thehuffingtonpost--2020-05-21--Matthew Whitaker's Time As Trump’s Attorney General Was Unique. His Book Isn’t.

There ’ s “ The Russia Hoax : The Illicit Scheme to Clear Hillary Clinton and Frame Donald Trump , ” by Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett .
There ’ s “ The Deep State : How an Army of Bureaucrats Protected Barack Obama and Is Working to Destroy Donald Trump , ” by Fox News contributor Jason Chaffetz .
Even former Trump associates caught up in the Russia probe have gotten in on the publishing bonanza : George Papadopoulos wrote “ Deep State Target : How I Got Caught in the Crosshairs of the Plot to Bring Down @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s “ Abuse and Power : How an Innocent American Was Framed in an Attempted Coup Against the President ” drops in August .
But Whitaker ’ s book is light on new revelations .
In fact , it ’ s light on new material altogether .
A digital copy of Whitaker ’ s book , published by the conservative Regnery Publishing , clocks in at 266 pages .
Whitaker ’ s actual new material book is about 130 pages ; maybe a couple more if you count the acknowledgments .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ copies of Whitaker ’ s speeches , and even a copy of the U.S. Constitution “ for reader reference.
” He even toys with the classic margins trick , indenting his text when he republishes ( in full ! )
an August 2017 anti-Mueller op-ed he wrote for CNN two months before he joined the Justice Department .
Whitaker writes that he worries that “ civic-minded Americans are dissuaded from public service… because of innocent mistakes they have made in the past and the abuse they see heaped on people whose lives haven @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a few pages after he identifies Rep. Hakeem Jeffries ( D-N.Y. ) , on first reference , as the “ nephew of the infamous Professor Leonard Jeffries , whom the City University of New York fired for anti-Semitic and anti-white tirades in the 1990s.
” Whitaker writes that former Attorney General Loretta Lynch acted like she was “ above the law ” because she didn ’ t recuse herself from the Hillary Clinton investigation after she met with former President Bill Clinton on a tarmac .
Yet he also writes glowingly about his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ One with Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner as Whitaker was overseeing the Mueller investigation that was scrutinizing both men .
There ’ s barely a cross word about Trump in the book .
Whitaker writes that Trump is good at reading people .
He writes about all the times he saw Trump working hard .
He says Trump has acted “ utterly within the law.
” He says Trump “ genuinely loves the men and women of law enforcement.
” He writes that watching Trump “ lead effectively , while under withering @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Congress , former government officials , and even members of his own Justice Department , was like nothing else I ’ ve witnessed or even read about in American history.
” Perhaps the closest he gets to critiquing Trump is a very safe tisk-tisk : he calls Trump ’ s infamous “ Access Hollywood ” tape “ jarringly offensive locker room bravado.
” Whitaker sprinkles his narrative with the gossipy anecdotes these sorts of accounts include to drive media coverage .
But they aren ’ t all that interesting .
Melania Trump apparently @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 6-foot-4 Whitaker borrowed from Solicitor General Noel Francisco on a visit to the Supreme Court .
Whitaker says he jokingly challenged former chief of staff John Kelly to a fight inside the Oval Office .
“ [ H ] e would have won , of course , ” Whitaker writes .
He recalls that former Vice President Dick Cheney cracked a smile and asked if Whitaker was “ having fun yet ?
” when Whitaker attended President George H.W .
Bush ’ s funeral .
Whitaker calls his work for World Patent Marketing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ earned , ” and says he wasn ’ t “ the only honest working professional ” who worked on the group ’ s advisory board .
He writes that he had “ no knowledge of any fraud ” committed by the company : “ I wish I had never agreed to represent this client , and I feel awful for everyone who was hurt by them ( as I , in my own way , was ) .
” Whitaker tries to draw a distinction between his anti-Mueller tweets before his appointment and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Page and Peter Strzok during their involvement in both the Hillary Clinton email investigation and the probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election .
His argument is that it ’ s not OK for government officials to privately express political views on government phones — but it is OK for someone who publicly disputed the legitimacy of a law enforcement investigation to be placed in charge of overseeing that investigation by the target of the investigation .
As evidence , he points to a decade-old controversy over the handling of a civil @ @ @ @ @ @ @ New Black Panther Party who were confronted by Republican poll watchers as they stood outside a polling place in Philadelphia in the 2008 election , one of them with a billy club in hand .
Later in the book , Whitaker goes on to argue that the executive branch can choose not to prosecute whomever for pretty much any reason .

Matthew Whitaker, former acting U.S. attorney general, speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference 2020 on Feb. 28, 2020. Samuel Corum via Getty Images
Matthew Whitaker should have a fascinating story to tell. The former college football player took over the Justice Department at one of its most consequential moments in modern history, after President Donald Trump forced Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign because his recusal in the probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election eventually led to Robert Mueller’s special counsel investigation.
Sessions, in his recent campaign to regain his former Senate seat, has boasted that he didn’t write a “tell-all book” after leaving the Trump administration. Whitaker, even with the release of his new book “Above the Law: The Inside Story of How the Justice Department Tried to Subvert President Trump,” could legitimately make the same claim.
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Marketing aside, Whitaker’s book doesn’t offer much new insight into his unique three-month stint as acting chief of the U.S. Department of Justice. Instead, it fits the same mold as a plethora of books aimed at Trump supporters searching for hardcover-bound reassurance that the president did nothing wrong and was the victim of a witch hunt.
Trump ally Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) writes in his foreword that Whitaker’s story “looks very familiar to me.” It’ll look familiar to Fox News viewers as well.
There’s “The Russia Hoax: The Illicit Scheme to Clear Hillary Clinton and Frame Donald Trump,” by Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett. There’s “The Deep State: How an Army of Bureaucrats Protected Barack Obama and Is Working to Destroy Donald Trump,” by Fox News contributor Jason Chaffetz. Even former Trump associates caught up in the Russia probe have gotten in on the publishing bonanza: George Papadopoulos wrote “Deep State Target: How I Got Caught in the Crosshairs of the Plot to Bring Down President Trump,” while Carter Page’s “Abuse and Power: How an Innocent American Was Framed in an Attempted Coup Against the President” drops in August.
It’s a full field, but you’d think as the country’s former top law enforcement official, Whitaker’s key role would give him something new to contribute — like recent books by former FBI Director James Comey and former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe (both of whose menacing photos are featured on the cover of Whitaker’s “Above The Law.”)
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But Whitaker’s book is light on new revelations. In fact, it’s light on new material altogether. A digital copy of Whitaker’s book, published by the conservative Regnery Publishing, clocks in at 266 pages. Whitaker’s actual new material book is about 130 pages; maybe a couple more if you count the acknowledgments. The rest is padding: DOJ documents, copies of Whitaker’s speeches, and even a copy of the U.S. Constitution “for reader reference.” He even toys with the classic margins trick, indenting his text when he republishes (in full!) an August 2017 anti-Mueller op-ed he wrote for CNN two months before he joined the Justice Department.
“Trump ally Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) writes in his forward that Whitaker’s story “looks very familiar to me.” It’ll look familiar to Fox News viewers as well.”
Whitaker, who previously served as one of the nation’s top federal prosecutors as President George W. Bush’s U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa, makes some disjointed arguments throughout his literary debut. He refers to himself both as a “battle-scarred veteran of the Justice Department who served two tours” and “an outsider to Justice Department politics.”
He decries “coastal elites” and Washington insiders for caring so much about Ivy League universities even as he repeatedly thanks the powerful (and D.C.-based) Federalist Society and its former top official Leonard Leo (a Cornell Law School graduate) for bringing him to the Trump administration’s attention.
Whitaker writes that he worries that “civic-minded Americans are dissuaded from public service… because of innocent mistakes they have made in the past and the abuse they see heaped on people whose lives haven’t been perfectly curated” just a few pages after he identifies Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), on first reference, as the “nephew of the infamous Professor Leonard Jeffries, whom the City University of New York fired for anti-Semitic and anti-white tirades in the 1990s.”
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He derisively refers to former Attorney General Eric Holder as Obama’s “wingman” (as Holder once referred to himself in a 2013 radio interview with Tom Joyner) even as he lavishes praise on Trump, whom he depicts as an “extraordinary person” fighting hard every day for average Americans.
Whitaker writes that former Attorney General Loretta Lynch acted like she was “above the law” because she didn’t recuse herself from the Hillary Clinton investigation after she met with former President Bill Clinton on a tarmac. Yet he also writes glowingly about his experience boarding Marine One and Air Force One with Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner as Whitaker was overseeing the Mueller investigation that was scrutinizing both men.
Matthew Whitaker walks with Jared Kushner at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, on December 7, 2018, as they accompany Donald Trump to Kansas City, Missouri. JIM WATSON via Getty Images
There’s barely a cross word about Trump in the book. Whitaker writes that Trump is good at reading people. He writes about all the times he saw Trump working hard. He says Trump has acted “utterly within the law.” He says Trump “genuinely loves the men and women of law enforcement.” He writes that watching Trump “lead effectively, while under withering attacks from the media, Democrats in Congress, former government officials, and even members of his own Justice Department, was like nothing else I’ve witnessed or even read about in American history.” Perhaps the closest he gets to critiquing Trump is a very safe tisk-tisk: he calls Trump’s infamous “Access Hollywood” tape “jarringly offensive locker room bravado.”
Whitaker also doesn’t delve into his icy relationship with former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. At one point, he writes that Rosenstein had an “unusual verbal maneuverability that helped him appease Republicans and Democrats alike” and says Rosenstein appears on “both sides of an issue.”
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Rosenstein, as the No. 2 official at the Justice Department, normally would’ve taken over as acting attorney general after Sessions’ resignation, but DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel opined that Whitaker’s appointment was acceptable, relying on precedent from 1866 — before the Justice Department was even formed.
Whitaker sprinkles his narrative with the gossipy anecdotes these sorts of accounts include to drive media coverage. But they aren’t all that interesting. Melania Trump apparently ragged on the ill-fitting morning coat the 6-foot-4 Whitaker borrowed from Solicitor General Noel Francisco on a visit to the Supreme Court. Whitaker says he jokingly challenged former chief of staff John Kelly to a fight inside the Oval Office. “[H]e would have won, of course,” Whitaker writes. He recalls that former Vice President Dick Cheney cracked a smile and asked if Whitaker was “having fun yet?” when Whitaker attended President George H.W. Bush’s funeral.
The book also has the boilerplate attempt at explaining away a scandal. Whitaker does concede he made a mistake working for a Florida-based company ordered to pay nearly $26 million in fines as part of what the Federal Trade Commission called a “scam that has bilked thousands of consumers out of millions of dollars.” Among World Patent Marketing’s products: a “MASCULINE TOILET” designed specifically for “well-endowed men,” which was announced in the same 2014 press release as Whitaker’s appointment.
Whitaker calls his work for World Patent Marketing the “worst $10,000 I ever earned,” and says he wasn’t “the only honest working professional” who worked on the group’s advisory board. He writes that he had “no knowledge of any fraud” committed by the company: “I wish I had never agreed to represent this client, and I feel awful for everyone who was hurt by them (as I, in my own way, was).”
Overall, Whitaker’s jumping timeline makes the scattered chronology of ESPN’s “The Last Dance” seem well-planned. Throughout the book, he claims to speak on behalf of the real men and women in federal law enforcement and assures readers that they agree with his point of view about the actions of Obama administration officials and the FBI’s former leadership.
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Whitaker’s “inside story” starts off alluding to his run-ins with the people he refers to as “hand-wringing bureaucrats,” “unelected federal employees” and the “Deep State.”
“I routinely encountered ― both directly, and indirectly through their anonymous leaks to the media ― powerful, ambitious individuals who held themselves above the law,” Whitaker writes.
But he never really dishes about who these other members of the “deep state” are, exactly, aside from writing that half of them went to Harvard. Instead, he trots out the Trump world’s familiar villains, dutifully running through the list of the president’s perceived enemies within the DOJ.
Whitaker tries to draw a distinction between his anti-Mueller tweets before his appointment and the private anti-Trump texts exchanged by Lisa Page and Peter Strzok during their involvement in both the Hillary Clinton email investigation and the probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election. His argument is that it’s not OK for government officials to privately express political views on government phones — but it is OK for someone who publicly disputed the legitimacy of a law enforcement investigation to be placed in charge of overseeing that investigation by the target of the investigation.
Donald Trump shakes hands with Matthew Whitaker during a Cabinet meeting on Feb. 12, 2019. Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images
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Whitaker never really grapples with the fact that so many of the enemies in his narrative ― Mueller, Comey, McCabe ― were Republicans. Whitaker instead adopts a common tactic of Trump supporters who try to differentiate between the average federal law enforcement official and the elite officials in leadership.
Amid his complaints of media leaks, Whitaker claims that unnamed “longtime professional staff” at the Justice Department “privately acknowledged” that the “arrogance characteristic of the Obama administration, personified by his first Attorney General, Eric Holder, created an above-the-law culture inside the Justice Department.”
As evidence, he points to a decade-old controversy over the handling of a civil rights lawsuit against two members of the New Black Panther Party who were confronted by Republican poll watchers as they stood outside a polling place in Philadelphia in the 2008 election, one of them with a billy club in hand. Later in the book, Whitaker goes on to argue that the executive branch can choose not to prosecute whomever for pretty much any reason.
“I could understand if President Trump did in fact tell Comey ‘I hope you can let this go,’” Whitaker writes, excusing Trump’s apparent attempt to intervene in the prosecution of former national security adviser Michael Flynn. “Declining to prosecute someone is an Article II power, as is pardoning criminals,” Whitaker writes.
He also praises Trump’s firing of Comey, whom Whitaker writes “might have become the next J. Edgar Hoover.” He paints himself as an average American fighting along Trump for truth, justice, and the American way.
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“Hell can rain down on me,” Whitaker writes that he was thinking when he became acting attorney general. “But under no condition would I allow partisan Democrats, above-the-law Justice Department leakers, and a biased media to deter me or keep me from doing my job.”
Matthew Whitaker looks over at then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions during a roundtable discussion with foreign liaison officers at the Justice Department in Washington on Aug. 29, 2018. Allison Shelley / Reuters
Whitaker only lasted in that job a few months before the confirmation of current Attorney General William Barr. It was ultimately Barr, not Whitaker, who helped shield Trump from some of the fallout of the release of the Mueller report.
But Whitaker erases any possible doubt about the views he held on the Mueller investigation. He never explains why, exactly, he thinks Trump appointed him to the position, but insists that the president never asked him to fire Mueller.
“If Mueller wasn’t the driver of this taxpayer-financed two-year-long expedition that resulted in nothing but a salacious dramatization of an innocent President’s torment at the hands of an angry bureaucracy, who was?” he writes.
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Whitaker calls the 1999 special counsel regulation that allowed for Mueller’s appointment a “crazy” rule that “basically creates a Grand Inquisitor, someone who is judge, jury, and executioner.” (That would come as a surprise to members of Mueller’s team, who acted as prosecutors before judges and juries.)
After a few dozen pages of familiar complaints about the Justice Department and the “deep state,” Whitaker arrives at his expected, Fox News-friendly conclusion: Trump is the victim.
“In my mind, if there was any abuse of power, it was committed not by the President but by his opponents who abused the power of the Justice Department to harass the President of the United States for no good reason,” he writes.
“This will sound counterintuitive,” Whitaker writes, “but an independent Department of Justice should concern every American.”


thehuffingtonpost--2020-05-21--Trump Is The Most Anti-Conservation President In History, Analysis Finds

It ’ s a vow that dates back to former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke .
In December 2017 , after less than a year on the job , Zinke declared that goal complete , publishing an extremely thin list of actions that he believed rivaled those of his hero and America ’ s conservation president .
Upon resigning from the administration in January 2019 , Zinke claimed , among other things , that the Trump administration is “ one of the leading conservationists.
” David Bernhardt , who replaced Zinke atop the federal agency , has carried the torch forward @ @ @ @ @ @ @ One of the president ’ s priorities is to strive to ensure a conservation legacy second only to Theodore Roosevelt , ” he said during his Senate confirmation hearing in March 2019 .
Environmentalists , outdoor sporting groups and even a great-grandson of Roosevelt himself have repeatedly blasted the Trump administration for invoking and comparing itself to the 26th president .
And a new analysis from the Center for American Progress shows just how wildly off the mark the administration is .
“ If the Trump administration aspires to build upon Teddy Roosevelt @ @ @ @ @ @ @ want to consider stopping their attacks on the very system of public lands that Roosevelt helped build , ” said Jenny Rowland-Shea , CAP ’ s senior public lands policy analyst and a co-author of the report .
“ The numbers reveal an administration that has handed extractive industries access to public lands at a scope and scale we ’ ve never seen before.
” Trump is the only president to strip protections from more acres of public land than he ’ s protected , according to the analysis .
The administration has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rolling back protections for nearly 35 million acres of federal land , an area roughly the size of Florida .
That includes slashing protections for 10 million acres of greater sage grouse habitat in seven Western states to allow energy and mineral development ; a directive to greenlight logging on more than 9 million acres of Alaska ’ s Tongass National Forest , the planet ’ s largest remaining intact temperate rainforest ; and carving more than 2 million acres from a pair of protected national monuments in Utah ― Bears Ears and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ national monuments in U.S. history .
The 35 million acre figure does not include the more than 24 million acres of public lands that the Trump administration has offered at auction to oil and gas drillers or its controversial offshore drilling plan that could open up nearly all U.S. waters ― some 1.5 billion acres ― to fossil fuel development .
Meanwhile , the Trump administration has protected via executive action less than 37,000 acres , CAP found .
That includes the administration ’ s extension of a mining ban on 30,000 acres @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Montana , in an area just north of Yellowstone National Park .
The Interior Department often highlights its efforts to expand hunting and fishing on federal lands .
Last month , it proposed new and expanded hunting and angling opportunities on 2.3 million acres across 97 national wildlife refuges and nine national fish hatcheries .
While that is said to be the largest single proposed expansion in the agency ’ s history , the Obama administration made similar annual announcements .
CAP ’ s analysis comes as the U.S. and nations around the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that ’ s rooted in environmental destruction , including habitat loss and the trade of wildlife .
As HuffPost reported last month , human exploitation of the natural world has led to a rise in infectious diseases spilling from animals to humans , and scientists warn that preventing future outbreaks requires a global effort to better protect ecosystems and combat biodiversity loss .
“ Protected lands and waters are a bulwark against the rapid decline of nature , offering a refuge for people and wildlife alike , ” CAP writes in its report @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a football field ’ s worth of natural area every 30 seconds to human development , the planet simply can not afford any additional destructive anti-conservation actions .
”

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At the very top of the Interior Department’s list of priorities is to “create a conservation stewardship legacy second only to Teddy Roosevelt.”
It’s a vow that dates back to former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. In December 2017, after less than a year on the job, Zinke declared that goal complete, publishing an extremely thin list of actions that he believed rivaled those of his hero and America’s conservation president. Upon resigning from the administration in January 2019, Zinke claimed, among other things, that the Trump administration is “one of the leading conservationists.”
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David Bernhardt, who replaced Zinke atop the federal agency, has carried the torch forward, just not for himself. “One of the president’s priorities is to strive to ensure a conservation legacy second only to Theodore Roosevelt,” he said during his Senate confirmation hearing in March 2019.
Environmentalists, outdoor sporting groups and even a great-grandson of Roosevelt himself have repeatedly blasted the Trump administration for invoking and comparing itself to the 26th president. And a new analysis from the Center for American Progress shows just how wildly off the mark the administration is.
By the numbers, Trump is the most “anti-nature” president in U.S. history, the left-leaning think tank found.
“If the Trump administration aspires to build upon Teddy Roosevelt’s conservation legacy, they may want to consider stopping their attacks on the very system of public lands that Roosevelt helped build,” said Jenny Rowland-Shea, CAP’s senior public lands policy analyst and a co-author of the report. “The numbers reveal an administration that has handed extractive industries access to public lands at a scope and scale we’ve never seen before.”
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Trump is the only president to strip protections from more acres of public land than he’s protected, according to the analysis. The administration has weakened or is in the process of rolling back protections for nearly 35 million acres of federal land, an area roughly the size of Florida.
That includes slashing protections for 10 million acres of greater sage grouse habitat in seven Western states to allow energy and mineral development; a directive to greenlight logging on more than 9 million acres of Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, the planet’s largest remaining intact temperate rainforest; and carving more than 2 million acres from a pair of protected national monuments in Utah ― Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante ― the largest rollback of national monuments in U.S. history.
The 35 million acre figure does not include the more than 24 million acres of public lands that the Trump administration has offered at auction to oil and gas drillers or its controversial offshore drilling plan that could open up nearly all U.S. waters ― some 1.5 billion acres ― to fossil fuel development.
President Donald Trump holds up a pen after signing a proclamation shrinking Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments at the Utah State Capitol in Salt Lake City in December 2017. SAUL LOEB via Getty Images
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has protected via executive action less than 37,000 acres, CAP found. That includes the administration’s extension of a mining ban on 30,000 acres in Zinke’s home state of Montana, in an area just north of Yellowstone National Park.
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By comparison, Roosevelt protected over 230 million acres of federal land by establishing five national parks, 18 national monuments and dozens of national forests and wildlife refuges.
Nicholas Goodwin, a spokesman for the Interior Department, dismissed CAP as “an extremist, special interest organization.”
“The Trump Administration has a proud legacy of preserving our lands for future generations, while expanding access and creating new opportunities for hunters, anglers and outdoor enthusiasts,” he said via email.
The Interior Department often highlights its efforts to expand hunting and fishing on federal lands. Last month, it proposed new and expanded hunting and angling opportunities on 2.3 million acres across 97 national wildlife refuges and nine national fish hatcheries. While that is said to be the largest single proposed expansion in the agency’s history, the Obama administration made similar annual announcements.
CAP’s analysis comes as the U.S. and nations around the globe reel from a deadly COVID-19 pandemic that’s rooted in environmental destruction, including habitat loss and the trade of wildlife. As HuffPost reported last month, human exploitation of the natural world has led to a rise in infectious diseases spilling from animals to humans, and scientists warn that preventing future outbreaks requires a global effort to better protect ecosystems and combat biodiversity loss.
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“Protected lands and waters are a bulwark against the rapid decline of nature, offering a refuge for people and wildlife alike,” CAP writes in its report. “With the United States losing a football field’s worth of natural area every 30 seconds to human development, the planet simply cannot afford any additional destructive anti-conservation actions.”
Earlier this week, the environmental group League of Conservation Voters named Trump the “Dirtiest of All Time” on its 2020 list of politicians with the worst environmental records.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-05-21--Trump Says Mailing In Your Ballot Is Corrupt, Unless You're Trump

President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that mailing in election ballots is corrupt , but he carved out two exceptions on Thursday : you ’ re sick or you ’ re him .
“ We don ’ t want them to do mail-in ballots because it ’ s going to lead to total election fraud , ” Trump said , though there is no evidence of that .
“ Now if somebody has to mail it in because they ’ re sick , ” Trump told reporters , “ or , by the way , because they live in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Florida and they won ’ t be in Florida , if there ’ s a reason for it , that ’ s okay.
” Trump changed his primary residence from New York to Florida in October , likely to seek a lower income tax or avoid an inheritance tax .
He voted by absentee ballot in the state ’ s March primary , using an intermediary in a process known as ballot-harvesting that he and other Republicans have described as election fraud .
A major reason states are increasingly offering mail-in ballots @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be the most effective way to ensure people can safely vote without fear of spreading or catching COVID-19 , which is likely to remain a major threat in the November election when Trump faces presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden .
Democratic leaders in the House and Senate have been pushing to include funding for states to expand vote-by-mail in coronavirus relief packages , but Trump and his GOP backers appear to have calculated that suppressing election turnout by limiting vote-by-mail would work in the president ’ s favor .
Trump himself said on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that agreeing to Democratic proposals to make voting easier would mean “ you ’ d never have a Republican elected in this country again.
” On Wednesday , Trump threatened to revoke federal funding to Michigan and Nevada , two major swing states , because they sent applications for voting by mail to registered voters .
“ I will ask to hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path !
” Trump tweeted .
But voting by mail is already very common .
According to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of ballots were cast by mail in 2016 .
Two years later , the figure had risen to 26 % .

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President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that mailing in election ballots is corrupt, but he carved out two exceptions on Thursday: you’re sick or you’re him.
“We don’t want them to do mail-in ballots because it’s going to lead to total election fraud,” Trump said, though there is no evidence of that.
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“Now if somebody has to mail it in because they’re sick,” Trump told reporters, “or, by the way, because they live in the White House and they have to vote in Florida and they won’t be in Florida, if there’s a reason for it, that’s okay.”
Trump changed his primary residence from New York to Florida in October, likely to seek a lower income tax or avoid an inheritance tax. He voted by absentee ballot in the state’s March primary, using an intermediary in a process known as ballot-harvesting that he and other Republicans have described as election fraud.
A major reason states are increasingly offering mail-in ballots is the coronavirus pandemic. It may be the most effective way to ensure people can safely vote without fear of spreading or catching COVID-19, which is likely to remain a major threat in the November election when Trump faces presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
Democratic leaders in the House and Senate have been pushing to include funding for states to expand vote-by-mail in coronavirus relief packages, but Trump and his GOP backers appear to have calculated that suppressing election turnout by limiting vote-by-mail would work in the president’s favor. Trump himself said on “Fox & Friends” last month that agreeing to Democratic proposals to make voting easier would mean “you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.”
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On Wednesday, Trump threatened to revoke federal funding to Michigan and Nevada, two major swing states, because they sent applications for voting by mail to registered voters.
“I will ask to hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path!” Trump tweeted.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-05-21--Trump Gets Savage Reminder About 'Lost Month’ Of Coronavirus Inaction In New Ad

President Donald Trump ’ s inaction in February as the coronavirus spread is the focus of a blistering new attack @ @ @ @ @ Rep. Eric Swalwell ’ s ( D-Calif. ) Remedy PAC released online Wednesday features footage @ @ @ @ @ of the virus , playing golf , holding campaign rallies and attending the Daytona 500 @ @ @ @ @ Denise Jorgensen , whose father died after contracting COVID-19 .
“ By February , it @ @ @ @ @ kill many Americans .
It was clear to everyone ― except Donald Trump , ” @ @ @ @ @ “ In November , we are literally voting for our lives , ” Jorgensen concludes @ @ @ @ @ ’ s the latest spot to call out Trump ’ s halting response to the @ @ @ @ @ anti-Trump GOP groups The Lincoln Project and Republicans for the Rule of Law also weighing @ @ @ @ @ 94,000 people in the U.S. have died from COVID-19 , the disease caused by the @ @ @ @ @ White House coronavirus task force have suggested it could kill up to 240,000 .

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President Donald Trump’s inaction in February as the coronavirus spread is the focus of a blistering new attack ad.
The video that Rep. Eric Swalwell’s (D-Calif.) Remedy PAC released online Wednesday features footage of Trump minimizing the threat of the virus, playing golf, holding campaign rallies and attending the Daytona 500 ― alongside an interview with Denise Jorgensen, whose father died after contracting COVID-19.
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“By February, it was clear that COVID-19 would kill many Americans. It was clear to everyone ― except Donald Trump,” reads the on-screen text.
“In November, we are literally voting for our lives,” Jorgensen concludes in the clip.
Check out the ad here:
It’s the latest spot to call out Trump’s halting response to the public health crisis, with anti-Trump GOP groups The Lincoln Project and Republicans for the Rule of Law also weighing in regularly.
More than 94,000 people in the U.S. have died from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. Members of the White House coronavirus task force have suggested it could kill up to 240,000.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-05-21--Experts Worry Trump's Hydroxychloroquine Claims Could Have Major Consequences

“ First , we don ’ t know whether it works , ” she said .
“ Second , although it certainly has been used for years for some diseases , it also has well-known life-threatening side effects.
” HCQ is commonly used as a treatment for conditions like lupus , rheumatoid arthritis and malaria .
Because the drug has anti-inflammatory effects , researchers are looking into whether it could play a role in treating or preventing the coronavirus .
That research , however , has yet to reach any firm conclusions .
What Studies Say So Far Alex Chan @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of California Irvine ’ s clinical pharmacy department , said that he did not know enough about the context surrounding Trump ’ s apparent decision to take the drug , but emphasized that it is not an example the general public should follow .
Chan said that it ’ s still too early to tell exactly how effective HCQ would be against coronavirus , since most of the research on this matter is ongoing , making it a risky option for people to take the drug if they haven ’ t been advised @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Henry Ford Health System in Michigan is leading the first large-scale study on HCQ with a 3,000-person trial , focusing on health care workers and first responders .
The trial is scheduled to last eight weeks and the results aren ’ t expected until August .
A small study of 368 men by Veterans Affairs and academic researchers found higher death rates in patients who received HCQ or HCQ with azithromycin — a common antibiotic also known as Z-pack — when compared to those who did not receive any HCQ at all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a patient ’ s heartbeat or interact negatively with other medications .
Even as Trump promoted the drug , the Food and Drug Administration warned the public against using the medication in late April , citing a risk of heart rhythm problems and “ dangerously rapid heart rate.
” “ The most serious effect is that it can cause a life-threatening heart arrhythmia that can very quickly kill you , ” Ranney added .
“ It also causes stomach upset , headaches , dangerous rashes , and other side effects .
It can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ high of a dose.
” “ This medication is necessary for people with lupus and other disorders , ” Ranney said .
“ If every American rushes out to buy it ― without knowing whether it will work or cause harm ― we risk depleting the supplies for those who depend on it.
” And Chan is concerned about people who are already prescribed the drug : Trump ’ s consistent praise of HCQ has been a big story over the last two months , which has prompted media outlets , including HuffPost @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they might otherwise .

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President Donald Trump and his administration may not be worried about the grave risks associated with taking hydroxychloroquine as a way to potentially prevent catching the coronavirus.
However, experts are.
Dr. Megan Ranney, a professor of emergency medicine at Brown University, told HuffPost that she would not prescribe hydroxychloroquine — sometimes called HCQ — to treat or prevent COVID-19.
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“First, we don’t know whether it works,” she said. “Second, although it certainly has been used for years for some diseases, it also has well-known life-threatening side effects.”
HCQ is commonly used as a treatment for conditions like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and malaria. Because the drug has anti-inflammatory effects, researchers are looking into whether it could play a role in treating or preventing the coronavirus. That research, however, has yet to reach any firm conclusions.
The risks of taking hydroxychloroquine are real, yet no data has shown it’s effective for COViD19. Thats why this should only be used now within ongoing clinical trials. I worry about the example being set and whether others may take the drug inappropriately. — David J. Shulkin, MD (@DavidShulkin) May 19, 2020
What Studies Say So Far
Trump has repeatedly promoted hydroxychloroquine as a possible coronavirus treatment and prevention method throughout the pandemic, at one time calling it possibly “one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine.”
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He took his public obsession with the drug one step further on Monday, claiming that he had been taking hydroxychloroquine daily for over a week.
Alex Chan, the founding chair of the University of California Irvine’s clinical pharmacy department, said that he did not know enough about the context surrounding Trump’s apparent decision to take the drug, but emphasized that it is not an example the general public should follow.
Chan said that it’s still too early to tell exactly how effective HCQ would be against coronavirus, since most of the research on this matter is ongoing, making it a risky option for people to take the drug if they haven’t been advised by their physician to do so.
There are some front-line health care workers who are taking HCQ, as Trump has mentioned, as part of a trial study on its effectiveness against coronavirus.
The Henry Ford Health System in Michigan is leading the first large-scale study on HCQ with a 3,000-person trial, focusing on health care workers and first responders. The trial is scheduled to last eight weeks and the results aren’t expected until August.
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The Duke Clinical Research Institute also launched a study on the drug’s role in preventing infections in high-risk health care workers.
But some research that has been completed has worrying results.
A small study of 368 men by Veterans Affairs and academic researchers found higher death rates in patients who received HCQ or HCQ with azithromycin — a common antibiotic also known as Z-pack — when compared to those who did not receive any HCQ at all.
Another study of 1,400 people by Columbia University researchers found that the drug did not appear to lower the risk of death or needing a breathing tube for patients hospitalized with COVID-19.
The Potential Side Effects
Though hydroxychloroquine is prescribed to treat multiple diseases, it has potentially serious side effects, as many drugs do.
“As a medication expert, as a pharmacist, I do worry about some of the side effects that are related to the drug,” Chan said.
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Those consequences are why Ranney said she would not prescribe the drug to a COVID-19 patient unless research conclusively suggested it would help.
“I would not want to put a patient at RISK unless I knew there was likely to be [a] benefit,” she told HuffPost in an email.
HCQ has been known to alter a patient’s heartbeat or interact negatively with other medications. Even as Trump promoted the drug, the Food and Drug Administration warned the public against using the medication in late April, citing a risk of heart rhythm problems and “dangerously rapid heart rate.”
People with underlying heart conditions may also be at higher risk of these issues if they use HCQ, and that risk worsens if they’re taking azithromycin.
Chan also pointed to previous reports that suggested that HCQ may lead to an increased risk of neuropsychiatric side effects.
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“The most serious effect is that it can cause a life-threatening heart arrhythmia that can very quickly kill you,” Ranney added. “It also causes stomach upset, headaches, dangerous rashes, and other side effects. It can also cause poisoning when taken at too high of a dose.”
Unintended Consequences
Besides people suffering from the drug’s potential side effects, Chan and Ranney worry that Trump’s endorsement of HCQ could impact those who are already prescribed it.
Like all medicines, there is a limited supply.
“This medication is necessary for people with lupus and other disorders,” Ranney said. “If every American rushes out to buy it ― without knowing whether it will work or cause harm ― we risk depleting the supplies for those who depend on it.”
Ranney also thinks it’s “unethical” to divert supplies of the drug away from the ongoing research that is assessing HCQ’s effectiveness in treating the coronavirus.
And Chan is concerned about people who are already prescribed the drug: Trump’s consistent praise of HCQ has been a big story over the last two months, which has prompted media outlets, including HuffPost, to look into it more than they might otherwise.
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Stories about the drug often summarize its potential side effects and because they are so serious, Chan worries that those who do need HCQ might stop taking it, because the side effects may appear severe.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-05-21--Trump Refuses To Wear Mask For Public Part Of Ford Tour To Spite Reporters

President Donald Trump attempted to create some suspense this week over whether he might actually wear a face mask when he toured a Ford Motor Co. plant on Thursday .
But to no one ’ s surprise , the president was seen without a mask at the Rawsonville Components Plant in Ypsilanti , Michigan , even though Ford ’ s policy requires everyone to wear PPE at the facility to prevent the spread of COVID-19 .
Ford has a policy that everyone in their plants is required to wear masks , but Trump is not wearing one pic.twitter.com/LM2u5Zv1RF — Aaron @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , 2020 Ford officials wore facial coverings while Trump , senior adviser Hope Hicks and chief of staff Mark Meadows went without masks for the public portion of the tour .
The president has been notoriously resistant to following the CDC guidelines regarding masks .
Trump claimed he wore a mask privately but took it off before appearing in public because he “ didn ’ t want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it , ” according to CNN reporter Manu Raju .
TMZ published a photo that purportedly shows Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , though the image ’ s origins were unclear .
The president had hinted to reporters on at least two occasions that he might cover his face during the visit .
Ford officials initially said they would make the president follow the same rules as everyone else , but backpedaled and claimed they would defer to the White House ’ s own policies on mask-wearing .
CORRECTION : A previous version of this article included a tweet with a photo of Trump wearing a mask .
The writer of the tweet could not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it .

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President Donald Trump attempted to create some suspense this week over whether he might actually wear a face mask when he toured a Ford Motor Co. plant on Thursday.
But to no one’s surprise, the president was seen without a mask at the Rawsonville Components Plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan, even though Ford’s policy requires everyone to wear PPE at the facility to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
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Ford has a policy that everyone in their plants is required to wear masks, but Trump is not wearing one pic.twitter.com/LM2u5Zv1RF — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 21, 2020
Ford officials wore facial coverings while Trump, senior adviser Hope Hicks and chief of staff Mark Meadows went without masks for the public portion of the tour.
The president has been notoriously resistant to following the CDC guidelines regarding masks.
Trump claimed he wore a mask privately but took it off before appearing in public because he “didn’t want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it,” according to CNN reporter Manu Raju.
Trump was seen wearing a mask on portions of the tour, as seen in the photo below.
Bill Ford Jr., executive chairman of Ford Motor Co., points to a collection of Ford GT vehicles while talking with President Donald Trump in a mask during his visit to the Rawsonville plant in Ypsilanti on May 21. Mark Meadows, White House chief of staff, is standing in the middle. Special to the Detroit Free Press/Imagn
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thehuffingtonpost--2020-05-21--‘Trump Lies, People Die’: Protesters Leave Body Bags Outside White House

Yilmaz Akin/Subminimal for Care in Action Progressive activists outside the White House in Washington , D.C. , lay body bags and photos of loved ones killed by the coronavirus on May 20 as part of nationwide demonstrations against President Donald Trump 's handling of the pandemic , which has killed nearly 100,00 people in the U.S .
Activists laid body bags outside the White House Wednesday evening to protest what they consider to be President Donald Trump and Republican officials ’ catastrophic response to the coronavirus pandemic .
The demonstration started with a mock 200-car funeral procession beginning at the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( R-Ky. ) , passing by the Capitol building , and ending at the White House , where demonstrators dumped body bags onto the sidewalk .
“ Trump Lies , People Die , ” read signs affixed to the body bags , meant to symbolize the nearly 100,000 people in the U.S. killed so far in the pandemic .
Progressive activists outside the White House in Washington D.C. lay body bags and photos of loved ones killed by the coronavirus on May 20 , 2020 as part of nationwide demonstrations against President Donald @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which has killed nearly 100,00 people in the U.S .
The protest on May 20 was part of a nationwide `` Day of Mourning '' organized by a coalition of progressive groups .
More demonstrations are scheduled to take place throughout the week .
The protest was part of a nationwide “ Day of Mourning ” organized by a coalition of progressive groups , including the Center for Popular Democracy , Indivisible , National Domestic Workers Alliance and MoveOn .
Similar demonstrations took place in Georgia , Pennsylvania , Louisiana , Michigan , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ More demonstrations will take place throughout the week and will include mock funeral motorcades outside the office of Sen. Lindsey Graham ( R-S.C. ) in Columbia , South Carolina , and outside a property owned by White House senior adviser Jared Kushner in Bedminster , New Jersey .
“ Tens of thousands of those deaths are due to the inaction and chaotic leadership of the Trump Administration and Republican elected officials across the country , ” the progressive groups said in a statement .
“ Nearly 35 million people have also lost their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ disproportionately suffering .
Meanwhile , the president and Republicans are reopening states while claiming there is no rush to pass sweeping relief measures such as the HEROES Act.
” “ Tens of thousands of those deaths are due to the inaction and chaotic leadership of the Trump Administration and Republican elected officials across the country , ” the progressive groups organizing the `` Day of Mourning '' said in a statement .
The protests come as the death toll continues to climb in the United States , reaching over 92,000 on Wednesday , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for his handling of the crisis .
An alarming Columbia University study published this week found that 36,000 lives could have been saved if the Trump administration had enacted lockdown measures just one week earlier than it did in March .
“ We think that [ Trump ] didn ’ t act fast enough , ” Jennifer Walker Flynn , a senior director at the Center for Popular Democracy , told HuffPost Wednesday .
“ When he acted , he didn ’ t create a unified plan or a coordinated plan at the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ chaos .
He ’ s sewn divisions instead of bringing the country together and building unity .
And he just continues to ignore science , not understand science , willfully enact policies that endanger public health of people in this country.
” As Flynn and others protested outside the White House Wednesday , Trump met with the Republican governors of Arkansas and Kansas to discuss the coronavirus outbreak .
At a press briefing afterward , a reporter told the president that while the U.S. is home to about 4 % of the world @ @ @ @ @ @ @ % of the world ’ s COVID-19 cases .

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Activists laid body bags outside the White House Wednesday evening to protest what they consider to be President Donald Trump and Republican officials’ catastrophic response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The demonstration started with a mock 200-car funeral procession beginning at the residence of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), passing by the Capitol building, and ending at the White House, where demonstrators dumped body bags onto the sidewalk.
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Progressive activists outside the White House in Washington, D.C., lay body bags and photos of loved ones killed by the coronavirus on May 20 as part of nationwide demonstrations against President Donald Trump's handling of the pandemic, which has killed nearly 100,00 people in the U.S. Yilmaz Akin/Subminimal for Care in Action
“Trump Lies, People Die,” read signs affixed to the body bags, meant to symbolize the nearly 100,000 people in the U.S. killed so far in the pandemic.
Religious leaders delivered eulogies, while other demonstrators gave speeches about loved ones they’ve lost to the virus.
Signs affixed to body bags read “Trump Lies, People Die,” symbolizing the nearly 100,000 people in the U.S. killed so far in the pandemic. Ari Rabin-Havt
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Progressive activists outside the White House in Washington D.C. lay body bags and photos of loved ones killed by the coronavirus on May 20, 2020 as part of nationwide demonstrations against President Donald Trump's handling of the pandemic, which has killed nearly 100,00 people in the U.S. Yilmaz Akin/Subminimal for Care in Action
The protest on May 20 was part of a nationwide "Day of Mourning" organized by a coalition of progressive groups. More demonstrations are scheduled to take place throughout the week. Ari Rabin-Havt
The protest was part of a nationwide “Day of Mourning” organized by a coalition of progressive groups, including the Center for Popular Democracy, Indivisible, National Domestic Workers Alliance and MoveOn. Similar demonstrations took place in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Texas and other states.
More demonstrations will take place throughout the week and will include mock funeral motorcades outside the office of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) in Columbia, South Carolina, and outside a property owned by White House senior adviser Jared Kushner in Bedminster, New Jersey.
“Tens of thousands of those deaths are due to the inaction and chaotic leadership of the Trump Administration and Republican elected officials across the country,” the progressive groups said in a statement. “Nearly 35 million people have also lost their jobs, and people of color are disproportionately suffering. Meanwhile, the president and Republicans are reopening states while claiming there is no rush to pass sweeping relief measures such as the HEROES Act.”
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Progressive activists hold a 200-car funeral motorcade through Washington, D.C., on May 20. Yilmaz Akin/Subminimal for Care in Action
“Tens of thousands of those deaths are due to the inaction and chaotic leadership of the Trump Administration and Republican elected officials across the country,” the progressive groups organizing the "Day of Mourning" said in a statement. Yilmaz Akin/Subminimal for Care in Action
The protests come as the death toll continues to climb in the United States, reaching over 92,000 on Wednesday, and as the president comes under scrutiny for his handling of the crisis. An alarming Columbia University study published this week found that 36,000 lives could have been saved if the Trump administration had enacted lockdown measures just one week earlier than it did in March.
“We think that [Trump] didn’t act fast enough,” Jennifer Walker Flynn, a senior director at the Center for Popular Democracy, told HuffPost Wednesday. “When he acted, he didn’t create a unified plan or a coordinated plan at the federal level. Instead, he created chaos. He’s sewn divisions instead of bringing the country together and building unity. And he just continues to ignore science, not understand science, willfully enact policies that endanger public health of people in this country.”
As Flynn and others protested outside the White House Wednesday, Trump met with the governors of Arkansas and Kansas to discuss the coronavirus outbreak. At a press briefing afterward, a reporter told the president that while the U.S. is home to about 4% of the world’s population, it has 30% of the world’s COVID-19 cases.
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“What would you have done differently?” the reporter asked the president.
“Well, nothing,” Trump responded.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-05-21--Senate Confirms Trump Nominee John Ratcliffe To Be Director Of National Intelligence

WASHINGTON , May 21 ( Reuters ) - The U.S. Senate backed lawmaker John Ratcliffe on Thursday as the next director of national intelligence , a victory for President Donald Trump in his second bid to install the conservative Republican as head of the intelligence community .
Ratcliffe , a House of Representatives member known for fierce loyalty to Trump , was confirmed by 49 to 44 , many more “ no ” votes than for any previous nominee to be the country ’ s top spy .
The vote was strictly along party lines , with every no from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s fellow Republicans .
The vote makes Ratcliffe the first Senate-confirmed nominee for the national security post since August .
It most recently has been held by Richard Grenell , Trump ’ s ambassador to Germany , who has faced questions from Congress about bids to declassify classified records and reorganize his office .
Ratcliffe assumes the position as the country faces a wide range of security threats , including the coronavirus pandemic , stiff competition with China and the widespread expectation that Russia is attempting to interfere in the 2020 U.S. election @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he wanted Ratcliffe for the post created in 2004 to run the country ’ s 17 intelligence agencies in a more unified way after the Sept. 11 , 2001 , attacks .
However , Ratcliffe ’ s name was withdrawn after just five days , after both Democrats and Republicans questioned his qualifications and amid reports he had padded his resume by overstating his role in prosecuting terrorists while serving as a U.S. attorney in Texas .
Ratcliffe was the most junior member of the House Intelligence Committee , with just six months @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tipped him for the post .
Democrats said Ratcliffe was too partisan to ensure intelligence agencies would not be influenced by political concerns .
Republicans said they had confidence in him .
( Reporting by Patricia Zengerle Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Tom Brown )

WASHINGTON, May 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate backed lawmaker John Ratcliffe on Thursday as the next director of national intelligence, a victory for President Donald Trump in his second bid to install the conservative Republican as head of the intelligence community.
Ratcliffe, a House of Representatives member known for fierce loyalty to Trump, was confirmed by 49 to 44, many more “no” votes than for any previous nominee to be the country’s top spy.
The vote was strictly along party lines, with every no from Democrats and every yes from Trump’s fellow Republicans.
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The vote makes Ratcliffe the first Senate-confirmed nominee for the national security post since August. It most recently has been held by Richard Grenell, Trump’s ambassador to Germany, who has faced questions from Congress about bids to declassify classified records and reorganize his office.
Ratcliffe assumes the position as the country faces a wide range of security threats, including the coronavirus pandemic, stiff competition with China and the widespread expectation that Russia is attempting to interfere in the 2020 U.S. election.
Trump first announced in July that he wanted Ratcliffe for the post created in 2004 to run the country’s 17 intelligence agencies in a more unified way after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
However, Ratcliffe’s name was withdrawn after just five days, after both Democrats and Republicans questioned his qualifications and amid reports he had padded his resume by overstating his role in prosecuting terrorists while serving as a U.S. attorney in Texas. Ratcliffe was the most junior member of the House Intelligence Committee, with just six months on the panel, when Trump first tipped him for the post.
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thehuffingtonpost--2020-05-21--CDC Quietly Releases Reopening Guidance Initially Shelved By White House

NEW YORK ( AP ) — U.S. health officials have quietly released more reopening guidance that was created more than a month ago but initially shelved .
As with other recently released guidance , religious organizations were not included .
Instead , the document has advice for childcare facilities , schools , day camps , mass transit systems , restaurants , bars and other businesses and organizations that have workers at high risk of becoming sick from the coronavirus .
The guidance discusses different steps organizations can take as they reopen from closures aimed at stopping the virus ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for Disease Control and Prevention placed the information in a 20-page appendix to a document previously posted on its website .
For example , the CDC suggests restaurants might transition from take-out only to reopening dining rooms with customers spaced six feet apart .
Mass transit systems might shift from serving only essential workers to opening up to the general public with restrictions , such as closing every other row of seats and limits on how many riders can be on a bus or train .
In a third step , the system @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but keep tape markers on the ground or take other steps to help passengers stay 6 feet apart .
The pages flesh out six one-page “ decision tool ” documents — posted by CDC last week — that use traffic signs and other graphics to tell organizations what they should consider before reopening .
But it ’ s not a mandate and leaves lots of wiggle room .
The phrases “ as feasible , ” “ if feasible , ” and “ where feasible ” repeat over and over again .
Those early @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for churches wanting to restart in-person services , with suggestions including maintaining distance between parishioners and limiting the size of gatherings .
The White House initially shelved all the guidance , though news organizations including The Associated Press obtained copies .
Since then , the White House authorized release of some of the information .
But the faith-related guidance was taken out after the White House raised concerns about the recommended restrictions .
On Wednesday , White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said there was no need for a splashy announcement about the guidance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ was already out there.
” She said initial draft guidance received “ constructive criticism ” and refinement during an internal government review before it was released .
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute ’ s Department of Science Education .
The AP is solely responsible for all content .

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NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. health officials have quietly released more reopening guidance that was created more than a month ago but initially shelved.
As with other recently released guidance, religious organizations were not included. Instead, the document has advice for childcare facilities, schools, day camps, mass transit systems, restaurants, bars and other businesses and organizations that have workers at high risk of becoming sick from the coronavirus.
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The guidance discusses different steps organizations can take as they reopen from closures aimed at stopping the virus’s spread. On Sunday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention placed the information in a 20-page appendix to a document previously posted on its website.
For example, the CDC suggests restaurants might transition from take-out only to reopening dining rooms with customers spaced six feet apart.
Mass transit systems might shift from serving only essential workers to opening up to the general public with restrictions, such as closing every other row of seats and limits on how many riders can be on a bus or train. In a third step, the system might loosen some of those limitations, but keep tape markers on the ground or take other steps to help passengers stay 6 feet apart.
The pages flesh out six one-page “decision tool” documents — posted by CDC last week — that use traffic signs and other graphics to tell organizations what they should consider before reopening. But it’s not a mandate and leaves lots of wiggle room. The phrases “as feasible,” “if feasible,” and “where feasible” repeat over and over again.
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More than a month ago, CDC gave White House officials a more detailed version of decision tools and additional pages of guidance.
Those early versions of the documents included detailed information for churches wanting to restart in-person services, with suggestions including maintaining distance between parishioners and limiting the size of gatherings.
The White House initially shelved all the guidance, though news organizations including The Associated Press obtained copies. Since then, the White House authorized release of some of the information. But the faith-related guidance was taken out after the White House raised concerns about the recommended restrictions.
On Wednesday, White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said there was no need for a splashy announcement about the guidance being posted because much of the information “was already out there.” She said initial draft guidance received “constructive criticism” and refinement during an internal government review before it was released.
___
AP reporters Jill Colvin in Washington, D.C., and Jason Dearen in Gainesville, Florida, contributed to this report.
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thehuffingtonpost--2020-05-21--Republicans Want To End Higher Jobless Pay. For Some Workers It Hasn't Even Begun.

The unemployment system in the U.S. is a patchwork of 52 different state-level agencies , mostly understaffed and with technology in varying degrees of decay , overseen by the U.S. Department of Labor .
Even in 2014 and 2015 , when far fewer people sought benefits , it could take as long as two hours to get through to someone on the phone in a state workforce agency .
The new policies made even more workers eligible for unemployment benefits , extending coverage to independent contractors and gig workers .
Most notably , lawmakers created what ’ s been called @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 600 a week for all beneficiaries .
Combined with regular benefits , it ’ s more than many of the lowest-wage workers ever earn and twice the federal minimum wage .
The money should ’ ve been a boon for the legions of unemployed workers .
And for many , it has been a lifeline .
But states have struggled mightily to distribute the benefits , with some claimants waiting two whole months before they ’ ve seen a penny .
As of Thursday morning , more than 38 million Americans have filed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ three months .
But the initial claim is only a request for the state to make a decision on whether someone is eligible .
Only 27 million filed “ continued claims ” the week after their initial claim , according to the latest numbers , a necessary step for receiving benefits .
The data don ’ t say how many are actually getting paid .
Nine states have still not even begun to distribute benefits under the new eligibility criteria for workers who aren ’ t normally covered , such as people who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or independent contractors like Uber drivers .
It ’ s likely that the Labor Department is falling short of its own core performance standard of paying 87 % of benefits within three weeks of initial claims .
Democrats have criticized labor Secretary Eugene Scalia for the benefit delays , while the department has praised itself for implementing the new policies .
There are tremendous differences among states .
Vermont seems to be paying all its unemployed people on time , according to the analysis by One Fair Wage .
Florida , by contrast @ @ @ @ @ @ @ claims , one of the worst performances of any state .
Perez said she and her husband , an Uber driver , have fallen behind on their mortgage since their incomes cratered more than a month ago .
Not only have they not received benefits , they ’ re not even sure if his application has been finalized , and they can ’ t get an answer by calling the state government .
Florida reformed its unemployment system in 2011 , slashing the number of weeks of benefits available , making it easier @ @ @ @ @ @ @ employees , and requiring laid off workers to file their claims online .
The state ’ s website has always had problems , and in the coronavirus outbreak it got so bad that the director of the state Department of Economic Opportunity abjectly apologized .

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Republicans eager for the economy to reopen complain that expanded unemployment benefits are making it difficult for some businesses to keep or rehire their workers.
But many workers across the country who left their jobs during the coronavirus pandemic haven’t received benefits in the first place.
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Elaine Perez of Fort Myers, Florida, said it took her and her husband six weeks just to apply for benefits on the state government’s crash-happy website for unemployment claims, and they still haven’t received any money.
“It feels like it’s designed to make people not want to do it,” Perez, 28, said in an interview. Last week her employer asked her to resume her work as an in-home behavioral therapist.
Perez is 38 weeks pregnant, meaning she’s potentially at higher risk of serious illness during the pandemic. She doesn’t feel safe going back. Yet, if she turns down the work, she could lose eligibility for the benefits she still hasn’t received.
She’s among millions of workers caught in this bind, thanks in part to an antiquated unemployment insurance program that’s been crushed by the pandemic-fueled recession and in part to earlier decisions by Florida lawmakers to make it difficult to obtain benefits.
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The unemployment system in the U.S. is a patchwork of 52 different state-level agencies, mostly understaffed and with technology in varying degrees of decay, overseen by the U.S. Department of Labor. Even in 2014 and 2015, when far fewer people sought benefits, it could take as long as two hours to get through to someone on the phone in a state workforce agency.
When the pandemic forced millions of Americans out of work this spring, these agencies could hardly keep up. Then Congress upped the level of complexity in March, when lawmakers passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act.
The new policies made even more workers eligible for unemployment benefits, extending coverage to independent contractors and gig workers. Most notably, lawmakers created what’s been called unemployment on steroids, an extra $600 a week for all beneficiaries. Combined with regular benefits, it’s more than many of the lowest-wage workers ever earn and twice the federal minimum wage.
The money should’ve been a boon for the legions of unemployed workers. And for many, it has been a lifeline. But states have struggled mightily to distribute the benefits, with some claimants waiting two whole months before they’ve seen a penny.
More than 38 million Americans have filed unemployment claims since the coronavirus lockdowns began earlier this year, but barely half had likely been paid as of early May, according to an analysis of Labor Department data by the activist group One Fair Wage.
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Republicans, however, are more fixated on the possibility that, because of the extra $600 per week, some workers might turn down job offers.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) asked President Donald Trump on Tuesday to oppose extending the added $600 past July 31, when it’s due to expire. Trump did not rule out signing a bill that would extend current benefits, but was sympathetic to Graham’s position, calling it a “problem.”
“He agrees that it is hurting the economic recovery,” Graham said after meeting with Trump and Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill.
Business groups have long argued against generous benefits, worrying about being forced to raise pay for the lowest-wage workers. And state workforce policies have been designed to make it difficult to win benefits, said One Fair Wage President Saru Jayaraman.
“They don’t want the benefits to be easy to access because they want people willing to take low-wage jobs,” Jayaraman said. “We always want to keep a pool of low-wage labor at the ready.”
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There are some Republicans who acknowledge the problem with benefits not being paid.
“The antiquated systems that exist in our states make it difficult to get their base benefits,” Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) told HuffPost on Wednesday, citing the surge in unemployment claims in South Carolina over the past month.
“The good news is you know the money is coming. The bad news is it doesn’t help you today,” he added.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) arrive for a meeting with GOP senators on Capitol Hill, May 19, 2020. Drew Angerer via Getty Images
As of Thursday morning, more than 38 million Americans have filed initial claims for benefits in the last three months. But the initial claim is only a request for the state to make a decision on whether someone is eligible. Only 27 million filed “continued claims” the week after their initial claim, according to the latest numbers, a necessary step for receiving benefits. The data don’t say how many are actually getting paid.
Nine states have still not even begun to distribute benefits under the new eligibility criteria for workers who aren’t normally covered, such as people who quit their jobs because of the pandemic or independent contractors like Uber drivers.
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It’s likely that the Labor Department is falling short of its own core performance standard of paying 87% of benefits within three weeks of initial claims. Democrats have criticized labor Secretary Eugene Scalia for the benefit delays, while the department has praised itself for implementing the new policies.
There are tremendous differences among states. Vermont seems to be paying all its unemployed people on time, according to the analysis by One Fair Wage. Florida, by contrast, is only paying 32% of claims, one of the worst performances of any state.
The Century Foundation, a progressive think tank, has estimated that only 20% of Florida unemployment claims had been paid as of mid-April. People who are eligible should receive all the money they missed during the weeks they waited.
Perez said she and her husband, an Uber driver, have fallen behind on their mortgage since their incomes cratered more than a month ago. Not only have they not received benefits, they’re not even sure if his application has been finalized, and they can’t get an answer by calling the state government.
“It feels like no one’s coming to help,” Perez said.
Florida reformed its unemployment system in 2011, slashing the number of weeks of benefits available, making it easier for businesses to challenge claims from former employees, and requiring laid off workers to file their claims online. The state’s website has always had problems, and in the coronavirus outbreak it got so bad that the director of the state Department of Economic Opportunity abjectly apologized.
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The changes resulted in far fewer Florida layoff victims getting paid. In 2007, almost a third of unemployed people in the state received benefits. Last year only 11% did. Similar changes in other states that followed Florida’s example on cutting benefits contributed to a significant drop in the rate of unemployed people receiving benefits nationally, according to a 2018 Urban Institute report.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who served as Florida’s governor at the time of the reforms, said it’s a shame how much trouble states have had paying benefits.
“No one anticipated the numbers, just how unprecedented they’ve been,” Scott told HuffPost this week, adding that Congress made things more difficult with the new policies. “So I think all those things together has made it difficult all over the country. You feel sorry for people that need the unemployment.”


thehuffingtonpost--2020-05-21--Senate Leaves For Recess Without Passing More Coronavirus Relief

WASHINGTON ― The Senate left town on Thursday without taking any legislative action to address the ongoing coronavirus pandemic , which in the U.S. has resulted in nearly 100,000 deaths and 38 million jobless claims .
GOP leaders maintain that the four bills Congress already passed , which total about $ 3 trillion in borrowed spending , are sufficient , at least for now .
“ It ’ s illogical to say we ’ ve spent $ 3 trillion and we wouldn ’ t want to take a look whether it ’ s being efficient before we rush headlong and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ door , ” Senate Majority Whip John Thune ( R-S.D . )
said Thursday .
He dismissed a new $ 3 trillion measure the Democratic-controlled House passed last week as “ crazy.
” “ If you look at our activity across the past three weeks , you ’ d hardly know there was a COVID crisis , ” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer ( D-N.Y. ) said in a floor speech Thursday .
The impasse isn ’ t expected to break anytime soon .
The chamber won ’ t be back in session @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Memorial Day recess .
No discussions are underway between House and Senate leaders concerning another relief package , and the Trump administration appears content with the funding pause .
Some Republicans have broken with their leadership and are calling for more federal action to address the health and economic crises .
Sens .
Josh Hawley of Missouri and Mitt Romney of Utah proposed plans to help businesses and workers performing essential services .
Sens .
Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Susan Collins of Maine support providing aid to states and localities whose tax @ @ @ @ @ @ @ economy .
Vulnerable Republicans up for re-election this year are also facing an uncomfortable position of going home to face constituents demanding more relief from Congress .
Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado , one of the most endangered incumbents , on Wednesday threatened to block the Senate from going on recess , saying that it was “ unfathomable ” for lawmakers to go home without doing more to mitigate the various effects of the pandemic .
But he backed down on Thursday after a conversation with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ( R-Ky. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ act at a later date , CNN ’ s Manu Raju .
Gardner , who a recent poll showed trailing in his re-election bid , also secured a commitment from McConnell to advance a bill he helped author to aid national parks , however .
The Senate made a last-minute effort ― but fell short ― on Thursday to pass a bipartisan bill that would extend the amount of time that small businesses have to use federal funds intended to help them survive .
The loans were provided under the Paycheck Protection Program @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in April .
Some loan recipients are due to hit the eight-week mark in June , before many states have fully reopened , prompting calls for an extension from restaurants and other segments of the small business sector .
“ By the time we get back from recess , the very first loans will have reached their eight-week period .
We need to act before that date , ” Sen. Ben Cardin ( D-Md . )
, who helped author the program , warned earlier this week .
The Senate is looking at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ― but it failed to reach unanimous agreement to do so before taking its break .
A bill the House plans to pass next week would give businesses up to 24 weeks to spend the loan money .

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WASHINGTON ― The Senate left town on Thursday without taking any legislative action to address the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which in the U.S. has resulted in nearly 100,000 deaths and 38 million jobless claims.
GOP leaders maintain that the four bills Congress already passed, which total about $3 trillion in borrowed spending, are sufficient, at least for now.
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“It’s illogical to say we’ve spent $3 trillion and we wouldn’t want to take a look whether it’s being efficient before we rush headlong and push another $3 trillion out the door,” Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) said Thursday. He dismissed a new $3 trillion measure the Democratic-controlled House passed last week as “crazy.”
But Senate Democrats argued that more federal spending is needed, given the rising unemployment rate, dire economic projections and calls for additional legislative action from the Federal Reserve.
“If you look at our activity across the past three weeks, you’d hardly know there was a COVID crisis,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a floor speech Thursday.
Senate Republicans held a few hearings on coronavirus testing and reopening the economy, but they mostly focused on confirming executive and judicial nominees.
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The impasse isn’t expected to break anytime soon. The chamber won’t be back in session until June 1, after its week-long Memorial Day recess. No discussions are underway between House and Senate leaders concerning another relief package, and the Trump administration appears content with the funding pause.
Some Republicans have broken with their leadership and are calling for more federal action to address the health and economic crises. Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Mitt Romney of Utah proposed plans to help businesses and workers performing essential services. Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Susan Collins of Maine support providing aid to states and localities whose tax revenue has dried up amid the stalled economy.
Vulnerable Republicans up for re-election this year are also facing an uncomfortable position of going home to face constituents demanding more relief from Congress. Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado, one of the most endangered incumbents, on Wednesday threatened to block the Senate from going on recess, saying that it was “unfathomable” for lawmakers to go home without doing more to mitigate the various effects of the pandemic.
But he backed down on Thursday after a conversation with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who promised the chamber would act at a later date, CNN’s Manu Raju. Gardner, who a recent poll showed trailing in his re-election bid, also secured a commitment from McConnell to advance a bill he helped author to aid national parks, however.
The Senate made a last-minute effort ― but fell short ― on Thursday to pass a bipartisan bill that would extend the amount of time that small businesses have to use federal funds intended to help them survive.
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The loans were provided under the Paycheck Protection Program, which began to allocate its funds in April. Some loan recipients are due to hit the eight-week mark in June, before many states have fully reopened, prompting calls for an extension from restaurants and other segments of the small business sector.
“By the time we get back from recess, the very first loans will have reached their eight-week period. We need to act before that date,” Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), who helped author the program, warned earlier this week.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-05-21--Democrats Propose Federal Jobs Program For Those Unemployed By Coronavirus

During the Great Depression , President Franklin Roosevelt ’ s New Deal initiative established a series of government programs and agencies that put thousands of Americans back to work , building large-scale infrastructure and conservation projects .
On Thursday , Senate Democrats proposed a similar program designed to employ those who have lost their jobs because of the coronavirus pandemic , which this week numbered more than 38 million people .
The Jobs to Fight COVID-19 Act of 2020 , introduced by Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii , would give states and localities $ 100 billion in grants to hire @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pandemic response work , including contact tracing , surveillance , mitigation and cleaning services .
“ With nearly 40 million people unemployed , we need solutions that meet the scale of the problem , ” Schatz said in a statement .
“ Our bill will put people back to work and provide the workforce we need to stop the spread of the coronavirus and help us safely reopen.
” Senators who co-sponsored the measure included Democrats Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota , Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island , Kamala Harris of California and Cory @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is a critical tool in fighting highly infectious diseases .
It ’ s been used to fight other viruses , including Ebola .
Countries such as South Korea have used it and other surveillance methods to bring their coronavirus caseloads close to zero .
Without federal guidance on contact tracing , states have pushed forward with their own plans to hire armies of contact tracers in an effort to curb coronavirus spread .
California is planning on fielding a force of 10,000 state employees to track those who have been infected with the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — such as Washington , West Virginia , Iowa , North Dakota and Rhode Island — are using National Guard personnel to trace contacts .
Still , not every state government has the resources to marshal huge cadres of people dedicated to tracking the spread of coronavirus .
Many states and localities are already facing severe shortages in tax revenue because of stalled economies , a problem that is threatening essential services such as police , fire and sanitation .
The idea of a federal jobs program on the scale of those seen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ discussed in Washington , D.C. Congress has instead focused on other measures to provide relief to Americans ― such as increased unemployment benefits , payroll support and direct checks from the federal government .
Billionaire businessman and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has been one of the most prominent voices calling on the government to create a program like the one that Democrats proposed on Thursday .
His tweets pushing the idea caught the attention of freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez .

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During the Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal initiative established a series of government programs and agencies that put thousands of Americans back to work, building large-scale infrastructure and conservation projects.
On Thursday, Senate Democrats proposed a similar program designed to employ those who have lost their jobs because of the coronavirus pandemic, which this week numbered more than 38 million people.
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The Jobs to Fight COVID-19 Act of 2020, introduced by Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii, would give states and localities $100 billion in grants to hire and train newly unemployed workers to perform pandemic response work, including contact tracing, surveillance, mitigation and cleaning services.
“With nearly 40 million people unemployed, we need solutions that meet the scale of the problem,” Schatz said in a statement. “Our bill will put people back to work and provide the workforce we need to stop the spread of the coronavirus and help us safely reopen.”
Senators who co-sponsored the measure included Democrats Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Kamala Harris of California and Cory Booker of New Jersey.
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) introduced a bill designed to give jobs to the recently unemployed to fight the coronavirus pandemic. Sarah Silbiger via Getty Images
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Contact tracing is a critical tool in fighting highly infectious diseases. It’s been used to fight other viruses, including Ebola. Countries such as South Korea have used it and other surveillance methods to bring their coronavirus caseloads close to zero.
Without federal guidance on contact tracing, states have pushed forward with their own plans to hire armies of contact tracers in an effort to curb coronavirus spread.
California is planning on fielding a force of 10,000 state employees to track those who have been infected with the virus, for example. Other states — such as Washington, West Virginia, Iowa, North Dakota and Rhode Island — are using National Guard personnel to trace contacts.
Still, not every state government has the resources to marshal huge cadres of people dedicated to tracking the spread of coronavirus. Many states and localities are already facing severe shortages in tax revenue because of stalled economies, a problem that is threatening essential services such as police, fire and sanitation.
The idea of a federal jobs program on the scale of those seen during the Great Depression has barely been discussed in Washington, D.C. Congress has instead focused on other measures to provide relief to Americans ― such as increased unemployment benefits, payroll support and direct checks from the federal government.
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Billionaire businessman and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has been one of the most prominent voices calling on the government to create a program like the one that Democrats proposed on Thursday. His tweets pushing the idea caught the attention of freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-05-21--Meatpacking Coronavirus Guidelines Are Largely Unenforceable

“ It ’ s like , ‘ Here ’ s what we ’ d like you to do .
But if you don ’ t want to do it , you don ’ t have to , ’ ” said Mark Lauritsen , international vice president and director of the food processing and meatpacking division for the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union .
The pandemic is “ the most massive workers ’ safety crisis in many decades , and OSHA is in the closet .
OSHA is hiding , ” said David Michaels , an epidemiologist who was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ labor under President Barack Obama .
Michaels called on OSHA to make the guidelines mandatory and enforceable , which would include the threat of fines .
But the guidance also says employers must follow a law known as the general duty clause , which requires companies to provide a workplace free of recognized hazards .
Critics say that rule is unlikely to be enforced , especially after President Donald Trump signed an executive order in April aimed at keeping meat plants open .
— Shortly before Trump ’ s order , state regulators @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Foods pork plant despite a complaint alleging workers had been exposed to the virus in crowded conditions .
Documents obtained by The Associated Press show it took the Iowa division of OSHA nine days to seek a response from Tyson and eight more to get a reply .
The state agency ultimately found Tyson ’ s voluntary efforts to improve social distancing at the Perry plant were “ satisfactory ” and closed the case without an inspection .
A week later , 730 workers — almost 60 % of the workforce — had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the state softened its quarantine guidelines after industry executives pushed to allow potentially exposed employees to continue going to work , according to emails and text messages obtained by The Kansas City Star and The Wichita Eagle .
The state had previously advised such employees to quarantine for two weeks , before conforming to the more lenient CDC guideline , which allows employees to continue working if they have no symptoms and use precautions .
The move came after Tyson raised a concern with the state of rising worker absenteeism .
After Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ input from the industry — the Labor Department and OSHA said OSHA would use discretion and consider “ good faith attempts ” to follow safety recommendations .
Employers would be given a chance to explain if some are not met .
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue made clear in letters earlier this month that the Department of Agriculture expected state and local officials to work with meat plants to keep them running .
And he said any closed plants without a timetable to reopen had to submit protocols to the USDA .
Major meatpackers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ worker safety is their highest priority .
They provided the AP with summaries of their efforts to improve safety , but the plans themselves have not been made public .
Tyson said because the temporary suspension of its operations was voluntary and the company was already meeting or exceeding federal guidance , it was not required to submit a reopening plan to the USDA .
One plan obtained by the AP , for the reopening of a JBS pork plant in Worthington , Minnesota , details multiple safety improvements , including installing physical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ requiring protective equipment .
The plan includes photos .
It says employees will be screened for health issues , but it makes no mention of requiring testing .
Michaels , the former OSHA official , said the clause has no preventive effect and is generally enforced only after a worker is injured .
He said it ’ s effective only in cases in which OSHA conducts an inspection and issues citations and the employer agrees to fix the problem — so any impact is felt months or years later .

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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal recommendations meant to keep meatpacking workers safe as they return to plants that were shuttered by the coronavirus have little enforcement muscle behind them, fueling anxiety that working conditions could put employees’ lives at risk.
Extensive guidance issued last month by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that meatpacking companies erect physical barriers, enforce social distancing and install more hand-sanitizing stations, among other steps. But the guidance is not mandatory.
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“It’s like, ‘Here’s what we’d like you to do. But if you don’t want to do it, you don’t have to,’” said Mark Lauritsen, international vice president and director of the food processing and meatpacking division for the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union.
The pandemic is “the most massive workers’ safety crisis in many decades, and OSHA is in the closet. OSHA is hiding,” said David Michaels, an epidemiologist who was the agency’s assistant secretary of labor under President Barack Obama. Michaels called on OSHA to make the guidelines mandatory and enforceable, which would include the threat of fines.
OSHA’s general guidance plainly says the recommendations are advisory and “not a standard or regulation,” and they create “no new legal obligations.”
But the guidance also says employers must follow a law known as the general duty clause, which requires companies to provide a workplace free of recognized hazards. Critics say that rule is unlikely to be enforced, especially after President Donald Trump signed an executive order in April aimed at keeping meat plants open.
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Already, examples have emerged of questionable enforcement efforts and pressure to keeping plants running:
— Shortly before Trump’s order, state regulators in Iowa declined to inspect a Tyson Foods pork plant despite a complaint alleging workers had been exposed to the virus in crowded conditions. Documents obtained by The Associated Press show it took the Iowa division of OSHA nine days to seek a response from Tyson and eight more to get a reply. The state agency ultimately found Tyson’s voluntary efforts to improve social distancing at the Perry plant were “satisfactory” and closed the case without an inspection. A week later, 730 workers — almost 60% of the workforce — had tested positive.
— In Kansas, the state softened its quarantine guidelines after industry executives pushed to allow potentially exposed employees to continue going to work, according to emails and text messages obtained by The Kansas City Star and The Wichita Eagle. The state had previously advised such employees to quarantine for two weeks, before conforming to the more lenient CDC guideline, which allows employees to continue working if they have no symptoms and use precautions. The move came after Tyson raised a concern with the state of rising worker absenteeism.
After Trump’s executive order — developed with input from the industry — the Labor Department and OSHA said OSHA would use discretion and consider “good faith attempts” to follow safety recommendations. Employers would be given a chance to explain if some are not met. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue made clear in letters earlier this month that the Department of Agriculture expected state and local officials to work with meat plants to keep them running. And he said any closed plants without a timetable to reopen had to submit protocols to the USDA.
The USDA did not respond to repeated requests to provide those company plans to the AP. When asked how guidelines would be enforced, a USDA spokesperson said enforcement was up to OSHA.
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Major meatpackers JBS, Smithfield and Tyson have said worker safety is their highest priority. They provided the AP with summaries of their efforts to improve safety, but the plans themselves have not been made public. Tyson said because the temporary suspension of its operations was voluntary and the company was already meeting or exceeding federal guidance, it was not required to submit a reopening plan to the USDA.
One plan obtained by the AP, for the reopening of a JBS pork plant in Worthington, Minnesota, details multiple safety improvements, including installing physical barriers, increasing spacing between workers and requiring protective equipment. The plan includes photos. It says employees will be screened for health issues, but it makes no mention of requiring testing.
JBS spokesman Cameron Bruett said the plan “demonstrates the extraordinary measures” the plant has taken “to keep our team members safe as they provide food for the country.”
In an emailed response to questions about how guidance would be enforced and what role OSHA would play in protecting workers, the Department of Labor said OSHA received 55 complaints in the animal-processing industry and opened 22 inspections since Feb. 1.
Echoing language from the general duty clause, the agency also noted longstanding rules that require employers to provide a safe workplace.
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“OSHA’s standards remain in place and enforceable, and they will continue to be as workers return to their workplaces,” a labor spokesperson said.
Michaels, the former OSHA official, said the clause has no preventive effect and is generally enforced only after a worker is injured. He said it’s effective only in cases in which OSHA conducts an inspection and issues citations and the employer agrees to fix the problem — so any impact is felt months or years later.
Michaels said OSHA will not issue citations if employers are doing their best to eliminate a hazard but find it’s not feasible.
Jeffrey Lancaster, founder and CEO of Lancaster Safety Consulting in Wexford, Pennsylvania, said violations of the general duty clause can get expensive, especially if companies are found to be repeat violators, have a willful violation, or fail to fix an issue.
“The laws have been in place,” he said. “It’s just a new ballgame – a new hazard.”
Minnesota is one of 22 states or territories with worker-protection agencies that cover private and government workers, and the state OSHA has the power to enforce the CDC and state Department of Health’s COVID-19 safety guidelines under the general duty clause, spokesman James Honerman said.
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The agency has two open investigations into the meatpacking businesses — one at a JBS plant in Worthington and one at a Pilgrim’s Pride plant in Cold Spring, said Honerman, who could not discuss the investigations because they are pending.
Lauritsen, with the food workers’ union, said OSHA has not done enough to hold employers accountable. The union is advocating for access to daily testing for all meat-production workers, personal protective equipment if necessary and paid sick leave.