Welcome to Tuesday, March 17th, St. Patrickers and social distancers...

Congress continues to battle COVID-19.

Late last night, the House passed the technical corrections to the Families First Coronavirus Response Act by unanimous consent.

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) spoke on the floor, expressing his reservations about the process by which the bill passed early Saturday morning. But he added that he believes the technical corrections improve the bill and withdrew his objection.

The technical problem was related to the bill’s provisions impacting small- and medium-sized businesses.

If passed, the bill would provide free coronavirus testing, paid sick leave, and expanded food aid and unemployment benefits during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Some conservative senators expressed concerns about the impact of the sick leave provisions on small businesses.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) worried small firms could suffer financial hardships if they're forced to "pay wages they cannot afford."

The corrected bill now heads to the Senate, where it's expected to be considered on Tuesday. The text of the corrected legislation hasn't yet been made publicly available.

Do you support the Families First Coronavirus Response Act?

For a politics-free guide to how to protect you and your loved ones from corona, click on over to our Coronavirus Info Center.

On the Radar

Short-Term Extension of Surveillance Powers

The Senate on Monday unanimously passed a 77-day extension of the federal government’s surveillance powers under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and the PATRIOT Act.

The Senate-passed bill is a clean extension that would retroactively authorize surveillance activities back to the March 15 expiration date. It will now head to the House for consideration in the near future.

The Senate originally planned to take up a bipartisan bill, the USA FREEDOM Reauthorization Act of 2020, that passed the House on a bipartisan 278-136 vote on Wednesday, March 11th. But the compressed timeline caused by the expiration, along with the Senate’s intent to consider a coronavirus bill once it’s received from the House, made a full-fledged surveillance debate impractical at the moment.

Do you support the short-term extension?

Under the Radar

Army Corps of Engineers Could Expand Hospital Capacity

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) is asking Trump to mobilize the Army Corps of Engineers to expand hospital capacity as coronavirus continues to spread.

"States cannot build more hospitals, acquire ventilators or modify facilities quickly enough," Cuomo wrote in an open-letter to Trump in the New York Times.

"At this point, our best hope is to utilize the Army Corps of Engineers to leverage its expertise, equipment and people power to retrofit and equip existing facilities — like military bases or college dormitories — to serve as temporary medical centers. Then we can designate existing hospital beds for the acutely ill."

Trump later tweeted: "Just had a very good tele-conference with Nation’s Governors. Went very well. Cuomo of New York has to 'do more'."

Should Trump use the Army Corps of Engineers to expand hospital capacity?