The COVID-19 public health emergency is unleashing something most out of the ordinary in U.S. politics.
From Blue California to Red Texas, we are seeing examples of creative thinking in how to help those worst hit by the health crisis as well as its resulting economic devastation.
The House of Representative’s passage on March 14 of a major economic relief bill in response to the rapidly escalating coronavirus pandemic is the leading example of the unusual openness to something approaching bipartisanship that has emerged in U.S. politics over the past week. Largely driven by Democratic Party policy priorities, it expanded paid family and sick leave, bolstered unemployment insurance, bulked up food programs for the young and the elderly — two groups likely to be left particularly vulnerable by the crisis — and ensured that the people who needed to be tested and treated for coronavirus wouldn’t be left in the lurch because they lacked insurance.