Small business loan fund kaput, congress stalled

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Republicans turn up heat in push to get more funding to small businesses

Republicans are asking for an additional $250B expansion to small business lending; Chad Pergram reports.

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On the roster: Small business loan fund kaput, congress stalled - I’ll Tell You What: Drizzle your blueberries - Biden taps Obama super PAC - Biden getting swamped online - Punxsutawney Phil’s maintaining winter weight

SMALL BUSINESS LOAN FUND KAPUT, CONGRESS STALLED
WaPo: “A new lending program for small businesses maxed out Thursday morning and stopped accepting claims, but a bitterly divided Congress looked unlikely to address that growing problem as the nation plunged into unemployment levels not seen since the Great Depression. The Small Business Administration said on its website that the agency ‘is unable to accept new applications...based on available appropriations funding.’ Republicans and Democrats say more action is needed to build on the massive $2 trillion economic rescue law passed just three weeks ago, but they can’t agree on what to do. The economy continues to weaken but lawmakers are scattered all over the country advancing conflicting proposals and bickering.”

Unemployment hits 22 million - WaPo: “More than 22 million Americans have filed for unemployment aid since President Trump declared a national emergency four weeks ago, a staggering loss of jobs that has wiped out a decade of employment gains and pushed families to line up at food banks as they await government help. Last week, 5.2 million people filed unemployment insurance claims, the Labor Department reported Thursday, making it among one of the bigger spikes, although smaller than the 6.6 million people who applied the week before and the record 6.9 million people who applied the week that ended on March 28. The United States has not seen this level of job loss since the Great Depression…”

Trump to roll out re-opening guidelines tonight - AP: “President Donald Trump said he’s prepared to announce new guidelines allowing some states to quickly ease up on social distancing even as business leaders told him they need more coronavirus testing and personal protective equipment before people can safely go back to work. The industry executives cautioned Trump that the return to normalcy will be anything but swift. The new guidelines, expected to be announced Thursday, are aimed at clearing the way for an easing of restrictions in areas with low transmission of the coronavirus, while keeping them in place in harder-hit places. The ultimate decisions will remain with governors. … But in a round of calls with business leaders earlier in the day, Trump was warned that a dramatic increasing in testing and wider availability of protective equipment will be necessary for the safe restoration of their operations.”

Still lacking overseers for stimulus - Bloomberg: “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promises that a five-member oversight commission to police a major part of the massive coronavirus relief programs ‘will be in place,’ but after two weeks just one member has been appointed. The reasons for delay in choosing the chairman and three additional members aren’t clear. The deadline is less than a month away for the first report by the commission, which will oversee about $500 billion of aid -- loans, loan guarantees, and investments -- to affected industries, including airlines.”

THE RULEBOOK: RISE TO THE OCCASION 
“There are strong minds in every walk of life that will rise superior to the disadvantages of situation, and will command the tribute due to their merit, not only from the classes to which they particularly belong, but from the society in general.” – Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 36

TIME OUT: FROM VIKING RAIDERS TO VIKING TRADERS
Science: “In 2011, hikers in the snowy mountains of central Norway came across a 1,700-year-old wool tunic, likely belonging to a Roman-era hypothermia victim. As ice in the region has continued to melt, researchers have made hundreds of additional finds. Now, archaeologists have made their biggest discovery yet: a lost Viking trade route that may have been used for hundreds of years to ferry everything from butter to reindeer antlers to far-flung European markets. … The objects date back to the Bronze Age, between 1750 [B.C.] and 300 [A.D.], the team found. The oldest are mostly arrows and other hunting equipment, likely used to kill reindeer. Toward the top of the ice patch, however, the artifacts were different and more densely concentrated. The freshly exposed ground was littered with iron horseshoes and nails, walking sticks, shattered sleds, woolen mittens, leather shoes, the bones of dead horses, and piles of horse dung.”

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SCOREBOARD 
TRUMP JOB PERFORMANCE 
Average approval: 46 percent
Average disapproval: 49 percent
Net Score: -3 points
Change from one week ago: no change in points
[Average includes: Fox News: 49% approve - 49% disapprove; Monmouth University: 46% approve - 49% disapprove; Quinnipiac University: 45% approve - 51% disapprove; CNBC: 46% approve - 43% disapprove; CNN: 44% approve - 53% disapprove.]

WANT MORE HALFTIME REPORT? 
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I’LL TELL YOU WHAT: DRIZZLE YOUR BLUEBERRIES 
This week Dana Perino and Chris Stirewalt answer mailbag questions-- mostly on their favorite quarantine eats. They also discuss how Washington has responded to the uncertainty of the U.S. economy, updates on the candidacy of Joe Biden, and the debate over mobile and mail-in voting continues. Plus, Dana’s husband Peter returns for trivia. LISTEN AND SUBSCRIBE HERE

BIDEN TAPS OBAMA SUPER PAC
WSJ: “Joe Biden’s presidential campaign signaled Wednesday that it favors a Democratic super PAC established during the Obama era over another group formed last year as the party prepares for a general-election battle against President Trump. The signal that Priorities USA, which was founded in 2011, is the campaign’s preferred political-action committee sends a message to top donors about where they should give money and is a key step as Mr. Biden takes charge of the Democratic fundraising infrastructure.”

Mercer, Trump’s big Wall Street benefactor, back on board - WaPo: “Robert Mercer, the billionaire hedge fund magnate and prominent backer of President Trump’s first bid for the White House, has made his first six-figure donation to Trump’s reelection after retreating from financially supporting him, a new filing shows. Mercer, who was one of Trump’s most influential financiers in 2016, gave $355,200 in February to Trump Victory, a committee that raises money for the president’s 2020 reelection and the Republican National Committee, according to federal filings made public Wednesday. Mercer gave sporadically to congressional and Senate candidates and political groups in the 2018 campaign, but had not donated to Trump’s reelection effort amid a falling-out with former Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon and controversy over Cambridge Analytica, a Mercer-funded data-science firm hired by Trump’s 2016 campaign.”

Trump campaign sets aggressive fundraising goals - CNBC: “A joint fundraising committee formed by President Donald Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee is expanding its reach by putting finance chairs in all 50 states as the general election race gets under way. The heads of Trump Victory briefed its top bundlers Tuesday by phone about steps to expand the group’s already formidable war chest. The call, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter, was led by Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former Fox News host and current national chair of the finance committee, and businessman Roy Bailey, who has led fundraising efforts for the organization throughout the 2020 election cycle. The people who described the briefing declined to be named as the conversation was deemed private.”

Graham outgunned by Democratic challenger - The [Charleston, S.C.] Post and Courier: “U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham’s Democratic challenger Jaime Harrison outraised the incumbent Republican for the first time in the race over the initial three months of 2020, setting a South Carolina campaign fundraising record in the process. Harrison brought in $7.36 million to Graham’s $5.6 million, according to releases from the campaigns Wednesday night, meaning both of them easily outpaced the single-quarter state record of $3.9 million that Graham set at the end of 2019. The huge hauls bring Graham’s campaign war chest up to $12.8 million and Harrison’s to $8 million as the candidates gear up for what is on pace to become by far the most expensive race in South Carolina history.”

Tillis challenger rakes in big bucks - Roll Call: “Democrat Cal Cunningham, who is seeking to unseat North Carolina GOP Sen. Thom Tillis in November, will report raising nearly $4.4 million during the first quarter of 2020, his campaign told CQ Roll Call. Cunningham, who won the state’s March 3 primary, finished that month with about $3 million in his bank account as candidates face an increasingly uncertain fundraising environment because of the coronavirus pandemic. The race is among the nation’s most competitive Senate contests and is drawing significant expenditures from super PACs and other outside groups. Tillis’ campaign has not yet released its fundraising totals from the first quarter, but the incumbent reported $5.4 million in cash on hand as of Feb. 12, according to disclosures with the Federal Election Commission.”

Georgia Senate GOP primary, already nasty, will be very costly - McClatchy: “Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who has the backing of party leaders, and insurgent challenger Rep. Doug Collins — both competing for the same Georgia Senate seat — each raised about $1.1 million from donors in the first quarter of this year that was marked by the coronavirus crisis. Loeffler reported having $6.1 million available at the beginning of April to spend on her campaign. The Georgia lawmaker, who took office on Jan. 6, received just under $1.2 million in contributions from the first of the year through the end of March, her campaign reported Wednesday. Her fundraising appeared to take a hit after a series of stories revealed stock sales were made after a closed-door Senate coronavirus briefing that she attended in January. Loeffler, who is the wealthiest member of Congress, has said a third-party adviser made those stock sales without her knowledge.”

Steve King a pariah to donors - Sioux City [Iowa] Journal: “U.S. Rep. Steve King continued to amass scant fundraising amounts as he seeks another term in Iowa's 4th congressional district, as for the fifth quarterly reporting period King was substantially outraised by fellow Republican Randy Feenstra. In reports that were due by midnight Wednesday to the Federal Election Commission, King reported raising $42,917 for the three months of January through March. That compares to the $122,871 raised by Feenstra, a state senator from Hull, who has dominated the five Republican candidate field since launching his campaign in early 2019. Meanwhile, J.D. Scholten, the sole Democrat in the field, keeps outraising all the Republicans. Scholten brought in $338,579 over the quarter, which was more than all of the Republicans taken together, as those five raised just under $185,000 combined.”

BIDEN GETTING SWAMPED ONLINE
NYT: “Online popularity doesn’t always lead to electoral success. … But underestimating the internet’s influence is a mistake, too. In 2016, Mr. Trump’s surging popularity among the internet’s grass roots was a bellwether that indicated his candidacy might be stronger than it appeared in traditional polls. Conversely, Mr. Biden’s lack of support from meme makers and viral-content mavens could signal trouble ahead. The problem for Mr. Biden is not that he is old or out of touch. … The problem is also not that Mr. Biden is ignorant of the internet’s power. … Mr. Biden’s biggest problem is structural. Most of our online political communication takes place on internet platforms that are designed to amplify content that provokes strong emotional reactions, often by reinforcing tribal identities. Mr. Trump’s unfiltered, combative style is a natural fit for the hyperpolarized audiences on Facebook and Twitter, whereas Mr. Biden’s more conciliatory, healer-in-chief approach can render him invisible on platforms where conflict equals clicks.”

Warren says she would accept veep nod - Axios: “Sen. Elizabeth Warren told MSNBC's ‘The Rachel Maddow Show’ Wednesday she would become former Democratic presidential rival Joe Biden's running mate if he asked her. Warren endorsed Biden for president earlier Wednesday. Her progressive vision and detailed plans could help him win the support of Democrats who back former 2020 candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders… Biden has committed to choosing a woman as his running mate. Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams has said she would be ‘honored’ to be Biden's choice.”
 
PLAY-BY-PLAY
SupCo to hear cases around Trump financial records on May 12 - U.S. News and World

How George Washington’s defeat of an epidemic helped him defeat Britain - National Geographic

Trump tries to pick a fight over ‘adjourning’ Congress - NYT

AUDIBLE: LIKE, NO DUH
“So if you wanna make the point that Joe Biden's views are not mine, no kidding. I think everybody in America knows that.” – Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in answer to a question from CBS News about his endorsement of Biden was focused on defeating President Trump rather than electing Biden.

FROM THE BLEACHERS
“I must take issue with your unqualified assertion that ‘[i]n a republic, we chose [sic] people more than policies.’ Do you truly believe that a very healthy proportion of Trump supporters have chosen him because of Donald Trump the ‘person’ (with his many evident character flaws) rather than the policies he has espoused and pursued , and the direction in which he is leading this country ? Similarly, do you truly believe that people will choose Joe Biden the ‘person’ (with his evident diminished capacity and own peccadilloes) rather than the policies he will pursue in lieu of another Trump administration?” – Karl Bourdeau, Austin, Texas

[Ed. note: First, good catch on the typo! Here’s the context (dare I say qualification) for the line from Tuesday in answer to a question about the changing nature of the perceived threat from the coronavirus: “By delegating time-limited authority to our fellow citizens, Americans have to trust that their leaders will make good decisions. This is why voters are right to care so much about candidates’ personal attributes and character. Very often the hardest challenges have nothing to do with pre-existing policy prescriptions. The 2000 election was litigated over how to use the budget surplus (lolz) not militant Islamism. The 2016 election was litigated over which candidate was the most unfit for office, not pandemic response. “In a republic, we [choose] people more than policies.” I’m guessing based on your note that you’re not a swing voter, and that it would take a pretty profound degree of character deficiency in a candidate for you to vote against your ideological beliefs. There are many millions of your fellow Americans who feel that way. Whatever drives your selection, though, you don’t get to choose the circumstances that your candidate will face should he or she win office. You can choose ideologically, but in our system, individual office holders have broad, broad latitude for how they make their decisions. And very often things that hadn’t been part of voters’ considerations, like the current crisis, will make all the difference in shaping history. You can choose based on ideology, height or favorite vegetable, but in a republican system, it very often comes down to the qualities of the individual in power. Pick however you want, but you end up choosing a person, not a platform. But it is certainly true that for many voters, character and personal qualities take a back seat to ideology and partisanship. In fact, it has become increasingly the case for the two thirds of the country that is intensely partisan. They need a Roy Moore situation before they say uncle. For the other third of the country -- the persuadable voters both sides will be chasing -- personal attributes probably trump ideology. Remember that millions of your fellow Americans voted for both Barack Obama and Donald Trump. They didn’t change their politics or ideologies in four years, they voted for the person they liked and trusted the best of the two on offer.]   

“Question…why do you use polls to prove almost everything you state? No lessons learned from 2016 election? Rhetorical….” –  J. Scallan, San Diego

[Ed. note: You may have submitted your question rhetorically -- I suppose meaning that you intended it as a gibe. But I’m going to answer you sincerely, anyway. We’ve talked here so often about what polls are and what polls aren’t because that understanding is so crucial to so much of everything else. Polls, carefully conducted and following best practices, can be useful snapshots of public opinion at a moment in time. What polls are not are tools for fortune telling or prophecy. That’s why we track issues, spending, strategy, historical trends, candidate qualities and the social psychology of the electorate -- the totality of what’s driving voters and what campaigns are doing to shape those responses. And though I know regular readers must tire of hearing it, the national polls in 2016 were more accurate than the polls four years before. National polls were good in 2018 on partisan preference for control of the House. But 2016 taught us a very important lesson about a big blind spot: state-level surveys. With the massive contraction of local news outlets, especially newspapers, there just aren’t enough state-level polls to use as a reliable barometer. And national news organizations have to choose which states to poll based on history and expected outcomes. There was very little polling in the upset states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, for example, but TONS of polling in Ohio, where the race was a snooze. But everyone had grown accustomed to Ohio as a swing state but the other three as part of the “Blue Wall.” The point being, we don’t yet know what our blind spots will be for 2020. But we can work hard to remain humble about our assumptions and remain open minded. Certitude in politics is not only foolish, it tends to produce a very unappealing kind of arrogance.]

“Read [Tuesday’s] email about parties and partisanship and thought I'd ask if you've read this book, [‘Why We're Polarized’ by Ezra Klien] and if so, how useful you find it for explaining our current political landscape. The book was a ‘must read’ by Fareed Zakaria. I found it incredibly insightful on so many fronts. … I love your daily report for sooo many reasons - as a left-leaning independent I highly respect its impartiality and wit.” – Lawrence Stern, Grand Rapids, Mich.

[Ed. note: I did, and I agreed wholeheartedly with the premise that the widespread embrace of identity politics has been a huge part of our unraveling. But that only becomes possible when you destroy the mediating institutions that have in the past protected us from this kind of ethno-cultural warfare. Individualism is great and very American, but so too was participation, membership and an enthusiasm for organizations. When we survey the cultural wreckage of the 21st century -- mainstream religion, civic organizations, families, parties -- we see a world where individuals are told that their happiness is an end unto itself and that they should never have to subordinate their desires to those of the group. This, ironically, has produced greater uniformity in political philosophy as Americans have come to substitute partisanship for more important, meaningful kinds of associations. If you enjoyed Klien’s book, I’d highly recommend Yuval Levin’s “A Time to Build” and Tim Carney’s “Alienated America” on the cultural side. On the historical roots and the arc of the change, I’d offer Steve Kornacki’s “The Red and the Blue” and Tim Alberta’s “American Carnage.”  And I seem to recall a slim, breezy volume called “Every Man A King”...]

Share your color commentary: Email us at HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM and please make sure to include your name and hometown.

PUNXSUTAWNEY PHIL’S MAINTAINING WINTER WEIGHT
WPVI-TV: “Remember New York's famous ‘Pizza Rat’? Well, move over... it's time to meet the ‘Pizza Groundhog!’ He's just munching away completely unfazed by Kristin Chalela Bagnell or her two dogs. Kristin captured the little guy outside her home in Philadelphia's Brewerytown section. Kristin tells Philadelphia station WPVI that the groundhog sat there on the other side of her glass door for more than an hour, just casually munching away on that piece of pizza with no worries. All while her dogs, Maggie and Moses, looked on intently from the opposite side of the glass.”

AND NOW A WORD FROM CHARLES…
“Our friends think us odd. They can understand poker night or bridge night. They’re not sure about chess.” – Charles Krauthammer (1950-2018) writing in the Washington Post on Dec. 27, 2002.

Chris Stirewalt is the politics editor for Fox News. Brianna McClelland contributed to this report. Want FOX News Halftime Report in your inbox every day? Sign up here.