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Power Up: Nonprofits step up as Treasury Department scrambles to deliver coronavirus stimulus payments

Analysis by
Staff writer
April 2, 2020 at 6:21 a.m. EDT

with Brent D. Griffiths

Good morning and Happy Thursday. Onpassing some wisdom from Ina Garten today: “During a crisis, you know, cocktail hour can be almost any hour." Hope you're all staying safe and staying home. 

The People

PASSING THE BUCK: When Anica Henderson took a leave of absence from her job at a caregiving agency to watch her daughter after New York closed schools during the coronavirus pandemic, she wasn't sure how she was going to afford groceries, pay her cellphone or utility bills and then cover her rent.

It's not like she had any other options: the 28-year-old single mother doesn't have other family to rely on, can't afford a babysitter and didn't want to put her 6-year-old asthmatic daughter who had her tonsils removed in January at risk of catching the novel coronavirus. So, Henderson received a check for the two paid sick days she had accumulated this year and planned on just “being broke” and “holding it out” until the virus subsided. 

A recipient of food stamps under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (or SNAP), Henderson visited the app she uses to manage her SNAP balance — via an electronic benefit transfer (EBT) card made by the company Propel when she noticed an option to receive “free money” by March 28. 

  • “I was like, no this must be a lie I thought it was a scam, honestly,” Henderson told Power Up from her apartment in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. “But I received a card in the mail the day before the 28th and got $1,000 dollars. I was like ‘Oh, my gosh.’” 

Henderson was one of 200 people who last week received cash assistance from a partnership between GiveDirectly, a nonprofit known for transferring money to low-income Africans, and Propel's Fresh EBT app. Leveraging their existing database of over 500,000 daily active users, Propel quickly identified Americans who get SNAP benefits, and those in low-income households, so GiveDirectly could send them money as soon as possible.

  • “We are working specifically with people on food assistance,” Michael Faye, the president and co-founder of GiveDirectly, told Power Up. “80 percent of these people will have lost work or received a reduction in wagesThe urgency of the crisis cannot be understated. The difference between getting someone a check — or buying a load of groceries now versus waiting a month or so is pretty meaningful.”

Like other nongovernmental groups and private businesses shifting gears during the pandemic, GiveDirectly which says it's the largest nonprofit allowing donors to “send money directly to the world's poor is now pivoting to help the thousands of Americans who have lost their jobs or are enduring other economic hardships as Americans have been urged to stay home until at least the end of April. The nonprofit has already committed to doling out $10 million for cash transfers of $1,000 to 9,000 American families.

GiveDirectly hopes to ramp up its giving to 1,000 recipients next week, who can receive cash via a prepaid card, bank transfer, mailed check, Venmo, PayPal or through a money-gram agent. The group's distribution system is so efficient that Jeff Kaiser, Propel's chief operating officer, told Power Up the Treasury Department has been in touch with his team over how best to distribute $1,200 to many Americans under the stimulus package.

Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service are struggling to figure out how to get the stimulus cash as quickly as possible into the hands of recipients — at first, it seemed like only those who filed a 2019 would get the money, even though the federal government has account information for Social Security recipients who don't make enough to file taxes. But under pressure yesterday, the government reversed course and said it would distribute the cash regardless.

  • Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin issued a statement last night that “Social Security beneficiaries who are not typically required to file tax returns will not need to file an abbreviated tax return to receive an Economic Impact Payment. Instead, payments will be automatically deposited into their bank accounts.” 
  • the Treasury Department’s ability to meet that congressional mandate hinges on systems it is still bringing online,” our colleague Tony Romm reports. “In a matter of days, federal officials must craft a website for some people to enter their banking information, beef up their security so that malicious actors can’t steal sensitive financial data, and brace to be bombarded by questions from Americans who aren’t sure what they’re owed and how to obtain the money.”

#PassTheCheck: But people like Henderson will still have to wait an estimated three weeks for government checks, an eternity for those really struggling financially. 

  • “Speed can be the difference between falling into an irrecoverable poverty gap — where you just can’t get out of poverty cycle,” Kaiser told Power Up. “These checks are meaningful changes for people but it has to be quick.”
  • “If I didn’t have it, there was no way I was going to get extra money because even if you do apply for more assistance it takes a while — a month, two months,” Henderson told us.

That's why GiveDirectly is rolling out a #PassTheCheck pledge. The group is encouraging Americans “about to receive government checks even though they might not need it,” to donate their check — or a portion of it — to help a low-income family. 

  • To the extent that you are in a fortunate position, we are asking you to give [your check] to someone in more need, Faye told us. “Do the math. If 1 percent of the population doesn't need their check and donates it — that's $3.5 billion dollars.”

Kaiser and Faye also hope to soon be able to target other low-income individuals as their partnership solidifies, like tip workers and undocumented immigrants, who aren't eligible for federal relief.  

  • “Beyond the tax-filing hurdle, millions of other Americans are realizing that they don’t qualify for a coronavirus relief check,” our colleague Heather Long reports. “Most high school seniors and college students won’t get any money. The bill gives nothing to families for their children older than 16, a shock to many households already reeling from canceled graduations, and college students readjusting to life at home with so many universities shut down.”
  • “Many immigrant families are also learning that they are ineligible. In order for anyone in the family to receive a payment, each person in the household — including children — is supposed to have a valid Social Security number. ”

At The White House

PENCE SAYS U.S. TRAJECTORY LOOKING MORE LIKE ITALY: “Coronavirus deaths in the United States passed 4,600 Wednesday as Vice President Pence issued an ominous warning that America’s situation is most comparable to Italy’s struggle with the virus, which has pushed that nation’s hospitals to capacity and has left more than 13,000 people dead despite a weeks-long lockdown,” our colleagues Matt Zapotosky, Nick Miroff and Ian Duncan report.

  • Grim: The Pentagon is looking for 100,000 body bags: The Defense Department “is looking into buying more bags and will draw some initially from a stockpile of 50,000 it maintains, according to two people familiar with the request," Bloomberg's Anthony Capaccio and Ari Natter report.

One major private test provider has a significant backlog: “New Jersey-based Quest Diagnostics had about 160,000 coronavirus test orders waiting to be processed on March 25, which amounted to about half of the 320,000 total orders for the tests the company had received up to that date, according to Quest internal materials obtained by CNN,” Drew Griffin, Curt Devine, Scott Bronstein and Nelli Black report. The company told CNN it has since reduced the backlog.

FACUI'S SECURITY IS STEPPED UP: “Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-diseases expert and the face of the U.S. response to the novel coronavirus pandemic, is facing growing threats to his personal safety, prompting the government to step up his security, according to people familiar with the matter,” our colleagues Isaac Stanley-Becker, Yasmeen Abutaleb and Devlin Barrett report.

  • It's not just those who don't like the doctor: “The concerns include threats as well as unwelcome communications from fervent admirers, according to people with knowledge of deliberations inside the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice,” my colleagues report.
  • Context: “Fauci has become a public target for some right-wing commentators and bloggers, who exercise influence over parts of the president’s base. As they press for the president to ease restrictions to reinvigorate economic activity, some of these figures have assailed Fauci and questioned his expertise.”
  • A little too enthusiastic: “Alex Azar, the [Health and Human Services] secretary, recently grew concerned about Fauci’s safety as his profile rose and he endured more vitriolic criticism online, according to people familiar with the situation. In recent weeks, admirers have also approached Fauci, asking to him sign baseballs, along with other acts of adulation.”

Outside the Beltway

HEADLINES FROM THE HOT SPOTS: Power Up's continuing look at how the virus is affecting states and cities throughout the country.

With New York hospitals overwhelmed by covid-19, the Jacob K. Javits Center is being converted by the Army Corps of Engineers into a 3,000-bed medical facility. (Video: Skyler Reid/The Washington Post)

NEW YORK:

Cuomo said virus is “more dangerous than we expected.”: “New cases this week drove the state’s total above 75,000, surpassing China’s Hubei province, where the virus emerged in December. The grim milestone was recorded as Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo acknowledged having underestimated how overwhelming the situation would become,” our colleagues Ben Guarino and Isaac Stanley-Becker report from New York.

  • The governor also lashed out lashed out at New Yorkers not obeying social distancing guidelines: “How reckless and irresponsible and selfish for people not to do it on their own,” Cuomo (D) told reporters at a news conference. “I mean what else do you have to know? What else do you have to hear? Who else has to die for you to understand you have a responsibility in this?”

New York City approaches its “demarcation line.”: Last month, Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) “repeatedly invoked April 5 as a ‘demarcation line’ after which the city could expect a huge surge in virus patients,” the New York Times reports. That's only three days away.

  • To combat the coming onslaught, de Blasio detailed the city's needs for supplies. It is staggering. “3.3 million N95 masks, which protect health care workers from exposure to the virus; 2.1 million surgical masks; 100,000 isolation gowns and 400 additional ventilators,” the Times reports.

New data shows that low-income neighborhoods New Yorkers are getting hit the hardest: “During the first month of the outbreak in the city — the epicenter of America’s coronavirus crisis — many of the neighborhoods with the most confirmed virus cases were in areas with the lowest median incomes, the data shows. The biggest hotspots included communities in the South Bronx and Western Queens,” the Times's Larry Buchanan, Jugal K. Patel, Brian M. Rosenthal and Anjali Singhvi report.

NEW JERSEY:

Gov. Phil Murphy (D) says fallout from the virus will last until “deep into May”: “The governor told CNN’s Chris Cuomo [who has the virus] in an interview Wednesday night the Garden State is about to ‘get up at a very high level’ of positive cases and people needing hospitalization, and that ‘we’re going to stay there’ for some time,” NJ Advance Media for NJ.com's Matt Arco reports.

  • Hospitals in the Garden State are already stretching their capacity: “Seven hospitals in the northern section of New Jersey notified the state they reached ‘divert’ status Tuesday, [State Health Commissioner Judith] Persichilli said. That means either the whole hospital or a unit can’t accept new patients temporarily, and those patients are being diverted to other hospitals,” NJ.com's Brent Johnson reports.

MICHIGAN:

The state saw its largest single-day jump in confirmed cases: According to The Post's tracker, Michigan reported 1,700 new cases to start off the month and now has a total of 9,315. 

Detroit's mayor is so desperate for more testing that he woke up a company executive to plead his case: “Mayor Mike Duggan said that he secured the cellphone number of Miles White -- the chairman and outgoing chief executive of Abbott Labs -- and woke him up Sunday morning to beg for the test, because he knew the whole country would be calling,” our colleagues Steven Mufson, Juliet Eilperin and Josh Dawsey report.

  • It worked: “He said the fact that he struck a deal for five machines and 5,000 kits would be a ‘game changer,’ allowing firefighters, police and nurses to get back on the job and out of quarantine.”

The state's unemployment claims system continues to be overwhelmed by demand: “An ‘unprecedented’ surge in new unemployment claims as a result of the coronavirus crisis continues to overwhelm the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency, but ‘every eligible worker who files will receive their benefits,’ a spokesman said,” MLive.com's Julie Mack reports.

LOUISIANA:

The state announced its largest batch of tests processed in a single day: That news came after New Orleans health director Jennifer Avegno called the delay in a private lab processing tests from drive-thru site in the city “unconscionable,” the Times-Picayune | the Advocate's Jeff Adelson and Matt Sledge report.

  • It takes between seven to 10 days to get results: “Officials have been seeking answers from LabCorp, the private lab responsible for the processing the tests, but do not yet know why the results are taking so long,” the Times-Picayune | the Advocate reports.

From the Advocate's investigations editor:

A New Orleans nurse became the first health worker in the state to die from the virus: Larrice Anderson, a nurse at New Orleans East Hospital, tested positive for coronavirus and died this week, LCMC Health announced Wednesday afternoon. She was 46,” the Times-Picayune | the Advocate's Andrea Gallo and Emily Woodruff report.

Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) discusses why homelessness and the health of the incarcerated are the top issues on her mind now. (Video: The Washington Post)

CALIFORNIA:

The state's trajectory shows that social distancing works: “ Mandatory social distancing works. The earlier the better, preliminary data from two weeks of stay-at-home orders in California and Washington show,” our colleagues Geoffrey A. Fowler, Heather Kelly and Reed Albergotti report from San Francisco

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti (D) ordered the power cut to nonessential business not obeying his order to shut down: “The mayor’s order follows a crackdown from city prosecutors targeting businesses that have been deemed nonessential and yet have remained open for business and given more opportunities for the coronavirus to spread in Southern California,” the Los Angeles Times's Hannah Fry, Ruben Vives, Taryn Luna and Rong-Gong Lin II report. Garcetti also ordered everyone in Los Angeles to wear nonmedical face masks in public.

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) expects public schools to be closed for the reminder of the academic year: “The state is home to 12 percent of nation's school-aged children,” the LA Times's Sonali Kohli and Howard Blume report.

FLORIDA:

DeSantis finally relents and issues stay-at-home order: Florida’s coronavirus test rates lag behind the national average. Its caseloads are exploding by the day. And a chorus of experts predict the state is on the cusp of a crippling contagion,” Politico Florida's Marc Caputo and Matt Dixon report from Tallahassee of the expanding health concerns that combined with political pressure became too much for first-term Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) to bear. 

  • Behind the flip: “What it took for DeSantis to change his mind on Wednesday and finally issue a statewide order were a phone call with [Trump] and a grave reckoning. A day earlier, the White House had projected how many American lives might be lost — up to 240,000 — without a national commitment to immediate, drastic action in every state,” the New York Times's Patricia Mazzei and Maggie Haberman report.

The state saw also a second-day of 1,000-plus new cases: As of 6 p.m. Wednesday, 1,033 more confirmed cases have been reported, upping the state total to at least 7,773 positive cases, according to the latest report from Florida health officials,” the Miami Herald's Michelle Marchante and DeVoun Cetoute report.

In the Media

OANN GETS BOOTED FROM THE PRESS ROOM: One America News Network, a tiny conservative news outlet who Trump frequently calls on in his daily coronavirus briefings, has been removed from the rotation of reporters who get one of the limited seats in the White House briefing room after repeatedly violating the White House Correspondents' Association's strict social distancing guidelines, our colleague Paul Farhi reports.

  • The network said its correspondent Chanel Rion had been invited: “Rion and her employer, a tiny conservative cable outlet known as OANN, appear to have gotten special permission from the White House, in violation of the guidelines,” our colleague writes. “The reasons, and the source of the approval, are unclear, but OANN and Rion have a history of reporting favorably about Trump. Rion herself has pushed conspiracy theories that advance his political interests, such as the unfounded allegation that officials in Ukraine secretly manipulated the 2016 election to help Hillary Clinton. Trump, in turn, has tweeted praise of OANN’s reporting dozens of times.”