Coronavirus

April 16, 2021

Fatou Ndiaye Zena Wolf

Blog Post CoronavirusExecutive BranchIntellectual PropertyRevolving Door

The Brother Of A Pharma Lobbyist Advises Biden As He Weighs Vaccine IP Waiver

Despite pushback from progressives, Ricchetti has continued to hold a powerful advisory position in the Biden White House. His background in corporate lobbying and strong ties to the pharmaceutical industry are deeply troubling signs as the Biden Administration faces enormously consequential decisions about how to end the COVID-19 pandemic.

March 18, 2021

Press Release CoronavirusExecutive BranchForeign Policy

Congress Must Examine Biden Admin Possibly Trading Vaccines For Anti-Migration Enforcement

The Revolving Door Project is outraged by yesterday’s news that the Biden administration has been pressuring the Mexican government into turning away migrants at the Mexico-Guatemala border. While this Trump style initiative would be appalling on its own, we are additionally concerned about the possibility that President Biden may have bartered millions of doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to achieve his anti-migration goals.

March 15, 2021 | Independent Media Institute

Elias Alsbergas

Op-Ed ClimateCoronavirusEthics in GovernmentRevolving Door

When Public Officials Get Rented Out By Corporate Power, The People Lose

From Vivek Murthy’s lucrative consulting work with Netflix and Carnival Cruise Lines to Brian Deese’s “greenwashing” of fossil fuel investments at BlackRock, the revolving door between corporate industry and government continues to undermine public trust in the Biden Administration, writes our Elias Alsbergas.

March 01, 2021

Press Release CoronavirusExecutive BranchForeign PolicyIntellectual PropertyJeff Zients

Zients Must Open-Source Vaccines To Prove Independence And Seriousness

As the United States approaches a full year of COVID-19-induced lockdowns, the Revolving Door Project and the Center for Economic and Policy Research called on the White House’s COVID-19 task force director Jeffrey Zients to demand that Pfizer, Moderna, and other American pharmaceutical firms open-source their COVID-19 vaccines.

November 09, 2020 | The American Prospect

Eleanor Eagan

Op-Ed

Congressional OversightCoronavirus

Donna Shalala Encapsulated Pelosi’s Embrace of Passivity as a Strategy

Democrats were expected to expand their House majority, but instead saw many seats slip through their hands. With several races uncalled, the majority could be cut by as much as seven to ten seats.

That includes the seat of Nancy Pelosi’s close ally Rep. Donna Shalala (D-FL), whom Pelosi chose for the CARES Act’s Congressional Oversight Commission (which monitors the Federal Reserve bailout). Shalala’s course over the past two years, from part of the promising blue wave to low-energy oversight leader, is the story of Democratic leadership in the 116th Congress in a nutshell.

May 11, 2020

Andrea Beaty Miranda Litwak

Report

Anti-MonopolyCoronavirusForeign Policy

International Antitrust Response to Coronavirus

The Pandemic Anti-Monopoly Act would preemptively stop harmful mergers that not only affect American consumers, but economies all over the world that rely on the same global supply chains. Undoubtedly, companies looking to acquire struggling businesses during the pandemic will try to take advantage of the “failing firm” argument to justify acquisitions. But what actions have lawmakers and antitrust enforcement officials in other countries undertaken to prevent predatory mergers while businesses struggle?

May 07, 2020

Miranda Litwak

Blog Post

Anti-MonopolyCoronavirus

Why is Congress Ignoring EIDLs?

Over the past several weeks, the SBA has been criticized for its administration and oversight of its Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which offers forgivable loans designed to be spent on payroll expenses. But little attention has been paid to the SBA’s second COVID-response loan effort: the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program. EIDLs provide small businesses affected by disasters with emergency loans. Over the past few decades, the SBA has provided EIDLs after major disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and 9/11.

March 20, 2020 | Center for Economic and Policy Research

Jeff Hauser Dean Baker Eileen Appelbaum Mark Weisbrot

Blog Post

Coronavirus

Trump Stimulus Plan: Still Getting Everything Wrong

Donald Trump has consistently been failing the country in dealing with the coronavirus. Due to Trump’s failed public health response, even his treasury secretary acknowledges that we are facing the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression. This is in addition to the prospect of tens of millions of people getting the coronavirus and hundreds of thousands, or even millions, dying.

March 16, 2020

Jeff Hauser Eileen Appelbaum Dean Baker Shawn Fremstad

Blog Post Coronavirus

Concrete Solutions to Mitigate the Health and Economic Impacts of the Pandemic

The sheer weight of executive branch incompetence, that has led to an entirely uncontained pandemic in the United States, borders on the incomprehensible. Yet, here we are. The question is whether the federal government has meaningful tools available to turn a terrible situation into one that is meaningfully less terrible. The good news is that many useful ideas exist. Here is a partial list of ideas to help inform the policy conversation as we move forward.