Jul 26, 2017

Conservative groups "key vote" straight ACA repeal

It's pretty easy to tell where conservative activists' priorities are in the health care debate. Leading conservative groups, including Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks, are making today's Senate vote on a straight repeal of the Affordable Care Act a "key vote" — meaning they'll use it in the 2018 election to evaluate senators' voting records.

Between the lines: Note the repeal bill that the conservative groups aren't key voting: any version of the Better Care Reconciliation Act, the Senate repeal-and-replace bill that failed last night. That's because they don't consider it a true repeal bill — they think it leaves too much of the ACA in place. (The straight repeal bill doesn't get rid of all of the ACA either, but it eliminates everything the Senate can change through budget rules.)

What to watch: The vote on the bill is scheduled for 3:30 pm Eastern. It's expected to fail.

This story has been updated with the latest voting time for the bill.

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Navarro memos warning of mass coronavirus death circulated in January

Image from a memo to President Trump

In late January, President Trump's economic adviser Peter Navarro warned his White House colleagues the novel coronavirus could take more than half a million American lives and cost close to $6 trillion, according to memos obtained by Axios.

The state of play: By late February, Navarro was even more alarmed, and he warned his colleagues, in another memo, that up to two million Americans could die of the virus.

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Axios-Ipsos Coronavirus Index: The virus hits home

Data: Ipsos/Axios poll; Chart: Danielle Alberti/Axios

The share of Americans who know someone who's tested positive has more than tripled in just a few weeks, to 14%, according to the latest installment of our Axios-Ipsos Coronavirus Index.

It's still highest in the Northeast, but last week alone it doubled in the South — and it's becoming most pronounced among people who still must leave home to work.

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World coronavirus updates: Governments tighten restrictions to curb cases surge

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins, the CDC and China's Health Ministry. Note: China numbers are for the mainland only and U.S. numbers include repatriated citizens and confirmed plus presumptive cases from the CDC

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced plans to declare a state of emergency and a 108 trillion yen ($990 billion) stimulus package Tuesday, as several governments announced new restrictions amid a jump in cases.

The big picture: The virus is confirmed to have killed almost 75,000 people and infected 1.3 million globally as of early Tuesday, per Johns Hopkins data. Spain has reported the most cases outside the U.S. (more than 136,000) and Italy the most deaths (over 16,000) as half the planet's population is now on lockdown.

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