The Wall Street Journal - 12.03.2020

A6| Thursday, March 12, 2020 ** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

Kudlow, the director of the

White House National Eco-

nomic Council, told reporters

Tuesday evening that the ad-

ministration was also hoping

to take action to assist workers

who don’t have paid sick leave,

though he said that could be

done without Congress.

The House Democratic plan

calls for up to three months of

paid leave for workers who are

infected, in quarantine, taking

care of children, or caring for a

loved one who is sick, accord-

ing to a congressional aide. It

would replace two-thirds of

wages with a $4,000 a month

cap for workers not already re-

ceiving wages or paid leave, ac-

cording to the aide. The plan

also includes roughly $1 billion

in assistance for nutrition pro-

grams, according to a person

familiar with the proposal.

White House officials were

still reviewing the House pro-

posal Wednesday night, but a

person familiar with the mat-

ter said some officials in the

building weren’t keen on it

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D., Md.) this week.

CAROLINE BREHMAN/ZUMA PRESS

“First thing, fiscal stimulus

in the time of stress is abso-

lutely the right answer,” Mr.

Moynihan said. “The second

major thing is, take care of the

health-care problem.”

Mr. Trump said he would

announce Wednesday evening

plans to keep the economy

humming and organize a medi-

cal response to the growing

number of coronavirus cases.

He looked past the virus’s

spread to what he said would

be a quick recovery: “I think

there will be a pent-up de-

mand.”

The stock market officially

entered bear territory on

Wednesday, with major in-

dexes down 20% from recent

peaks. Bank stocks have been

especially hard hit.

The meeting was called

against that worrisome back-

drop. Attendees included lead-

ers from Citigroup,Goldman

Sachs GroupInc. andJPMor-

gan Chase& Co. (CEO James

Dimon remains hospitalized

after emergency heart surgery

last week; a lieutenant, Gordon

Smith, filled in.)

Mr. Trump called them

“probably the best bankers in

the world” and asked about

Mr. Dimon, who Mr. Smith said

was doing well.

Mr. Smith said JPMorgan

had lent out $26 billion in the

past 40 days to consumers and

small businesses. He said con-

sumer spending has continued,

even in hard-hit cities like Se-

attle, and particularly so

among younger consumers.

“The millennial generation

seems to be holding up very

well,” Mr. Smith said.

Much of the discussion was

around small businesses and

service workers who can’t as

easily weather widespread

store closure and supply-chain

disruptions.

“If you work for Goldman

Sachs, your life is going to be

fine,” Ken Griffin, CEO of Cita-

del, the giant hedge fund and

trading firm. “The weak spot

are the smaller businesses that

don’t have financial flexibility.”

Kelly King, CEO ofTruist

FinancialCorp., pressed for a

payroll tax cut, a proposal

floated by Mr. Trump that law-

makers have panned.

—Andrew Restuccia

contributed to this article.

We’re here to help. This

isn’t a crisis. The economy is

strong.

The chief executives of the

biggest U.S. banks struck a

calming tone Wednesday in a

White House meeting with

President Trump that was

light on policy talk and largely

meant to reassure markets.

The banks are in good

shape despite the turmoil,

their leaders said. “This is not

a financial crisis,” saidCiti-

groupInc. CEO Michael Cor-

bat.

Brian Moynihan, chief exec-

utive of Bank of America

Corp., said banks are in a

“great position” on capital and

liquidity.

BYLIZHOFFMAN

ANDDAVIDBENOIT

Bank CEOs Try to Reassure the President

ments, interest and penalties

for up to one year if the presi-

dent does declare a disaster.

“For small and medium-

sized businesses, for hard-

working individuals, we are

going to recommend to the

president that we allow the

delay and that they don’t have

to pay any interest or penalty

on that,” Mr. Mnuchin told re-

porters Wednesday following a

congressional hearing. “That

will have the impact of putting

over $200 billion back into the

economy.”

Generally, early returns are

filed by taxpayers with lower

incomes and those who count

on refunds. People with more

complicated returns and those

who owe money tend to file

closer to April 15. Some pay

taxes they owe by April 15 and

file a return by mid-October.

“While providing penalty

relief is insufficient to address

this crisis alone, it would at

least lift one burden off the

backs of taxpayers, who are

trying to keep themselves and

their loved ones safe,” Demo-

cratic senators, led by Robert

Menendez of New Jersey and

Patty Murray of Washington,

wrote in a letter to IRS Com-

missioner Charles Rettig on

Wednesday.

State tax authorities often

follow federal definitions and

deadlines, though in most

cases they would need to act

separately to change filing and

payment dates, said Verenda

Smith of the Federation of Tax

Administrators.

The American Institute of

Certified Public Accountants

offered its recommendations

on Wednesday. Those include

letting people extend tax filing

until Oct. 15 without filing a

form, waiving interest through

Oct. 15 and waiving some pen-

alties for late payments and

underpayments.

Any delay would disrupt

the routines of tax preparers

and accountants.

“It will be a total disaster,”

said Janet Hagy, an accountant

in Austin, Texas. “So many cli-

ents procrastinate, and we’re

already in the funnel leading

to April 15. An extension will

just prolong the pain.”

Andy Mattson, an accoun-

tant with Moss Adams LLP in

Campbell, Calif., said an exten-

sion of the deadline would

come as a relief for many

firms, especially smaller ones.

“Without an extension, it

will be hard for many tax

firms to meet the April 15

deadline,” he said. “Clients of-

ten prefer to mail confidential

information to the office

rather than email it.”

WASHINGTON—Tax profes-

sionals’ frenzied period before

the April 15 tax deadline will

likely be stretched over a lon-

ger time frame, offering a cash

cushion to some taxpayers and

easing the need for face-to-

face contacts that could

spread the novel coronavirus.

Treasury Secretary Steven

Mnuchin said Wednesday he is

recommending that President

Trump delay certain tax-pay-

ment deadlines, except for the

“superrich” and large busi-

nesses. He said the move

would keep money in taxpay-

ers’ hands at a time when the

economy may struggle.

The administration hasn’t

yet announced details of how

the delay would work or how

long it would last. The tax code

allows the Internal Revenue

Service to delay some deadlines

for up to six months without a

disaster declaration and offers

broader authority to delay pay-

BYRICHARDRUBIN,

Taxpayer Cushion Sought in a Later Deadline

 Investors’ retreat hits bank

stocks............................................ B

Treasury Secretary

Mnuchin wants to

delay certain tax-

payment dates.

THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

corrected, the CDC ramped up

production and sent out more

test kits, and only in recent

days have public-health labs in

most states been able to use

them to do their own testing.

These labs generally offer the

tests free and can provide re-

sults from several hours to two

days after specimen collection.

Epidemiologists say the slow

rollout means they are missing

information on how the virus is

spreading, posing a large risk

to public health. “We must

make sure we are testing more

people so we can start to re-

spond to this epidemic with our

eyes open,” said Caroline Buc-

kee, an associate professor at

the Harvard T.H. Chan School

of Public Health.

Some hospital systems and

academic medical centers have

started their own testing.

Northwell Health, which oper-

ates 23 hospitals and 750 out-

patient facilities in New York

state, on Sunday started using

a test developed by the New

York Department of Health. It

expects initially to test 90 sam-

ples a day and will seek to ex-

pand capacity to thousands of

testsaday.

tections or appropriate test-

ing.”

Once labs are doing the test-

ing, patients may struggle to

find a place to have their sam-

ples collected. Large commer-

cial labs that are beginning to

offer the tests aren’t allowing

patients to go to their centers

to provide samples.

At Piedmont Internal Medi-

cine, a medical practice in At-

lanta, Chief Executive Kelly

Ladd said patients can’t get

tested because she doesn’t have

enough protective gear, such as

gowns and full-coverage face

masks, for staff members who

would take the samples. “We

need to make sure we have a

safe environment for our pa-

tients,” she said. “Without the

protective equipment, we don’t

feel we can administer the test

at the moment.”

In the early weeks of the

outbreak in the U.S., a test de-

veloped by the federal Centers

for Disease Control and Preven-

tion was the only option, and

testing was limited. The CDC

sent test kits to state public-

health laboratories, but early

versions had defects.

Last week, with the defects

Maryland, a spokesman said.

Many physicians on the

front lines are also asking how

to get access to rapid test kits,

said Gary LeRoy, a family phy-

sician in Dayton, Ohio, and

president of the American

Academy of Family Physicians.

“As primary-care physicians,

we’re the canaries in the coal

mine. But we’re not canaries

who want to die because we

don’t have the appropriate pro-

said. The state is limiting test-

ing to patients meeting certain

criteria.

Another challenge: supplying

certain components needed to

run tests. Qiagen NV, which

makes materials to extract RNA

from patient specimens, says

making enough extraction kits

to meet demand is a challenge.

The company is increasing pro-

duction of testing gear at

plants in Germany, Spain and

tested.

Peter Antall, chief medical

officer of American Well Corp.,

a large telemedicine company

that offers doctor visits primar-

ily by video, said some of its

hospital-system clients have

limited testing capacity and

aren’t offering tests to every-

one. High-risk patients seen by

American Well’s doctors are

generally being tested, but

those at moderate risk of hav-

ing contracted the virus are of-

ten not—though doctors be-

lieve they should be, he said.

“Do you only test high-risk

patients? Do you test moder-

ate-risk patients with asthma?

This is a real public-health di-

lemma, when you have to ra-

tion testing,” Dr. Antall said.

Oregon’s state health agency

on Monday had only enough

test material left for about 65

people, said Jonathan Modie,

spokesman for the Oregon

Health Authority’s public-

health division. “We were

sweating a little bit,” he said.

Tuesday, the state’s public-

health lab in Hillsboro received

additional materials that are

expected to boost capacity to

test about 4,800 people, he

Coronavirus-test availability

is ramping up in the U.S., but in

a patchwork fashion that still

isn’t meeting demand, accord-

ing to doctors, health-care ad-

ministrators and state officials.

Some hospitals and public-

health laboratories are getting

test kits that allow analysis

closer to the point of care, of-

fering results in hours. Others

still must send specimens to

commercial labs like Labora-

tory Corp. of America Holdings

and Quest Diagnostics Inc. for

analysis, which can mean a

wait of three to four days.

And each state, county and

health-care provider has its

own policy on who will receive

a test, with some still limiting

it to those at risk of severe dis-

ease. So not everyone who has

signs of Covid-19, the disease

caused by the virus, may be

WASHINGTON—House Dem-

ocrats rushed to complete an

economic package responding

to the spread of the new coro-

navirus and win support from

the Trump administration be-

fore a scheduled weeklong

break.

The package House Demo-

crats prepared and released late

Wednesday would provide for

paid sick leave for people af-

fected by the coronavirus and

expand unemployment insur-

ance, among other measures.

The legislation reflects a series

of priorities House Speaker

Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) and

Senate Minority Leader Chuck

Schumer (D., N.Y.) laid out at

the start of the week.

Democratic lawmakers plan

to pass it on the floor Thurs-

day, though it’s unclear how

much Republican support it

will have.

Lawmakers were hoping to

release the bill Wednesday and

pass it on the floor Thursday.

Mrs. Pelosi spoke with Trea-

sury Secretary Steven Mnuchin

twice on Wednesday as Demo-

crats sought backing from the

administration on the legisla-

tion. She also met with Mr.

Mnuchin on Tuesday.

Republicans were also con-

sidering policy steps Wednes-

day evening, leaving open the

possibility that Capitol Hill

could cobble together a bipar-

tisan compromise to address

the economic consequences of

the pandemic in just a matter

of days. House Republican

leadership met Wednesday to

discuss possible legislation,

and House Minority Leader

Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) was

in contact with Mr. Mnuchin on

Wednesday.

Prospects of a bipartisan

agreement have fallen to Mr.

Mnuchin and Mrs. Pelosi. Sen-

ate Majority Leader Mitch

McConnell (R., Ky.) said he

would defer to the Trump ad-

ministration, and House Re-

publicans indicated they would

also fall in line behind the

White House.

Democrats and the adminis-

tration agree on the need to

expand paid sick leave as law-

makers worry about hourly-

wage earners who may con-

tinue to go to work even if they

contract the disease. Larry

BYNATALIEANDREWS

ANDANDREWDUEHREN

House Democrats

Lay Out Priorities

On an Aid Package

President Trump during a meeting with bankers on his coronavirus response inside the Cabinet Room at the White House on Wednesday.

TOM BRENNER/REUTERS

BYPETERLOFTUS

ANDANNAWILDEMATHEWS

Want a Test? Depends Where You Live

Availability is uneven,

and some labs are

limiting exams to the

most severe cases

A CDC laboratory test kit for the new coronavirus.

U.S. CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION/ASSOCIATED PRESS

U.S. Capitol Building

Is Closed to Tours

WASHINGTON—Congres-

sional offices were hit with

their first confirmed case of

the disease caused by the

novel coronavirus, and leaders

said they planned to close

the U.S. Capitol building to

tours, as health concerns

mounted among lawmakers.

An aide in the office of

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D.,

Wash.) has tested positive

for Covid-19, her office said.

The aide has been in isolation

since symptoms developed,

and the senator has closed

her Washington, D.C., office

this week for cleaning while

her staff works remotely.

House Speaker Nancy

Pelosi (D., Calif.) and Senate

Majority Leader Mitch

McConnell (R., Ky.) had earlier

rejected closing the Capitol to

tourists.

But lawmakers have

grown increasingly nervous

about the spread of the dis-

ease, including the flow of

people through the Capitol.

— Siobhan Hughes,

Natalie Andrews