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| Presented By American Bankers Association |
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| Axios AM |
| By Mike Allen ·Apr 01, 2021 |
| ⚾ Good Thursday morning, and welcome to April. It's Opening Day! Don't be an April fool. - Smart Brevity™ count: 1,150 words ... 4½ minutes.
⚡ Overnight tragedy ... In the third mass shooting in 16 days, a child was among four people killed at an office complex in Orange, Calif. Officers opened fire and the suspect was taken to a hospital. The latest. |
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| 1 big thing: The fourth wave is here |
 Data: CSSE Johns Hopkins University. Map: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios America is on the verge of a fourth wave of the pandemic. - It should be far less deadly than the previous three. But this persistent failure to contain the virus will only make it harder to put COVID-19 behind us, Axios' Sam Baker and Andrew Witherspoon report.
Roughly 63,000 Americans per day were diagnosed with COVID over the past week. That's a 17% increase from the week before, and echoes the rising caseloads of the second wave last summer. - Average daily caseloads increased over the past week in 25 states. The biggest spikes were in Michigan and New York.
- Even as vaccinations climb, new cases declined in only five states, mainly in the Southeast.
What we're watching: Hospitalizations are still rising. But 73% of seniors have gotten at least one dose of vaccine. |
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| 2. How Biden is selling plan to Dems |
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| President Biden speaks yesterday at Carpenters Pittsburgh Training Center. Photo: Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images |
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| White House senior adviser Anita Dunn is arguing to Democrats that big parts of President Biden's infrastructure plan poll even higher than the $1.9 trillion COVID stimulus, Axios' Sarah Mucha writes. - "Key components of President Biden's American Jobs Plan are overwhelmingly popular — among a bipartisan and broad coalition," Dunn wrote in a memo to political allies.
Why it matters: With a price tag of between $2.2 trillion and $2.7 trillion depending on how it's calculated, the plan faces resistance from some moderate Democrats. Dunn cites public polling showing between 74% and 87% support among Americans for seven elements: new job training for coal miners, highway and bridge work, increasing affordable childcare, expanding broadband access, expanding family and medical leave, upgrading public transportation, and investing in clean energy. - The individual elements garner higher bipartisan support than when Americans are simply asked if they support a new infrastructure bill.
Share this story. ... Go deeper: Fact sheet on American Jobs Plan. |
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| 3. 🚨 Thunder on the left: AOC wants $10 trillion |
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| President Biden in Pittsburgh yesterday. Photo: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters |
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| Signaling turbulence ahead, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow last night that President Biden's $2 trillion+ infrastructure plan should be "way higher." - "The vision ... has surprised a lot of us in a positive way," the congresswoman said. "Except ... that $2.2 trillion ... over eight years, I have serious concerns that it's not enough to realize the very inspiring vision that Biden has advanced."
Why it matters: This package looks to be way harder for the White House than the COVID stimulus. Biden is also being squeezed from the other side by moderate Dems skeptical of some of his proposed tax hikes. When asked whether the House should grow the bill before it goes to the Senate, the congresswoman replied: "Absolutely." If we could wave a magic wand, and progressives in the House were able to name any number and get it through — which obviously isn't the case, but if we're looking at ideals ... we're talking about, realistically, $10 trillion over 10 years. Watch the video. |
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| A message from American Bankers Association |
| Helping young people develop smart financial habits early in life |
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| On April 22, bank employees across the country will deliver lessons on budgeting, saving and more to classrooms and virtual learning platforms in their communities. ABA Foundation's annual Teach Children to Save Day is one way America's banks help people of all ages secure a brighter future. |
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| 4. Biden stock market outperforms predecessors |
 Data: Yahoo Finance. Chart: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios President Biden doesn't publicly talk about stock market performance during his time in office, but he's slightly outpacing his more boastful predecessor, Axios Pro Rata author and "Re:Cap" host Dan Primack writes. - The S&P 500 increased by 4.6% during the first 50 trading days of the Biden presidency, from market close on Jan. 19 to market close on March 31. President Trump's first 50-day bump was 4.4%, whereas President Obama was down 6.1%.
- Biden also outperformed Trump in the Dow industrials. But Trump topped Biden on the NASDAQ.
Share this graphic. |
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| 5. Tech-shaming |
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| Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios |
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| Big Tech dollars are becoming toxic in Washington, Margaret Harding McGill and Ashley Gold write. - Lawmakers compared Big Tech to Big Tobacco during a hearing with tech CEOs last week, and a key House Republican is forswearing industry donations.
- The lead Republican on the House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee, Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), announced last week he will stop accepting donations from Amazon, Facebook and Google.
The catch: Plenty of officeholders still welcome tech contributions. And tech companies are doing their own rethink of how they give to candidates following the Capitol riot. |
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| 6. Minneapolis trial becomes global event |
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| Charles McMillian, who broke down on the stand yesterday. Photos: Court TV via Reuters |
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| The Derek Chauvin trial is being followed around the globe, with international news channels carrying hours and hours of live testimony. BBC deployed nearly 20 staffers to Minneapolis from radio, TV and digital. - The trial's power was encapsulated on Day 3 by the riveting testimony of Charles McMillian, 61, who witnessed the death of George Floyd, and broke down on the stand after reliving the horror through an officer's bodycam footage.
BBC correspondent Larry Madowo talked yesterday about the re-traumatizing effect of the testimony: I'm not African American, but I'm a Black man living in America ... I've seen the effect and the emotional toll it's got on the Black community ... I see people who are going to therapy now — people who are seeking support in different ways. In this image from a store video, George Floyd is seen inside Cup Foods just before his arrest. Photo: Court TV via AP |
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| 7. J&J delay |
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| Box of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Photo: Ted S. Warren/AP |
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| A Baltimore plant ruined a batch of ingredients that would have gone into millions of doses of Johnson & Johnson's coronavirus vaccine — but sources familiar with the process tell Axios Vitals author Caitlin Owens that the setback may not be bad. - The accident ruined up to 15 million doses of J&J's vaccine, the N.Y. Times reported.
- "Ultimately, it's a blip, and I think everyone expected there to be issues somewhere at some point," a former Operation Warp Speed official told Axios.
Share this story. |
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| 8. Exclusive ... Apple's Tim Cook: Voting "ought to be easier than ever" |
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| 72 Black executives yesterday called on corporate America to fight voting restrictions. Graphic: CNBC |
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| Apple CEO Tim Cook, an Alabama native with a lifelong interest in civil rights, joins condemnations of Georgia's new voting law, in a statement provided first to Axios: The right to vote is fundamental in a democracy. American history is the story of expanding the right to vote to all citizens, and Black people, in particular, have had to march, struggle and even give their lives for more than a century to defend that right. Apple believes that, thanks in part to the power of technology, it ought to be easier than ever for every eligible citizen to exercise their right to vote. We support efforts to ensure that our democracy's future is more hopeful and inclusive than its past. Go deeper: Courtenay Brown writes in Axios Closer that the floodgates opened, with a slew of corporations opposing voter suppression. |
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| 9. "Lost year" for high school class of '20 |
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| Twyla Johnson, 17, a senior at Central Islip High School in New York. Photo: Mohamed Sadek for TIME |
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| "The number of high school graduates who immediately went on to college in fall 2020 declined 6.8% compared with the previous year," Katie Reilly writes in the TIME cover story. - "The drop was more stark at high-poverty high schools, where the number of graduates enrolling in college fell 11.4%, compared with a drop of 2.9% at low-poverty high schools."
- "In the fall 2020 semester, freshman enrollment across all colleges plummeted a record 13% from a year earlier, and at community colleges, the drop was 21%."
Read the package, posting soon. |
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| 10. ⚾ Full ballparks by midsummer? |
 Data: Axios research. Chart: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios As fans return for openers today amid pandemic attendance restrictions, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred can envision filled ballparks by midseason. - This Axios Sports chart shows capacity will be limited to 12% in Boston and D.C.
- Only the Texas Rangers, outside Dallas, are allowing 100%.
"I hope by midsummer that we have ballparks that are unrestricted and we have full fan access," Manfred told AP's Ronald Blum. "I'm just hopeful we're going to be able to play a season that looks like normal." - "We're an outdoor sport," Manfred said. "I think it's safe or safer to go to outdoor activities. Everybody seems to agree on that."
- "I think that there's pent-up demand for entertainment products, and we're going to do everything we possibly can to take the best opportunity to take advantage of that."
Fenway Park in Boston on Tuesday. Photo: John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe 🥊 President Biden criticized the Rangers for filling 40,300-seat Globe Life Field. "I think it's a mistake," he told ESPN. "They should listen to Dr. Fauci, the scientists and the experts. But I think it's not responsible." |
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| A message from American Bankers Association |
| America's banks – a source of strength for the economy |
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| Banks of all sizes are prioritizing the post-pandemic recovery, economic growth, innovation and financial inclusion for all communities. To see our ideas for jumpstarting the recovery and growing a more inclusive economy, read ABA's Blueprint for Growth. |
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| 💡 This newsletter is written in Smart Brevity®. Learn how your team can communicate in the same smart, clear style with Axios HQ. |
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