US ECONOMICS

CHINA

THE WHITE HOUSE. May 30, 2020. NATIONAL SECURITY and DEFENSE. REMARKS. Remarks by President Trump on Actions Against China

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Good afternoon. Thank you. I’m here today to talk about our relationship with China and several new measures to protect American security and prosperity.

China’s pattern of misconduct is well known. For decades, they have ripped off the United States like no one has ever done before. Hundreds of billions of dollars a year were lost dealing with China, especially over the years during the prior administration. China raided our factories, offshored our jobs, gutted our industries, stole our intellectual property, and violated their commitments under the World Trade Organization. To make matters worse, they are considered a developing nation getting all sorts of benefits that others, including the United States, are not entitled to.

But I never solely blamed China for this. They were able to get away with a theft like no one was able to get away with before because of past politicians and, frankly, past presidents. But unlike those who came before, my administration negotiated and fought for what was right. It’s called: fair and reciprocal treatment.

China has also unlawfully claimed territory in the Pacific Ocean, threatening freedom of navigation and international trade. And they broke their word to the world on ensuring the autonomy of Hong Kong.

The United States wants an open and constructive relationship with China, but achieving that relationship requires us to vigorously defend our national interests. The Chinese government has continually violated its promises to us and so many other nations.

These plain facts cannot be overlooked or swept aside. The world is now suffering as a result of the malfeasance of the Chinese government. China’s cover-up of the Wuhan virus allowed the disease to spread all over the world, instigating a global pandemic that has cost more than 100,000 American lives and over a million lives worldwide.

Chinese officials ignored their reporting obligations to the World Health Organization and pressured the World Health Organization to mislead the world when the virus was first discovered by Chinese authorities.

Countless lives have been taken, and profound economic hardship has been inflicted all around the globe. They strongly recommended against me doing the early ban from China, but I did it anyway and was proven to be 100 percent correct.

China has total control over the World Health Organization, despite only paying $40 million per year compared to what the United States has been paying, which is approximately $450 million a year.

We have detailed the reforms that it must make and engage with them directly, but they have refused to act. Because they have failed to make the requested and greatly needed reforms, we will be today terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization and redirecting those funds to other worldwide and deserving, urgent, global public health needs.

The world needs answers from China on the virus. We must have transparency. Why is it that China shut off infected people from Wuhan to all other parts of China? It went nowhere else. It didn’t go to Beijing; it went nowhere else. But allowed them to freely travel throughout the world, including Europe and the United States.

The death and destruction caused by this is incalculable. We must have answers not only for us but for the rest of the world.

This pandemic has underscored the crucial importance of building up America’s economic independence, reshoring our critical supply chains and protecting America’s scientific and technological advances.

For years, the government of China has conducted illicit espionage to steal our industrial secrets, of which there are many. Today, I will issue a proclamation to better secure our nation’s vital university research and to suspend the entry of certain foreign nationals from China who we have identified as potential security risks.

I am also taking action to protect the integrity of America’s financial system — by far, the best in the world. I am instructing my Presidential Working Group on Financial Markets to study the differing practices of Chinese companies listed on the U.S. financial markets, with the goal of protecting American investors.

Investment firms should not be subjecting their clients to the hidden and undue risks associated with financing Chinese companies that do not play by the same rules. Americans are entitled to fairness and transparency.

Several of the most significant actions we’re taking pertain to the deeply troubling situations unfolding in Hong Kong.

This week, China unilaterally imposed control over Hong Kong security. This was a plain violation of Beijing’s treaty obligations with the United Kingdom in the Declaration of 1984 and explicit provisions of Hong Kong’s Basic Law. It has 27 years to go.

The Chinese government’s move against Hong Kong is the latest in a series of measures that are diminishing the city’s longstanding and very proud status.

This is a tragedy for the people of Hong Kong, the people of China, and indeed the people of the world. China claims it is protecting national security. But the truth is that Hong Kong was secure and prosperous as a free society. Beijing’s decision reverses all of that. It extends the reach of China’s invasive state security apparatus into what was formerly a bastion of liberty.

China’s latest incursion, along with other recent developments that degraded the territory’s freedoms, makes clear that Hong Kong is no longer sufficiently autonomous to warrant the special treatment that we have afforded the territory since the handover.

China has replaced its promised formula of “one country, two systems” with “one country, one system.”

Therefore, I am directing my administration to begin the process of eliminating policy exemptions that give Hong Kong different and special treatment.

My announcement today will affect the full range of agreements we have with Hong Kong, from our extradition treaty to our export controls on dual-use technologies and more, with few exceptions.

We will be revising the State Department’s travel advisory for Hong Kong to reflect the increased danger of surveillance and punishment by the Chinese state security apparatus.

We will take action to revoke Hong Kong’s preferential treatment as a separate customs and travel territory from the rest of China.

The United States will also take necessary steps to sanction PRC and Hong Kong officials directly or indirectly involved in eroding Hong Kong’s autonomy and — just if you take a look, smothering — absolutely smothering Hong Kong’s freedom. Our actions will be strong. Our actions will be meaningful.

More than two decades ago, on a rainy night in 1997, British soldiers lowered the Union Flag, and Chinese soldiers raised the Chinese flag in Hong Kong. The people of Hong Kong felt simultaneously proud of their Chinese heritage and their unique Hong Kong identity. The people of Hong Kong hoped that in the years and decades to come, China would increasingly come to resemble its most radiant and dynamic city. The rest of the world was electrified by a sense of optimism that Hong Kong was a glimpse into China’s future — not that Hong Kong would grow into a reflection of China’s past.

In every decision, I will continue to proudly defend and protect the workers, families, and citizens of the United States of America.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

THE WHITE HOUSE. May 29, 2020. NATIONAL SECURITY and DEFENSEFACT SHEETS. President Donald J. Trump Is Protecting America From China’s Efforts To Steal Technology And Intellectual Property

Protecting the innovations, creations, and inventions that power our country are vital to our economic prosperity and national security.

President Donald J. Trump

SAFEGUARDING NATIONAL SECURITY: President Donald J. Trump is dismantling China’s ability to use graduate students to steal intellectual property and technology from the United States.

• President Trump has issued a proclamation to block certain graduate level and above Chinese nationals associated with entities in China that implement or support China’s Military-Civil Fusion (MCF) strategy, from using F or J visas to enter the United States.
• China’s theft of American technology, intellectual property, and research threatens the safety, security, and economy of the United States.
• Today’s actions will not affect students who come to the United States for legitimate reasons.

• Affected students are those who have been employed by or who studied or researched with Chinese entities that support China’s MCF strategy.

PRESERVING AMERICAN SUPERIORITY: President Trump is ensuring that our Nation remains militarily and technologically dominant.

• The United States is the leading innovator of next-generation technologies, including those with military applications.
• China’s MCF strategy is an attempt to develop the most technologically advanced military in the world by any means necessary, including by co-option and coercion.
• Through China’s MCF strategy, the People’s Liberation Army is using certain Chinese students and researchers to steal American technological secrets and innovations.
• China should not be permitted to advance its military development through access to our Nation’s educational and research centers.
• President Trump is preventing China from acquiring critical American technologies that could boost its military and threaten our national security interests, by suspending and limiting the entry into the United States of high-risk students and researchers from China.

KEEPING PERSISTENT PRESSURE ON CHINA: Today’s action is the latest example of President Trump’s commitment to preventing China from taking advantage of the United States.

• The Department of Justice’s China Initiative and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are directing resources to identify and prosecute trade secrets theft, hacking, and economic espionage.
• President Trump has successfully used tariffs to persuade China to sign a Phase One Trade Agreement that secured significant protections for American businesses and workers.
• The President has taken action against China to protect American producers from unfair competition and counterfeit goods.
• President Trump has taken action to prevent foreign malign actors from gaining access to United States information networks.

THE WHITE HOUSE. May 29, 2020. PROCLAMATIONS. NATIONAL SECURITY and DEFENSE. Proclamation on the Suspension of Entry as Nonimmigrants of Certain Students and Researchers from the People’s Republic of China

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is engaged in a wide‑ranging and heavily resourced campaign to acquire sensitive United States technologies and intellectual property, in part to bolster the modernization and capability of its military, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).  The PRC’s acquisition of sensitive United States technologies and intellectual property to modernize its military is a threat to our Nation’s long-term economic vitality and the safety and security of the American people.

The PRC authorities use some Chinese students, mostly post‑graduate students and post-doctorate researchers, to operate as non-traditional collectors of intellectual property.  Thus, students or researchers from the PRC studying or researching beyond the undergraduate level who are or have been associated with the PLA are at high risk of being exploited or co-opted by the PRC authorities and provide particular cause for concern.  In light of the above, I have determined that the entry of certain nationals of the PRC seeking to enter the United States pursuant to an F or J visa to study or conduct research in the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including sections 212(f) and 215(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. 1182(f) and 1185(a), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, hereby find that the unrestricted entry into the United States as nonimmigrants of persons described in section 1 of this proclamation would, except as provided for in section 2 of this proclamation, be detrimental to the interests of the United States, and that their entry should be subject to certain restrictions, limitations, and exceptions.  I therefore hereby proclaim the following:

Section 1.  Suspension and Limitation on Entry.  The entry into the United States as a nonimmigrant of any national of the PRC seeking to enter the United States pursuant to an F or J visa to study or conduct research in the United States, except for a student seeking to pursue undergraduate study, and who either receives funding from or who currently is employed by, studies at, or conducts research at or on behalf of, or has been employed by, studied at, or conducted research at or on behalf of, an entity in the PRC that implements or supports the PRC’s “military-civil fusion strategy” is hereby suspended and limited subject to section 2 of this proclamation.  For the purposes of this proclamation, the term “military-civil fusion strategy” means actions by or at the behest of the PRC to acquire and divert foreign technologies, specifically critical and emerging technologies, to incorporate into and advance the PRC’s military capabilities.

Sec. 2.  Scope of Suspension and Limitation on Entry.
(a)  Section 1 of this proclamation shall not apply to:

(i)    any lawful permanent resident of the United States;

(ii)   any alien who is the spouse of a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident;

(iii)  any alien who is a member of the United States Armed Forces and any alien who is a spouse or child of a member of the United States Armed Forces;

(iv)   any alien whose travel falls within the scope of section 11 of the United Nations Headquarters Agreement or who would otherwise be allowed entry into the United States pursuant to United States obligations under applicable international agreements;

(v)    any alien who is studying or conducting research in a field involving information that would not contribute to the PRC’s military‑civil fusion strategy, as determined by the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the appropriate executive departments and agencies (agencies);

(vi)   any alien whose entry would further important United States law enforcement objectives, as determined by the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Homeland Security, or their respective designees, based on a recommendation of the Attorney General or his designee; or

(vii)  any alien whose entry would be in the national interest, as determined by the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Homeland Security, or their respective designees.

(b)  Nothing in this proclamation shall be construed to limit the ability of an individual to seek asylum, refugee status, withholding of removal, or protection under the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, consistent with the laws of the United States.

Sec. 3.  Implementation and Enforcement.  (a)  Persons covered by sections 1 or 2 of this proclamation shall be identified by the Secretary of State or the Secretary of State’s designee, in his or her sole discretion, pursuant to such standards and procedures as the Secretary of State may establish.  For purposes of subsections 2(a)(v), 2(a)(vi), and 2(a)(vii) of this proclamation, the Secretary of State shall provide for identifications of aliens based on the further determinations and recommendations provided for in those subsections by the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security.

(b)  The Secretary of State shall implement this proclamation as it applies to visas pursuant to such procedures as the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, may establish in the Secretary of State’s discretion.  The Secretary of Homeland Security shall implement this proclamation as it applies to the entry of aliens pursuant to such procedures as the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State, may establish in the Secretary of Homeland Security’s discretion.

(c)  An alien who circumvents the application of this proclamation through fraud, willful misrepresentation of a material fact, or illegal entry shall be a priority for removal by the Department of Homeland Security.

Sec. 4.  Termination.  This proclamation shall remain in effect until terminated by the President.  The Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, may at any time recommend that the President continue, modify, or terminate this proclamation.

Sec. 5.  Effective Date.  This proclamation is effective at 12:00 p.m. eastern daylight time on June 1, 2020.

Sec. 6.  Additional Measures.  (a)  The Secretary of State shall consider, in the Secretary’s discretion, whether nationals of the PRC currently in the United States pursuant to F or J visas and who otherwise meet the criteria described in section 1 of this proclamation should have their visas revoked pursuant to section 221(i) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1201(i).

(b)  Within 60 days of the effective date of this proclamation, the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the heads of appropriate agencies, shall review nonimmigrant and immigrant programs and shall recommend to the President, through the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, any other measures requiring Presidential action that would mitigate the risk posed by the PRC’s acquisition of sensitive United States technologies and intellectual property.

(c)  The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall, within the scope of their respective authorities and in coordination with the heads of appropriate agencies, take action to further mitigate the risk posed by the PRC’s acquisition of sensitive United States technologies and intellectual property.  The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall report to the President, within 60 days of the effective date of this proclamation, through the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, any such planned and executed actions.

(d)  The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall consider issuing updated regulations and guidance, as appropriate, implementing the inadmissibility provisions in section 212(a)(3)(D) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)(D).

Sec. 7.  General Provisions.  (a)  Nothing in this proclamation shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i)   the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii)  the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b)  This proclamation shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(c)  This proclamation is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-ninth day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-fourth.

DONALD J. TRUMP

VENEZUELA

U.S. Department of State. 05/29/2020. In Defense of Democracy in Venezuela. Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State

The United States reaffirms our commitment to Venezuela’s legitimate National Assembly and the 100 deputies across all party lines under interim President Guaido’s leadership, who daily face threats and intimidation by the illegitimate former Maduro regime. We strongly condemn the illegitimate former Maduro regime’s most recent attempt to destroy Venezuela’s last remaining democratic institution, the National Assembly, and depose National Assembly President and interim President of Venezuela Juan Guaido. The May 26 sham ruling — by the former Maduro regime-aligned and illegitimate Supreme Court — purporting to confer the National Assembly presidency on a deputy who received regime bribes to orchestrate a pretended takeover of the institution. This is appalling.

Maduro, his security forces, and his lackeys in the illegitimate Supreme Court have led a sustained assault on the National Assembly. They issued sham sentences against dozens of parliamentarians, forcing them into exile. They continue the arbitrary detention of political prisoners, including Guaido’s Chief of Staff Roberto Marrero, and National Assembly deputies Gilber Caro, Tony Geara, Ismael Leon, Renzo Prieto, and Juan Requesens. We demand their release and we reiterate again our demand that the unjust imprisonment of the CITGO 6 be ended.

The United States reiterates our support for a peaceful resolution to Venezuela’s crisis and urges all parties to consider the Democratic Transition Framework for Venezuela as a pathway towards a peaceful, stable, and prosperous Venezuela. This can only happen with an end to regime attacks against democratically elected officials.

CORONAVIRUS

THE WHITE HOUSE. May 30, 2020. REMARKS. ECONOMY & JOBS. Remarks by President Trump in Roundtable Discussion with Industry Executives on Reopening. State Dining Room

THE PRESIDENT:  All right.  Thank you very much.  Appreciate it.  I want to express our nation’s deepest condolences and most heartfelt sympathies to the family of George Floyd.  A terrible event.  Terrible, terrible thing that happened.

I’ve asked that the Department of Justice expedite the federal investigation into his death and do it immediately, do it as quickly as absolutely possible.  It’s a local situation, but we’re also making it into a federal situation.  And it’s — it’s a terrible thing.  We all saw what we saw, and it’s very hard to even conceive of anything other than what we did see.  It should never happen.  It should never be allowed to happen, a thing like that.

But we’re determined that justice be served.  And I spoke to members of the family.  Terrific people.  And we’ll be reporting as time goes by.  We think that we also have to make the statement, and it’s very important that we have peaceful protesters and support the rights for peaceful protesters.  We can’t allow a situation like happened in Minneapolis to descend further into lawless anarchy and chaos.  And we understand that very well.

It’s very important, I believe, to the family, to everybody that the memory of George Floyd be a perfect memory.  Let it be a perfect memory.  The looters should not be allowed to drown out the voices of so many peaceful protesters they hurt so badly.  What is happening — and it’s so bad for the state and for that great city.

So we are working very closely with the Justice Department.  We’re working with local law enforcement.  We’re working with everybody.  And we’re speaking with the family, and hopefully everything can be fairly taken care of.  I understand the hurt.  I understand the pain.  People have really been through a lot.  The family of George is entitled to justice, and the people of Minnesota are entitled to live in safety.  Law and order will prevail.

The Americans will honor the memory of George and the Floyd family.  It’s very important to us.  It’s very important to me to see that everything is taken care of properly.  It’s a horrible, horrible situation.  And so we’ll be reporting back in due course and as quickly as possible.

I’m pleased to welcome American industry leaders to the White House as we continue to safely reopen America.  We’re glad to be joined by Geoff Ballotti of Wyndham Hotel and Resorts.  Wyndham Hotels have been really a terrific company over the years.  Brian Goldner of Hasbro; David Hoffmann of Dunkin’ Brands; Gary Kelly of Southwest Airlines.  Really good jobs they’ve done.  Rodney McMullen of Kroger.  Thanks, Rodney.  Oscar Munoz of United.  Thank you, Oscar.  United Airlines.  Brad Smith of Microsoft.  That stock has done very well, I will say.  Great job.  Great job.  Sonia Syngal of Gap.  And — thank you very much.

Also with us are Secretary of Treasury Steve Mnuchin and Secretary of Labor Gene Scalia.

Our nation continues to mourn for the lives claimed by the virus and grieve for the families who have lost loved ones.  We continue to battle the invisible enemy.  We’re directing the full resources and support of the federal government to safeguard high-risk populations, especially in nursing homes.  We’ve been a very powerful strategy on nursing homes for quite a while.  The best strategy for public health is to aggressively protect the most vulnerable while allowing younger and healthier Americans to work safely.

Nationwide hospitalizations, new cases, and deaths are all declining.  We’re tracking cases and hospitalizations daily, and states are demonstrating their ability to rapidly identify and contain new outbreaks.  Our testing is the best in the world.  We’ve now surpassed 15 million tests, which is much more than any other country by a factor of many times.  We’ve completed over 15 million, and that is — I think we can say that’s a record by a lot.

And we’re going to give you a big report on testing tomorrow.  We have new tests coming out that are above and beyond anything that anybody would have thought even possible just a couple of months ago.

In many places, we’ve had more tests available than people seeking them.  Florida and others have said that they have testing and they don’t have enough people to take the tests.  So we’ve come a long way.  We started with an empty cupboard.  We didn’t have a lot that we inherited.  And we are — I think, really, they’ve stepped up to the plate on ventilators, on tests, and on equipment and gowns and everything else, gloves.  If you look at masks, everybody has masks now.

To maintain the health and safety of our society, we must also maintain the health of our economy.  There’s a reason why our nation’s life expectancy is closely correlated with economic development.  A never-ending shutdown would increase, not reduce, the total loss of life in the United States, while failing to focus resources on the most vulnerable.

We’ve made a lot of progress in terms of the invisible enemy.  A lot of progress.  A lot of things have happened that have taught us a lot.  Nobody has ever seen anything like this, and there certainly hasn’t been anything like since over a hundred years — 1917.

I want to thank all of these great companies for being here and representing their company and themselves and our country so well.  We’re going to be having a discussion with the companies as to suggestions they have.  We think we’re going to have a very strong opening, which has just started, really.

We had the greatest economy in history of any country, not just ours.  The greatest in history.  We had the best employment numbers that we’ve ever had.  We’ve had the best numbers in every way, whether it’s the biggest tax cuts, the greatest regulation cuts of any president.  Nobody has even come close.

We’ve rebuilt our military.  We have the strongest military we’ve ever had.  New equipment coming in all the time; a lot of it already arrived.  And very importantly, all made in the USA.  And so many other things.

You look at what we’ve done for the vets with Choice and Accountability — the combination.  They weren’t able to get that done for over 40 years.  And we got them both approved.  Right to Try, got it approved.  We’ve done so much, and then we had to turn it all off in order to be in a position where we are right now.

Numbers were estimated to be two million deaths, one and a half million deaths, maybe one million, but it could have been over two million and maybe substantially over.  Unfortunately, one is too many.  It should’ve been stopped.  It could’ve been stopped in China.  It should’ve been stopped in China, but it didn’t stop.  And the world got infected, and it’s very sad — a very sad thing.  But we turned off the greatest economy ever, and we turned it off very quickly, very rapidly.  We banned people coming in from China early — very early.  In fact, most people said, “Don’t do it.”  Even a month later, they were saying, “You shouldn’t have done it.”  And we turned out to be right.

But we have — we have now a long way to go, but we’re getting very good early numbers, as everyone knows.  The stock market has been doing very well because people have a lot of confidence.  We’re doing very well on therapeutics.  We’re doing very well on vaccines.  I think we’re going to have some very good answers soon.

And we’re set up, logistically, with our military.  Our military is set to move and to act so that when — I think I can say “when” — we have that vaccine — I think I can say it with pretty good surety, based on what we’re seeing — that rather than taking long periods of time and bringing it out slowly, we’re able to bring it out very, very quickly.

So we have a general in charge of logistics — that’s what he does, and he’s supposed to be the best — usually moving soldiers and moving various things for other reasons, but now he’s going to be moving vaccines or therapeutics, depending on what ultimately ends up.

But we’re doing very well on vaccines.  We’re doing very, very well on therapeutics.  And maybe I could use the word “cure,” as opposed to purely therapeutic.

So I want to thank everybody for being here.  We have a lot of positive things to report.  You see some of the numbers coming out with some of the states that have been — have been opened.  And some of the numbers have been really, really beyond expectation.  So we’re very happy.

And I think what we’ll do is we’ll go around the room quickly, and we’ll say a few things about any ideas you might have, your company — how well you’ve done with your companies.  And might as well give it a little build-up.  You have plenty of firepower back here.

So, please.  Maybe you’d start.  Thank you.

MS. SYNGAL:  Well, great.  Thank you, Mr. President.  I’m honored to be here today, representing Gap, Inc. and working with all of you to safely open our stores, which is very important for us right now.

I have the honor of running America’s largest clothing company.  Gap, Inc. had over $16 billion in revenue last year, and we house four-billion-dollar brands, between Old Navy, Athleta, Banana Republic, and our namesake Gap.  And Old Navy is the second-largest apparel brand in the U.S.

THE PRESIDENT:  Wow.  That’s great.

MS. SYNGAL:  So, you know, we have serviced American families for our 51 years, and we — these brands represent the best of American values.  And we’re anxious to get going and anxious to open up the economy.

We have 2,500 stores here in the U.S., and we’ve begun the opening process.  You know, prior to COVID, we had over a million American customers walking through our doors every day.

THE PRESIDENT:  Wow.

MS. SYNGAL:  And so when we shut in March, we lost 70 percent of our sales overnight.  And we reacted very quickly.  We had to make really big, unfortunate decisions to furlough employees and to retrench.

We did have a very strong and powerful ecommerce business, so we’re the second-largest ecom player for apparel, and that’s really kept us going, along with our fulfillment centers.  We have five big campuses across the U.S.  And so that’s been great.  We have, you know, over 100,000 employees that we’re anxious to really bring back to work.

We — you know, we’ve developed these safe shopping protocols with industry leaders in retail, and we feel really good about them.  We’re anxious to reopen our stores with these protocols and have been excited about what’s happening so far as we’ve opened.  Our employees feel safe, our customers feel safe, and they’re coming back to shop with us.

And so we are committed to opening at least 800 stores this month.

THE PRESIDENT:  Great.

MS. SYNGAL:  And so we’re on track for that.  In fact, we’re a little ahead of that, but it feels good.  And as customers come in, you know, they’ll have new protocols, social distancing, masks, and cleaning, et cetera.

THE PRESIDENT:  Right.

MS. SYNGAL:  So it’s going to, you know, create trust, and everyone is responding really well.  I visited our stores in Virginia last night, and I visited our stores in Texas and Arizona, California, over the last couple of weeks, and our customers are thrilled to be back, our employees are thrilled to be back.

In fact, one of our — our store managers came up to me and burst into tears, thanking — thanking me for giving her her job back.

THE PRESIDENT:  Great.

MS. SYNGAL:  You know, it’s a really, very important thing.  And as much as the government has helped, our employees want to be back.  So, that feels great.

One in four Americans work in retail, as you know.  So this is now my time to ask what we need.  And during this closure process, half of retail stayed open and half of retail has been shut.  So we’ve really created this lack of level playing field — you know, the haves and have-nots.

You know, as we look forward and as we think about a possibility of a resurgence or something, we must stay committed to these safe retailing protocols, and really stay there and work through any future issues with that so we can have an equal playing field.

So I look forward to working with you.

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, Sonia.

MS. SYNGAL:  And Secretary Mnuchin has been fantastic to work with, so —

THE PRESIDENT:  That’s good.  He’s done a great job.  Thank you, Sonia.  Appreciate it.

Steve?

SECRETARY MNUCHIN:  Thank you, Mr. President.  I really want to thank everybody.  And, Sonia, thank you for all the work you’ve done, and everyone else.

I do want to just particularly thank Gary and Oscar.  As part of the CARES Act, we’ve worked with both of you and the rest of the airline industry.

I know many of the businesses here have been hit very hard, but the travel industry in particular, and we appreciate everything you’ve done with us.  Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you very much.

Oscar, please.

MR. MUNOZ:  That’s a heck of a lead-in.  Thank you as well.  Thank you.  The CARES Act was great and everybody that was involved.  Larry, you were terrific, as well, in the waning moments.

You know our story, so I won’t belabor it.  I have two slides — really one — just to give you a sense of the things that we’re doing.

One of the most conversed con- — conversed discussions going: Are airplanes safe?  Is flying safe?  And I think that’s of paramount importance.  We’ve always been one of the, if not the safest industry in the world.  And so some of the things that we’re doing are on this chart.

And it’s simply everything you think: hydrostatic testing that disinfects; wiping everything down; the wearing of masks for everyone — we were one of the first to be able to do that.  You know, touchless aspects.  You know, our customers get a chance to sit — choose where they sit.

The HEPA filters on our aircraft.  I think it’s important for the flying public to understand: These HEPA filters are hospital-grade filters that remove 99.7 percent of particles in the air.  The combination of the filter and the mask that we’re wearing should completely eliminate, to a great degree, the (inaudible) if we practice all the other things.

And so we’re working through all of that.  But, again, it feels like we’re always talking into the wind with regards to that, so we took it a step further and have partnered with different people — Clorox, in particular.  Right?  It’s a brand name that speaks of powerful disinfectant, and that branding aspect gives it a little bit of a sense.

And then we went a step further and used Mayo Clinic — or Cleveland Clinic — I apologize — to guide us and direct us.  Here are the things that we’re planning on doing.  Is that meaningful?  It’s like having Ambassador Birx at our side to sort of support those things.  So those are the things that we’re doing with regards to our safety.

On the next chart, your question is: How do we — how do we restart the economy?  So if I could get the next chart please.

The first one is obvious, and I think we’ve all been talking in the business community.  It isn’t just about airlines flying; people have to go someplace and fly somewhere, right?  The hotels of the world; you know, the hospi- — I mean, the restaurants; the theme parks — all of that has be collectively.

And I think everything we do as a business and as a government is to ensure that we take everybody into an account — into account and not forget the fact that the airlines are only part of it.  And so that’s an important part.

And then, again, from a health perspective, I don’t know that there’s another nation that has more powerful pull back to branding than the U.S.  And anything that comes out of the U.S. is going to be accepted.

So thank you for the efforts.  Ambassador, it was wonderful — those conversations.

And then, lastly, this is the big ask from our perspective: You know, we are global.  We fly over 60 countries.  And this isn’t a China question; this is just a general aspect of — when the world restarts to fly, it’s historically every government, every country will have its own regulatory scheme to start flying.  That is called patchwork.  That is not harmonization.

In order to get the economy going and flying, from a perspective of the entire planet, it’s important that we work with your teams to get that harmonization and avoid patchwork.

THE PRESIDENT:  Good.

MR. MUNOZ:  So, thank you again for everything.

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, Oscar.  I appreciate it.  You’ve been very much a factor in what we’ve done.  You’ve been really helpful.  We appreciate it.

Larry Kudlow, please.

MR. KUDLOW:  Thank you, sir.  Thanks to everybody who has come here and worked with us.  And I hope everything continues apace.

You know, I — we’d try to follow — Kevin Hassett and I try to follow these high-frequency economic indicators, and my little list is growing.  I’ll just rattle it off because things — as things open safely — I say that because Deb is here — truckloads, freight shipping, air travel, hotel bookings, TSA travelers all starting to shoot up.  They’re really green shoots.

You mentioned the stock market, sir, which has done very well.  Apple mobility, gasoline demand, tremendous housing demand, applications for mortgages, and so forth are actually now pre-pandemic levels again with low interest rates.

And we had a number today from the income report: The saving rates, sir, is 33 percent for the month of April — 33 percent — which is to say, we’ve given them a lot of income.  Government income has boosted things — liquidity, cash, and so forth.  Steven’s great efforts on Capitol Hill.  And, of course, the stores have been closed; they have nowhere to spend.  So they’re saving at a 33 percent rate.  That’s almost 10 times the norm.

So, that — my final point — as we open and as the stores open, we are going to see a boom in spending —

THE PRESIDENT:  I think so.

MR. KUDLOW:  — and at the stores.

THE PRESIDENT:  I agree.

MR. KUDLOW:  A boom.

THE PRESIDENT:  I think we’re starting to see it.

MR. KUDLOW:  Yes, sir.

THE PRESIDENT:  I think you’re going to be very — people going to be very surprised.  We’re going to have a great third quarter, a great fourth quarter.  I think next year is going to be one of our better years.  So, that’s really great.  Thank you very much, Larry.

MR. KUDLOW:  Yes, sir.

THE PRESIDENT:  So, Jay Clayton is the head of the SEC — Securities and Exchange Commission — and he’s done a fantastic job.  And I thought, maybe, I’d invite him up.  And you could say a few words, if you’d like, Jay.

CHAIRMAN CLAYTON:  Thank you, Mr. President.  What I’m going to say is I appreciate the information that your companies have given us today.  Investors want to understand the operational and financial challenges you’re facing.  The more they understand them, whether they’re good or bad — the more your plans are solid for overcoming them, the more confidence they have, and our markets work better.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank Secretary Mnuchin and our friends at the Fed for the way they have supported our markets through this uncertain time.  And I really want to thank the many companies who’ve been very candid with their disclosure about where they stand.  That’s what our investors expect, and I think you’ve done a terrific job giving our investors what they expect.  And I look forward to continuing to work with you.

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you very much, Jay.  Thank you.

Southwest Airlines, what a great company.  Go ahead.

MR. KELLY:  Well, thanks, Mr. President.  It’s a pleasure to be here on behalf of all the Southwest people.  And my name is Gary Kelly.  And again, I want to thank you.  I want to thank Secretary Mnuchin.

The CARES Act was exactly what we needed.  The speed and the scope were just absolutely breathtaking.  Before the markets were closed and after that, the markets opened up — and we’ve been able to do a significant amount of financing.  So, thank you.  It was — it was just the right thing for our economy.

I’ll just mirror — echo what several have already said, in terms of the business.  We got down to about 2 percent of the normal traffic volumes, and are up well beyond that, thank goodness.  We’re not there, but I’ll take 15 percent, as opposed to two.  So, we’ve got a long way to go, but the trends are in the right direction.

I think what is important is to make sure that our employees and our customers know that it is safe.  And that is our number one priority: to make sure that we have a healthy and safe environment.  Again, I’ll echo a lot of what Oscar has already covered.  But we published the Southwest Promise in early May, and it addresses cleaning of the airport, deep cleaning of the airplane.  We require a mask of our customer-facing employees, as well as our customers.  We are not booking the airplanes full, so that the middle seats are open to allow for physical distancing.  And it’s a layered approach.

The one thing that we would like to see, and I know that the administration is looking very carefully at this, is to add a health screening at the TSA checkpoint.  I think a temperature check like we had today coming into the White House would be very sensible —

THE PRESIDENT:  Right.

MR. KELLY: — along with a health declaration.  And we’re working closely with the TSA on that point.

I think — beyond that, I think ongoing tax burden reduction would be very helpful in terms of ticket taxes.  I know we’ve got a ticket tax holiday for 2020.  As sales begin to pick up and airlines begin to get back on their feet, that could be something worth looking at.

And I think for all of us, some sensible form of liability protection, which I know is also a topic that would make great sense.

But we applaud all that the administration is doing.  I think the key, indeed, is to get treatments for when people are sick, number one, so that they’re confident that they will quickly get back on their feet.  And then, number two, ultimately getting a vaccine.  When that happens, I think that things will absolutely take off.

Lastly, again, I wanted to thank you all for the support with a Payroll Support Program.  We’ve never had a furlough or a layoff or a pay cut in our history at Southwest, and we sure don’t want to have that now.  So, thank you, again, and we’re going to fight the good fight here.

THE PRESIDENT:  And thank you, Gary.  Great job you do, for a long time.  Thank you very much.

Deborah, please.

DR. BIRX:  Thank you, Mr. President.  We’ve made amazing progress together with the American people and with you all.  As you heard, the President described new hospitalizations are down month over month by 50 percent.  Mortality — the fatalities that we all grieve are down significantly, week over week.

We’re excitingly really finding governors and mayors being able to respond to the epidemic in a new way: proactive testing, finding new cases, contact tracing, and stopping outbreaks.  We’re seeing that over and over again, county by county, metro by metro.

I think we’re working with all of the healthcare providers, because just as we want to open up America safely, we want to make sure every American has access to healthcare.  We want to see our babies immunized.  We want to see them at their well-baby checkups.  We want to see pregnant women cared for in their appointments.  And we want to see the hospitals back, caring for people, and doing elective surgery, and ensuring people are getting their cancer screenings.

So as we open up the economy, we also want to assure the Americans are not only COVID-free, but have all their healthcare taken care of.

THE PRESIDENT:  So you’re seeing much improved numbers?

DR. BIRX:  Much improved numbers.  And I think this proactive testing — having enough tests available not only for diagnosing at the hospitals and clinic, but having an abundance of testing available to really be able to do what we talk about is proactive surveillance.  Going into nursing homes and then testing 100 percent of the residents, 100 percent of the workers; working in food processing plants to test everyone that is there and really stopping outbreaks before they start.

This asymptomatic piece is a — is unique among diseases.  And we have that in HIV; we have it in this — in this particular respiratory disease.  And so you have to test proactively to find the asymptomatic.

No one intends to infect others; they just don’t know they’re infected themselves.  And so, working with states and governors and mayors to really set up those testing sites has really been extraordinary.  And having a testing available at that level — I think we’re about 350-, 400,000 tests today.  We’re up to having tested 5 percent of every American in less than two months.

THE PRESIDENT:  That’s fantastic.  That’s great.  I wish the press would report it.  But someday they will.  Someday they’re going to do that.  Thank you very much, Deborah.  I appreciate it.  A lot of progress has been made.  Great job you’re doing.  Thank you.

Please.

MR. GOLDNER:  Hi, Mr. President.  I’m Brian Goldner with Hasbro.  And thank you for your leadership and for working closely with the private sector to reopen the American economy.  You may know that Hasbro is a nearly 100-year-old, Rhode Island-based play and entertainment company with brands like Monopoly, Transformers, Play-Doh, Peppa Pig, and Nerf.  And it’s really an honor to be here today.

It’s also an incredible honor to see how our brands are resonating with consumers.  More people getting together and connecting and playing with games and brands like Play-Doh as they spend time together.  We were talking as we were coming together today just how people are making new connections.  And we’re very excited about that.  And then the reopening of the economy.

And I also have to thank you for the partnership that we’ve had over time with Director Kudlow, and it’s great to get the support that we’ve seen from Secretary Mnuchin as well.

You know, from health screenings, to interactive handbooks, safe return to the office, safe social distancing, staggering shifts in our warehouses and factory floors, we are safely reopening U.S. businesses.

If we could go to the next slide.

We’ve worked closely with governors in our region — the Rhode Island governor, Raimondo, and the Massachusetts governor Baker — to design safe reopening guidelines.  I’m especially proud of our Hasbro safety folks and operations.  We’ve set a standard in our factories and warehouse operations across the country for consumer goods manufacturers.  In fact, we’re training other consumer goods manufacturers to help them open safely in the U.S., from Massachusetts to Texas.

So, again, I’m very pleased to be here. I’m very proud of our employees.  They’re all very excited about getting back to work.  And we’ve been working all along.  And as our factories closed down during certain times over the last few months, our teams came together to make face shields in our factories — 50,000 a week — to give —

THE PRESIDENT:  That’s right.

MR. GOLDNER:  — to healthcare workers.  And we’ve made good use of those factories.  And we’re now happy to see them back up and running.  And so thank you again.  And thank you for your leadership.

THE PRESIDENT:  Great job, Brian.  That’s really great.

MR. GOLDNER:  Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT:  We appreciate that too.  Thank you very much.

MR. HOFFMANN:  Hi.  Thank you, Mr. President.  And great to be here.  Thank you to the team — your leadership team as well.  And look, I’m here representing our great franchisees for both brands, Dunkin’ and Baskin.  I don’t think a lot of people realize that we’re 100 percent franchised, and so big brand names powered by small, independent business owners.

And we’ve got a — we’ve got a saying in the company that we think we’ve been “getting America running” for nearly 70 years.  And when this crisis hit, it was about keeping the communities running, but it was also about getting America working again.

And so we’ve been guided by one simple principle — on the next slide — that we’ve been talking about is, it’s been about doing the right thing in the communities we serve.  And 90 percent of our restaurants have remained open during the crisis.  We’ve rallied around that mantra of “people over profits,” and doing the right thing there.  And look, we’re very proud that we didn’t have to furlough or do layoffs during all of that.

And look, our great franchisees, I’m really proud of the work that they’ve been doing in the communities they serve.  They live in these communities.  They’re proud to be there.  They serve probably coffee, doughnuts, ice cream to over 300 hospitals; they continue to do that.  They raised $1.5 million for food banks, including the Capitol Food Bank here in our backyard here in D.C. as well.

And so, as somebody said, we’re starting to see a lot of hope and optimism in our business today.  We’re seeing really good signs of encouraging green shoots right now.  We’re working with the franchisees, again, to get America working again, looking at a really aggressive hiring campaign over the summer.

But I’d say it’s three areas that we focused on that was really a good north star for us.  And the first was, we got in early on a lot of the safety measures, making investments in safety measures as brand standards across both brands.

But for us and brands like Dunkin’ and Baskin, our mission is to give the consumer as many ways to access your brand on their terms.  We know there’s a lot of consumers out there that have varying levels of comfort in terms of what’s going on right now.  So whether it’s drive-through, curbside, pickup windows, delivery — you’ll hear a lot about digital today as well — giving the consumer as many options, as many choices to access your brand is important.

And I think the last thing — I’ll repeat what a few other people have said — thank you to you and your administration and the federal government for the PPP program.  That has really allowed us to keep our franchisees standing up, allowed them to continue to serve the communities and keep America working.

And my ask in all of this would be, the second round — second version of this that sailed through the House, the flexibility plan on PPP, I’m just hoping that, you know, it’s — it sails through cleanly and gets to your desk to be signed because that’s another great example of helping small, independent business owners, like our franchisees, keep America working right now.

So thank you for your consideration.

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, David, very much.

MR. HOFFMANN:  Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT:  Appreciate it.

MR. MCMULLEN:  Thank you, President Trump.  And I really appreciate the invitation to talk about reopening businesses in America.  My name is Rodney McMullan.  I’m the chairman and CEO of Kroger.  I represent over 500,000 associates, and we’ve hired over 100,000 people over the last two months.  And, you know, our job is to keep our supply chain operating — fresh, affordable food and essentials.  And we operate 2,800 stores, 35 manufacturing plants, 44 distribution facilities.

If you look at our associates, we’ve invested over $800 million in safety procedures and rewards for our associates over the last eight, nine weeks.  Obviously, we all do everything we can to make sure we keep our employees safe and — on a daily basis.

If you look at our customers, we have 11 million people a day that come into our stores.  So, the things that we’re doing to protect our employees, we’re also doing the same thing to protect our customers.

We use every available way of trying to remind customers on social distancing: limiting the number of people in the stores;  we have an in-store radio network that, every 15 minutes, we remind people of, you know, social distancing.  But everything that we can do, we’re trying to remind people to stay safe and do things.

We also are supporting our business and continuing to make sure that we have a viable, strong business over time and supporting the communities that we operate in.

Over the last year, working with local food banks, we’ve been able to provide, over — over the last three years, over a billion meals with local food banks.  And it’s something that — you know, in the United States, no one should have to go to bed tonight hungry.  We have so many resources as a country, and together we can eliminate food waste.  And when we eliminate food waste, we can make sure that no one goes to bed hungry.

Obviously, it was one of the things that we thought it would be helpful to pay forward.  As a company that’s operated throughout the pandemic, we’ve learned a lot.  And one of the things you’ll learn is: Be agile and move quickly, and if you think you should do something, you probably should do it.

With that, we developed a 59-page blueprint that we made public, and we’ve shared it.  And I know — the other day, I was on the “Today Show,” and they asked me like four times, “Why would you do that?”  And one of the things that was incredibly helpful for us is other retailers across the world that were in front of us, from the pandemic standpoint — was nice enough to share their learnings with us.  And we thought it was only fair and appropriate for us to share our learnings with others.

We’ve had over 100,000 site visits on that.  We’ve had over 26,000 individuals and companies download that.  We get a ton of notes from small companies, in terms of their appreciation.

You know, if you look at all the companies in this room, we have a lot of resources.  But if you think about somebody with 50 employees or 100 employees or 200 employees, the resources they have is just not the same as us.  So sharing that across is been something that’s been important and it’s a real pleasure to represent all the Kroger associates and being able to help America get started again.

So, thank you, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, Rodney, very much.  And thank you for all the help too.  You’ve been right from the beginning.  Appreciate it.

MR. MCMULLEN:  I’m happy to.  Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you very much.

Kevin, please.

MR. HASSETT:  Thank you, sir.  Sir, I think that you can sense the optimism around the room that businesses — really, a cross-section of American businesses collected here are getting back to work.  And I think this cross-section is extraordinarily representative of what we’re seeing all around America.

And, as Larry mentioned, as you know — and as you require us, we watch every little detail of the economy every day.  And there are now 27 states — 27 states where more than 75 percent of the businesses are open.  That was almost none a few weeks ago.

THE PRESIDENT:  That’s great.  That’s great.

MR. HASSETT:  And there are 28 states where 80 percent of the workforce is back to work.

And so the question then becomes — and it’s last thing I’ll say — that the people in this room are saying, “Yes, but will we have demand for our product?”

And what we learned today in the personal income report that Larry said is, because you required historic policy action, we got money to people who needed it while they were laid off.  Because of big unemployment insurance checks and because of the $1,200 checks that we mailed people, they have the income — now that the economies are starting again — to go out and demand product.  And so we’re very, very bullish on what’s going on with the restart, sir.

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you very much, Kevin.  Appreciate it.

MR. BALLOTTI:  Mr. President, thank you, on behalf of 7,000 small-business owners.  Wyndham Hotels & Resorts is the world’s largest franchiser — great state of New Jersey.

And we have — if I could have the first slide up — remarkably remained open throughout this crisis.  Much like Dave and Dunkin’, our hotels here in the United States really never closed.  We were — we were serving frontline workers.  We were serving the National Guard emergency workers.

And — and a large part of that had to do — if I could have the next slide — to the support that — and we really have to — the industry has to call out Secretary Mnuchin.  And he — you’ve been there for us all along.  You’ve listened to us.  The PPP act has been monumental.  Ninety-five percent of our franchisees have applied for either a PPP or an EIDL loan.  And we estimate, from the surveys that we’re hearing back, that 80 percent of them have received one of those.  And they view it as — as an absolute lifeline.

So, as what Dave said is most important — this is going to be a long recovery, even though we’ve remained open — the most important thing for our franchisees is — is seeing this — this amendment to the 75/25 rule, which — which is in the bill.  Seeing the expansion of that loan term from two years to five years.  I mean, that’s — that’s critical for our small-business owners.

And extending, as the Secretary and I were talking earlier, our ability to — to rehire those employees that we have had to furlough, to be able to bring them back, not have it expire on June 30, but have that continue till the end of the year is — is critical for us.

We also think the idea of a temporary travel tax to spur leisure travel is important, and we know the administration is in — in favor of that.  And bringing back the full deductibility of necessary business expenses to spur business travel would be very, very helpful to opening — opening our — our country up again.

Because as — as Oscar said, as Gary said, just as planes are safe, hotels are safe.  They’re safe because we’ve been safe throughout this crisis with — with, again, 90 percent of our hotels operating at low occupancy.  Demand is coming back, but we need — we need those consumers to feel safe.

And we just thank you for everything that you and the Secretary and Congress is doing on — on this industry’s behalf because it’s going to be a tough road back.

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, it’s going away, but I think we’ll have vaccines, and I think we’re going to have therapeutics, and maybe even beyond that.  Maybe a cure.  And it won’t be in the long distance.  So I — I really think that’s going to be helpful.  And regardless, it’s going away, but that would certainly speed up the process.  So we appreciate it, Geoff.  Thank you very much.

Gene?

SECRETARY SCALIA:  Thank you.  Thank you, Mr. President.  Thank you for bringing together so many great companies — different companies, different sectors of the economy that have — some that have been affected really very different ways during the pandemic: some able to stay open, some really having great difficulty doing it.

But one thing we’ve heard today, and we had conversations earlier before the meeting got underway: I think all of them are very, very focused on safety — safety of their customers, safety of their employees.  I don’t think there’s been a time when American businesses have been as focused on safety as — as they are right now.  And that’s a great thing for bringing customers back, bringing workers back.

It’s — it’s been a focus of ours at the Labor Department, actually, since January.  We’ve tried to help American workers through this crisis in so many different ways.  But as early as January, we were helping providing guidance, guidelines to businesses.  We’ve now put out guidelines to 16 different specific industries on how they can reopen safely.

We’ll continue to do that so that companies understand what’s expected of them, can have confidence in what they need to do, and — and same for workers.  And — and we’re mindful that not every company is going to focus the right way on these things.  So we’ll continue to respond to employee concerns, complaints as they come in.

As Larry and Kevin said, Mr. President, we — we’ve turned a corner.  We put out unemployment numbers yesterday showing that, for the first time since February, the number of people on unemployment dropped.  And — and that’s — that’s great that the number filing is still much higher than we want.

THE PRESIDENT: That’s a — that’s a good sign.  That’s a good sign, isn’t it?

SECRETARY SCALIA:  We — we’ve turned the corner, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT:  Good.

SECRETARY SCALIA:  And — and we’ll get back there to that extraordinary economy that you built so recently, and we’re going to do it safely.

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, Gene, very much.

A man who’s done a very good job — Microsoft.  That’s a good job they’ve done, Deborah, right?  Thank you very much.

MR. SMITH:  Well, thank you, Mr. President.  And, you know, I just think this is a fascinating conversation because it really shows how each industry is unique.  And as an economy, we need to meet the needs of every industry and put the economy together.

You know, not surprisingly, when you’re in a business, and you’re in a sector that creates the tools that people can use to work from home, it’s not difficult to have your own employees work from home.  And that’s what we’ve been doing.

But I think our mission in this first phase has really been much broader than that.  It’s been twofold:

One is to provide the data resources and the technology to support the public health needs of the country, from public health agencies, to hospitals, to the researchers, as you mentioned, who are on the quest for a vaccine and therapeutics and the like.

And I think more broadly, it is better to work with, frankly, many of these companies around this table to sustain the economy these past few months so that employees could work from home, so students could study from home, so that the government could operate from home when that was needed.

Now it’s all about phase two.  And I think you put it well: It’s all about both protecting public health and reopening the economy.  And here we see, in some ways, something that may look more like a dial than a switch as we go through a series of phases.  We think we’ll likely continue to see different industries with different needs.

We do see technology playing some new and important roles.  And on this slide, which you have to stand within three feet of to read, you’ll see the nine different areas where we see different public health needs.  But there’s three I want to call out because I think they’re especially important for the private sector.

The first is the ability to use technology to work with people to detect the disease.  I thought the reference to a health declaration was a really good one.  It makes sense at an airport.  Many employers are going to want that on some kind of self-attestation basis for their employees.  It doesn’t make sense to do it on a piece of paper.

THE PRESIDENT:  Right.

MR. SMITH:  We were developing an app for our employees.  We realized, “Well, everybody’s employees need this.”  So we’re now partnering with United Health Group so it can be made available to everybody.

The second layer that I think is really important for the private sector is that — is the tracing capability.  And, you know, we’re seeing both companies like Microsoft and others work to create tracing technology that can be used by individuals, that can be deployed by employers, or by public health agencies.

And then the last is notification — exposure notification that can be done by individuals with public health officers.

I think the key to all of this is captured in the next slide.  We want people to be comfortable using this technology.  We need to protect people’s privacy so that they know that they’re not putting their personal information at risk when they use technology in this new way.  So we’re very committed to doing that.

In closing, I would say, when you step back from this, this is also the right time to close the broadband gap, which you’re addressing through stimulus efforts —

THE PRESIDENT:  Right.  We are.

MR. SMITH:  — and I think there are more.  It’s the right time to invest in more skilling, because we are going to see more jobs demand more digital skills than we did six months ago.  And it’s the right time to maintain the focus, as you have said, on testing.

You noted the progress.  We’ve noticed the progress.  We appreciate the progress.  But I think even more than the progress is, frankly, the high ambition level the administration has set to sustain that progress.  Because, I think, by fall, if we want students to return to college campuses, if we want more employees to feel safe in the workplace, we’re going to see more private sector institutions wanting the ability to test people even when they’re asymptomatic.

And so that progress, I think, will be another one of the fundamental ingredients that we’ll need.  So, thank you.

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, thank you very much.  And your first picture was so beautiful — the picture of the White House.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen one more beautiful than that.  (Laughter.)  I don’t know.  You must have something very special over at Microsoft.  But wasn’t that was the beautiful?  We appreciate it.  Thank you very much, Brad.

Thank you very much.  Do you have any questions, please? Any for the great executives?

Q    Mr. President?

THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah.

Q    It’s obviously been a long day for a lot of Americans.  But I’d like to give you an opportunity to address some of your tweets from this morning.  You tweeted, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.”  How would you know that phrase and not know its racially charged history?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I’ve heard that phrase for a long time.  I don’t know where it came from or where it originated.  I view that phrase as —

Q    In 1967, the Miami Police Chief used it —

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I don’t know.  I’ve also heard from many other places.  But I’ve heard it for a long time, as most people have.  And frankly, it means when there’s looting, people get shot and they die.  And if you look at what happened last night, and the night before, you see that.  It’s very common.  And that’s the way that was meant, and that’s the way I think it was supposed to be meant.  But I don’t know where it came from.  I don’t know where it originated.  I wouldn’t know a thing like that.

But I will say it’s very accurate in the sense that when you do have looting, like you had last night, people often get shot and they die.  And that’s not good.  And we don’t want that to happen.

Yeah, please.

Q    Thank you, Mr. President.  In the past, you’ve criticized NFL players for their protests against police brutality.  Given what we’ve seen with George Floyd and what we saw with the delays in the case of Ahmaud Arbery, does that change your views around those NFL protests?

And also, given that you had a message for those in the streets in Minneapolis, do you have a statement to make about the police that are involved in such police brutality incidents?

THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah, I didn’t like what I saw at all.  I thought it was a terrible thing, a terrible picture.  I think that it’s — it’s sad in so many ways, from the standpoint of the family.  When you look at George Floyd and his family, and you see what that’s done to them, just — just a terrible thing.  It’s — he was in tremendous pain, obviously, and couldn’t breathe.  It was very obvious to anybody that watched it.  It was a very, very sad thing for me to see that.

We also know that most policemen — you see the great job they do; they do a fantastic job — but this was a terrible insult to police and to policemen.  And I know the Justice Department will — as you know, it’s a local — local case.  But I know the Justice Department is also looking at it very strongly.

Q    And does that change your views around, like, the NFL protests?

THE PRESIDENT:  Say it again?  I can’t —

Q    Does that change your views around the NFL protests on this issue?  They were peaceful protests.  Does that change your mind — your stance on that at all?

THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah, it should be a peaceful protest.  I think, really, the — in memory of George Floyd, I think it should be peaceful.  It’s — it’s terrible.

They — I spoke with his family today.  Terrific people.  I think it’s so bad for the memory when you see a thing like that going on.  And hopefully that won’t happen tonight.

And, as you know, the National Guard has arrived, and they’re there.  But hopefully everything will be very different tonight.  Last night was very sad on many different levels.

Yeah, please.  Yeah, please.

Q    Referencing your Rose Garden event, we see tensions with China over the virus, now over Hong Kong.  Are we witnessing the start of a cold war between the United States and China?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, we’re certainly not happy with what happened with respect to China.  They have a virus that started, and when it got out of control, perhaps — I assume that’s what happened; it got out of control, whichever way — and they stopped it from going to China, but they didn’t stop it from going to the rest of the world.  So, nobody likes that.  That was not good.  They did not do a good job.

So I don’t know if it was incompetence or it was done for some other reason.  But I know that I didn’t see anything in Beijing and I didn’t see anything in other Chinese cities, but I did see them in New York, in London, in Paris.  We saw them in Spain and we saw them in Italy.  We saw that the enemy — the invisible enemy — come out.  And all over the world — 186 countries, and probably more than that now.  And they stopped it in China, but they didn’t stop it going to Europe and the United States and the rest of the world.  So what’s that all about?  And we have to do a very strong study and figure that out.

Q    If I could follow up: Are you going to eliminate the special status for Hong Kong?  I know you announced the measures (inaudible).

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, we’re talking about doing a lot of things.  And we’re not — we’re very, very saddened by what happened to our relationship with China.

They should have never allowed this to happen.  They could have stopped it at the source.  We asked them to come in and help them and they didn’t want help from anybody.  Even the World Health Organization, they wanted to go in and they were delayed.  But we asked to go in, very specifically, and they didn’t want any help.  They didn’t need any help.  And then it got out of control in some form.  But it didn’t seem to get out of control when it came to going to other parts of China, because it didn’t go very far.  But it did come to the United States.  It did come to Europe.  It went all over the world.

Q    Mr. President?

THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah, please.

Q    Your conversation with the Floyd family after the Rose Garden event, what was the thing you were trying to impress upon them?  And did they have a message for you?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I just expressed my sorrow.  That was a horrible thing to witness.  And I — I’ve seen bad things.  I’ve seen many bad things.  And that was just a — just a horrible thing to witness and to watch.  And it would certainly look like there was no excuse for it, frankly.

Q    Did they have a message for you at all?  Did they communicate (inaudible)?

THE PRESIDENT:  They were grieving very much.  Look, it was their brother, and they were grieving.  And I could see very much that they loved their brother.  Okay?

Q    Mr. President?

THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah, in the back.  Please.  Go ahead.  Please.

Q    Thank you so much, Mr. President.  The United States and Brazil right now have more cases than — of COVID-19 than any other country.  Can you understand me?  I want —

THE PRESIDENT:  “Brazil” you said?

Q    Yes.  I — my question is: There are many comparisons between the way you and the Brazilian President handled the pandemic.  Do you think it’s a fair comparison?  And how long do you think the travel ban will be in place?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, the Brazilian President is a friend of mine, and he’s working very hard, and they do have a big, big outbreak.  And I can tell you, he’s a — he’s a very good man, and he loves his country incredibly well.  They’ve had a hard time.  There’s no question about it.  They went a different route than we did.

Q    He is against —

THE PRESIDENT:  We did a shutdown.  They decided to do it a different way.  They’re having a very hard time.

Q    He is against social distancing at the moment where the Brazil is —

THE PRESIDENT:  Could you take that — just for a second?

Q    Sure.

THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah, it’s —

Q    He’s against social distancing and lockdown at the moment where the numbers in Brazil are skyrocketing.  What do you think about that?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, he went a different way.  Brazil went a different way, and certainly they’re having a hard time.  I don’t want to be critical of anybody because I have great respect for him and he’s doing a very good job with the country.  Then he got hit.

He got hit like everybody else.  They went about it differently than us.  I closed down from China, I closed down from Europe, and we did a lot of close-downs.  We had to close down from Brazil.  You’re asking about Brazil; we closed down, as you know, the other night from Brazil.

But he’s — it’s a tough time they’re having in Brazil.  It’s a great country, great place, great people, but they’re having a very tough time.

Q    How long do you think the ban will be in place for Brazil?

THE PRESIDENT:  I hope we can —

Q    And are you also thinking Russia and — and India?

THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah.  I’d like to take the ban off as soon as we can.  Okay?

Q    Yeah.  Mr. —

THE PRESIDENT:  Soon as we can.  Yes, please.

Q    Yeah, Mr. President, do you believe that there’s a problem with police brutality in America?  And if you do, what — what would you do about it?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I think that police brutality certainly is something that we’ve been hearing about, reading about, studying — I have — for many years.  And we all have to say, and I think most people would admit, that most of the policemen and women that I’ve seen have been outstanding.

When you have something like this happen, you really — you look at it, and you just say, “How does a thing like that happen?”  Because it just seems so bad to watch.

But our police have been very outstanding.  Our crime rates are way down right now in this country.  And — way down.  The police have done a great job.  Something like this happens and you really say, “That’s so — that’s so bad in so many different ways and — and so unfortunate.”

Q    You see the — the rate —

THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah, please.  Go ahead.

Q    Yes, Mr. President, it certainly seems like you’re sympathetic to some of the frustration expressed by the protesters last night.  I want to ask you: First off, do you think there were good people out protesting in Minneapolis last night?  And also —

THE PRESIDENT:  Did you say were they — say it.  Were there good people?

Q    Were — were there good people among the protesters?

And then also, more broadly, what is your message to black Americans and others who just are really frustrated and saddened to see another video of a black man being killed in police custody?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, certainly there were a lot of different people, and they were good people too.  And they were protesting, and they were protesting for the right reason.  They were protesting in honor of a man, George Floyd, where something happened that shouldn’t have happened.

My opinion, from what I’ve seen: Certainly something happened that shouldn’t have happened.  And, yeah, you had a lot of people out there that were protesting out of sorrow.

And then you had people that got out of control — some people.  And they did a very — I think they did a great disservice to their state and to their city and to — to, really, our country, what they did last night.

And we brought in the National Guard today and they’re there, and that won’t happen again.  It can’t happen again.  We can never let that happen again.  That was run by the mayor of a city, and it got — in all fairness to him, he was in a tough position, but I don’t think they were very well prepared.  But we brought in the National Guard.  They’ll be very prepared tonight.

Thank you all very much.  Thank you, please.  Thank you.

U.S. Department of State. 05/29/2020. UPDATE: The United States Continues to Lead the Global Response to COVID-19

The United States continues to lead in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, illustrated by recent announcements of new foreign assistance that are made possible through the American people’s generosity and the U.S. Government’s action. The American people have given more than $11 billion that will benefit the global COVID-19 response, and we continue to ensure that the substantial U.S. funding and scientific efforts on this front remain a central and coordinated part of the worldwide effort against the disease. Months into fighting this pandemic at home and abroad, the United States continues to lead a global response—building on decades of investment in life-saving health and humanitarian assistance.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the U.S. Government has committed more than $1 billion in State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) emergency health, humanitarian, economic, and development assistance specifically aimed at helping governments, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) fight the pandemic. This funding, provided by Congress, will save lives by improving public health education; protecting healthcare facilities; and increasing laboratory, disease-surveillance, and rapid-response capacity in more than 120 countries.

The United States has mobilized as a nation to make this an impressive global effort. Working with the private sector, we are actively fulfilling President Trump’s commitment to provide ventilators to our partners and allies in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Our foreign assistance funding to date for the response to the COVID-19 pandemic includes an initial $23 million specifically to provide ventilators to some of these partners and allies. We expect to make future additional purchases and shipments of ventilators and related supplies.

The COVID-19 assistance to-date from the State Department and USAID includes the following:

• Nearly $300 million in emergency health assistance from USAID’s Global Health Emergency Reserve Fund for Contagious Infectious-Disease Outbreaks and Global Health Programs account. These funds prioritize interventions to mitigate the pandemic and prepare communities in developing countries affected and at-risk of COVID-19.
• More than $462 million in humanitarian assistance from USAID’s International Disaster Assistance (IDA) account. This assistance supports case-management and keeps essential health care operating; provides risk-communication and community-engagement programs; supports efforts to prevent and control infections; provides safe water and hygiene items; provides emergency food assistance; and strengthens local capacity and coordination by working with existing health structures and with others in the humanitarian community. These funds prioritize populations affected by ongoing humanitarian crises, particularly displaced people, because of their heightened vulnerability, the elevated risk of severe outbreaks in camps and informal settlements, and anticipated disproportionate mortality in these populations.
• More than $150 million from the Economic Support Fund (ESF). These funds promote American foreign-policy interests by financing shorter-term mitigation efforts and addressing the second-order impacts of the pandemic in the long term, across a variety of sectors.
• Nearly $160 million in humanitarian assistance from the Migration and Refugee Assistance (MRA) account, provided through the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. These funds help international organizations and NGO partners address challenges posed by the pandemic in refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs), and host communities as well as among migrants and other vulnerable people.

This assistance from the State Department and USAID does not include hundreds of millions more being provided by other U.S. Government Departments and Agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Defense (DoD). New COVID-19 foreign assistance is provided in addition to the more than $100 billion in global health funding and nearly $70 billion in overseas humanitarian assistance provided by the United States in the last decade alone. Additionally, in Fiscal Year 2020 the United States has appropriated more than $9.2 billion for global health programs and nearly $7.5 billion for global economic and development assistance.

In addition to this direct funding from the U.S. Government, our All-of-America approach is helping people around the world to confront the ongoing pandemic. Through the generosity of American private businesses, non-profit groups, charitable organizations, faith-based organizations, and individuals, Americans have now provided more than $4.3 billion in donations and assistance globally, more than any other nation.

To meet the most urgent needs, U.S. Government Departments and Agencies are coordinating efforts to prioritize foreign assistance to maximize the potential for impact. The United States is providing the following assistance through the State Department and USAID:

Africa:

• Angola: $570,000 for health assistance is helping provide risk-communications and water and sanitation, and prevent and control infections in key health facilities in Angola. This assistance comes on top of long-term U.S. investments in Angola, which total $1.48 billion over the past 20 years, including over $613 million for health assistance.
• Bénin: $1.5 million in health assistance will help Béninois respond to the outbreak by funding the coordination and planning of outbreak-response activities, strengthening surveillance and rapid-response capabilities, and risk-communications and engagement with communities. This assistance joins $1.72 billion in total assistance for Benin over the past 20 years, over $364 million of which was for health.
• Botswana: $1.5 million in health assistance to address the outbreak. Funding will support risk-communications and community engagement, with a focus on the most vulnerable populations, the procurement of essential health commodities and logistic support, and strengthening case-management and the prevention and control of infections in key health facilities. This assistance builds on nearly $1.2 billion in total assistance in Botswana over the last 20 years, over $1.1 billion of which has been for health.
• Burkina Faso: Nearly $14.3 million in health and humanitarian funding will go toward risk-communications, water and sanitation, preventing and controlling infections in health facilities, public-health messaging, and emergency food assistance. This includes $2.5 million in health assistance, $9 million in IDA humanitarian assistance, and nearly $2.8 million in MRA humanitarian assistance, which will help protect the health of vulnerable people in Burkina Faso during the pandemic. Over the past 20 years, the United States has invested a total of more than $2.4 billion in Burkina Faso, including over $222 million for health.
• Burundi: More than $3 million in total funding for the response to COVID-19 includes $2 million in health assistance and more than $1 million in MRA humanitarian assistance to help protect the health of vulnerable people. The health assistance will improve the planning and coordination of response activities, the strengthening of surveillance and rapid-response capabilities, strengthening capacities for case-management and the prevention and control of infections, and the training of health workers. The United States has invested more than $997 million in total assistance for Burundi, including more than $254 million for health, over the past 20 years.
• Cameroon: Nearly $16 million for health and humanitarian assistance will help provide infection-control in key health facilities, strengthen laboratories and surveillance, prepare communities, bolster local messaging, and provide emergency food assistance. This includes $14.1 million for health and IDA humanitarian assistance from USAID, in addition to nearly $1.9 million in MRA humanitarian assistance to support refugees, IDPs, and host communities. This assistance builds upon more than $960 million in total U.S. Government investment in the country over the past 20 years, over $390 million of which was for health.
• Central African Republic: More than $10 million in humanitarian assistance, including $6.5 million in IDA humanitarian assistance that will go toward risk-communications, preventing and controlling infections in health facilities, and safe water supplies, and more than $3.5 million in MRA humanitarian assistance that will help protect the health of vulnerable people in the Central African Republic during the pandemic. The U.S. Government has provided $822.6 million in total in the Central African Republic over the last 20 years, including $4.5 million in emergency health assistance in Fiscal Year (FY) 2019.
• Chad: $4.1 million in humanitarian assistance, including $1.5 million from the IDA account for preventing and controlling infections in health facilities, raising community awareness of COVID-19, and improving hygiene, and nearly $2.6 million in MRA humanitarian assistance to help protect the health of vulnerable people in Chad during the pandemic. This new assistance builds upon the foundation of nearly $2 billion in total U.S. assistance over the last 20 years, including more than $30 million for health.
• Republic of Congo (ROC): $250,000 in health assistance will address the outbreak, by supporting the coordination and planning of response activities, risk- communications and community-outreach activities and the training of health workers in protocols for preventing and controlling infections in health facilities. The United States has invested in the Republic of Congo for decades, including more than $171.2 million in total U.S. assistance over the last 20 years, over $36.9 million of which has been for health.
• Côte d’Ivoire: $3.2 million in health assistance to address the outbreak by financing risk-communications and community engagement; the training of health care providers in protocols for preventing and controlling infections in health facilities and the appropriate management of cases of COVID-19 and influenza-like illnesses; and ensuring these facilities are appropriately supplied with essential health commodities. Funding will also finance the training of health workers in critical community-level surveillance techniques, such as case-finding and contact-tracing. Over the past 20 years, the United States has invested more than $2.1 billion in long-term development and other assistance in Côte d’Ivoire.
• Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC): $26.1 million in total including $16 million for health and IDA humanitarian assistance that will improve the prevention and control of infections in health facilities, and support improved awareness of COVID-19, including by working with religious leaders and journalists on risk-communication messaging. More than $5.1 million in MRA humanitarian assistance will help protect vulnerable people in the DRC during the pandemic. The $6 million of health assistance funding will support supply-chain management and logistics, as well as the procurement of essential health commodities; strengthening critical disease-surveillance activities, including community-based surveillance, contact-tracing, and case-finding; strengthening practices to prevent and control infections at health facilities and train health workers, as well as community-based efforts to improve access to water and basic hygiene materials, with the direct distribution of kits to households to prevent infections. Health assistance also will support mobilizing thousands of volunteers in targeted, high-risk Provinces to conduct risk-communications and community-engagement activities. Finally, approximately $5 million in ESF will go toward distance and alternative education for Congolese children and youth so they can continue to learn and maintain protective routines and social connections while schools remain closed across the country. This builds upon more than $6.3 billion in total U.S. assistance over the past 20 years, including more than $1.5 billion for health.
• Djibouti: $750,000 in total, including $500,000 in health assistance to address the outbreak and $250,000 in MRA humanitarian assistance to assist vulnerable migrants and host communities as they deal with the pandemic. Health assistance will support strengthening the capacity for testing, supply-planning, supply-chain management and the distribution of urgent health commodities needed for COVID-19. The health assistance also will fund risk-communications and community-outreach activities, the training of health workers to implement protocols to prevent and control infections in health facilities and manage cases of COVID-19; and disease-surveillance and rapid-response protocols and functionality. The United States has already invested more than $338 million in Djibouti over the last 20 years.
• Eswatini: $1.1 million in health assistance to address the outbreak by bolstering Eswatini’s emergency health response, which could include the procurement of supplies, contact-tracing, laboratory diagnostics, and raising public awareness. This assistance builds upon the foundation of U.S. Government investments in the Kingdom, which total more than $529 million assistance over the last 20 years, including more than $490 million for health.
• Ethiopia: More than $42.5 million in assistance to counter COVID-19, including $3.4 million for health and $26.5 million in IDA humanitarian assistance for risk-communications, the prevention and control of infections in health facilities, disease-surveillance, contact-tracing, coordination, and emergency food assistance; $7 million in ESF that will support continuing operation at a major industrial park in Hawassa to preserve critical jobs,; and more than $5.6 million in MRA humanitarian assistance for vulnerable people, including refugees, migrants, and host communities. The health assistance will support strengthening outbreak-response capabilities, including community-based surveillance for case-finding and contact-tracing; strengthening laboratory diagnostic capacity; and optimizing case-management and practices to prevent and control infections in health facilities. Health assistance will also fund risk-communications and community-engagement activities. This assistance is in addition to the United States’ long-term investments in Ethiopia over the past 20 years of more than $13 billion, over $4 billion of which was for health.
• Ghana: $1.6 million in health assistance to address the outbreak by strengthening outbreak-response capabilities, including community-based surveillance for case-finding and contact-tracing; improve laboratory diagnostic capacity; optimize the management of COVID-19 cases and the prevention and control of infections in health facilities; and promote risk-communications and community-engagement activities. This assistance builds upon $3.8 billion in total U.S. Government investments in Ghana over the last 20 years, including over $914 million for health.
• Guinea: $1.3 million in health assistance to address the outbreak by financing risk-communications and community-outreach activities, the training of health workers to implement protocols to prevent and control infections in health facilities; and disease-surveillance and rapid-response protocols and functionality. The United States has invested nearly $1 billion in total assistance in Guinea over the last 20 years, including over $365.5 million for health.
• Kenya: Nearly $14.4 million for health and humanitarian assistance, including $13.5 million in health and IDA humanitarian assistance to provide emergency food assistance; bolster risk-communications; prepare health-communication networks and media for possible cases; and help provide public-health messaging for media, health workers, and communities; and $947,000 in MRA humanitarian assistance for refugees and host communities. This assistance specific to COVID-19 comes on top of long-term U.S. Government investments in Kenya, which total $11.7 billion over the last 20 years, including more than $6.7 billion for health.
• Lesotho: $750,000 in health assistance to address the outbreak by strengthening outbreak-response capabilities, including community-based surveillance for case-finding and contact tracing, strengthening laboratory diagnostic capacity, and optimizing case-management and the prevention and control of infections in health facilities. The health assistance also will finance risk-communications and community-engagement activities. This assistance builds upon decades of U.S. investments in Lesotho, which total more than $1 billion over the last 20 years, including more than $834 million for health.
• Liberia: $2.3 million in health and IDA humanitarian assistance will provide critical aid for all 15 Liberian Counties (emergency-operation centers, training, contact-tracing, hospitals, and community health care), support quarantine efforts, and provide village-level support. The United States has helped lay a strong foundation for Liberia’s response to COVID-19 through more than $4 billion in total assistance over the past 20 years, including more than $675 million for health.
• Madagascar: $2.5 million in health assistance to address the outbreak by strengthening laboratory capacity for diagnostics; deploying mobile laboratories for decentralized diagnosis; improving regional and District surveillance, including data systems and the training of community health volunteers in contact-tracing; promoting risk-communications and community-engagement activities, including a staffed hotline, mass-media campaigns and prevention messages; the training of health professionals infection and prevention control training, procurement of essential health commodities, and improvements in waste management. The United States has invested more than $1.5 billion in total assistance for Madagascar over the last 20 years, including over $722 million for health.
• Malawi: $4.5 million in health assistance to address the outbreak. Funding will support the COVID-19 response and preparedness activities at the district level, including surveillance activities, strengthening infection and prevention control practices, screening at points of entry, and case management. Funding will also support risk communication and community engagement, including radio and social media campaigns; and technical assistance to optimize supply chain logistics and management. The United States has provided more than $3.6 billion in total assistance for Malawi over the past 20 years, including more than $1.7 billion for health.
• Mali: More than $9.1 million in assistance for the response to COVID-19, which includes $2.4 million for health assistance and $2.7 million in IDA humanitarian assistance for risk-communications, the prevention and control of infections in health facilities, and coordination; and more than $4 million in MRA humanitarian assistance to support vulnerable in Mali during the pandemic. Health assistance will support risk-communications and community engagement, including by establishing community communication networks with modern and traditional methods and to call on citizens to counter misinformation and rumors, as well as support to the Ministry of Health’s National Hotline; strengthening diagnostic networks and disease-surveillance systems, optimizing real-time surveillance to accelerate the detection and investigation of cases and contact-tracing and train and mobilize existing community-surveillance, early-warning and emergency rapid-response teams to report infections and assist ill persons in getting prompt and appropriate care. The health funding also will finance activities to prevent and control infections at priority case-detection points (including points of entry to Mali along high-traffic cargo routes) and public and community health facilities, including through the procurement of equipment and supplies to prevent infections and manage medical waste. This new assistance builds upon decades of U.S. Government investments in Mali, which total more than $3.2 billion over the last 20 years, including more than $807 million for health.
• Mauritania: $250,000 in health assistance to address the outbreak by financing risk-communications and community-engagement activities, strengthening supply-chain management and logistics, and improving the prevention and control of infections in health facilities. The United States has provided more than $424 million in total assistance over the last 20 years for Mauritania, including more than $27 million for health, which builds a strong foundation for their pandemic response.
• Mauritius: $500,000 in health assistance to address the outbreak under the national response strategy for COVID-19, including by strengthening coordination and logistics; developing and disseminating risk-communications and prevention materials at the community level; strengthening protocols for the prevention and control of infections in health facilities; disseminating case-management guidelines and training health workers in their use; improving surveillance and rapid-response protocols and functionality; and expanding laboratory capacity. This assistance builds upon the foundation of more than $13 million in total U.S. Government investments over the past 20 years, including more than $838,000 for health.
• Mozambique: $6.8 million, including $4.8 million for health assistance and $2 million in IDA humanitarian funding will finance risk-communications and community engagement, including mass-media prevention messages; water and sanitation; and the prevention and control of infections in key health facilities in Mozambique. The health assistance also will fund the training of health workers in case-management and ensuring health facilities are prepared to respond to the outbreak. The United States has invested nearly $6 billion in Mozambique over the past 20 years, including more than $3.8 billion for health.
• Namibia: $750,000 in health assistance to address the outbreak by improving laboratory capacity for diagnostics and technical assistance in supply-chain management and logistics. This assistance comes in addition to nearly $1.5 billion in total U.S. Government investments to Namibia over the past 20 years, including more than $970.5 million in long-term health assistance.
• Niger: Nearly $6.4 million in assistance includes nearly $800,000 for health assistance and $3 million in IDA humanitarian assistance for risk-communications, the prevention and control of infectious diseases in health facilities, and coordination; and more than $2.6 million in MRA humanitarian assistance will support vulnerable people in Niger during the pandemic, including refugees, and vulnerable migrants, and host communities. This assistance comes on top of more than $2 billion in total U.S. Government investments for Niger in the past 20 years, nearly $233 million for health.
• Nigeria: More than $41.3 million in assistance, which includes more than $3.3 million for health assistance and $34 million in IDA humanitarian funding for risk-communications, water and sanitation, infection-prevention, coordination, and emergency food assistance; and nearly $4.1 million in MRA humanitarian assistance for vulnerable people. This assistance joins more than $8.1 billion in total assistance for Nigeria over the past 20 years, including more than $5.2 billion for health.
• Rwanda: $2.2 million in assistance for Rwanda’s response to COVID-19 includes $1.7 million for health assistance that will help with disease-surveillance and case-management, and $474,000 in MRA humanitarian assistance to support refugees and host communities in Rwanda. This comes on top of long-term U.S. Government investments in Rwanda that total more than $2.6 billion in total assistance over the past 20 years, including more than $1.5 billion for health.
• Sénégal: $3.9 million in health assistance to support risk-communications, water and sanitation, the prevention and control of infections in health facilities, public health messaging, and more. In Sénégal, the U.S. has invested nearly $2.8 billion in total over the past 20 years, nearly $880 million for health.
• Sierra Leone: $2.7 million in health and IDA humanitarian assistance to address the outbreak by strengthening surveillance activities, case-finding, contact-tracing, risk-communications, community engagement, and the management of cases of COVID-19 at health facilities. This assistance joins decades of U.S. investments in Sierra Leone, totaling more than $954 million in total assistance over the past 20 years, including nearly $260 million for health.
• Somalia: More than $17.1 million, including $12.6 million in IDA and $4.5 million in MRA humanitarian assistance for the response to COVID-19 will fund risk-communications, the prevention and control of infectious diseases in health facilities, case-management, and more, including for refugee returnees, vulnerable migrants, and host communities. This assistance comes in addition to $5.3 billion in total assistance for Somalia over the last 20 years, including nearly $30 million for health.
• South Africa: Approximately $8.4 million in health assistance to counter COVID-19 will fund risk-communications, water and sanitation, the prevention and control of infections in health facilities, public health messaging, and more. The United States has also pledged to send up to 1,000 ventilators to South Africa, the first 50 of which arrived on May 11, 2020. This assistance joins more than $7 billion in total assistance by the United States for South Africa in the past 20 years, nearly $6 billion invested for health.
• South Sudan: Nearly $40.6 million in assistance includes $32.2 million in IDA humanitarian assistance for case management, prevention and control of infections, logistics, coordination efforts, risk communications, water, sanitation and hygiene, and emergency food assistance; $2.8 million in health programming; and more than $5.6 million in MRA humanitarian assistance that will support refugees, IDPs, and host communities in South Sudan during the pandemic. The health assistance will fund expanded training of health workers and peer educators on proper practices to prevent and control infections in health facilities to protect communities and patients, particularly those at high risk or who are immunocompromised, and strengthening the capabilities of health facilities and communities to manage and refer cases of COVID-19. The health assistance also will fund expanding efforts to address community concerns, including by tracking and combating rumors, misconceptions, and grievances. This funding builds upon past U.S. investments in South Sudan that total $6.4 billion over the past 20 years, including more than $405 million for health.
• Sudan: More than $27.6 million in assistance includes $1 million in health assistance and $20.3 million in IDA humanitarian assistance for strengthening laboratory capacity, disease surveillance and contact-tracing, case-management, risk-communications, disease-surveillance, the prevention and control of infections, water, sanitation and hygiene; $5 million in ESF for cash assistance to vulnerable families adversely affected by COVID-19; and more than $1.3 million in MRA humanitarian assistance to support vulnerable people. The United States has invested more than $1.6 billion in total assistance for Sudan over the last 20 years, more than $3 million of which was for health.
• Tanzania: $3.4 million for health assistance funds the strengthening of laboratory capacity for optimal diagnostics, risk-communications, water and sanitation, the prevention and control of infections, public health messaging, and more. The United States has invested more than $7.5 billion total in Tanzania over the past 20 years, nearly $4.9 billion for health.
• Uganda: $3.6 million in assistance includes $2.3 million in health assistance to address the outbreak and nearly $1.3 million in MRA humanitarian assistance will support refugees and host communities in Uganda during the pandemic. The health assistance will strengthen the prevention and control of infections and case-management practices in health facilities, including by training health workers in new protocols; promote risk-communications and community engagement, including materials and messages to address most vulnerable groups; and improve management systems to ensure the accountability and availability of, and access to, health commodities, essential medicines, and health supplies in health facilities to maintain the continuity of services. This assistance is provided in addition to the nearly $8 billion in total U.S. Government investments for Uganda over the last 20 years, including nearly $4.8 billion for health.
• Zambia: $3.4 million for health assistance will fund risk-communications, water and sanitation, the prevention and control of infections, public health messaging, and more. This assistance joins $4.9 billion total U.S. Government investments for Zambia over the past 20 years, nearly $3.9 billion in U.S. health assistance.
• Zimbabwe: Nearly $15 million, including nearly $3 million for health assistance and $12 million for IDA humanitarian assistance will help to prepare laboratories for large-scale testing, support case-finding activities for influenza-like illnesses, implement a public-health emergency plan for points of entry, and emergency food assistance. The health assistance will fund the strengthening of laboratory capacity, the prevention and control of infections and the management of cases of COVID-19 in health facilities, including hand-washing stations, screening centers, preparing hospitals to be ready to treat COVID-19 patients, training health workers, and setting up alternative care-delivery points. Funding also will also support the training of rapid-response teams, community health workers and volunteers; and risk-communications and community engagement. This new assistance builds on a history of U.S. investments in Zimbabwe – nearly $3 billion total over the past 20 years, nearly $1.2 billion of which was for health.
• Regional Efforts in the Sahel: $5 million in ESF will strengthen the efforts of partner governments and civil society to manage and respond to COVID-19 with transparent communication and response. These investments will cover Burkina Faso, Niger, The Gambia, Chad, and Mali.
• Regional Efforts in West Africa: $5 million in ESF will go towards conducting information campaigns with local authorities and communities and engaging community groups, community radio stations, and local media actors to develop targeted messaging in local languages. This assistance will also engage citizens in local-led advocacy, dialogue, and inclusive behavior change. These investments will cover Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, Bénin, and Guinea.
• Regional Sub-Saharan Africa Humanitarian Assistance: More than $6 million in MRA humanitarian assistance to help vulnerable people during the pandemic.

Asia:

• Afghanistan: $20.6 million in COVID-19 assistance includes more than $7.1 million for health and IDA humanitarian assistance to support the detection and treatment of COVID-19, as well as protection and health support, for IDPs, and nearly $3.1 million in MRA humanitarian assistance for Afghan returnees. In addition, the United States has redirected $10 million in existing resources to support the United Nations Emergency Response Plan for COVID-19 to conduct disease-surveillance, improve laboratories, manage cases of the disease, prevent and control infections in health facilities, engage with local communities, and provide technical assistance to the Government of Afghanistan, and $500,000 to procure COVID-19 prevention and control supplies for correctional facilities.
• Bangladesh: More than $36.7 million in assistance includes $21.4 million for health and IDA humanitarian assistance to help with case-management, surveillance activities, the prevention and control of infections in health facilities, risk- communications, water, sanitation, hygiene, and emergency food assistance. In addition, more than $15.3 million in MRA humanitarian support will support vulnerable people during the pandemic, including refugees and host communities. This builds upon nearly $4 billion in total U.S. assistance over the past 20 years, which included more than $1 billion for health.
• Bhutan: $1 million in total assistance includes $500,000 in ESF to support microenterprises to generate income for those affected by COVID-19 and to strengthen food security for Bhutanese unemployed because of the shutdown of tourism and construction sectors as well as increase the skills of these individuals, including unemployed youth.  It also includes $500,000 in health assistance to strengthen diagnostic laboratory capabilities and clinical case-management, provide virtual training for healthcare providers and lab personnel, and design and produce risk-communications materials. This assistance builds upon more than $6.5 million in total U.S. Government investments over the past 20 years, including $847,000 for health.
• Burma: Nearly $13.5 million total, including approximately $8.3 million for health and $3 million in IDA humanitarian assistance for the prevention and control of infections in health facilities, case-management, laboratories, risk-communications and community engagement, as well as water and sanitation supplies, including assistance to IDP camps that are facing water shortages. This also includes nearly $2.2 million in MRA humanitarian assistance to support vulnerable people and host communities during the pandemic. This assistance comes on top of long-term U.S. Government investments in Burma that total more than $1.3 billion over the past 20 years, which includes more than $176 million for health.
• Cambodia: More than $11 million in total assistance for the response to COVID-19 includes $5 million in ESF for relief and job-skills training for vulnerable people, such as returning migrants, and expanded efforts to counter trafficking and protect children. It also includes more than $6 million in health assistance to help the Cambodian Government prepare laboratory systems, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance, communicate risk, support technical experts for response and preparedness, and more. The U.S. Government has invested more than $1.6 billion in total assistance over the past 20 years, which includes more than $730 million for health.
• India: Nearly $5.9 million in health assistance to help India slow the spread of COVID-19, provide care for the affected, disseminate essential public health messages to communities, strengthen case-finding and surveillance, and mobilize innovative financing mechanisms for emergency preparedness and response to the pandemic. Additionally, the funds will support State-specific COVID-19 challenges and address bottlenecks in supply-chains that stem from the lock-down of India’s borders. This builds on a foundation of nearly $2.8 billion in total assistance to India over the last 20 years, which includes more than $1.4 billion for health.
• Indonesia: $11 million includes more than $9 million in health funding to help the Indonesian Government prepare laboratory systems, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance, support technical experts for response and preparedness, and more. It also includes nearly $1.5 million in MRA humanitarian assistance for refugees, vulnerable migrants, and their host communities. The U.S. Government has invested more than $5 billion in total assistance over the past 20 years, including more than $1 billion for health.
• Kazakhstan: More than $3.1 million for health assistance will help prepare laboratory systems, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance, support technical experts for response and preparedness, bolster risk communication, and more. This assistance builds upon U.S. investments of more than more than $2 billion in total assistance over the last 20 years, including $86 million for health.
• Kyrgyz Republic: Approximately $900,000 for health assistance will help prepare laboratory systems, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance, support technical experts for response and preparedness, bolster risk communication, and more. The United States has invested nearly $1.2 billion in total assistance for Kyrgyzstan over the past 20 years, including more than $120 million for health.
• Laos: $4.4 million for health assistance is helping the government prepare laboratory systems, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance, support technical experts for response and preparedness, and more. This assistance builds upon U.S. Government investment in Laos over time, including more than $348 million over the past decade, of which nearly $92 million was health assistance.
• Malaysia: $1.2 million total includes $1 million in health assistance that will fund the prevention and control of infections in health facilities, community engagement, disease-surveillance and contact-tracing systems, bolster risk-communications, and more in response to COVID-19. It also includes $200,000 in MRA humanitarian assistance to support COVID-19 response efforts for refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia. This assistance builds upon a foundation of decades of U.S. investment in Malaysia, totaling more than $288 million over the past 20 years, including more than $3.6 million for health.
• Maldives: $2 million in ESF will support the expansion of social-protection services led by local civil-society organizations (CSOs) and assist them to advocate effectively for COVID recovery policies. Funding will provide technical assistance to the government to develop effective economic, fiscal, monetary measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. S. investments in Maldives include more than $30 million in total assistance since 2004.
• Mongolia: Nearly $1.2 million for health assistance is helping the Mongolian Government prepare laboratory systems, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance, and support technical experts for response and preparedness, and more. The United States has invested more than $1 billion in total assistance for Mongolia over the past 20 years, including nearly $106 million for health.
• Nepal: $7.3 million in total assistance includes $2.5 million in ESF to support local governments and disaster-management committees to respond to the economic and social impacts of COVID-19, and will provide small grants to the private sector and CSOs to enable economic recovery, mitigate food insecurity, and address the needs of vulnerable populations. It also includes $4.8 million for health assistance that is helping the Nepali Government to conduct community-level risk-communications, prepare laboratory systems, activate case-finding and surveillance, support technical experts for response and preparedness, and more. Over the past 20 years, U.S. Government investment in Nepal totals more than $2 billion, including more than $603 million for health.
• Pacific Islands: Nearly $26.1 million total in assistance from USAID, which includes $14.5 million in IDA humanitarian assistance to support risk-communications, the prevention and control of infectious diseases in health facilities, logistics, coordination efforts, and more; $5 million in ESF for small grants to strengthen the capacity of CSOs to combat disinformation and hate speech at the community and national levels, to protect the rights of vulnerable and marginalized groups, and to increase their resilience and ability to respond to the economic impacts of COVID-19; and $4.7 million for health assistance, which is helping governments prepare laboratory systems, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance, and support technical experts for response and preparedness. Over the last 20 years, the United States has invested over $5.21 billion in assistance to the Pacific Islands. Over the last decade, the United States has invested more than $620 million for health in the Pacific Islands.
• Papua New Guinea (PNG): $3.55 million for health assistance is helping the Government of PNG prepare laboratory systems, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance, and support technical experts for response and preparedness, risk-communications, the prevention and control of infectious diseases in health facilities, and more. The United States has invested over $108 million total in Papua New Guinea over the past 20 years, including more than $52 million for health.
• Pakistan: Nearly $18 million in total assistance for Pakistan’s response to COVID-19 includes a $5 million contribution by USAID to the agreement between the Department of International Development of the United Kingdom with the Government of Pakistan to support its emergency cash-assistance program. USAID’s contribution will support about 66,000 vulnerable families affected by COVID-19; $10 million in health assistance to strengthen monitoring and better prepare communities to identify potential outbreaks, including funding for the training of healthcare providers and other urgent needs; and nearly $2.9 million in MRA humanitarian assistance to help vulnerable people in Pakistan. S. long-term investment in Pakistan over the past 20 years includes more than $18.4 billion in total assistance, which includes nearly $1.2 billion for health.
• The Philippines: More than $19.1 million in total COVID-19 assistance includes $5 million in ESF to provide grants and skills training to heavily affected sectors and communities; facilitate access to credit for micro and small enterprises; and support the efforts of the national government to improve crisis-management and procurement and promote a regulatory environment that enhances the resilience of communities and businesses. In addition, about $6.5 million in health assistance will help upgrade laboratories and specimen-transport systems and intensify case-finding and event-based surveillance, support Filipino and international technical experts in risk-communications and the prevention and control of infectious diseases in health facilities; and $6.8 million in IDA humanitarian assistance will improve community-level preparedness and response, promote handwashing and hygiene, and more. Finally, $875,000 in MRA humanitarian assistance will support vulnerable people during the pandemic. The United States has invested more than $4.5 billion in total assistance over the past 20 years, which includes $582 million for health assistance.
• Sri Lanka: More than $5.8 million in total assistance includes $2 million in ESF to increase social services for areas and populations most affected by the COVID-19 crisis, address the specific threats to social cohesion, and mitigate negative economic impacts; $2 million in additional ESF for strengthening small and medium-sized enterprises and increasing women’s economic participation; and $1.3 million in health assistance to help the Sri Lankan Government prepare laboratory systems, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance, support technical experts for response and preparedness, conduct risk-communications, prevent and control infectious diseases in health facilities, and more. Finally, $590,000 in MRA humanitarian assistance will support vulnerable people during the pandemic. Over the past 20 years, U.S. assistance in Sri Lanka has totaled more than $1 billion, which includes $26 million for health.
• Tajikistan: Approximately $866,000 for health assistance is helping prepare laboratory systems, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance, support technical experts for response and preparedness, bolster risk-communications, and more. This support builds on more than $1 billion in total U.S. assistance over the past 20 years, which includes nearly $125 million for health.
• Thailand: More than $6.5 million for health assistance will help the Thai Government prepare laboratory systems, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance, support technical experts for response and preparedness, promote risk-communications, prevent and control infectious diseases in health facilities, and more. $730,000 in MRA humanitarian assistance will support surveillance and response capacity in all nine camps on the Thailand-Burma border hosting refugees from Burma. This assistance builds upon long-term U.S. Government investments in Thailand of more than $1 billion in total assistance over the past 20 years, which includes nearly $214 million for health.
• Timor-Leste: Almost $1.1 million for health assistance is helping the Government of Timor-Leste prepare laboratory systems, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance, support technical experts for response and preparedness, bolster risk-communications, and more. The United States has invested more than $542 million in total assistance for Timor-Leste since independence in 2002, including nearly $70 million for health.
• Turkmenistan: Approximately $920,000 for health support has been made available to help prepare laboratory systems, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance, support technical experts for response and preparedness, bolster risk communication, and more. Over the past 20 years, the United States has collaborated closely with the Government of Turkmenistan and local partners to implement bilateral and regional programs totaling more than $207 million, including over $21 million in the health sector.
• Uzbekistan: Approximately $3.9 million in health funding is helping prepare laboratory systems, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance, support technical experts for response and preparedness, bolster risk-communications, and more. This COVID-19 response assistance builds on more than $1 billion in total assistance over the past 20 years, including more than $122 million in the health sector.
• Vietnam: Nearly $9.5 million in total assistance for response to COVID-19 includes $5 million in ESF, which will bring much-needed resources to bear immediately, including to support private-sector recovery by enhancing access to finance for businesses; improve firms’ capacity during an expected surge in demand; and working with the Government of Vietnam to bolster its relief interventions. It also includes almost $4.5 million in health assistance to help the Government prepare laboratory systems, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance, support technical experts for preparedness and response, conduct community education and engagement, prevent infections in health-care settings, public health screening at points of entry, and more. Over the past 20 years, the United States has invested more than $1.8 billion in total assistance for Vietnam, including more than $706 million for health.
• Regional Efforts in Asia: $2 million in ESF will provide essential services to vulnerable migrants in Central Asia stranded across the region as a result of border closures and ensure their safe return home in accordance with their own wishes and the help of NGOs and national governments. Additionally, $800,000 in health assistance is helping governments and NGOs across the region prepare laboratory systems, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance, support technical experts for response and preparedness, promote risk-communications, prevent and control infectious diseases in health facilities, and more. Furthermore, nearly $2.8 million in MRA humanitarian assistance will support vulnerable people in Southeast Asia and $425,000 in MRA humanitarian assistance will help vulnerable people in Central Asia during the pandemic. In addition to historic bilateral support to individual countries in the region, the United States has provided more than $226 million for health assistance regionally, and in total more than $3 billion in development and other assistance provided regionally over the last 20 years.

Europe and Eurasia:

• Albania: More than $2 million for health assistance is helping prepare laboratory systems, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance, support technical experts for response and preparedness, bolster risk-communications, and more. Over the last 20 years, the United States has invested more than $693 million in total assistance to Albania, including more than $51.8 million for health.
• Armenia: $2.7 million for health assistance is helping prepare laboratory systems, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance, support technical experts for response and preparedness, bolster risk-communications, and more. The United States has invested more than $1.57 billion in total assistance to Armenia over the past 20 years, including nearly $106 million for health.
• Azerbaijan: Nearly $3.6 million in total assistance includes $3 million in health assistance which is helping prepare laboratory systems, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance, support technical experts for response and preparedness, bolster risk-communications, and more. It also includes $565,000 in MRA humanitarian assistance that will help vulnerable people and host communities during the pandemic. Over the past 20 years, the United States has invested more than $894 million in total assistance to Azerbaijan, including nearly $41 million for health.
• Belarus: $1.7 million for health funding is helping prepare laboratory systems, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance, support technical experts for response and preparedness, bolster risk-communications, and more. This assistance comes on top of decades of U.S. investment in Belarus, totaling more than $301 million over the past 20 years, including nearly $1.5 million for health.
• Bosnia and Herzegovina: $2.2 million for health assistance is helping prepare laboratory systems, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance, support technical experts for response and preparedness, bolster risk-communications, and more. The United States has invested more than $1.1 billion in total assistance for Bosnia and Herzegovina over the past 20 years, including $200,000 for health.
• Bulgaria: $500,000 in health assistance to address the outbreak. This assistance builds on longstanding U.S. assistance for Bulgaria, which totals more than $558 million in total assistance over the past 20 years, including more than $6 million for health.
• Georgia: $2.7 million for health funding is helping prepare laboratory systems, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance, support technical experts for response and preparedness, bolster risk communication, and more. The United States has provided more than $3.6 billion in total U.S. assistance over the past 20 years, including nearly $139 million for health.
• Greece: Nearly $2.9 million in MRA humanitarian assistance will support COVID-19 response efforts for migrants and refugees in Greece. This assistance builds upon a foundation of U.S. support for Greece, which totals more than $202 million in total investments over the last 20 years, including nearly $1.8 million for health.
• Italy:S. support includes $50 million in economic assistance implemented by USAID to bolster Italy’s response to COVID-19. USAID is expanding and supplementing the work of international organizations, non-governmental organizations, and faith-based groups responding to the pandemic in Italy and mitigating its community impact. USAID is also working with the Italian government to purchase health commodities and working to support Italian companies affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Kosovo: Nearly $1.6 million in health assistance is helping prepare laboratory systems, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance, support technical experts for response and preparedness, bolster risk communication, and more. This assistance to combat COVID-19 is in addition to long-term U.S. investments, which total over $772 million in total assistance in Kosovo over the past 20 years, including more than $10 million for health.
• Moldova: Nearly $2.2 million for health assistance is helping prepare laboratory systems, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance, support technical experts for response and preparedness, bolster risk communication, and more. This COVID-19 assistance builds upon U.S. investments of more than $1 billion in total assistance over the past 20 years, including nearly $42 million for health.
• Montenegro: $300,000 in health assistance to address the outbreak. This assistance joins long-term U.S. investment in Montenegro totaling more than $332 million, including more than $1 million for health.
• North Macedonia: $1.5 million for health assistance is helping prepare laboratory systems, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance, support technical experts for response and preparedness, bolster risk communication, and more. Over the past 20 years, the United States has invested more than $738 million in total assistance for North Macedonia, including nearly $11.5 million for health.
• Romania: $800,000 in health assistance to address the outbreak. In addition, the U.S. Government fully funded an operation by the North American Treaty Organization (NATO) to transport personal protective equipment (PPE) from South Korea to Romania. The United States has invested in Romania for decades, totaling nearly $700 million in total U.S. assistance in the last 20 years, including more than $55 million for health.
• Serbia: More than $2 million for health assistance is helping: expand testing, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance; deploy additional technical expertise for response and preparedness; bolster risk communication and community engagement; and improve hygiene practices in the home. The United States has invested more than $1 billion in total assistance to Serbia over the past 20 years, including nearly $5.4 million for health.
• Turkey: Nearly $5.7 million in MRA humanitarian assistance will support COVID-19 response efforts for refugees and host communities in Turkey. This funding is in addition to the $18 million for Syrian refugee assistance inside Turkey announced March 3, and builds upon nearly $1.4 billion in total U.S. assistance to Turkey over the past 20 years, including more than $3 million for health assistance, helping lay the foundation for the current response.
• Ukraine: $15.5 million in total assistance includes $13.1 million in health and IDA humanitarian assistance that will improve the ability of local health care institutions to care for the sick and combat further spread of COVID-19 while increasing public communication to lower contagion risk. These funds will also mitigate secondary impacts such as loss of livelihoods and public services to vulnerable populations, including conflict-affected communities in eastern Ukraine. It also includes $2.4 million in MRA humanitarian assistance to support vulnerable populations during the pandemic. The United States has invested nearly $5 billion in total assistance to Ukraine over the past 20 years, including nearly $362 million for health.
• Regional Efforts in Europe and Eurasia: $5 million in ESF will empower civil society actors to safeguard democratic institutions and ensure citizens are heard during the pandemic. Funding will also assist civil society organizations to provide citizen oversight over their governments’ efforts to respond to COVID-19.

Latin America and the Caribbean:

• Argentina: $300,000 in previously announced MRA humanitarian assistance will support COVID-19 response efforts for refugees and host communities. This funding is in addition to U.S. funding for Argentina over the past 20 years, $95.1 million total including nearly $696,000 for health.
• Bahamas: $750,000 in previously announced health assistance will increase risk communication and community engagement, infection prevention and control, surveillance and rapid response, and strengthen case management. This assistance comes in addition to decades of U.S. investment in the Bahamas, including nearly $143.1 million in total assistance over the past 20 years, $264,800 of which was for health.
• Belize: $300,000 in previously announced health assistance to address the outbreak and improve operational capacity and case-management. This assistance builds upon past U.S. investment in Belize, which totals more than $120 million over the past 20 years, including nearly $12 million for health.
• Bolivia: Nearly $900,000, including $750,000 in previously announced health assistance to build capacity in COVID-19 diagnostics and improve epidemiological surveillance; and $130,000 in MRA humanitarian assistance will support COVID-19 response efforts for refugees and host communities. This assistance joins long-term U.S. investment in Bolivia, including nearly $2 billion in total U.S. assistance over the past 20 years, which includes $200 million for health.
• Brazil: Nearly $9.5 million, including $6 million in IDA humanitarian assistance for emergency activities in health, water, sanitation, and hygiene; $2 million in previously announced health funding that will provide immediate support to vulnerable communities in the Amazon, including risk-communications and community engagement, the prevention and control of infections in health facilities, water and sanitation, and disease-surveillance and rapid response; $500,000 in previously announced MRA humanitarian assistance to support refugees and host communities as they deal with the pandemic; and $950,000 in previously announced ESF to incentivize private-sector investments in mitigating the non-health impacts of the disease on rural and vulnerable urban populations. This assistance builds upon past U.S. Government investment in Brazil, which totals more than $617 million over the past 20 years, including more than$103 million for health.
• Chile: $20,000 in previously announced MRA humanitarian assistance to support COVID-19 response efforts for refugees and host communities. U.S. assistance to Chile totals $105.9 million over the 20 past years, including $914,000 for health.
• Colombia: Nearly $13.2 million in assistance for Colombia’s response to COVID-19 includes $8.5 million in previously announced IDA humanitarian assistance that is helping surveil the spread of the virus, provide water and sanitation supplies, manage COVID-19 cases, and more; and nearly $4.7 million in previously announced MRA humanitarian assistance, which supports efforts to help vulnerable people during the pandemic, including refugees, internally displaced persons, and host communities. In Colombia, the United States has invested nearly $12 billion in total assistance over the past 20 years, which includes approximately $32.5 million in health assistance.
• Costa Rica: Nearly $900,000 in funds for Costa Rica’s response to COVID-19 includes $800,000 in previously announced health assistance and $80,000 in previously announced MRA humanitarian assistance to support refugees, vulnerable migrants, and host communities as they deal with the pandemic. U.S. Government investment in Costa Rica over the past 20 years has totaled $207 million, including $19.2 million for health.
• Dominican Republic: Nearly $3.7 million in response efforts, including $275,000 in previously announced MRA humanitarian assistance to support the COVID-19 response for refugees, vulnerable migrants, and host communities. This funding is in addition to $1.4 million in health assistance to address the outbreak, which is supporting epidemiological analysis and forecasting, contact-tracing, as well as pandemic surveillance; and $2 million in previously announced ESF to address critical needs in the areas of social protection, psychosocial support, education, water and sanitation, and food security in vulnerable communities. The United States has invested in the Dominican Republic’s long-term health and development through more than $1 billion in total U.S. assistance over the past 20 years, which includes nearly $298 million for health.
• Ecuador: More than $13.5 million in total funding to respond to COVID-19 includes $11 million in IDA humanitarian assistance, of which $5 million is new, which will finance transportation and logistics, provide emergency food assistance, and enhance risk-communications and community-outreach efforts; $540,000 in MRA humanitarian assistance to support refugees and host communities; and $2 million in already announced health assistance that will improve the provision of emergency care, enhance facility-based COVID protocols, prevent and control infections in health facilities, and strengthen the clinical management of cases of COVID-19. Over the last 20 years, the United States’ long-term commitment to Ecuador includes more than $1 billion in total assistance, of which nearly $36 million was for health, to help Ecuadorians deal with other major public health challenges such as Zika and malaria.
• El Salvador: Nearly $6.6 million in total funding to respond to COVID-19 includes $2 million in new IDA humanitarian funding for risk-communications, water, sanitation, and hygiene; $2 million in previously announced ESF to address the second-order impacts of the pandemic in El Salvador through creating jobs and increasing access to credit, both critical factors in driving illegal immigration to the United States; and nearly $2.6 million in previously announced health assistance to address the outbreak. Support will include the prevention and control of infections in health facilities, and case-management. Over the past 20 years, the United States has invested in El Salvador’s health and long-term development through more than $2.6 billion in total assistance, which included $111 million for health.
• Guatemala: More than $8.4 million in assistance including $6 million in new IDA humanitarian assistance for risk-communications and interventions in water, sanitation and hygiene. This new assistance supplements $2.4 million in previously announced health funding for Guatemala that will strengthen the country’s health institutions to respond to COVID-19 in the areas of preventing and controlling infections in health facilities, disease-surveillance, risk-communications, and clinical case-management. U.S. long-term investment in Guatemala’s health and development has totaled more than $2.6 billion in total assistance over the past 20 years, which included $564 million for health.
• Guyana: $350,000 in previously announced MRA humanitarian assistance to support the COVID-19 response effort for refugees and host communities. This assistance comes in addition to the regional COVID-19 response efforts in the Caribbean. Regionally, US assistance has totaled $840 million total over the past 20 years, which includes $236 million for health.
• Haitï: $13.2 million in previously announced health and IDA humanitarian assistance for Haitï will support risk-communication efforts, improve water and sanitation, prevent infections in health facilities, manage COVID-19 cases, strengthen laboratories, and more. The United States has invested nearly $6.7 billion in Haitï over the past 20 years, including more than $1.8 billion for health.
• Honduras: $5.4 million in assistance includes $3 million in new IDA humanitarian assistance for risk-communications and interventions in water, sanitation and hygiene; and $2.4 million in previously announced health assistance that will help the Government of Honduras respond to the epidemic through focused support in the areas of laboratory strengthening, improved disease-surveillance, and the clinical management of COVID-19 cases. Some of these funds will also target infection-control in migrant-receiving communities. The United States has also invested nearly $1.9 billion in total assistance in Honduras over the past 20 years, which included $178 million for health.
• Jamaica: $1 million in previously announced health funding to support coordination, the prevention and control of infections in health facilities, the clinical management of cases of COVID-19, risk-communications, and disease-surveillance. This assistance builds upon the U.S. Government’s investments in Jamaica of nearly $619 million over the past 20 years, including nearly $87 million for health.
• México: More than $1.8 million in MRA humanitarian assistance in funding will support refugees, asylum seekers, vulnerable migrants, and host communities in México as they deal with the pandemic. The U.S. Government’s long-term investment in México of $4.8 billion over the past 20 years, including more than $61 million for health, has helped build the foundation for the country’s response to COVID-19 .
• Nicaragua: $750,000 in previously announced health assistance will provide training on infection prevention and control, pandemic management, and support for targeted communication and community engagement activities and community case management for the most at-risk populations for COVID-19.
• Panamá: $825,000 in funding, including $750,000 in previously announced health assistance to optimize health system capacity to care for COVID-19 patients; and $75,000 in previously announced MRA humanitarian assistance to support the COVID-19 response for refugees, vulnerable migrants, and host communities. The United States has a history of investing in Panama’s health and long-term development through more than $425 million in total assistance over the past 20 years, including more than $33.5 million for health.
• Paraguay: Nearly $1.4 million in funding including $1.3 million in previously announced health assistance to support risk communication efforts, infection control and prevention, clinical case-management, laboratory capacity strengthening, and surveillance; and $95,000 in previously announced MRA humanitarian assistance to support the COVID-19 response for refugees and host communities. U.S. Government investment in Paraguay is long-term and totals more than $456 million total over the past 20 years, including more than $42 million for health.
• Perú: Nearly $13 million in total response funding to COVID-19 includes $7 million in new IDA humanitarian assistance for emergency health and water, sanitation, and hygiene; $415,000 in previously announced MRA humanitarian assistance to support the COVID-19 response for refugees and host communities; $3 million in previously announced ESF for addressing the economic impact of COVID-19 and preventing backsliding on shared, top-level development and security issues, including the fight against the drug trade; and $2.5 million in previously announced health assistance to provide technical assistance and training in surveillance, the prevention and control of infections in health facilities, risk-communications, and community engagement. The United States’ strong history of investing in Perú’s health and long-term development, through more than $3.5 billion in total assistance over the last 20 years, including nearly $265 million for health, has laid the foundation for the country’s response to COVID-19.
• Trinidad and Tobago: $250,000 in previously announced MRA humanitarian assistance to support the COVID-19 response for refugees and host communities. This assistance comes in addition to the regional COVID-19 efforts in the Caribbean region, where U.S. assistance totaled $840 million total over the past 20 years, including $236 million for health.
• Uruguay: $600,000 in COVID-19 funding includes $500,000 in previously announced health assistance for facilitating risk communication and community engagement, providing hygiene and medical supplies for health care facilities, and mitigating the secondary effects of the outbreak by continuing access to social-protection programs, and $100,000 in MRA humanitarian assistance to support the COVID-19 response for migrants, refugees, and host communities. This assistance comes in addition to the more than $22 million in U.S. assistance provided to Uruguay over the past 20 years.
• Venezuela: More than $12.3 million of previously announced humanitarian assistance to the Venezuelan people is helping surveil the spread of the virus, provide water and sanitation supplies, manage COVID-19 cases, and more. In Venezuela, the U.S. has invested more than $278 million in total long-term assistance over the past 20 years, including more than $1.3 million in direct health assistance. In the last year, the U.S. Government provided additional, life-saving humanitarian assistance and development programming inside Venezuela not captured in COVID-19 response amounts.
• Regional Efforts in Central America: Nearly $850,000 in MRA humanitarian assistance will support regional efforts to help vulnerable people in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras during the pandemic.
• Regional Efforts in the Caribbean: $2.2 million in previously announced health funding to help 10 Caribbean countries (Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago) scale up their risk-communications efforts, provide water and sanitation, prevent and control infectious diseases in health facilities, manage COVID-19 cases, build laboratory capacity, and conduct surveillance. This builds upon decades of strategic U.S. investment in the broader region, including more than $840 million over the past 20 years, $236 million of which was for health.

Middle East and North Africa:

• Algeria: $2 million in health assistance to support Algeria’s response to COVID-19 and mitigate its impact on Algerian society by strengthening risk communication and community engagement approaches under the Government of Algeria Preparedness and Response Plan.
• Iraq: More than $44 million in COVID-19 assistance for Iraq includes more than $33.1 million for health and IDA humanitarian assistance that is helping prepare laboratories, implement a public-health emergency plan for points of entry, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance to help prevent future disease outbreaks, and more. The funding includes more than $10.8 million in MRA humanitarian assistance to assist vulnerable people during the pandemic, including refugees and host communities. This assistance builds upon the U.S. Government’s long-term investment in Iraq, which adds up to more than $70 billion in total assistance in the past 20 years, including nearly $4 billion in the health sector.
• Jordan: More than $8.4 million in assistance includes more than $6.9 million in MRA humanitarian assistance to support response to COVID-19 efforts to help vulnerable people in Jordan, including refugees and host communities, and $1.5 million in health assistance, which will support infection prevention and control to stop the spread of the disease, as well as laboratory strengthening for large-scale testing of COVID-19. The United States also is spearheading donor support to the Government of Jordan, coordinating life-saving assistance and prioritizing investments to respond rapidly now and to plan ahead as the threat evolves. The U.S. Government’s investments in the last 20 years alone total more than $18.9 billion, including more than $1.8 billion for health.
• Lebanon: $26.3 million in assistance for Lebanon includes $18.3 million in IDA humanitarian assistance for response to COVID-19 activities targeting vulnerable Lebanese, such as supporting private health facilities to properly triage, manage, and refer patients; ensure continuity of essential health services; carry out risk communication and community outreach activities, increase access to water, sanitation, and hygiene, and provide emergency food assistance to Syrian refugees and vulnerable Lebanese. $8 million in MRA humanitarian assistance will support COVID-19 response efforts to help refugees and host communities in Lebanon. These amounts build upon the nearly $4.9 billion in bilateral assistance, including more than $187 million for health, that the U.S. has provided for Lebanon in the last 20 years. In addition to the bilateral funding, the U.S. has provided more than $2.3 billion in humanitarian assistance to respond to the Syria crisis in Lebanon.
• Libya: $12.4 million in response to COVID-19 includes $3.5 million in ESF to help municipalities to formalize their crisis response functions, develop emergency management plans, and train teams in crisis emergency response. In addition, assistance will expand key public awareness, education, and guidance messages during the COVID-19 crisis. It also includes $6 million in IDA humanitarian assistance being provided for Libya to support risk communication, improve case-management, bolster coordination for an effective COVID-19 response, and strengthen infection prevention and control; and nearly $3 million in MRA humanitarian assistance to help vulnerable people during the pandemic, including refugees, vulnerable migrants, and host communities.
• Morocco: Nearly $7.7 million in total response to COVID-19 funding includes $4 million in ESF to support socio-economic recovery among marginalized and vulnerable populations in urban and rural populations through a cash relief program; and $3.7 million for health assistance that is helping prepare laboratory systems, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance, support technical experts for response and preparedness, bolster risk communication, and more. This assistance builds upon long-term U.S. investments in Morocco that add up to more than $2.6 billion over the last 20 years, including $64.5 million for health.
• Syria: More than $31 million in humanitarian assistance for the response to COVID-19 in Syria supports risk communication, disease surveillance, water, sanitation and hygiene programs, infection prevention and control. This assistance joins decades of U.S. investments for the Syrian people, including more than $10 billion in humanitarian assistance for people in need inside Syria, Syrian refugees, and host communities since the beginning of the conflict. A number of U.S. sanctions exemptions and authorizations apply with respect to the provision of humanitarian assistance, including medicines and medical supplies, throughout Syria.
• Tunisia: $600,000 for health assistance will help prepare laboratory systems, activate case-finding and event-based surveillance, support technical experts for response and preparedness, bolster risk communication, and more. The United States has invested more than $1.3 billion in Tunisia over the past 20 years, including more than $7 million for health.
• West Bank/Gaza: $5 million in IDA humanitarian assistance is helping provide immediate, life-saving assistance in the West Bank.
• Yemen: More than $2.5 million in humanitarian assistance will support COVID-19 response efforts to help refugees, vulnerable migrants, internally displaced persons, and host communities. In the past 20 years, the United States has provided nearly $4 billion in total assistance for Yemen’s long-term development, including nearly $132 million for health.
• Regional Efforts in the Middle East: $3 million in MRA humanitarian assistance to help vulnerable people during the pandemic.

Global:

• Approximately $92.1 million in global and regional health and humanitarian programming is being provided worldwide through international organizations and NGOs, including for programs that support supply-chain management, new partnerships, monitoring and evaluation, and more.
• $23 million to procure ventilators for key partners and Allies around the globe, fulfilling President Trump’s generous promises.
• Nearly $9.8 million in MRA humanitarian assistance for the global response to COVID-19 to address the challenges posed by the pandemic in refugee, vulnerable migrant, internally displaced persons, and host communities.
• $5 million in ESF for USAID’s Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance (DCHA) will support civil society organizations (CSOs) to promote citizen-centered governance; respect for press and civic freedoms by monitoring legal protections for journalists and CSOs; provide legal assistance where COVID-related emergency laws have been used to restrict rights; ensure public health responses are non-discriminatory and counter efforts to blame or stigmatize marginalized groups related to COVID-19; promote media integrity and communicating responsible information on COVID-19; counter misinformation and disinformation; ensure the financial sustainability of independent media outlets. and provide support to human rights defenders to carry out their important work.
• Nearly $4.3 million in ESF for USAID’s Bureau for Economic Growth, Education, and Environment (E3) to expand trade and access to education. With approximately $750,000 USAID will provide technical assistance and surge capacity to partner governments and USAID Missions on education responses to COVID-19, create a Global Working Group on Distance Learning in Crisis, and launch a Virtual Center of Excellence for Education Distance Learning for developing countries. With $3.5 million USAID will support a global public-private partnership to support partner governments to reduce trade barriers on medical devices and testing kits/instruments, and improve governments’ adherence to international standards for medical equipment.
• $8 million in ESF for USAID’s Bureau for Resilience and Food Security (RFS) will support a multi-partner effort to mitigate pandemic-related shocks to the global food and agriculture system. Some policy responses in emerging economies to the pandemic are already negatively impacting local food systems, and food insecurity, hunger and malnutrition are growing concerns. USAID will produce data and analysis to help countries implement forward-looking policies; help small and medium-sized food and agriculture businesses shift business models and withstand the most severe impacts; and rapidly disseminate information in emerging economies about how consumers can safely participate in food and agriculture activities and markets amid COVID-19. The partnership includes collaborating with finance sector partners to unlock financing for small and medium-sized food and agribusinesses.
• $2 million in ESF is planned for the Secretary of State’s Office of Global Women’s Issues (S/GWI) to ensure survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) have access to emergency assistance, improved protections, and justice. The funds also intend to support advocacy and awareness campaigns on the gendered economic, governance, and security implications of GBV, particularly as it relates to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The United States is the largest and most reliable contributor to dozens of international organizations, including the United Nations (UN) Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. These contributions include significant investments in core operating budgets, which sustain the organizational structure and support functions that enable global humanitarian, development, peacebuilding, and other actions, and ensure consistent oversight for, and the effectiveness and efficiency of, U.S. Government assistance in countries around the world.

FULL DOCUMENT: https://www.state.gov/update-the-united-states-continues-to-lead-the-global-response-to-covid-19-2/

FLORIDA

U.S. Department of State. 05/29/2020. Update on U.S. Passport Services

The U.S. Department of State is pleased to provide the following update on U.S. passport services to the American people:

In March 2020, the Department significantly reduced passport operations across the United States to both protect our workforce and our customers and also prevent the spread of COVID-19. We temporarily suspended expedited passport processing and restricted service at U.S. passport agencies and centers to life or death emergencies.

In order to keep everyone safe, and to maintain the highest standards of security and privacy protection for customers, we have suspended all but the most urgent cases. Processing passport applications requires us to review sensitive documents, such as birth certificates and other personal records, and to physically print and mail passport books and cards back to applicants. This means that our staff are not able to process passport applications from home. For customers who already submitted applications, your documents remain secure pending further processing.

As global conditions continue to evolve, and as states and health authorities adapt their operational recommendations, the Department looks forward to resuming routine passport processing, while protecting the safety of both our staff and our customers.

Our gradual reopening will follow the Department of State’s “Diplomacy Strong” plan, which follows U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines across the country, based on science and public health. We are continuously evaluating conditions at each of our locations and will resume operations in accordance with public health data for that region and with local government response measures. We are working to resume normal operations in phases. Each passport agency and center will open on a different date based on local conditions:

• Phase 1:  Limited staff return to work, allowing us to resume limited processing of applications we already received.  Applications will be processed on a first in, first out basis. We will continue to offer services for customers with life-or-death emergencies. Customers must wear cloth face coverings in all common areas, including our lobbies, and observe strict social distancing.  During phase 1, we will continue to recommend customers wait to submit new or renewal applications as delays will continue.
• Phase 2:   Most staff will return to work, and will process applications on a first in, first out basis, beginning with the oldest applications. Staff and customers should wear cloth face coverings in all common areas, including our lobbies, and continue to observe social distancing.
• Phase 3:  All remaining Passport Services staff return to work.  We will continue to address applications on a first in, first out basis, focusing on the oldest applications. Staff and customers may wear cloth face coverings in common areas and we will encourage social distancing. We also plan to resume expedited processing in this phase.

We will continue to prioritize life-or-death emergency applications throughout all three phases of our reopening process. As we move to each phase of the reopening plan, we will update customers here: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/ea/passport-covid-19.html. Customers seeking more information about their pending passport applications should visit our COVID-19 update page and our frequently asked questions page.

Our goal is to provide the best possible customer service to the American people while maintaining a safe workplace. On a normal basis, we process over 18 million passports a year.  In light of the sustained demand for passports, even after we fully resume routine operations at individual locations, customers may continue to experience delays. We are committed to working as hard as we can to process applications as quickly as possible, as soon as it is safe for us to do so.

The safety and welfare of U.S. citizens is a top priority of the Department of State. We encourage Americans who are planning travel to check our travel information at travel.state.gov for our latest advice to travelers. We continue to closely monitor health and safety conditions across the globe and will update our advice to U.S. travelers when it is appropriate to do so, in close coordination with the CDC and other partner agencies.

For press inquiries, please contact CAPRESSREQUESTS@state.gov.

DoC. May 29, 2020. Commerce Department Invests $10 Million in Florida to Support Business Recovery Efforts and Advanced Manufacturing

FORT PIERCE, FL – Today, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced $10 million in Economic Development Administration (EDA) grants to the state of Florida during a visit to Indian River State College (IRSC) in Ft. Pierce. The two EDA grants will help recovering businesses gain access to capital and will fund the construction of a new IRSC worker training facility to bolster the region’s advanced manufacturing sector. These EDA funds will be matched by more than $13 million in state and local investment and will directly create over 100 jobs.

“The Trump Administration is committed to helping businesses and workers get the resources they need to rebound from disasters,” said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. “Today’s grants help ensure that the rebound in Florida is quick and that it encompasses the important industry of advanced manufacturing. IRSC’s planned worker training facility will attract high-quality manufacturing jobs to the Treasure Coast for years to come.”

“This funding will better prepare Florida’s economy to be more resilient in the face of future natural disasters,” said Dana Gartzke, Performing the Delegated Duties of the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development. “Both the Revolving Loan Fund and the new training facility will encourage economic diversity in the state of Florida.”

“Hurricane Michael decimated Northwest Florida, and this $8 million for the Revolving Loan Fund will help businesses get back on their feet and rebuild stronger than before,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “Separately, the $2 million for a new training facility at Indian River State College will greatly strengthen the area’s long-term manufacturing capabilities and local economy. I thank Secretary Ross and the Trump Administration for their continued support of Florida.”

“The strength of Florida’s manufacturing sector is vital to our state’s ability to rebuild after natural disasters,” said Senator Marco Rubio. “This federal investment will create jobs and help to ensure that Florida’s economy is prepared for disaster response. I remain committed to working with the Administration to support recovery efforts so that Florida communities are able to recover from the devastating effects of hurricanes and other natural disasters.”

“This EDA investment is great news for the future of Florida’s workforce and economic recovery,” said Senator Rick Scott. “I’m glad the Trump Administration is committed to supporting our businesses still suffering from the effects of Hurricane Michael, and I will keep working to ensure our economic stability for Florida families.”

“Investing in manufacturing on the Treasure Coast is a decision that will increase innovation, create jobs, and strengthen our economy,” said Congressman Brian Mast (FL-18). “Indian River State College is a great place to build this new HVAC training facility. I could not be more excited to see what the future holds for this facility and the impact it will have on our manufacturing community.” The EDA investments announced today are:

• $8 million to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (FDEO) in Tallahassee to support a Revolving Loan Fund that will provide businesses with gap financing needed to recover and rebuild after Hurricane Michael.
• $2 million to Indian River State College in Fort Pierce to construct a new worker training facility for advanced manufacturing, welding and Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems. The 18,000 square-foot project will allow hands-on learning to fill the immediate skills needs of local manufacturing companies. This project was made possible by the regional planning efforts led by the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council (TCRPC).

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ECONOMIA BRASILEIRA / BRAZIL ECONOMICS

CORONAVÍRUS

FGV. 29/05/2020. Impactos da COVID-19. Importância de dados da pandemia na formulação de políticas públicas

Para a formulação de políticas públicas é necessário que tenhamos dados eficazes sobre a pandemia. Isso não tem acontecido devido à falta de informações precisas sobre a crise. E o cenário atual é preocupante. Temos hoje mais de 12 milhões de pessoas desempregadas e 93 milhões de pessoas ocupadas. Dessas 93 milhões, 24 milhões estão trabalhando por conta própria. Como vamos atuar sobre essa população? Esse é um dos questionamentos do pesquisador Roberto Olinto, do FGV IBRE, sobre a crise mundial.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeGgvteplLo&feature=youtu.be

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LGCJ.: