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| What Lies Ahead |
Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) have won the 2020 election and will serve the country as the next president and vice president of the United States.
Now the transition begins, even as President Donald Trump continues to try to thwart it. On Monday, just two days after being named the projected president-elect, Biden broke ground on his top priority when he announced the members of his COVID-19 taskforce, a line-up of doctors, scientists, and policy experts who are up to the monumental task of getting the virus under control.
This
is crucial. The coronavirus will not wait for President Trump to concede; it will not wait for Inauguration Day, and it does not care about politics. We must start planning right away—and while behavorial changes such as widespread mask-wearing and public health measures such as lockdowns may help rein in the out-of-control spread of the virus, we also need a vaccine in order to end this crisis. There is positive news on that front, with Pfizer's announcement this week that it has a vaccine candidate shown to be 90 percent effective. However, this is just the beginning of the process.
As the Center for American Progress reported in July, rapid manufacturing, financing, distribution, and administration of a COVID-19 vaccine will require unprecedented government planning and coordination at both the federal and state levels. With the right team and the right plan, it can be done. Revisit
CAP's roadmap for what the federal government should be doing right now to safely facilitate production as fast as possible and save thousands of lives.
What other challenges must president-elect Biden begin addressing right away? Keep tabs on CAP's ongoing series, Solutions We Need.
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Video: CAP's Sam Berger on the Challenges Ahead |
Rather than joining the incoming Biden administration in its efforts to combat the virus, President Trump is wasting time with baseless lawsuits and conspiracy theories, putting his own ego before the well-being of the American people yet again.
Trump's efforts will have no impact on the outcome of the election. The American people have spoken, and they have elected Joe Biden.
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In the Spotlight: A Wake-Up Call for State Medicaid Expansion |
Nine months into the COVID-19 pandemic, about one thousand Americans are dying of the virus each day, and the U.S. economy is still down 10 million jobs compared with prepandemic levels. Millions of people have become uninsured because of layoffs and the loss of employer-sponsored health insurance. For people who lose job-based coverage, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) provides options to regain coverage, including through Medicaid or private plans with financial assistance.
Medicaid expansion through the ACA is an opportunity to improve health insurance coverage for low-income residents, narrow racial disparities in access to treatment, and help insulate low-income residents from the effects of the economic recession. States that have not yet expanded Medicaid should view the pandemic as a wake-up call to do so.
The federal government should be working to secure the future of Medicaid expansion and the rest of the ACA. Instead, it is lending full support to the latest Supreme Court case aimed at repealing the law, which began this week with oral arguments. If the court sides with opponents of the ACA, the nation's health care system will be thrown into chaos and the results will be disastrous for the health and economic security of millions of Americans.
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Major Stories This Week |
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Repealing the ACA Would Devastate Rural America
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If the ACA is repealed, coverage for more than 4.5 million rural residents will be at stake. This is particularly important now, as many rural communities have been ravaged by the coronavirus throughout the pandemic.
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Child Care Is Hit Hard Amid COVID-19
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Child care has always been a core support for the American labor force. It is part of the economic infrastructure that gives working families a better chance to achieve financial well-being. But with less revenue and higher costs, the child care system is at risk of collapse. |
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White House Office for Racial Equity
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For far too long, Black Americans have unjustly suffered under government systems that operate to intentionally disadvantage people of color. It is time for the next administration to rectify the historical harms committed against Black people and make significant efforts toward closing the racial wealth gap.
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