oil-far-short-of-20b-floated-by-mnuchin

Navy veteran Michael White released from Iranian prison amid coronavirus outbreak

Navy veteran Michael White, who has been held hostage on criminal charges in Iran since 2018, was released from prison into Swiss custody on medical furlough amid Iran’s deadly coronavirus outbreak. “Michael White, who has been wrongfully detained by the Iranian regime since 2018 and is serving a 13-year sentence, was released today on a medical furlough. His release on humanitarian grounds was conditioned upon him staying in Iran,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Thursday. “Michael is now in the custody of the Swiss embassy and will undergo medical testing and evaluation. The United States will continue to work for Michael’s full release as well as the release of all wrongfully detained Americans in Iran.”

White's release came the day after the U.S. imposed new sanctions on Iranian nuclear scientists. The State Department thanked the Swiss government for its “continued and constructive role as our protecting power in Iran” and called for Iran to “immediately release on humanitarian grounds” other U.S. hostages, including Morad Tahbaz, Baquer Namazi, and Siamak Namazi. The State Department repeated its request that the Iranian regime “honor the commitment it made to work with the United States for the return” of former FBI agent Robert Levinson, the longest-held U.S. hostage in the world. Although the details remain hazy, White was in Iran in July 2018 visiting a woman who his mother described as his girlfriend. White had traveled to the country previously, but this time, he was arrested and sentenced to over a decade in prison for alleging insulting Iran’s leaders and posting a private picture on the internet.

White’s mother, Joanne, set up a GoFundMe for his legal defense last year. White’s legal team, led by Mark Zaid, who represented the whistleblower in the Ukraine impeachment saga, told the Washington Examiner that “on day 606 held hostage by the Islamic Republic of Iran, Joanne received word that Michael has been furloughed from prison and is safely in the custody of the Swiss Embassy.” “We are grateful that the Iranian government took this interim humanitarian step. We continue to urge them to release Michael unconditionally so that he can return to the United States to receive the advanced medical care he needs,” Zaid said. “Joanne is very grateful to the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs and to the Swiss government for facilitating this furlough.”

The coronavirus outbreak has hit Iran particularly hard, with 18,407 confirmed cases and 1,284 deaths as of late Thursday morning, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker. Many experts and U.S. officials speculate the numbers are significantly higher. In the U.S., there have been 9,415 confirmed cases and 150 deaths. The coronavirus sickened a number of Iran’s top leaders as the nation sought to downplay and cover up the extent of the outbreak. More recently, Tehran has adopted a more serious tone over the objections of some clerics. State-run media warned Tuesday that “there will be 4 million cases, and 3.5 million people will die” if the worst-case scenario comes to pass.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/navy-veteran-michael-white-released-from-iranian-prison-amid-coronavirus-outbreak

https://www.state.gov/constraining-iranian-nuclear-scientists/