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Total U.S. coronavirus deaths reported each morning this week: Monday, 585,970; Tuesday, 586,359; Wednesday, 587,219; Thursday, 587,874. Friday, 588,539.
A cease-fire took effect between Israel and Hamas hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Security Cabinet approved a unilateral halt to an 11-day military operation in the Gaza Strip. The decision came after heavy private pressure from President Biden and international allies to halt the offensive (The Associated Press).
A senior Hamas official earlier confirmed the 2 a.m. start to a cease-fire mediated by Egypt. Netanyahu’s office announced that his security cabinet had voted to accept the Egyptian truce proposal, but cautioned “that the reality on the ground will determine the continuation of the campaign” (The New York Times and The Hill).
Biden, who spoke six times with Netanyahu over 11 days, on Thursday appeared in the East Room after the Mideast announcement to praise what he called a “mutual unconditional” cease-fire. “I believe the Palestinians and Israelis equally deserve to live safely and securely,” he said during brief remarks, “and to enjoy equal measures of freedom, prosperity and democracy.” The president did not respond to questions about whether he thought the truce would hold.
He said he promised Israel full U.S. support to replenish its Iron Dome defense system (The Washington Post). Secretary of State Antony Blinken plans to visit the region in the coming days “to discuss recovery efforts and working together to build better futures for Israelis and Palestinians.” the State Department said (The Hill).
U.S. officials this week were in close consultation with Egyptian counterparts, who served as intermediaries because Israel’s government and Hamas do not directly engage with one another, to urge a de-escalation during a second week of violence in Gaza.
The Associated Press: Biden’s long pattern with Israel: public support, private scolds.
The Associated Press: A look at Biden’s behind-the-scenes push for a truce.
Cease-fires in the past between Israel and Hamas have not always held up, The New York Times reports. Hamas and Israel have been engaged in some form of conflict since the Palestinian group was founded in the 1980s. Even if the fighting pauses, its underlying causes remain: the battle over land rights in Jerusalem and the West Bank, religious tensions in the Old City of Jerusalem and the absence of a peace process to resolve the conflict. Gaza remains under a punishing blockade by Israel and Egypt.
The toll this month was heavy. The Israeli aerial and artillery campaign killed more than 230 people in Gaza, many of them civilians and including children, and badly damaged the impoverished territory’s infrastructure, including the fresh water and sewer systems, the electrical grid, hospitals, schools and roads, according to The New York Times. The primary target has been Hamas’s extensive network of tunnels for moving fighters and munitions, and Israel has also sought to kill Hamas leaders and fighters. More than 4,000 rockets have been fired at Israel from Gaza since May 10, killing 12 people, mostly civilians.
Netanyahu and other Israeli officials had insisted at the outset of the current conflict that the bombardment of Gaza would continue as long as it took to safeguard Israeli security.
In Congress, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) worked this week to try to disapprove a $735 million U.S. arms sale to Israel. The Senate appeared likely to block his resolution, The Hill’s Jordain Carney reports.
During the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the United States and other countries have seen a worrisome rise in antisemitic attacks online and during political protests (The Hill).
> Building back?: The White House today is expected to resume talks with a group of GOP senators who seek a smaller, more traditional infrastructure measure. The White House has described detailed discussions that began last week as constructive, but Senate Republicans have not substantially budged off their initial $568 billion infrastructure proposal despite talk of a bipartisan compromise after Biden’s presentation of a $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan, a centerpiece of his summer agenda. Democrats may lack the votes to pass it through Congress on their own, making a compromise with Republicans a more attractive option (The Associated Press).
> Paycheck Protection Program runs dry May 31: Millions of applicants are seeking money from the scant handful of lenders still making the government-backed loans through the end of May. Hundreds of thousands of people are stuck in limbo, waiting to find out if their approved loans — some of which have been stalled for months because of errors or glitches — will be funded. Lenders are overwhelmed, and borrowers are panicking. “There’s a lot of angry, scared people who were really counting on this program and are afraid of being shut out,” said Toby Scammell, the chief executive of Womply, a loan facilitator that has nearly 1.6 million applications awaiting funding (The New York Times).
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LEADING THE DAY
CONGRESS: More than four months later, the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol continues to reverberate across the Republican Party as members remain unable to shake the deadly event and its aftermath.
Fresh off the GOP’s ousting of Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) from her perch in leadership, Republicans have been confronted with the possibility of a Jan. 6 commission, which passed the House on Wednesday with 35 GOP votes and will be taken up by the Senate in the coming weeks.
Even if Senate Republicans kill a potential commission, probes by House and Senate committees continue on, with reports set to start arriving in early June, ensuring that the topic remains front-and-center for the party to confront.
Carl Hulse, The New York Times: Election considerations drive GOP opposition to Jan. 6 panel.
The Hill: GOP leader’s Jan. 6 call to Trump draws scrutiny in commission fight.
Across the aisle, Democratic lawmakers are indicating there isn’t much more they can or will do to investigate the actions surrounding Jan. 6 if the commission is shot down, with only five or six Senate Republicans expected to vote for setting up a commission. Democrats need to peel off 10 Senate GOP members to pass the bill.
As The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports, Democrats do not want to suck up committee time and attention with a lengthy committee investigation that is likely to become mired in partisan politics when they have so much other work on their plates. Members prefer to keep their committees focused on legislation, nominees and oversight.
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Thursday fast-tracked the Jan. 6 legislation, making it readily available to bring to the floor. According to the New York Democrat, a vote will take place “very soon,” though it likely will not happen until senators return from the Memorial Day recess (The Hill).
The Hill: House narrowly approves Capitol security bill over GOP opposition.
Politico: Democrats debate whether to go it alone on Jan. 6 investigation.
The Wall Street Journal: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) struggles to move Republicans past Trump.
The Associated Press: Explainer: How Congress’ Jan. 6 commission would work.
> Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.), a former lobbyist and diplomat, in 2020 chased stock profits in medical and tech companies tied to the ongoing pandemic response. The trades were one slice of a stock buying and selling spree by the congressman last year that he did not properly disclose under the law, worth as much as $3.2 million, according to Business Insider and Associated Press. The congressman faces two complaints filed with the Office of Government Ethics and told the AP on Thursday that his failure to file required reports has been remedied and was “a mistake that I own 100 percent.”
*****
CORONAVIRUS: First lady Jill Biden, accompanied by the National Institute of Health’s Anthony Fauci, toured the Children’s National Hospital vaccination clinic in Washington, D.C., on Thursday to encourage the inoculation against COVID-19 of children 12 years old and up. She hailed the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases as an “American hero” (The Hill).
A distinct geographic pattern has emerged one month after every adult in the United States became eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine: The highest vaccination rates are concentrated in the Northeast, while the lowest ones are mostly in the South. This pattern of gaps worries U.S. health experts (The Associated Press).
The Food and Drug Administration this week said it now permits longer refrigerator storage for Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines at lower temperatures, a change that helps physicians store and administer Pfizer doses from their offices at stable refrigerator temperatures (The Hill).
Japan on Thursday approved use of AstraZeneca and Moderna vaccines, but the regulatory approval came more than a year after the pandemic began as Japan seeks to speed up its slow-moving vaccine campaign (Reuters). … The city of Osaka is under medical duress as the coronavirus surges, overwhelming hospitals. Some Japanese see Osaka as a harbinger of what could happen to the rest of Japan if the crisis worsens at a time when officials — and the world — are focused on the summer Olympics in Tokyo (The Associated Press).
Europe reports a 60 percent drop in new coronavirus infections over the past month, the World Health Organization said Thursday, which is upbeat news as the continent plans to reopen its borders. Still, “this progress is fragile,” a top agency official cautioned (The New York Times).
The Eiffel Tower in Paris will reopen to visitors on July 16. Visitor numbers will be limited to 10,000 a day to meet distancing requirements, fewer than half of their pre-COVID-19 levels, operator Sete told AFP.
IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES
POLITICS: A new autopsy conducted by House Democrats into their disappointing 2020 performance suggests that former President Trump played a key role in boosting turnout among Republicans that was unexpected by pollsters or his political opponents.
However, as Niall Stanage explores in his latest memo, that result raises another question: What happens next year in the 2022 midterms — the first election since 2014 that is not entirely dominated by Trump? The autopsy suggests this could be to their advantage, perhaps reducing the number of infrequent voters turning out to back the GOP.
However, swing-state Republicans and those in competitive districts could also see a boost as they might not have to answer for every inflammatory remark (or tweet) by the former president — something that has been a staple of GOP life since the 2016 campaign.
The Hill: House Democrats’ campaign arm pulls in $12.2 million in April, topping GOP counterpart.
Josh Kraushaar, National Journal: New poll warns Democrats about overreach.
The Washington Post: Since leaving office, Trump has charged the Secret Service more than $40,000 to use space at Mar-a-Lago.
> Primary watch: Primary election contests are filling up across the country as both Democrats and Republicans face huge fields of prospective nominees.
It’s been a decade since the Tea Party movement cost the Republican establishment control of its primary process, and The Hill’s Reid Wilson examines multiple questions. Namely, are Democrats moving in the same lawless direction? And why have so many candidates decided to run this time around?
The Morning Report is created by journalists Alexis Simendinger and Al Weaver. We want to hear from you! Email: asimendinger@digital-staging.thehill.com and aweaver@digital-staging.thehill.com. We invite you to share The Hill’s reporting and newsletters, and encourage others to SUBSCRIBE!
OPINIONS
Despite costs, Biden’s family leave proposal would be a big help for small businesses, by Gene Marks, opinion contributor, The Hill. https://bit.ly/3u6HI2e
Great inflation expectations won’t save the Fed, by Joseph C. Sternberg, columnist, The Wall Street Journal. https://on.wsj.com/3oBisjn
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WHERE AND WHEN
The House meets at 9 a.m. in a pro forma session. Lawmakers resume legislative work in the Capitol next month.
The Senate will convene Monday at 3 p.m. to resume consideration of the Endless Frontier Act.
The president will receive the President’s Daily Brief at 9 a.m. Biden will host South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the White House beginning at 12:35 p.m. Biden at 1 p.m. will award the Medal of Honor to Army Col. Ralph Puckett, with Moon, Vice President Harris, Jill Biden and Doug Emhoff in attendance. The two leaders will hold a bilateral meeting at 2:15 p.m., an expanded meeting at 3:15 p.m. They will hold a joint press conference at 5 p.m. in the East Room. Harris will hold a separate meeting with Moon at 10 a.m. in her ceremonial office.
Blinken will participate in Biden’s White House meetings and press conference with Moon.
The White House press briefing is scheduled for noon. The White House coronavirus response team will brief reporters at 11 a.m.
Economic indicator: The National Association of Realtors at 10 a.m. will report existing home sales in April.
Hill.TV’s “Rising” program features news and interviews at http://digital-staging.thehill.com/hilltv or on YouTube at 10:30 a.m. ET at Rising on YouTube.
ELSEWHERE
➔ ECONOMY: Jobless claims for the week ending May 15 fell to 444,000, setting another pandemic-era low, according to a Labor Department report released on Thursday. The steady decline of jobless claims is an encouraging sign for the U.S. economy amid intense debate over why many businesses have reported trouble hiring new workers (The Hill). …The administration would like to devise a way to keep paying expanded unemployment benefits to an estimated 3.6 million Americans who stand to lose them soon in Republican-led states, but Labor Department officials have come to believe that the law does not allow them to do so. Americans in at least 22 states including Arizona, Ohio and Texas are set to see their payments fall by $300 each week — or be wiped out entirely — as GOP governors try to force people back to work in response to a potential national labor shortage (The Washington Post). … Restaurant traffic is rocketing back in the United States. Dining reservations were up 46 percent in April compared with April 2019, according to the review site Yelp (and up 23,000 percent compared with April 2020 when most Americans began staying at home during the pandemic). Yelp’s competitor OpenTable paints a similarly rosy picture. In some states, restaurant traffic has blown by pre-pandemic levels, prompting industry experts to draw parallels between now and the Roaring ‘20s” (The Washington Post).
➔ STATE WATCH: Nevada legislators are considering a sweeping bill to implement the health coverage public option, the most ambitious health care reform in a legislature this year. Supporters say it would drive down costs, and it may also spur innovation in other blue states looking to expand on the Affordable Care Act (The Hill).
➔ ROYALS: An investigation launched by the BBC revealed Thursday that Martin Bashir, a then-BBC journalist, used “deceitful behavior” to nab the famous interview with Princess Diana in 1995. The probe, which was conducted by Lord Dyson, a retired senior judge, found that Bashir’s actions constituted a “serious breach” of the BBC’s guidelines. The investigation was launched following complaints by Charles Spencer (Diana’s brother) that Bashir convinced the late princess to do the sitdown via nefarious means. During the interview, Diana — who was still married to Prince Charles at the time — made waves when she said that “there were three of us in this marriage” — pointing to Charles’s affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles, his current wife (The Associated Press). Prince William and Prince Harry condemned the actions of the BBC at the time, but offered thanks to Dyson for his work (The Hill).
THE CLOSER
And finally … A standing ovation for this week’s Morning Report Quiz winners!
Here’s who knew a whole lot about nothing and aced our quiz about the greatest show ever made, Seinfeld (yes, the Morning Report is biased): Nate Brand, John Donato, Patrick Kavanagh, Ki Harvey, Renee D’Argento, Lesa Davis, Mike Roberts, Pam Manges and Mark Roeddiger.
They correctly answered that of the characters listed, Susan Ross, George Costanza’s long-running girlfriend-turned-fiancé appeared most often (29 times).
The voice for then-New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner was done by Seinfeld creator and social maven Larry David. The owner was always shown from behind, allowing David to mockingly voice him.
The oft-used “show about nothing” line was coined by George Costanza, who did so when he and Jerry were pitching a show to NBC in Season 4.
Finally, in one of the few political subplots of the show, Elaine Benes was not pro-life.
