US Senate closing in on deal to reopen government

October 15, 2013

Washington, Oct 15: Senate leaders were nearing a deal on Tuesday in talks to reopen the US government and prevent a default on American debt that economists say could tip the global economy back into recession.us

But an agreement in the Senate would only move the country halfway toward solving a bitter fight between Republicans and President Barack Obama's Democrats over government spending. Many conservatives in the House of Representatives were standing fast against the plan that would fund the government through January 15 and allow the treasury to borrow money to pay US bills until February.

With just two days left before the treasury department says it will run out of borrowing capacity, congressional aides predicted Senate majority leader Harry Reid and Republican leader Mitch McConnell could seal an agreement by midday, easing dual crises that have sapped confidence in the world's dominant economy and badly shaken support for Republicans. Both House and Senate Republican leaders scheduled private meetings with their rank-and-file Tuesday.

Obama telephoned McConnell on Monday to talk about the emerging deal, a McConnell aide said. Congressional leaders had been scheduled to meet with Obama at the White House on Monday, but the meeting was postponed to allow more time for negotiations.

With Republican poll numbers plummeting and Americans growing weary of a shutdown entering its third week, Senate Republicans in particular were eager to end the partial government shutdown, and avoid an even greater crisis if the government were to default later this month.

The US stock market turned positive on Monday on the bullish predictions about the outcome of the Senate negotiations. Stocks in Asia and Europe were tracking upward Tuesday.

The partial government shutdown, which has furloughed 350,000 federal workers, began on October 1 after Congress failed to pass a bill to temporarily funding the government. Separately, if Congress doesn't approve a measure increasing the amount of money the government is allowed to borrow, the Obama administration says it will not be able to pay America's bills on time, risking a default that analysts say could prove catastrophic for the economy. Both legislative measures are normally routine.

The plan under consideration by Reid and McConnell is far from the assault on Obama's signature health care reform law that conservative tea-party Republicans originally demanded as a condition for a short-term funding bill to keep the government fully operational. It also lacks the budget cuts demanded by Republicans in exchange for increasing the government's $16.7 trillion borrowing limit.

Instead, it appeared likely to tighten income verification requirements for individuals who qualify for federal subsidies under the health care law and may repeal a $63 fee that companies must pay for each person they cover beginning in 2014.

Any legislation backed by both Reid and McConnell can be expected to sail through the Senate, though any individual senator could delay it.

It's a different story in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, where conservative backing is proving hard to find. That means House Speaker John Boehner could be forced into the awkward and risky position of allowing a vote that would rely heavily on minority Democrats for passage.

Republican Rep. Joe Barton signaled that conservative members of the House were deeply skeptical. He said plan to end the crisis must have deep spending cuts to win his vote and that he thought Obama and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew had more flexibility than they had said publicly.

"No deal is better than a bad deal,'' Barton said.

Asked whether the emerging package contained any victories for Republicans, Rep. James Lankford, a member of the House Republican leadership, said, "Not that I've seen so far, no.''

As the Senate opened for business Monday, Reid said he was "very optimistic we will reach an agreement this week that's reasonable in nature.''

Moments later, McConnell seconded Reid's assessment.

"We have had an opportunity over the last couple of days to have some very constructive exchanges of views about how to move forward,'' McConnell said. ``Those discussions continue, and I share (the) optimism that we're going to get a result that will be acceptable to both sides.''

In addition to approving legislation to fund the government until late this year and avert a possible debt crisis later this week or month, the potential pact would set up broader budget negotiations between the Republican-controlled House and Democratic-led Senate with one goal being to ease automatic spending cuts that began in March and could deepen in January, when about $20 billion in further cuts are set to slam the defense department.

Democrats were standing against a Republican-backed proposal to suspend a medical device tax that was enacted to help fund the health care law.

Democrats also want to preserve the treasury department's ability to use extraordinary accounting measures to buy additional time after the government reaches any extended debt ceiling. Such measures have permitted treasury to avert a default for almost five months since the government officially hit the debt limit in mid-May, but wouldn't provide that much time next year, experts said.

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Agencies
March 15,2020

Tehran, Mar 15: Two hundred and thirty-four Indians stranded in coronavirus-hit Iran have arrived in India, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Sunday.

The batch comprises 131 students and 103 pilgrims, he said.

“234 Indians stranded in Iran have arrived in India; including 131 students and 103 pilgrims. Thank you Ambassador Dhamu Gaddam and @India_in_Iran team for your efforts. Thank Iranian authorities,” Jaishankar tweeted.

The third batch of Indians from Iran arrived early Sunday. A second batch of 44 Indian pilgrims had arrived from Iran on Friday.

Iran is one of the worst-affected countries by the coronavirus outbreak and the government has been working on plans to bring back Indians stranded there.

The first batch of 58 Indian pilgrims were brought back from Iran on Tuesday.

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News Network
May 12,2020

London, May 12: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned that a mass vaccine for the novel coronavirus may be over a year away and, in the worst-case scenario, may in fact never be found.

In his foreword to the government’s new 50-page guidance on a step by step easing of the lockdown measures in place to control the spread of the deadly virus, the UK prime minister lays out plans for businesses to gradually start reopening with “COVID-19 Secure” measures of social distancing and for the public to use “good solid British common sense” as the economy is unlocked.

“A mass vaccine or treatment may be more than a year away,” said Johnson, highlighting the work being done in the UK by scientists at Oxford University and Imperial College London towards this mission.

“Indeed, in a worst-case scenario, we may never find a vaccine. So our plan must countenance a situation where we are in this, together, for the long haul, even while doing all we can to avoid that outcome,” he said.

Admitting that a vaccine or drug-based treatment is the only “feasible long-term solution”, he said the UK has accelerated this with “promising” vaccine development programmes and a collaboration between Oxford University and pharma major AstraZeneca was a vital step that could help rapidly advance the manufacture of a Covid-19 vaccine when it is ready.

As part of global efforts, he flagged the GBP 388 million in aid funding for research into vaccines, tests and treatment, including GBP 250m to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.

“But while we hope for a breakthrough, hope is not a plan,” he said, as he unveiled his plan for starting to lift lockdown restrictions from this week in phases.

Following a televised address to the nation on Sunday night and a statement in Parliament on Monday, the guidance comes into effect in public life across England from Wednesday when people will be allowed one-to-one contact with people other than those they live with, as long as they remain outside and two metres apart.

They are allowed to play sport with a friend or family member from outside their household or socialise with them in the open air for the first time in more than six weeks since the lockdown was imposed.

People are still advised to work from home where possible but start heading into work where necessary, in sectors such as construction and manufacturing, keeping the social distancing norms in place.

Under the step by step plan, by the start of next month non-essential shops will also reopen, with some hairdressers, pubs and cinemas to follow from July. However, as part of a Covid-19 Alert System, if infection rates are seen to be rising again, restrictions would be tightened “possibly at short notice”.

Fines for breaching the new rules will also be increased to GBP 100 and will double for each repeat offence, up to a maximum of GBP 3,200.

Johnson said: "I must ask the country to be patient with a continued disruption to our normal way of life, but to be relentless in pursuing our mission to build the systems we need. The worst possible outcome would be a return to the virus being out of control – with the cost to human life, and – through the inevitable re-imposition of severe restrictions – the cost to the economy. We must stay alert, control the virus, and in doing so, save lives.

“Then, as vaccines and treatment become available, we will move to another new phase, where we will learn to live with Covid-19 for the longer term without it dominating our lives.”

The devolved administrations of Scotland and Wales are putting their own measures in place and keeping the “stay at home” message in place, rather than switch to the new “stay alert” message.

The UK government’s latest messaging has come under attack from the Opposition and other sections of society over a feared lack of clarity for the general public.

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News Network
March 30,2020

Mar 30: Thomas Schaefer, the finance minister of Germany's Hesse state, has committed suicide apparently after becoming "deeply worried" over how to cope with the economic fallout from the coronavirus, state premier Volker Bouffier said Sunday.

Schaefer, 54, was found dead near a railway track on Saturday. The Wiesbaden prosecution's office said they believe he died by suicide.

"We are in shock, we are in disbelief and above all we are immensely sad," Bouffier said in a recorded statement.

Hesse is home to Germany's financial capital Frankfurt, where major lenders like Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank have their headquarters. The European Central Bank is also located in Frankfurt.

A visibly shaken Bouffier recalled that Schaefer, who was Hesse's finance chief for 10 years, had been working "day and night" to help companies and workers deal with the economic impact of the pandemic.

"Today we have to assume that he was deeply worried," said Bouffier, a close ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel.

"It's precisely during this difficult time that we would have needed someone like him," he added.

Popular and well-respected, Schaefer had long been touted as a possible successor to Bouffier.

Like Bouffier, Schaefer belonged to Merkel's centre-right CDU party.

He leaves behind a wife and two children.

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