Brian Lehrer: A Daily Politics Podcast

The Senate passed a $2 trillion stimulus and relief package yesterday, aimed at making sure the global COVID-19 pandemic doesn't send individual Americans, and the economy at large, into an inescapable financial hole. The bill goes to the House floor tomorrow, before it reaches the White House for President Trump's signature. On Today's Show: Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ-11) dives into the recently-released details of the bill, and talks about why enabling Americans to remain unemployed, for now, could help slow the virus and get the country back on its feet faster.  

As members of the public are asked to stay home, and keep distant from others to help stop the spread of COVID-19, what about those in jail or in prison, where inmates are most often housed in close dormitory quarters, with limited access to hygiene products like hand sanitizer? An outbreak in a jail could prove fatal for aging inmates, and could threaten the health of communities outside, who could be infected by corrections officers or recently-released former inmates. On Today's Show, we look at a notorious New York City jail on Riker's Island as a bellweather for how jails and prisons around the country will have to react to the current public health crisis. Almost forty cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed inside Rikers, a number that is expected to grow. Robert Cohen M.D., corrections health expert and member of the NYC Board of Correction, and Jose Saldana, director of the Release Aging People in Prison Campaign, discuss how to respond respond, including releasing inmates who are most vulnerable. NOTE: Brian introduces Dr. Cohen as a commissioner of the New York City Board of Corrections, an oversight body independent from the Department of Corrections, which runs the city's jails. Dr. Cohen is a member of the Board of Corrections.

President Trump invoked the Defense Production Act, which empowers the White House to order private manufacturers to produce certain goods, but has thusfar resisted using it directly, instead using it as a bargaining chip to get companies to voluntarily pivot to medical supplies like ventilators, respirator masks and other protective gear. In lieu of that, how is the federal government getting the supplies that are available to where they're needed. Plus, a federal economic stimulus has stalled in Congress, including a proposed $1,200 direct payment to each American, leaving many wondering how they'll pay April's rent as the first of the month draws nearer. On Today's Show:USA Today Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page discusses how the White House and Congress are responding to the Covid-19 pandemic and its economic fallout.

If you work in healthcare, food distribution, delivery services, telecommunications, and other fields deemed "essential." We take calls from folks in those jobs on their safety concerns. And, to answer those questions, an occupational safety official and a workplace justice advocate. Elizabeth Joynes Jordan, supervising attorney on the Workplace Justice Team at Make the Road New York, and Charlene Obernauer, executive director at The New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH), talk about how essential workers, on the front lines of the pandemic, can best stay healthy, and what they can demand from their employers in terms of protective gear and paid sick leave. More resources: Frequently Asked Questions from Make the Road NY on workers' rights in this moment. 

After a week of accelerating government responses to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Federal Government is working out how to put money in the hands of the workers and businesses whose finances are in jeopardy from the social distancing efforts we've all been asked to take part in. Part one of those efforts, a federal package that expands paid leave and promises that testing for the virus will be free, was approved by the House and Senate, and signed by President Trump yesterday. Part two is a trillion dollar stimulus package, part of which would help businesses keep workers on payroll, part of which would inject some fiscal fuel into hard-hit critical industries like airlines. A third part, according to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, will be direct payments (monthly, for the duration of the federal "national emergency" designation) of $1,000 to every American adult, plus an additional $500 per child. The House and Senate are still hammering out details, but this stimulus package is expected to be passed and signed in the coming days. On Today's Show:Rep. Tom Suozzi, U.S. Representative for NY's 3rd District, an area that includes parts of Long Island and Queens, NY, and member of the House Committee on Ways and Means talks about the Trump Administration's financial aid package to mitigate the economic impact of COVID-19 and how his district is responding to the pandemic.

With election officials weighing the importance of their role in democracy against the massive public health threat posed by COVID-19, should primaries be called off? Should early voting and vote-by-mail systems be expanded? If today's primary elections are postponed, does that set a precedent for potentially putting the general election on hold? This is just one of the places where pandemic meets politics. On Today's Show:Vanita Gupta, current president and CEO of the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights coalition, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights (LCCHR), former Acting Assistant Attorney General and head of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division in the Obama administration and former Deputy Legal Director of the ACLU, explains how the pandemic is eroding election integrity, and how to fortify voter rights and voter protections during this crisis.

Experts have told us to keep "social distance." But what does that mean? Is dog walking OK? Can I have dinner with a friend at their apartment? And how does social distancing work? There are a lot of questions about the most responsible way to behave right now. We've got answers to some of those questions, and on the questions we can't answer, some clarity on why that is. On Today's Show:James Hamblin, doctor of preventive medicine, staff writer at The Atlantic and the co-host of The Atlantic's new podcast "Social Distance," lecturer at Yale School of Public Health and the author of the forthcoming book Clean: The New Science of Skin and the Beauty of Doing Less (Riverhead Books, 2020), talks about how and why to practice social distancing, what to do if you start feeling sick and more as the COVID-19 pandemic upends life around the world.

With the spread of novel Coronavirus looking to spread the health system thin, and with social distancing casting millions of workers into uncertainty, what's Congress doing about it? From an unemployment relief package, to sick leave, to maybe mobilizing the army reserves to help build temporary hospitals and coordinate contingencies, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries fills us in on what's being done on Capitol Hill amid this public health crisis. On Today's Show:U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat representing NY's 8th district, including parts of Brooklyn and Queens, talks about the federal response to COVID-19.

Bill de Blasio is the mayor of the most populous city in the U.S. And right now, that means he's at the helm of efforts to navigate an outbreak of novel coronavirus. The situation changes, "not daily, but hourly," the mayor says, and is likely to get worse before it gets better. Some are calling on him to shut down the New York City public school system, which serves over 1 million students. The density of the city's school buildings could cause the virus to spread quickly, but de Blasio is reticent to close them for the duration of this public health crisis. For one thing, impoverished and homeless students rely on the system for food and shelter. For another, keeping kids at home could force parents who work in healthcare to abandon their posts to stay home with them.   

Last night, just hours after the World Health Organization officially designated COVID-19 a pandemic, President Trump announced new measures to combat its spread and mitigate its impacts, with proposals including payroll tax relief and small business grants. He also implemented a ban on travelers from most of Europe, with carve-outs for the U.K., Ireland, which both host golf courses owned by the President.  On Today's Show:Dr. Ashwin Vasan, an epidemiologist & Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s public health policy adviser, breaks down the latest novel coronavirus news, and takes calls.