•The delta variant of COVID-19 appears to cause more severe illness and spread as easily as chickenpox, a Center for Disease Control and Prevention internal slide presentation obtained by The Washington Post reveals.
•False Negative: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, R, has imposed restrictions on mask mandates by local governments in his state.
•Better IRS enforcement as a fundraising for federal programs? Craig Fahle and Stephen Macaulay debate the issue on the home page of https://thehustings.news
Afghan Immigration Begins – More than 200 Afghans who helped the U.S. war effort in their country over the past two decades have arrived in the U.S., The Hill reports. They are the first immigrants of a larger effort to fly a group of about 2,500 who helped U.S. personnel and their families, of which about 700 acted as interpreters, plus their own families, who have completed most of the Special Visa Application process.
Note: According to NPR: “Roughly 18,000 Afghan nationals, along with tens of thousands of their family members, have applied for special immigrant visas to the U.S.” Our government has a long way to go to help them.
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Biden to Clamp Down on Federal Workers’ Vaccination Status – President Biden says federal workers must disclose their vaccination status or use additional health precautions, Roll Call reports. Biden announced Thursday that unvaccinated federal workers will have to wear a mask on the job, regardless of the level of transmission of the coronavirus in their geographical regions, keep distance from visitors and fellow employees, and undergo weekly or bi-weekly testing.
Note: The conjunction or is a bit troubling. Is it too much to expect that as the government is working diligently to convince people of the importance of vaccinations not only to their personal health but to that of the polity that getting a jab would be part of their employment requirements? Do they have to wear shoes when they go to work, or is that somehow an option?
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Scrambled Scheduling Notes – August recess looms, and perhaps more so than during less bi-partisan-centric years, the Senate and House of Representatives are scrambling to push legislation through before they flee the Capitol.
The Senate was scheduled late this morning to vote on another procedural on the bi-partisan infrastructure bill – no big deal, as Punchbowl News points out, except that senators are still waiting for a written copy. Nevertheless, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, has indicated he expects the Senate will pass both the bi-partisan infrastructure bill and President Biden’s $3.5 billion budget reconciliation before the recess begins August 9.
Meanwhile, the House may take up “possible” five-month extension of the national eviction moratorium today, though it was not clear to Punchbowl News whether it would pass, or even come to the floor for a vote. The House’s recess is scheduled to begin on Monday.
Note: According to ThoughtCo, in 2018 there were 174 days of legislative work in the House and 191 in the Senate. In 2016 those numbers were 131 and 165. You would think that when there is business to get done, time off is not the appropriate action.
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Common sense vs. COVID in Iowa — According to the CDC guidance regarding COVID-19 precautions this week, the organization recommended: “To maximize protection from the delta variant and prevent possibly spreading it to others, wear a mask indoors in public if you are in an area of substantial or high transmission.” According to The New York Times, the COVID cases in Iowa, over 14 days, are up 133% and deaths are up 44%. Yet earlier this week Kim Reynolds, Iowa’s Republican governor, put out a statement that said, in part, ““The Biden Administration’s new COVID-19 guidance telling fully vaccinated Iowans to now wear masks is not only counterproductive to our vaccination efforts, but also not grounded in reality or common sense. I’m concerned that this guidance will be used as a vehicle to mandate masks in states and schools across the country, something I do not support.” To her credit, Reynolds does encourage vaccinations.
Note: Given the rise in cases, you’d think that Reynolds would be able to discern that mask recommendations aren’t overreach, especially given that Iowans are dying. In addition to which, her statement seems to imply that Iowans are incapable of understanding that while the vaccines provide protection, it is also a good move to wear a mask under circumstances where the risk is high. Sad.
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Obituary: Carl Levin, Former Senator from Michigan – Democrat Carl Levin, the longest serving senator from Michigan, died Thursday in Detroit, at 87. He served in the U.S. Senate from 1979 to 2015 in a tenure nearly parallel to his brother, Sander Levin’s tenure in the House of Representatives, 1983 to 2019. (Sander Levin was succeeded by his son, Rep. Andy Levin.)
Carl Levin revealed in his autobiography, Getting to the Heart of the Matter: My 36 Years in the Senate, that he was diagnosed with lung cancer nearly four years ago, according to the Detroit Free Press. A member of the Senate’s freshman class of 1979, along with fellow Democrats Bill Bradley, of New Jersey, and Paul Tsongas, of Maine, and Republicans Alan K. Simpson, of Wyoming (a close friend), and William S. Cohen, of Maine, the unabashedly liberal Levin quickly became known as the “scourge of corporate America,” according to The New York Times, who “scared the wits out of America’s biggest CEOs by demanding explanations for shadowy schemes that hid billions in profits overseas and avoided vast corporate taxes at home.”
--Edited by Todd Lassa and Gary S. Vasilash