The Senate unanimously approved legislation on Thursday that would ban the use of federal funds to purchase telecommunications equipment from companies deemed a national security threat, such as Chinese group Huawei. 

The bipartisan Secure and Trusted Telecommunications Networks Act, which the House passed in December, bans the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from giving funds to U.S. telecom groups to purchase equipment from companies deemed threats. 

The bill would require the FCC to establish a $1 billion fund to help smaller telecom providers to rip out and replace equipment from such companies, and to compile a list of firms seen as posing a threat to telecom networks. 

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The bill is primarily sponsored by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), ranking member Greg WaldenGregory (Greg) Paul WaldenHillicon Valley — Presented by Facebook — Federal court rules tech giants can censor content | Trump upends surveillance fight | Senate passes bill barring federal funds for Huawei equipment Senate unanimously approves bill to ban purchase of Huawei equipment with federal funds Lawmakers grill Ticketmaster, StubHub execs over online ticketing MORE (R-Ore.), and Reps. Doris MatsuiDoris Okada MatsuiHillicon Valley — Presented by Facebook — Federal court rules tech giants can censor content | Trump upends surveillance fight | Senate passes bill barring federal funds for Huawei equipment Senate unanimously approves bill to ban purchase of Huawei equipment with federal funds Bottom line MORE (D-Calif.) and Brett GuthrieSteven (Brett) Brett GuthrieHillicon Valley — Presented by Facebook — Federal court rules tech giants can censor content | Trump upends surveillance fight | Senate passes bill barring federal funds for Huawei equipment Senate unanimously approves bill to ban purchase of Huawei equipment with federal funds Overnight Health Care: Big Pharma looks to stem losses after trade deal defeat | House panel to examine federal marijuana policies | House GOP reopens investigation into opioid manufacturers MORE (R-Ky.). 

“In today’s interconnected world, America’s wireless future depends on having networks that are secure from malicious foreign interference,” the House sponsors said in a joint statement on Thursday. “The existence of Huawei’s technology in our networks represents an immense threat to America’s national and economic security.”

“We thank our colleagues in the Senate for getting this important, bipartisan measure across the finish line and look forward to the President signing it into law,” the House sponsors added. 

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger WickerRoger Frederick WickerHillicon Valley — Presented by Facebook — Federal court rules tech giants can censor content | Trump upends surveillance fight | Senate passes bill barring federal funds for Huawei equipment Senate unanimously approves bill to ban purchase of Huawei equipment with federal funds The Hill’s Morning Report – Sanders repeats with NH primary win, but with narrower victory MORE (R-Miss.), whose panel has jurisdiction over the bill, praised its passage. 

“Telecommunications equipment from certain foreign adversaries poses a significant threat to our national security, economic prosperity, and the future of U.S. leadership in advanced wireless technology,” Wicker said in a statement. “By establishing a ‘rip and replace’ program, this legislation will provide meaningful safeguards for our communications networks and more secure connections for Americans.”

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The legislation, if signed into law by President TrumpDonald John TrumpThe Memo: Biden seeks revival in South Carolina Congress eyes billion to billion to combat coronavirus Sanders makes the case against Biden ahead of SC primary MORE, would have a major effect on rural telecom providers. The Rural Wireless Association estimated in a 2018 filing to the FCC that around 25 percent of its member companies use equipment from either Huawei or Chinese group ZTE.  

A spokesperson for Huawei pointed to concerns around the impact of the legislation on telecom providers that use the company’s equipment in a statement provided to The Hill on Thursday. 

“Unfortunately, the legislation that was just passed is considerably underfunded, would take longer than anticipated and could put at risk some of our customers, who serve the most underserved areas,” the spokesperson said. “This legislation will simply reduce the ability of broadband providers to provide the most secure network equipment and in turn hurt local consumers and businesses.”

The spokesperson added that “while the intention of this bill is to provide a robust and secure network for all Americans, if implemented the legislation passed today will fall woefully short.”

The bill’s passage comes after months of bipartisan pressure to take steps against Huawei, the largest 5G equipment provider in the world. Its critics cite concerns around a 2017 Chinese intelligence law that requires Chinese companies and individuals to participate in state-backed intelligence-gathering. 

The Department of Commerce last year added Huawei to its entity list of groups that American companies are forbidden to do business with, though Huawei’s full inclusion on the list has been delayed multiple times. 

The FCC also took steps against the company in November, when it designated Huawei as a national security threat and banned telecom groups from using FCC funds to buy equipment from Huawei. 

Huawei pushed back against the FCC for these moves, announcing in December that it was suing the agency. 

The Trump administration has also made moving away from Huawei a key priority, pressuring allied companies into doing the same.

The United Kingdom made the decision earlier this year to allow the use of Huawei in peripheral 5G networks, but not more secure networks, a move that many on Capitol Hill warned could endanger intelligence sharing between the U.S. and the U.K.

-Updated at 10:50 p.m.

EU publishes TTIP mandate

Battle over transparency prompts the EU’s member states to release details of the type of trade deal they want with the US.

The European Union’s member states have today published the EU’s official guidelines for negotiators working on a free-trade deal with the United States, bowing to mounting pressure from the public, the European Parliament and the European Commission.

Karel De Gucht, the outgoing European commissioner for trade, said that he was “delighted” by the decision to release the negotiating mandate, which was taken by EU member states’ ambassadors yesterday evening.

De Gucht said that “it allows everyone to see precisely how the EU wants this deal to work, so it contributes to economic growth and jobs’ creation across Europe while keeping our commitment to maintain high level of protection for the environment, health, safety, consumers, data privacy, or any other public policy goal”.

The mandate sets the parameters within which the negotiators for the EU – officials from the Commission – can strike agreements with the US in particular areas, or ‘chapters’, of the negotiations.

In an effort to give negotiators room for manoeuvre, the wording of the mandate is typically general and short, but the guidelines nonetheless set the tone, direction and limits of negotiations.

One area that has been particularly contentious during the first 15 months of the negotiations relates to investment protection and, in particular, how disputes between states and investors should be resolved. Anxieties about the investor-state dispute settlement mechanism has made its acronym – ISDS – commonplace in a wide range of European non-governmental organisations active in trade, labour, environmental and transparency issues. Their concerns that inclusion of an ISDS clause in the emerging Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) earlier this year prompted the Commission to put negotiations on investment protection on ice, pending the results of a public consultation. Opposition to an ISDS mechanism ensured that the 29 September confirmation hearing in the European Parliament for the incoming European commissioner for trade, Cecilia Malmström, was dominated by whether the ISDS clause should be excluded from the TTIP talks.

The declassified mandate has three sentences on dispute settlement: “The Agreement will include an appropriate dispute settlement mechanism, which will ensure that the Parties observe mutually agreed rules,” it states, continuing: “The Agreement should include provisions for expedient problem-solving such as a flexible mediation mechanism. This mechanism will pay special attention to facilitating the resolution of differences in NTB [non-tariff barrier] issues.”

Publication of the mandate has been one of the major points of contention in a broader battle about the level of transparency that should be introduced into trade talks, a battle that also entails questions about the rights and responsibilities of the EU’s member states, the European Commission, the European Parliament and national parliaments in the EU. Proponents of publication believe that transparency is critical to ensuring that the European public will support the eventual deal, which promises to be the biggest bilateral agreement ever struck and to reach into areas not traditionally addressed in free-trade agreements.

Marietje Schaake, a Dutch liberal MEP and a leading voice in the European Parliament on the TTIP talks, said that the decision to publish the mandate “shows that governments are finally realising that more transparency and accessibility are needed in the negotiations on TTIP”.

“It is ironic,” she added, “that the mandate, having been leaked previously, has already been available for over a year.”

A small group of member states continued to resist publication until the end, but diplomatic sources say that the largest member states backed the mandate’s release.

The first year of talks has seen the leaking of other confidential papers, outlining in some detail the European Commission’s positions on energy and chemicals.

The Commission’s recently concluded negotiations of a free-trade agreement with Canada were also affected by leaks, including the disclosure of particularly sensitive information: the ‘landing positions’ – the final positions – that the Commission would be willing to accept in negotiations.

The Commission and Canada officially concluded negotiations last month. The text of the agreement is now being reviewed by lawyers and is, therefore, considered by both sides to be a work a progress. Nonetheless, the Commission last month published the full negotiated text, again bowing to public pressure.

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Whenever the U.S. is threatened by a virus, Anthony Fauci can usually be found sitting in front of a television camera explaining the situation to Americans.

For more than three decades, Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), has served as the face of the federal government during public health threats. He has carefully cultivated a demeanor of calm urgency, one that TV hosts and bookers rely on to inform the public without inciting panic.

“He’s Mr. Authoritative. You want an authoritative statement or idea, you go to Tony. He says what he knows, and he doesn’t say what he doesn’t know. He’s not a bullshitter,” said Ezekiel Emanuel, a former top Obama administration official and chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania, Fauci’s longtime friend.

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Now, as the coronavirus has spread to more than 60 countries around the world, Fauci is once again in the spotlight. He has stood beside President TrumpDonald John TrumpSanders poised for big Super Tuesday 5 things to watch on Super Tuesday Congress scrambles to finalize coronavirus funding, surveillance deals MORE at two news conferences in recent days, and he has spent hours meeting with Vice President Pence, who is overseeing the administration’s response.

Fauci, 79, grew up delivering prescriptions to patients of his father’s pharmacy in Brooklyn, the rare Yankees fan in what at the time was Dodgers territory. He attended a prestigious New York City high school before college at Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., and medical school at Cornell. He signed up to work at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 1968, pressed into service by the demand for doctors during the Vietnam War.

“My interest in medicine stems from my keen interest in people, in asking questions and solving problems,” he told an oral historian in 1989.

Fauci rose through the ranks at NIH, tapped to become director of NIAID in 1984 under former President Reagan. In that post, Fauci has become a top adviser to six presidents, the translator who can describe dense scientific information in an accessible manner with his thick Brooklyn accent. Inside administrations, as political appointees struggle to wrap their heads around an epidemic crisis, Fauci makes clear both the stakes and the proper responses, say those who have been in Oval Office meetings with him.

“Tony combines being super smart, super able to communicate very clearly, with a very deep ethical commitment to doing the right thing,” said Tom Frieden, who was director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under former President Obama. “He’s always able to state things clearly. He has the respect of everyone.”

That skill has also made Fauci a go-to interview for shows ranging from “Meet the Press” and “Fox News Sunday” to “The Colbert Report” and “Good Morning America.”

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Fauci’s office did not respond to a request for an interview.

But in previous interviews, he has described a leadership style borne of intimate conversations that grew out of his work as a leading HIV and AIDS researcher in the 1980s, at the height of a growing pandemic that spread fear and anxiety through the gay community in New York and San Francisco.

When AIDS activists descended on the NIH campus calling for Fauci’s resignation, Fauci took the unusual step of inviting the protesters in to talk about the clinical trials underway.

“What I did is that I brought them into my office, the first time ever anybody did. So rather than have them arrested, I sat down and started to listen to what they were saying,” Fauci recalled in an interview with David Hunter, the dean of Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “And it became clear to me that despite the drama, despite the theater, they were making absolute perfect sense, that it was unconscionable for the government, when you have no alternative, to go by the old rules.”

The AIDS activists earned their seat at the table, and Fauci learned a lesson he has employed through several crises: Leveling with Americans about the threats they face builds trust in the very health institutions that become the barrier between an outbreak and a pandemic disaster.

“You have to manage expectations. And you have to never overpromise, and never be afraid to speak with reality, the truth,” Fauci told Hunter. “I mean, one of the problems people have is that they’re afraid to say, ‘I don’t really know, and I can’t give you an answer.’ And there are a lot of times, particularly in science, where you just can’t, because a lot of science is discovery.”

That expectations-setting sometimes flies in the face of the calm that presidential administrations try to project in times of crisis — perhaps never more so than now, as a new coronavirus spreads across the world. Fauci had been booked for several Sunday shows over the weekend, but he canceled them after Pence became the point person for the administration’s response efforts.

Fauci told associates he had been instructed to clear future interviews through the White House. At a White House press conference Saturday, Fauci denied he had been muzzled.

“I have never been muzzled ever, and I’ve been doing this since the administration of Ronald Reagan. I’m not being muzzled by this administration,” Fauci said. “What happened, which was misinterpreted, is that we were set up to go on some shows, and when the vice president took over, we said let’s regroup and figure out how we’re going to be communicating. So I had to just stand down on a couple of shows and resubmit for clearance. And when I resubmitted for clearance, I got cleared.”

Fauci appeared on a panel Monday with other health experts at Harvard. That same day, he discussed the coronavirus in an interview with NBC News.

“We’re dealing with clearly an emerging infectious disease that has now reached outbreak proportions and likely pandemic proportions,” he said. “If you look at, you know, by multiple definitions of what a pandemic is, the fact is this is multiple sustained transmissions of a highly infectious agent in multiple regions of the globe.”

Fauci’s friends and allies in the public health world say he stays away from partisan politics. At a recent dinner, he and Emanuel spoke instead about their travels, the three daughters each of them has, and a scientific article on intermittent fasting that had caught Fauci’s eye.

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“I couldn’t tell you what his political affiliation is. I think it’s American first,” Emanuel said.

With the coronavirus spreading, and as the Trump administration is criticized for its reaction to the virus, Fauci will find himself once again before the cameras.

“Especially in an emergency, it’s really important that professionals tell the public what they know when they know it. That’s how you earn and maintain the public’s trust,” Frieden said. “And you need the public’s trust in an emergency, because you’re going to have to rely on the public to take certain actions, whether it’s washing your hands more often or if it comes to that, not going to school or work for a time.”

Stock markets closed out their worst week since the 2008 financial crisis on Friday as fears of a coronavirus pandemic took root.

The market drop and the economic softening it portends could spell trouble for President TrumpDonald John TrumpTrump endorses former White House physician Ronny Jackson for Congress Newly released emails reveal officials’ panic over loss of credibility after Trump’s Dorian claims Lindsey Graham thanks Trump, bemoans ‘never-ending bull—-‘ at South Carolina rally  MORE, who is counting on a strong economy to propel him to a second term, and who has frequently touted market performance.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 357 points on Friday, a loss of 1.4 percent, while the S&P 500 was down 25 points, or 0.8 percent.

The drop brought the total weekly losses for the Dow to more than 12 percent.

The Dow on Thursday racked up a record for the largest one-day drop in the index’s history, and entered a correction from the market’s Feb. 12 high.

“Investors have largely been caught off-guard by the serious and far-reaching economic consequence of the coronavirus,” said Nigel Green, CEO of the deVere Group.

The outbreak, he said, would hit global supply chains, economic growth and government revenues.

“Until such time as governments pump liquidity into the markets and coronavirus cases peak, markets will be jittery, triggering sell-offs,” he added.

The Dow had been down as much as 1,000 points earlier in the day on Friday, but cut some of its losses as the Federal Reserve signaled its willingness to lower interest rates in order to combat the outbreak’s economic effects.

Worldwide, more than 83,000 cases of coronavirus have been reported in 50 countries, leading to more than 2,800 deaths, the overwhelming majority of which have been in China.

Even as new cases reported in China continued to drop, the virus’s spread to other countries set expectations of a prolonged struggle to prevent a pandemic. Just since Thursday, an outbreak in Italy was linked to the virus’s spread to Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania, Netherlands and Nigeria.

Earlier on Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) raised its risk assessment on the virus to “very high.”

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the outbreak could yet be contained with vigilant action, but warned against the spread of misinformation.

“Our greatest enemy right now is not the virus itself. It’s fear, rumors and stigma. And our greatest assets are facts, reason and solidarity,” he said.

When it comes to the economy, fear, expectations, uncertainty and nerves about the virus could cause significant problems.
 
“We could get to a situation where panic becomes an even greater obstacle than the virus,” said University of Houston Law Professor Seth Chandler, an expert on health and the economy.

If panic sets in, he said, people might avoid going to public places and participating in economic activities, whether that’s going to the movies, eating out at restaurants, seeing sporting events, or riding public transportation to get to and from work.

“If we don’t get a good and fast handle on exponential growth and take aggressive actions like we saw in China and S. Korea, we’ll be vulnerable to disruption to supply chains and panic,” he said, referencing tough measures taken to cut of transport and cancel public events in places with serious outbreaks.

The administration has sought to downplay the severity and economic affect the virus could have.
 
“The virus is not going to sink the American economy,” White House economic adviser Larry KudlowLawrence (Larry) Alan KudlowMORE said Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference, adding that he was more concerned about socialist economic policies. “That’s the biggest fear that I have today.”

“The stock market is worried, it’s fearful, but if you’re the long term investor which you all should be, since I believe and Ivanka believes that the country is in good, safe hands right now, you might think about buying the dip,” add Kudlow, who was speaking alongside the president’s daughter and senior adviser Ivanka TrumpIvana (Ivanka) Marie TrumpStocks have worst week in a decade on coronavirus fears Trump’s top economic adviser confident coronavirus won’t sink economy Trump declares US-India relationship ‘stronger than ever before’ MORE.

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Goldman Sachs predicted a “short-lived global contraction that stops short of an outright recession,” and predicted that earnings in the United States would be stagnant for the year.

Congress has scoffed at the Trump administration’s request for a $2.5 billion emergency supplemental to fight the disease, especially parts of the plan that would transfer funds from Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program and funding to battle Ebola.

The House is expected to unveil its own measure, which will include as much as double that amount.

Trump on Wednesday said he was willing to take more money to handle the coronavirus if Congress provides more.

On Thursday, he again criticized the Federal Reserve, arguing that it should cut rates given the unease.

“I hope the Fed gets involved and I hope it gets involved soon,” he said from the White House lawn.

 

Experts say they expect the stock market and economy to continue to be hobbled given uncertainty about the virus, how much it is spreading and whether governments have it under control.

“What you will see is stock prices for the next little while will be volatile,” said Bryan Routledge, professor of finance at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business.

“The bigger movement of stock prices is coming from risk and risk aversion. It’s not that output will be lower, but output will be more volatile,” he continued.

Morgan Chalfant and Brett Samuels contributed.

 

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and FreedomWorks are urging President TrumpDonald John TrumpSanders poised for big Super Tuesday 5 things to watch on Super Tuesday Congress scrambles to finalize coronavirus funding, surveillance deals MORE to support including broader surveillance reforms as part of a bill reauthorizing soon-to-expire intelligence programs. 

 

The two groups went up on Monday with an ad, which will air on Fox News, telling Trump to support reforming the “rogue FBI.” 

 

“President Trump, as Congress considers the Patriot Act, tell them to rein in a rogue FBI and reform our surveillance laws, so that this never happens again,” the ad says. 

 

The ad will air through Friday and is part of a six-figure, multistate TV and digital ad campaign to urge Trump and Congress to enact broader surveillance reforms. 

 

 

 

Congress has until March 15 to reauthorize, reform or end three expiring provisions of the USA Freedom Act, a 2015 law that overhauled the post-9/11 Patriot Act. 

 

But lawmakers are under pressure to use any reauthorization bill to also make broader reforms to the court created by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) after Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz found 17 “significant inaccuracies and omissions” in the warrant applications to monitor Trump campaign associate Carter Page.

 

“If President Trump wants to do right by Carter Page and all Americans, he should demand truly meaningful reforms to our surveillance laws and dismiss any proposals for small ‘fixes’ or clean reauthorizations that [House Intelligence Committee Chairman] Adam Schiff [D-Calif.] or [Attorney General] Bill Barr may be trying to pressure the president and Congress into accepting. America will be watching,” Christopher Anders, ACLU deputy political director, said in a statement.

 

Josh Withrow, a senior policy analyst at FreedomWorks, added that the groups hope that “we can reach President Trump with the message that there is massive bi-partisan agreement with him that the government’s surveillance authorities urgently need serious reform.”

 

Libertarian-minded Republicans and progressives have warned for years that they do not believe the surveillance courts provided enough transparency or privacy protections for individuals targeted for surveillance. 

 

The concerns about potential abuse have been raised by a larger number of Republicans after the Horowitz report, and the House Judiciary Committee was forced to pull its bill to reauthorize some programs after Rep. Zoe LofgrenZoe Ellen LofgrenCongress scrambles to finalize coronavirus funding, surveillance deals ACLU, FreedomWorks urge Trump to reform ‘rogue FBI’ as part of intel bill This week: House eyes vote on emergency coronavirus funding MORE (D-Calif.) threatened to force votes on several FISA-related amendments. 

 

Trump has largely stayed out of the fight over whether to reauthorize the three expiring USA Freedom provisions that deal with roving wiretaps, lone-wolf surveillance and a controversial phone records program.

 

But he hinted last week that he could be leaning toward supporting broader surveillance reforms when he retweeted two tweets from Rep. Jim JordanJames (Jim) Daniel JordanTrump to meet with Republicans amid deadlocked surveillance fight ACLU, FreedomWorks urge Trump to reform ‘rogue FBI’ as part of intel bill We should now consider candidates’ governing qualities MORE (R-Ohio), who supports using the intelligence bill to reform the surveillance court. 

 

When he retweeted Jordan a second time, Trump added “they spied on my campaign!” 

 

Barr pitched Senate Republicans last week on a clean extension, while promising that he would use his own authority to make broader changes to the FISA courts. 

Facebook on Monday said it removed five online misinformation campaigns connected to foreign countries in February, the latest indication of governments seeking to sow discord using one of Silicon Valley’s most powerful social media networks.

Facebook disclosed the information, which it partially revealed last month, in its first monthly report about coordinated inauthentic behavior (CIB), the company’s term for networks of fake accounts and pages aimed at manipulating public conversations.

“Starting this month, we will begin publishing information about all networks we take down over the course of a month as part of regular CIB reports to make it easier for people to see progress we’re making in one place,” Facebook said Monday.

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The company said it removed foreign influence campaigns originating in India, Egypt, Russia, Iran and Myanmar. Some of those campaigns were government-backed. Overall, the platform purged nearly 500 Facebook accounts, more than 1,200 Instagram accounts, 248 pages and 49 groups in February.

The social media giant has been under pressure to show that it is ramping up efforts to combat online foreign interference campaigns following enormous scrutiny for failing to head off a widespread Russian misinformation campaign during the 2016 presidential election.

The platform said it is seeking to differentiate between CIB in general — which consists of fake accounts that promote certain messages, often for financial gain — and networks of fake accounts backed by foreign governments. Government-backed inauthentic networks face the most aggressive enforcement responses, Facebook said.

Some of the content removed in February had explicit political undertones, including cartoonish Instagram posts about Yemen and posts about Somalia, whereas other elements of the campaigns focused on religious messaging and sports.

The Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab in a report published Monday wrote, “While some of the Instagram accounts, Facebook pages, and Facebook groups were overt in their political messaging, others postured as benign platforms sharing humorous or uplifting content, promoting fashion, or presenting as regional civilian news outlets.”

President TrumpDonald John TrumpSanders poised for big Super Tuesday 5 things to watch on Super Tuesday Congress scrambles to finalize coronavirus funding, surveillance deals MORE’s administration on Monday announced new restrictions against Chinese journalists working for state media, a reaction to how American and other foreign journalists are treated in China.

The administration will implement a personnel cap on five Chinese state-controlled media entities operating in the U.S., Secretary of State Mike PompeoMichael (Mike) Richard PompeoHillicon Valley: Facebook takes down foreign influence campaigns | Senior Trump officials warn of foreign interference on Super Tuesday | Apple offers 0M settlement for slowing older iPhones | Treasury sanctions Chinese hackers Pompeo promises to protect US businesses in Israeli-controlled West Bank Overnight Defense: US, Taliban deal hits snag in first days | Military helping to find coronavirus vaccine | White House withdraws nomination for official who questioned Ukraine aid hold MORE said in a statement. This means the government will regulate the number of Chinese citizens allowed to work for these entities within the U.S. 

The State Department had identified the five media outlets as “foreign missions of the People’s Republic of China” last month.

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“Unlike foreign media organizations in China, these entities are not independent news organizations,” the statement from Pompeo read. 

“The decision to implement this personnel cap is not based on any content produced by these entities, nor does it place any restrictions on what the designated entities may publish in the United States,” he continued. 

The secretary criticized China’s “increasingly harsh surveillance, harassment, and intimidation against American and other foreign journalists” in their country, calling their restrictions “misguided.”

Pompeo cited that the U.S. has allowed foreign journalists to “work freely and without the threat of reprisal.”

“Our goal is reciprocity,” Pompeo said. “As we have done in other areas of the U.S.-China relationship, we seek to establish a long-overdue level playing field. It is our hope that this action will spur Beijing to adopt a more fair and reciprocal approach to U.S. and other foreign press in China.”

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U.S. administration officials said the rules would also put a duration of stay on all Chinese nationals working in the U.S. on I visas for foreign media workers, according to Axios.

One senior administration official told Axios that “The objective is to introduce a degree of fairness in our relationship with China.”

China had recently expelled three Wall Street Journal employees, after the foreign ministry said an op-ed headline in the newspaper was “racist.” The expulsions came after the Trump administration designated the five media outlets as under control of the Chinese government.

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A top Iranian official died from the coronavirus Monday as the outbreak stretches across the hardest-hit country outside of China, The Associated Press reported, citing state radio. 

The official, Mohammad Mirmohammadi, was a member of the Expediency Council which advises Iran’s supreme leader. He reportedly died at a north Tehran hospital due to the virus. He was 71. 

His mother had reportedly died due to the coronavirus in recent days as well. 

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Iran has 1,501 confirmed cases in the country and the virus has killed 66 people in Iran, according to the AP. 

Iran has the highest death toll in any country outside of China, where the virus originated and has killed more than 2,000 people.

Other top officials in Iran have contracted the virus, including Vice President Masoumeh Ebtekar, the English-speaking spokeswoman for the students who seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and sparked the hostage crisis, and Iraj Harirchi, the head of an Iranian government task force on the coronavirus, according to the AP. 

Health Ministry spokesman Ali Reza Raisi told reporters Monday Iran is ready to mobilize 300,000 troops to help combat the virus, according to the AP.

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up a bid by gun rights advocates to overturn a federal ban on bump stocks, devices that allow semi-automatic rifles to fire ammunition more rapidly. 

The Trump administration outlawed the devices following the 2017 Las Vegas shooting in which a gunman used the rapid-fire accessory to carry out a massacre that killed 58 people and wounded hundreds in the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history.

The administration faced swift legal challenges from gun owners and Second Amendment advocates after it began to regulate the device under a law that prohibits machine guns.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals last April upheld the ban, saying the Trump administration’s treatment of the device as akin to a machine gun was reasonable, prompting an appeal to the Supreme Court.

The denial of the appeal means the requisite four justices did not agree to take up the case.

Justice Neil GorsuchNeil GorsuchSupreme Court leaves in place Trump ban on bump stocks Justices to hear first major abortion case of Trump era Lindsey Graham thanks Trump, bemoans ‘never-ending bull—-‘ at South Carolina rally  MORE said he agreed with the court’s decision not to take up the case but issued a four-page statement to express concerns that the lower court had been unduly deferential to the Trump administration.

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Welcome to Monday’s Overnight Health Care.

The number of coronavirus patients in the U.S. continues to climb, with more deaths being reported. Meanwhile, Congress is getting closer to unveiling a supplemental funding bill for virus relief efforts. And, the Supreme Court has decided to hear the ObamaCare lawsuit this year.

We’ll start with the news from the Supreme Court: 

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In some big non-virus news: The Supreme Court is taking up the ObamaCare case

What it means: The case will loom over the November elections and could make the Affordable Care Act an even bigger issue in the presidential race.

The case will be heard during the court’s next term, which starts in October, meaning that a decision is not expected until after the elections. It is unclear when the court will hear arguments, but those could come in October, before the election.

Democrats jumping on the case: Democrats immediately seized on the decision with a flurry of press releases to highlight the stakes for the election, while Republicans were mostly silent.

“This case is a stark, life-and-death reminder how much is at stake this fall and what’s on the ballot right now: Democrats must nominate the candidate whom they know can beat Trump and bring along the Senate, to ensure we can protect our health care for generations to come,” former Vice President Joe BidenJoe BidenSanders poised for big Super Tuesday 5 things to watch on Super Tuesday 5 states to watch on Super Tuesday MORE said in a statement.

A spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee called the lawsuit the “single most important issue in Senate battlegrounds across the country.”

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Read more about the case here.

 

And in the latest on the coronavirus…

 

Washington state confirms 4 more coronavirus deaths, bringing death toll to 6

Health officials on Monday confirmed four additional coronavirus deaths in Washington, bringing the state’s total death toll to six.

There are 18 confirmed cases in Washington, including the six deaths.

Most of those who have died were elderly or had underlying health conditions.

“Unfortunately, we are starting to find more COVID-19 cases here in Washington that appear to be acquired locally,” said Dr. Kathy Lofy, a health officer for the Washington State Department of Health.

All of the cases are in two adjacent counties: Snohomish and King, which is home to Seattle.

Lofy said the virus could be spreading in other areas of the state, which is ramping up testing to better understand how widespread the virus is in Washington.

Of the six deaths, four had been residents of a nursing home, illustrating the danger the disease poses to the elderly and those who have underlying health conditions.

Officials noted that the vast majority of people who get infected will fully recover.

Read more here.

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FDA expects 1 million coronavirus tests to be available by week’s end 

The U.S. will have the capacity by the end of the week to perform nearly 1 million coronavirus tests, public health officials said Monday.

That would mark a significant increase in the number of people able to be tested for the coronavirus in the U.S. after issues with a test developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) led to delays in diagnosing new cases.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Stephen Hahn told reporters at the White House that new regulatory guidance will allow academic centers and private companies to more quickly develop and verify their own tests for public use.

Why it matters: Flaws in a test developed by the CDC has led to testing delays. Experts believe there are likely hundreds of cases in the U.S. in people who have not been tested. As state and local health departments ramp up testing, it’s likely new cases could be identified. 

Read more about the testing here. 

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Trump urges pharmaceutical executives to accelerate coronavirus vaccine efforts

President TrumpDonald John TrumpSanders poised for big Super Tuesday 5 things to watch on Super Tuesday Congress scrambles to finalize coronavirus funding, surveillance deals MORE on Monday said he is urging pharmaceutical executives attending a White House meeting to accelerate their efforts to develop a vaccine for the coronavirus.

“We’ve asked them to accelerate whatever they’re doing in terms of a vaccine,” Trump told reporters during an Oval Office meeting with the president of Colombia.

The president and members of the White House coronavirus met with pharmaceutical executives. Ten pharmaceutical executives were in attendance, including the CEOs of Novorax, Gilead, CureVac and Inovio. Officials from Pfizer, Sanofi and Johnson and Johson were also at the meeting. 

Trump said the meeting was previously arranged to discuss drug pricing as the White House and Congress weigh legislation aimed at curbing costs.

Read more here. 

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White House adds VA secretary, CMS chief to coronavirus task force

The Trump administration’s coronavirus task force keeps expanding: Trump on Monday added Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert WilkieRobert Leon WilkieOvernight Health Care: Supreme Court to hear ObamaCare appeal | Washington state confirms 4 more coronavirus deaths | FDA expects 1M coronavirus tests by week’s end | White House expands virus task force White House adds VA secretary, CMS chief to coronavirus task force Overnight Defense: Watchdog investigating VA chief | Allegations claim Wilkie tried to discredit aide who reported sexual assault | Dem chair working to restore Pentagon funding taken for wall | Navy chief says loss of shipbuilding funds ‘not helpful’ MORE and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma to its ranks.

The office of Vice President Pence, who is overseeing the White House’s response to the disease, announced their additions on Monday.

Wilkie and Verma will join a handful of officials, many of them focused on health and national security issues, already on the task force led by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar.

Pence’s office announced Sunday that the task force would also add Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben CarsonBenjamin (Ben) Solomon CarsonOvernight Health Care: Supreme Court to hear ObamaCare appeal | Washington state confirms 4 more coronavirus deaths | FDA expects 1M coronavirus tests by week’s end | White House expands virus task force White House adds VA secretary, CMS chief to coronavirus task force The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by the APTA – Biden looks for Super Tuesday surge; coronavirus fears heighten MORE, a former brain surgeon; Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Stephen Hahn and White House science adviser Kelvin Droegmeier.

Pence has been leading the administration’s response to the coronavirus outbreak and briefed reporters Monday evening at the White House alongside Ambassador Deborah Birx, a State Department health expert who is coordinating the response to the virus.

Read more here.

 

What we’re reading

As coronavirus numbers rise, CDC. testing comes under fire (The New York Times) 

Major airlines, U.S. officials clash over passenger tracking related to coronavirus cases (The Washington Post)

CNN, NYT, Condé, WSJ, and other media giants implement coronavirus restrictions (Daily Beast) 

A detailed guide to the coronavirus drugs and vaccines in development (Stat News)  

 

State by state

Coronavirus in New York.: Outbreak will spread in city, officials warn (The New York Times)

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) demands CDC improve protocols after release of San Antonio patient who tested ‘weakly positive’ for coronavirus (KSAT)

Oklahoma lawmakers divided on how to pay for Medicaid expansion (The Oklahoman)

 

The Hill op-eds

Coronavirus, respiratory droplets — and you

Protecting Americans from infectious disease threats, today and tomorrow

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