COVID19 Update - Day 156

US Tests: 64,612,034*

US Cases: 5,224,214*

US Deaths: 158,939*

Worldwide Cases: 20,755,406*

Worldwide Deaths: 752,225*

* - Numbers are a lower bound.  True numbers are being suppressed by the Trump administration

Republicans had already given up on fighting the virus.  Now they've given up on saving the economy, or avoiding mass homelessness:

The Senate is officially adjourned through Labor Day despite not coming to an agreement on its next coronavirus stimulus package.

Congress and the White House have spent the past few weeks debating what to include in the package, but have been unable to come to an agreement. One of the biggest sticking points: Jobless benefits. Democrats want a continuation of the enhanced unemployment payment of $600 per week, while Republicans say that amount is too high. Democrats are also pushing for more than $900 billion for state and municipal aid, and $60 billion in food assistance, far higher than what Republicans have proposed.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said the two sides would not strike a deal until Republicans added $1 trillion in aid to their bill. 

That means a deal could be weeks away. Meanwhile, around 28 million Americans remain unemployed and many of the relief provisions from the first stimulus package have dried up. President Donald Trump has issued four executive orders to address some of the issues, but experts remain unconvinced that they will be efficient in helping vulnerable households.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said that if some kind of deal is reached while the Senate is on recess, members will return to Washington, D.C. for a vote.

Apparently Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has decided to let President 'Art of the Deal' --- who has a terrible track record as a deal-maker --- hammer out the details of any stimulus package.

If it weren't so horrifyingly tragic, the last sentence would be funny: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said that if some kind of deal is reached while the Senate is on recess, members will return to Washington, D.C. for a vote."

Don't expect Mitch to do anything to save America, folks.  He'll vote on a deal, sure.  But his plan is to sit at home in Kentucky and sip bourbon until a deal magically appears.