If you can’t watch the whole thing, start at the 5 minute mark:
I did the math: a full battery of coronavirus testing costs at minimum $1,331.
I also did the legal research: the Administration has the authority to make testing free for every American TODAY.
I secured a commitment from a high-level Trump official that they’d actually do it. pic.twitter.com/RmolCtmNbG
— Rep. Katie Porter (@RepKatiePorter) March 12, 2020
I just love Rep. Porter to pieces. She’s originally from Iowa and reps the California 45th. Maybe it’s just me, but I think Porter has big Police Chief Marge Gunderson energy as she politely but aggressively questions bankers/cabinet members/CEOs/Trump administration public health officials until they confess.
As you can see when she extracts a promise from CDC Director Redfield to use his existing authority to authorize free coronavirus testing for all, she’s devastatingly effective. We need more people like her in Congress.
Bonus fun fact about Rep. Porter: she named her daughter “Elizabeth” after her mentor at Harvard: Professor Elizabeth Warren. Open thread!
West of the Cascades
Speaking of “existing authority,” when the FUCK is Trump going to declare an emergency/disaster under the Stafford Act?
FelonyGovt
And yet there is tons of Republican money being mobilized to try to defeat her in November.
misterpuff
A Thing Of Beauty!
How long before Redfield gets a summons to the Don?
Roger Moore
@FelonyGovt:
FTFY.
dm
Bet Fox News identifies her as Katie Porter (R) California in their chyron.
ETA: Well, except they’ll probably decide it’s safer not to broadcast that bit.
Marcopolo
Katie is definitely right up there with all those other amazing Freshwoman class representatives. We’ll have to see where things go but when Elizabeth Warren, of whom Katie considers herself a protege, says the only way we are going to elect a woman president is to elect a woman president Katie Porter definitely comes to mind as a potential future glass ceiling breaking candidate. And she’s older (46) than AOC and wouldn’t have to wait.
Betty Cracker
@West of the Cascades: When Jared finishes his book report. No, really.
hilts
I can’t get enough clips of Katie Porter. She’s a national treasure and a godsend!
Marcopolo
@West of the Cascades: I dunno, maybe when he is personally diagnosed with it? He keeps surrounding himself with infected folks so it could happen.
different-church-lady
Mood.
Splitting Image
@West of the Cascades:
After he gives himself an A+ for his handling of it.
Jeffro
As I mentioned in the thread below…not one peep, small article, or clip of Biden’s speech from earlier today on Fox News dot com right now. (No idea if they carried even a minute of it live)
Anyway, I’m just waiting to hear that trumpov’s been rushed off for the “second half” of that “physical” any minute now…LOLOL
Steeplejack (phone)
@dm:
Naw, Fox has other programming on.
Poe Larity
I think Don already knew his test results last night.
Question is how does the 25th Amendment vs Martial Law work.
Punchy
Her husband, Tele, was a fixture on the Dr. Who series
More seriously, this:
As you can see when she extracts a promise from CDC Director Redfield to use his existing authority to authorize free coronavirus testing for all
Does not mean he’ll have that authority by the end of the day.
Martin
I’m been saying it: California is going to save all your asses! I’ve got the benefit of knowing Katie since before she ran for office, and she has not changed a bit. The ‘I told your staff this would be on the final’ is 100% on brand. The shitty whiteboard demonstration, the ‘I know what weasling out of an answer looks like, and imma gonna shut that down right now’ is very her.
This is how you flip a red district. This is how you keep that district. And a lot of governing is just sweeping the sand out of the gears.
Nelle
I’ve met her more than once and i have to be careful around her. Somehow, my wallet opens and my credit card sidles up to her, fluttering its eyelashes.
Seriously, big and dark money is after her so sling her more cash. We truly need her.
And she is funny! She says there is only one person she’s scared of in Congress and that is Maxine Waters..she’s got a good story of falling on her way to a Water’s committee meeting when she fell on the sidewalk, flat out. She got up, and ran. When she came puffing in, their mouths dropped open. In her terror of being late, she hadn’t noticed that she’d skinned herself up and she was a bit of a bloody mess. She scooted in next to Rep. Cindy Axne, who wordlessly began digging in her purse for bandaids etc. Iowa mothers are always prepared.
gene108
@West of the Cascades:
When Jared figures out how the Trump-Kushner cabal can profit off of it.
Jared’s definitely trying to figure out how to funnel money to his real estate business, and he needs to make sure FIL Trump’s business gets taken care of too.
Martin
@West of the Cascades: When there’s something in it for him to do so.
What do you think Jared is researching? He’s trying to find the profit motive.
(fuck you gene108, that was my joke :P)
bluehill
All of these suspensions of activities that would normally occupy the public’s attention means that they have more time to look at what the government is doing to fix this. So far, it’s not a good look.
Martin
@Nelle: Apparently not all because Katie grew up in Iowa, and is a mom.
Betty Cracker
@Nelle: Since I’m repped by an entrenched old fossil who will never be voted out by my idiotic Trump-addled neighbors, I donate small sums to congresspeople I like from other districts, and Porter is at the top of my list. Love the Waters story. :)
Nora Lenderbee
Holy cow. I need a cigarette.
waspuppet
If this actually happens, you can bet “free coronavirus testing for all” will be in a Trump campaign commercial, with no mention of how it happened.
BobS
I never want to find myself being questioned by her- and I feel sorry for any of her kids that get home after curfew without a damn good excuse.
West of the Cascades
Fortunately, this authority is in a federal regulation, so the authority can’t be removed without notice-and-comment rulemaking.
Whether it will be exercised by this band of nitwits is another question.
Mary G
All of the freshman class of representatives who happen to be women are great in their own ways, but Katie is definitely a star, because she doesn’t take that “there, there little lady” shit male Republicans try to pull without looking like a bitch. I hope she is president one of these years.
Juju
I think Rep. Porter will eventually become our second woman president.
West of the Cascades
Federal government pays $100,000 per day per patient to quarantine Covid-19-positive patients at Trump resorts?
Ksmiami
@gene108: then we hang them after show trials when this is over.
Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA)
Open thread? Iggy the Wonder Schnauzer got weird last night for about two minutes. Walking awkwardly — taking big, exaggerated steps with this legs positioned so his feet were far apart rather than under him; then walking in circles; and unfocused eyes and a slow head tremor like Martin Short’s Katherine Hepburn impersonation.* Lasted about two minutes, then he was back to his old self like it never happened.
Dr. Google says it could be an ear issue, but the vet thinks it was a seizure. Iggy’s at the vet now getting bloodwork.
Anyone ever see those symptoms?
*It was Martin Short, right?
glory b
@Punchy: Another bonus fun fact, her first employer out of school was Kamala Harris.
I have it on good authority (a cousin who was a congressional aide) that Maxine Waters is lots of fun!
She took Congresswoman Waters shopping in her district when her luggage didn’t make it on the same plane.
When she was in a large gathering in D.C. Queen Maxine saw her from across the room and blew her a kiss!
Seriously, my cuz won’t let anyone say anything against her.
LuciaMia
Cause he don’t wanna.
The wall! The wall is the only thing that demanded an emergency declaration.
eclare
I loved it when she eviscerated Ben Carson!
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@West of the Cascades:
Probably after he tests positive
trollhattan
@Steeplejack (phone):
Funny as hell. Morbidly, but anyway….
Martin
@Juju: I would love that. However, she’s pretty uncomfortable with this level of politicking, so I’m not sure she sees herself looking forward to that.
Mary G
Baud
@Mary G: Maybe if she smiles more, and doesn’t seem so angry.
Or smiles less, and acts a little more serious.
Martin
Trump did a bang-up job steadying the markets. -9.5%. And you know he can’t get past that he’s the victim here.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@eclare: Did she wake him first?
Dorothy A. Winsor
I love how Katie Porter consistently, calmly brings the receipts and shoves them in the faces of the Rs trying to spin things.
Tiny good thing: My publisher just offered to delay release of my new book from late May to late June. I think that’s a good idea.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Baud:
Ah, but wouldn’t that make her a “ball-buster” according to the Calvinball-esque rules of misogyny? Women can’t seem to win with this shit sometimes
Leto
@hilts: Another Elizabeth Warren student, and this little nugget:
We have excellent people.
Zinsky
Katie Porter IS great! And so are you, Betty! You deserve your own blog. Thanks for sharing the Porter inquisition and the Fargo clip. Both classic!
Nelle
@glory b: Oh, it definitely came across as respectful and fearful awe.
Mary G
Josie
@Steeplejack (phone):
I just got off the phone after a frustrating conversation with my next door neighbor, who watches nothing but Fox news. She is thoroughly convinced that the virus is pretty much like the flu (no big deal), that it will play out in a couple of weeks, and that we will soon have a vaccination. She also thinks that every disease starts in China. We are both in our 70’s and she is diabetic. She is not worried about it for the aforementioned reasons. I gave up and politely ended the conversation.
eclare
@different-church-lady: First live show I saw when I was 12! Zenyatta Mondatta tour.
Martin
@Baud: I think it’s the latter. Katie is very disarming and angry Katie is still pretty charming. She’s all business, but it’s always ‘I’m going to ask you a question you should know the answer to’ and so it’s a chance for them to shine. The viral clips are of them failing. And that’s all on them.
And it’s not gotcha questions. How much does a Flu ‘A’ test cost is something thousands of front-line hospital and clinic workers can answer. And it’s a very reasonable question that should be known like ‘how much does a loaf of bread’ cost.
When Warren goes after bank execs, it’s exactly the same, and it always comes off well. Harder to do that in a debate.
Gin & Tonic
@Martin: Boy, I’m so old I can remember when I had real money in my 401(k).
Mary G
Dan Myers
It would be nice if that right wing (and very rich) old baggage from SF would retire so I could have her for my senator. Better yet, how about as Biden’s VP. That might get the Bernistas on board plus we would have somebody young and able to take over when Biden croaks.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Josie:
You tried; that’s all you can do. Your neighbor will see soon enough that this is nothing to scoff at
Martin
@eclare: Wasn’t sure if that was going to be that or ‘Don’t Stand So Close to Me’.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Josie:
I hope she will be fine. Either way, reality ignores the argument. Is she at least doing minimal preparation by stocking up if she can’t go out?
NotMax
@Gin & Tonic
Republicans awfully silent about the miracles which will follow allowing people to put their Social Security deductions into the market.
Fair Economist
The market hit quite an air pocket right before the close. Largest point drop in history. Largest percentage drop since 1987, surpassing any of the drops during the financial crisis.
I’m still trying to figure what the Fed was so scared about. I can’t find any particularly problematic interest rate indicators other than the extremely low long bond rates, which their intervention should actually worsen.
Marcopolo
@Mary G: That goes hand in hand with the monkey gangs in SE Asia rioting because there are no tourists there to feed them:
https://nypost.com/2020/03/12/monkeys-fight-for-food-in-thailand-after-coronavirus-slows-tourism
This animals taking over stuff is when we can hear the bells of the apocalypse tolling.
LuciaMia
The first time I heard some Fox newsie claiming the coronavirus was no big deal, all just hype , etc. For some reason these lines from Dr. Faustus popped into my head.
“FAUSTUS: Come, I think hell’s a fable.
MEPHASTOPHILISs.: Ay, think so still, till experience change thy mind.
Martin
@Gin & Tonic: I’ve been warning my wife to not look at the investment accounts as we’re dropping 6 figures a day. Now, that implies we are doing okay, and we are, but we’ve never emotionally come to terms with that, so dropping a few grand still has an emotional reaction. Losing 100x that does cause one to forget to breathe for what seems like a very long time.
What I warn investors is that when the market recovers it won’t be evenly. This is going to change industries. Hopefully for the better, but the winners may not be obvious to us now.
But I also remind people – there is no safe harbor during something like this. You gotta ride out the storm.
Leto
@Martin:
No they’re not and she even told Redfield that: I called your office last night and told them that I would be specifically asking you about this CFR. YOU WERE WARNED!
Watching that was like watching some of the best NCOs I knew school fools on the finer points of Air Force Instructions. Glorious.
Josie
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
It didn’t sound like it. We are both retired, so not a lot of extra money to stock up too much. I’ve been adding to my pantry a little at a time each week, but she doesn’t think it will be a problem.
eclare
@Martin: Hahaha…also appropriate!
FelonyGovt
@Josie: I wonder if the suspension of the NBA season, delay of baseball, etc. might start getting it through to some of the red state Fox News watchers that this is really serious.
bluehill
@Mary G: love a good kebab especially after a few pints
Fair Economist
@Martin: My mother is terrified of not having enough money, although at this point all she even *could* spend money on is nursing care, and she has enough to do that for many decades beyond her life expectancy, even with a huge crash. Loss aversion is a b****.
TS (the original)
@Martin: Worst day on the markets since 1987. Wonder who he will fire this time.
Josie
@FelonyGovt:
You would think so, but I think some people believe that everyone is over reacting. Fox and the administration are giving them permission to believe that. It’s the bubble.
Martin
@Fair Economist: I think they’re afraid of Trump slamming them.
This is the most chickenshit timeline imaginable. But it seems like Trumps speech was a turning point. Everyone is just savaging him over it. Hopefully this robs him of his power and people can start doing shit right. I think that’s what Fauci was stepping into on the Hill today, admitting not only did we fuck up, but our healthcare system is unable to respond because we set it up in a shitty way.
Comrade Scrutinizer
@FelonyGovt: Of course they’ll think it’s serious; that damn Chinese Virus Hoax the libtards have been pushing has been shoved down our throats by the loser media. Sad!
Fair Economist
@Fair Economist: So the one remarkable thing I can find is decreasing liquidity in swaps. (Roughly, deals in which financial institutions loan bonds for short-term income.) Not sure why that would be a big problem right now unless it’s severe uncertainty about the long-term value of money, which is reasonable with the crazy long term bond yields.
Edit: compounded by the flat yield curve, which means banks don’t have much profit to work with.
Fair Economist
@Martin: I still give the Fed more credit than that. I don’t think they’ll intervene to score pointless political points, and they are insulated from Trump’s temper tantrums in the medium term. On several occasions they’ve been a lot more right than me or the market. If they’re dumping in 1.5 trillion I think there’s a reason.
Martin
@Fair Economist: Yeah, we’re in a similar boat. But baked into that is the unknowns of what college will cost for the kids, how much of that I’ll need to take care of my parents. I feel like I need a gazillion dollars because without buying anything nice for myself, I could need a gazillion dollars just to keep my parents from suffering, etc.
This is why people are hoarding toilet paper. The future unknown. Intellectually I know it doesn’t make sense, but emotionally I have to. What’s more, if I had much less money, I would feel exactly the same way.
Bernies ‘millionaire and billionaires’ always rubbed me the wrong way because being a barely millionaire was just me saving up to take care of my parents and kids. Don’t fucking dunk on me for that. And most of the other millionaires (lots here in CA thanks to real estate) are just doing the same thing. No, we’re not poor, but we’re one cancer diagnosis away from being poor.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Yowza:
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Now that’s a sign of how serious this is. That’s big money, both legal and illegal.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@TS (the original): about the only thing that surprises me is that we’re not hearing about people like Jamie Dimon and Paul Singer (who IIRC set up a pro-trump SuperPAC not long ago) burning up the lines to McConnell and Pence.
And under the trump-era category of shocking but not surprising: Silent Jim Mattis continues to observe his vow of silence. See also: Romney (devaluing whatever cred he bought with his impeachment vote) and the Bush brothers.
Martin
@Fair Economist: I don’t know the purpose. Businesses aren’t stalling out because of a lack of capital or liquidity. They’re stalling out because they don’t know what the state of their industry will be 48 hours from now. And it’s utterly unfocused. We don’t need to get the cruise industry back up and running, we need to get the facemask industry back up and running, and that’s not going to happen from this indirect signaling.
It’s just not a finance problem at this point. The health care industry can’t finance their way out of the losses they’re about to incur. It shouldn’t be the Fed acting, but the federal government. Trump should have had a pile of money on his desk offering it to any company that can get N95 mask production up and running within the week. The Fed can’t do that kind of stimulus. But Trump is insisting that we have a Fed response to this. It’s astonishing in its idiocy.
The Moar You Know
Oh Doctor Redfield. There was only one acceptable answer to that question. Why’d you have to fuck around so long to get to “yes?
ETA: I will start praying to my loving God that I never end up having to get deposed or questioned in public by Ms. Porter. She does her homework and takes no prisoners.
Elizabelle
@FelonyGovt:
And now the NCAA too.
I know. The Foxers now have more time on their hands. All sports fans do. (That’s unprecedented in our lifetime, is it not?)
Wondering how many Foxbots might venture out of their comfort zone of FoxWorld to laugh at what the rest of the media is doing. And perchance stop laughing.
Sports will get their attention, because it’s big money and lots of males involved.
dm
@Fair Economist: I assumed the Fed was pro-actively making money available for banks to extend inexpensive loans to small businesses to tide them over, but maybe I listened to too much of Biden’s speech this afternoon, and got confused that real leadership had arrived.
ETA: and I’m not talking about cruise lines, but all the little places with inventory that now isn’t going to move, food service places in office buildings where everyone is working from home, etc.
Ksmiami
@Josie: you can’t save everyone- the Foxbots allowed stupidity and rage to replace reason so…
Fair Economist
@Martin: Totally understand the “technical millionaire” business. I’m there too. Insane house prices create many distortions.
Yeah, all kinds of free marketer fantasies fail in this kind of situation – like the implicit assumption that resources can be freely moved from running cruise ships to making masks. Or ignoring the enormous externalities from disease control.
Still wondering what spooked the Fed, though. I see lots of potential economic harm in the medium future, from possibly years of greatly reduced tourism and entertainment business. But it doesn’t *seem* like it would threaten the entire economic system. Am I missing something?
@dm: lol
bluehill
@Fair Economist: In 2001 and 2008, liquidity dried up really quickly in the fixed income market and I’ve seen a few articles talking about increased volatility in the repo market over the past year. I don’t really understand how it all works, but guessing that anything that causes the fixed income market to seize is bad overall. $1.5 trillion(?!?!?) oh boy.
dm
Watching Katie Porter, I was reminded of nothing so much as Richard Feynman on the Challenger Commission, with his glass of ice water, his binder-clip, and his bit of O-ring.
Fair Economist
@bluehill: Hmm, so maybe banks were having trouble loaning out their bonds for cash and the Feds had to step in to replace the counterparties unwilling due to extreme uncertainty? That seems plausible, and maybe not *too* alarming.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Two of the Big Boys, Duke and Kansas, said they wouldn’t participate. It was only a matter of time.
lee
That was a thing of beauty. We need more like her in the House and more like Warren in the Senate.
bluehill
@Fair Economist: I think it might be the other way. Banks holding onto their reserves and not wanting to buy treasuries and therefore inject cash into the system. Last September repo rate shot up because of this and fed stepped in.
Found this article from Brookings (may have a political spin)
Kayla Rudbek
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: wow! First time canceled since 1939!
Bookeater (formerly JosieJ)
@Josie: Fellow Josie, you’re a good friend and neighbor, but you can’t save someone who fights so hard against being saved.
It’s like trying to swim to shore after a shipwreck: if you’re trying to save someone who’s only panicking and pulling you under, sometimes you just have to let them go.
Ruckus
@Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA):
My neighbor’s Chihuahua started walking in circles in one direction like that about 3 weeks ago. She slowly got back to normal in one – two weeks. From the looks of it and me having been through stroke protocol twice in the last 3 years, I say minor stroke. That of course is not medical or veterinary advice.
zeecube
@Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA):
May be Old Dog Vestibular Syndrome. My aussie, Oscar, was diagnosed with that when he was about 12 years old. His symptoms were similar and transient,
Lymie
Unfortunately he walked it back, correcting himself at the end of the session.
J R in WV
@Lymie:
Who walked what back at the end of what session?
You make a good contribution, but by using many pronouns, you contribute no knowledge at all. Sorry to be critical, but, really?
Whut???