Unsanitized: The COVID-19 Report for July 1, 2020

Jamaal Bowman, Rent Cancellation and the Rise of Radical Black Politics
Plus, PPP ends, and begins

 

Jamaal Bowman represents a novel force in American politics. (Eduardo
Munoz Alvarez/AP Photo)

First Response

Jamaal Bowman's campaign to defeat longtime absentee incumbent Eliot
Engel

in a New York House seat was inspiring. Not only did it reflect the
professionalization of a left electoral apparatus, with the
infrastructure to poll, organize, and raise the funds needed to run
credible primary challenges. It also showed the changing tides

in Black politics: the Congressional Black Caucus supported Engel
,
a white incumbent in a majority-minority district.

Bowman situates himself in a different place than the establishment CBC
leadership and the younger Obama-era climbers who are knocking on the
door of that establishment. This is a more ideological left, which now
has a foothold on power. And that's just a very different dynamic,
which will bring in new voices on key issues.

For example, I was on a call yesterday that was one of Bowman's first
appearances since the primary. He wasn't allying with an ossified
Democratic interest group, but independent left organizations like the
Action Center on Race and the Economy (ACRE). And it wasn't about some
targeted investment in at-risk communities or tax-advantaged enterprise
zone. The first words out of Bowman's mouth on this call, echoing a
previous speaker, was "I love the way you framed that, we're dealing
with violence being administered by the state against its own people."

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The topic of the call was how to handle a fast-approaching housing
crisis

all over the country. Moratoria on evictions at the state level are
about to expire, as is the national partial moratorium for renters
fortunate enough to live in a government-subsidized property. The first
of the month brings another struggle for those who have fallen through
the cracks of the hastily arranged COVID-19 safety net, and in a little
over three weeks, that safety net is gone without further action. The
weekly unemployment boost of $600 ends July 25.

Bowman kicked off the call, but numerous other speakers gave testimony
on their struggles since the crisis began. Peggy Perkins, a
cosmetologist with three children, was unable to procure a small
business loan and has been hounded for rent by her landlord in
Hempstead, New York. Vanessa del Campo of Minneapolis demanded that the
governor not lift the state's moratorium on evictions, saying "our
families are right on the point of losing their homes." Carlos Perodin
of Make the Road Pennsylvania pointed out that the state is short
279,000 available and affordable rental units. Jasmine Johnson of Action
North Carolina has been out of work since March and didn't manage to
get on unemployment until two weeks ago. "Until this pandemic ends,
rent should be cancelled," Johnson said. "We don't deserve to be
put out on the street because the government can't come up with any
ideas."

Allying with these activists was Bowman, who will almost assuredly step
into Congress in January. Bowman represents a split district; "if this
district were a nation, it would have the eighth-worst economic
inequality in the world," he said. There are wealthy areas in
Westchester County along with the relative depravity of the Bronx. Often
members of Congress in that situation pay attention to where the money
is. Bowman was decidedly on the other side of that.

"How the heck are people supposed to pay rent when there's no money
coming in?" he pleaded. "We bailed out Wall Street, large
corporations... Jeff Bezos' wealth has gone up. The system is
inhumane, a manifestation of institutional racism within housing and all
institutions. And it's nurtured by the people we elect to serve us,
Democrats included."

That's powerful talk from someone headed into the halls of power.
He's backing a national eviction blockade, easily the largest
sustained rent strike in recent memory,
maybe ever in American history. The plan is to physically block
evictions in communities of color. "We are in full support of any kind
of organized rent strike, because what the hell else are people supposed
to do," Bowman said. "This is a collective trauma that I'm happy
to stand with you and fight against."

This new dynamic within Black politics is fascinating and hopeful. The
gap between the radicalism on the streets and the indifference inside
the Capitol is closing. The CBC has always been called the conscience of
the Congress, but that consciousness is being raised, from the bottom
up. As Bowman said yesterday: "People in this district haven't
always been involved and engaged. Now they are."

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Brian Fallon and Christopher Kang
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on the Supreme Court abortion ruling; Tom Squitieri

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Time's Up for PPP

[link removed]

On Tuesday, the deadline for the Paycheck Protection Program expired,
with $130 billion still left over. Senate Democrats offered a pro forma
extension to August 8, to try to get those remaining funds they
appropriated into small business owners' hands. It's the kind of
thing Senators do to say they tried to their constituents. There
wasn't really an expectation it would pass. Until it did
,
unanimously.

This was not how things were supposed to go. Earlier in the day,
Treasury Secretary Mnuchin was musing

about how to use the leftover PPP funds (he wants them to go to hard-hit
industries like restaurants and hotels). And there were rumblings about
a bipartisan agreement

on a second round of funds for businesses in need, without any hint of
an immediate extension (in fact the extension was part of the broader
agreement).
The House still has to pass it and President Trump has to sign it, but
that seems within the realm of probability. Considering the continuing
wave of cases and potential closures, the need will likely crop up. One
other tea leaf, the extended deadline aligns with the end of the next
work period in the Senate. That suggests that a second bill won't
happen until around that time, which is two weeks after the unemployment
insurance boost expires. I hope Washington doesn't wait that long and
triggers a gap, which would be not only devastating for families but
difficult for state unemployment systems to have to spin down and spin
up.

Days Without a Bailout Oversight Chair

[link removed]
96
.
It was the best quarter for stocks since 1998
,
in the middle of this. Maybe the distributional impact of the Fed's
interventions is something that a bailout oversight chair could
investigate!

We Can't Do This Without You

Today I Learned

* We're likely to see a very good employment report tomorrow
,
but it will only fill in another tenth of the long-term gap. (Calculated
Risk)

* It's a lifeline in this pandemic-laden economy that Oklahoma
narrowly passed a ballot measure

last night to expand Medicaid. (Politico)

* Drug overdoses spiking as isolation
grows. (Washington Post)

* Biden's plan

for pandemic response includes widespread contact tracing, PPE supply
chain strengthening, and global cooperation on vaccine development.
(CNBC)

* Supply chains suddenly becoming a consideration again as we max out on
testing
.
(The Atlantic)

* A Goldman Sachs analysis estimates a mask mandate

as a $1 trillion boost to the economy, about 5 percent of GDP. Mike
Pence finally wore one. (Forbes)

* Chicago hospitals preventing coronavirus patient intake
.
Unbelievable. (WBEZ)

* Let's call this what it is: Arizona is considering triage

at its overwhelmed hospitals. (Arizona Republic)

* The fight over "business interruption
"
insurance coverage is going to be intense. (Wall Street Journal)

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