The Wall Street Journal - 19.03.2020

A6| Thursday, March 19, 2020 ***** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

Census Field Work

Put on Hold for Now

The Census Bureau is sus-

pending field work on the 2020

census until April 1 to protect

thousands of census workers

and help slow the spread of the

novel coronavirus, the agency

said Wednesday.

The suspension could slow

delivery of census forms being

distributed by census workers

this week to almost 10 million

households. The door-to-door

distribution is focused in rural

and tribal areas where residents

don’t receive mail at their homes.

About 95% of households will

receive their invitation to re-

spond to the census in regular

mail delivery at home. Those in-

vitations began arriving in homes

last week. Distribution is sched-

uled to be completed by Friday.

The suspension of field work

also will halt hiring and training

of thousands of workers, accord-

ing to Census Bureau director

StevenDillingham. Beginning in

mid-May, those workers are

scheduled to visit millions of

households that haven’t re-

sponded to the census.

He said 11 million households

already have responded to the

census and stressed that re-

sponding online is simplest and

fastest. The bureau also is ac-

cepting responses by phone and

on paper forms distributed to ar-

eas with poor internet capacity.

—Paul Overberg

during the 60-day suspension.

Fannie and Freddie guaran-

tee roughly half of the U.S.

housing market. They buy up

loans and package them into

securities that they sell to in-

vestors and also guarantee in-

dividual loans in the event a

borrower defaults.

Borrowers affected by the

coronavirus outbreak effects

who are having difficulty pay-

ing their mortgages also can

reach out to their mortgage

servicer for a forbearance

agreement, in which they

would have as long as a year to

catch up on missed payments.

Messrs. Diaz-Balart and McAd-

ams raised questions about

whether Congress can keep

meeting in person if the virus

is spreading more widely on

Capitol Hill.

Both Mr. Diaz-Balart and Mr.

McAdams voted in the House

Saturday morning in proximity

to other House lawmakers. On

Wednesday Mr. Diaz-Balart

said he had a fever and head-

ache but now is “feeling much

better” and is working from his

apartment in Washington.

Mr. McAdams said in a state-

ment that he returned to Utah

on Saturday and developed

mild, coldlike symptoms. They

worsened, as he developed a fe-

ver, dry cough and labored

breathing, so he went to get a

test. He said he is working from

home.

On Wednesday morning,

Sen. Chuck Schumer of New

York, the Democratic leader,

criticized the prospect of a one-

time cash grant to Americans.

He has laid out his own $

billion stimulus plan that in-

cludes expanding unemploy-

ment insurance and a morato-

rium on evictions and

foreclosures. Mr. Schumer also

warned against putting a focus

on economic stimulus to the ex-

clusion of other priorities, and

said other issues needed to be

addressed, like increasing the

supply of masks, hospital beds

and ventilators.

“Now, a few of my Republican

colleagues have proposed a one-

time cash payment of $1,000.

But my fellow Americans, this is

not a time for small thinking.

This is not a time for small mea-

sures. This is a time to be bold,

to be aggressive,” he said.

Mr. Schumer spoke on

Wednesday with Mr. Mnuchin,

who has worked closely with

Republicans.

The Trump administration

proposal also includes $50 bil-

lion for a lending facility to

support the airline industry,

loans that would include re-

quirements for specified con-

tinuation of service and limits

on executive compensation un-

til the loans are repaid. Trea-

sury would set the terms on the

loans, which would be secured

by collateral specified by the

agency, according to the memo.

Airlines this week had pro-

posed a $50 billion assistance

package but had asked for half

of that to be paid in direct

grants to provide the cash

many carriers need right away.

Carriers have announced severe

cutbacks in service amid sharp

declines in passengers, and

they have been trying to bolster

liquidity in recent weeks by

drawing down credit facilities

and taking out new loans.

“We are having constructive

discussions with the White

House and Congress, and re-

main optimistic that our indus-

try will receive support to help

address this crisis,” Delta Air

Lines CEO Ed Bastian wrote in

a message to employees on

Wednesday. The airline plans to

cut capacity by 70% until de-

mand recovers and said 10,

employees had so far volun-

teered to take unpaid leaves of

absence.

Mr. Trump on Wednesday

said airlines would be “No. 1” to

receive government relief.

The administration’s pro-

posal also includes $150 billion

in secured lending and loan

guarantees for what the memo

calls “other severely distressed

sectors of the U.S. economy,”

which Mr. Mnuchin said in-

cluded hotels and other busi-

nesses that need loans immedi-

ately. The hotel industry had

called for $150 billion in direct

cash grants for hotels and casi-

nos, and an additional $100 bil-

lion for related businesses in

the tourism and travel sectors,

like rental-car companies and

convention suppliers.

The proposal also authorizes

$300 billion for a small-busi-

ness interruption loan program,

which would provide loans to

temporarily cover payroll costs

for employees.

Congress is turning its atten-

tion to the stimulus plan as part

of its rush to pass legislation to

confront the outbreak. This

month, it passed an initial $8.

billion measure to fund the de-

velopment of a new vaccine,

among other things. On

Wednesday, the Senate followed

the House in passing a bill pro-

viding free testing for the

Covid-19 disease caused by the

virus and requiring smaller em-

ployers to provide at least two

weeks of paid sick leave to many

of those affected by the crisis.

The bill also increases Med-

icaid funding, expands unem-

ployment insurance and pro-

vides more money for food

stamps, aiming to provide an

initial safety net as layoffs be-

gin and cases hit every state.

—Alison Sider

and Lindsay Wise

contributed to this article.

THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

entists this week, the official

said, and represented the

most notable conflict between

the FDA and the White House

in recent memory.

Asked about The Wall

Street Journal’s report at a

news briefing Wednesday,

President Trump replied that

he hadn’t seen the article, but

added: “We are making a lot

of progress with therapeu-

tics.”

Mr. Trump told reporters

that his administration is ex-

panding access to tests for the

virus and later said there

would be a news conference

Thursday involving the FDA.

Mr. Trump said he is also

invoking the Defense Produc-

tion Act to get more medical

supplies like protective masks

and hospital gowns in greater

supply. Many hospitals are

saying that they are already

running short of such protec-

tive products that could pro-

tect doctors and nurses who

are treating patients who are

sick with the coronavirus.

Also at the news briefing,

Mr. Trump said the current

experience of getting tested

with a nasal swab—which he

said he has done recently—“is

not very nice to do, I can tell

you that.” He said there is a

test in the works in which a

patient can do the swab on

himself or herself, potentially

making the experience more

pleasant.

Deborah Birx, the adminis-

tration’s top-ranking coronavi-

rus doctor, said at the briefing

that there are indications that

millennial Americans have a

disproportionately large num-

ber of cases.

The draft order to expand

testing was entitled Executive

Order to Save Lives.

It would have allowed any

drug molecule or cell therapy

with evidence of safety to be-

gin Phase 1 testing for pa-

tients infected with the

Covid-19 coronavirus disease.

Normally, the FDA is in-

volved in any such process to

decide whether there are

enough safety data to warrant

going ahead with research.

The draft order doesn’t spell

out what “evidence of safety”

means precisely, though it

said any drug should have

completed unspecified human

safety studies.

Cell therapies, which are a

newer and often controversial

form of treatment, could raise

their own problems. While the

FDA has encouraged scientific

study of cell therapies, it has

also undertaken legal action

against cell therapy centers

that it has regarded as selling

sham treatments to patients.

The order would have al-

lowed such research to pro-

ceed if it has a scientific re-

view and endorsement by a

panel consisting of a scientist,

a hospital administrator, a

doctor and a person with reg-

ulatory-affairs expertise who

has present-day dealings with

the FDA.

WASHINGTON—The White
House considered issuing an
executive order greatly ex-
panding the use of investiga-
tional drugs against the new
coronavirus, but it met with
objections from Food and
Drug Administration scientists
who warned it could pose un-
needed risks to patients, ac-
cording to a senior govern-
ment official.
The idea to expand testing
of drugs and other medical
therapies was strongly op-
posed by the FDA’s senior sci-

BYTHOMASM.BURTON

FDA Says Wider Testing of Drugs Is Risky

President Trump on Wednesday said airlines would be ‘No. 1’ to receive government relief to make up for business that the industry has lost amid the coronavirus pandemic.

EVAN VUCCI/ASSOCIATED PRESS

during the Korean War, gives
the president powers to re-
quire and incentivize busi-
nesses to produce goods tied
to national defense.
Stocks sank on Wall Street
amid concerns the stimulus
package was short of what in-
dustries had sought.
The Trump administration
is proposing two rounds of di-
rect payments to Americans
totaling $500 billion to re-
spond to the economic impact
of the coronavirus outbreak,
with the amount of each check
based on family size and in-
come, according to a Treasury
Department memo viewed by
The Wall Street Journal.
The direct payments in each
round would begin on April 6
and May 18, the Treasury is
proposing, as part of the poten-
tially $1 trillion stimulus pack-
age being pulled together by
the administration. Lawmakers
have talked about $1,000 per
person or even more.
“That is money that we can
get to hardworking Americans
right away,” Treasury Secre-
tary Steven Mnuchin said.
The broad outlines of the
proposal had previously been
reported, but the memo added
detail about the timing and
scope.
While Senate Republicans
are poised to support an initial
round of cash assistance to
Americans, Sen. John Thune
(R., S.D.) said on Wednesday
the two-step program the Trea-
sury Department proposed may
not become law. Other Republi-
cans are exploring the possibil-
ity of expanding unemployment
insurance instead of directly
offering Americans money.
“That’s not decided upon,
the first tranche, of course, is
something that our members
have kind of coalesced around
but the other I think is an
open question,” said Mr.
Thune, the No. 2 Republican in
the chamber.
Republicans expect to have
their own proposals prepared
by Thursday morning before
they begin negotiating in ear-
nest with Democrats, aiming
to win Democratic support and
pass the legislation by the be-
ginning of next week.
However, the diagnoses of

ContinuedfromPageOne

Debate

Stirs Over

Stimulus

WASHINGTON—Mortgage
giantsFannie MaeandFred-
die Macare suspending fore-
closures and evictions of
homeowners behind on their
mortgages—and at risk of los-
ing their homes—in the latest
federal response to the out-
break of the coronavirus.
The 60-day suspension—an-
nounced Wednesday by the
Federal Housing Finance
Agency, the mortgage-finance
companies’ independent fed-
eral regulator—affects some
182,000 homeowners who are
in some stage of the foreclo-
sure process, out of the
roughly 28 million single-fam-
ily mortgages backed by Fan-
nie and Freddie.
Separately, the Department
of Housing and Urban Devel-
opment said it too would sus-
pend foreclosures and evic-
tions for borrowers with
mortgages insured by the Fed-
eral Housing Administration, a
separate government program
that backs roughly eight mil-
lion single-family loans.
It wasn’t immediately clear
how many of those borrowers
would have faced a foreclosure

BYANDREWACKERMAN

Fannie and Freddie Suspend Foreclosures

The 60-day halt affects some 182,000 homeowners who are in some stage of the foreclosure process.

SAM HALL/BLOOMBERG NEWS

carry heightened U.S. warn-

ings for visitors.

The suspension applies to

many countries in Western

Europe, along with other al-

lies around the world whose

citizens travel to the U.S. in

high numbers, such as Brazil,

India and the Philippines.

The action stands to have a

dramatic impact on interna-

tional travel. In 2019, the U.S.

processed more than 9.2 mil-

lion visas, the vast majority in

nonimmigrant categories, ac-

cording to preliminary data

published by the State Depart-

ment.

The timing of the disrup-

tion in processing will have

ripple effects across the econ-

omy, from the tourism indus-

try to universities to the agri-

cultural sector.

Farmers and other seasonal

employers normally would be

hiring seasonal foreign work-

ers ahead of the busy spring

and summer season. The agri-

culture industry, for example,

hired more than 200,000 for-

eign seasonal workers last

year, making up at least 10%

of the total farm workforce.

WASHINGTON—The State

Department said Wednesday

that it is suspending routine

visa services in most coun-

tries world-wide in response

to the outbreak of the new

coronavirus.

The suspension applies to

all routine immigrant and

nonimmigrant visas, and will

last until further notice, the

State Department said in a

statement provided to The

Wall Street Journal.

U.S. embassies and consul-

ates will continue to provide

emergency and urgent visa

services where possible.

All routine visa appoint-

ments will be canceled effec-

tive Wednesday, the statement

said.

Any fees paid will remain

valid and may be used to re-

schedule an appointment

within one year of the date of

payment.

A State Department official

said the directive applied to

all countries with a travel ad-

visory level of 2, 3 or 4, which

BYJESSICADONATI

ANDMICHELLEHACKMAN

U.S. Visa Services Are

Halted in Most Nations