Daily Briefing – 356

Post: Aug. 10, 2021

Cuomo Resigns Effective August 24th

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has announced he is “stepping aside” from his office. An investigation released last week found Cuomo “sexually harassed multiple women and violated state law.” Cuomo has repeatedly denied the allegations, but today said he has “been too familiar with people” and apologized to the women he said he “truly offended.” Gov. Andrew Cuomo added during his address Tuesday that he sees “the world through the eyes of my daughters.” “I want them to know” that I never did “intentionally disrespect” a woman, Cuomo said. “Your dad made mistakes, and he apologized,” he added

Cuomo called the impeachment investigation into him “politically motivated” — but added that he was stepping down because he would “never want to be unhelpful in any way. “I’m a New Yorker, born and bred. I’m a fighter and my instinct is to fight through this controversy because I truly believe it is politically motivated, I believe it is unfair and it is untruthful and I believe it demonizes behavior that is unsustainable for society,” he said.

Manufacturing Job Openings

Manufacturing job openings remained highly elevated in June for the third straight month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, openings have decreased from the record high of 853,000 in May, coming in at 826,000 in June.

In June, manufacturers hired 469,000 workers, an increase from 427,000 in May, and there was an uptick in hiring for both durable and nondurable goods companies. “These data offer an encouraging sign that manufacturers feel confident enough about economic growth over the coming months for their businesses to post new jobs,” said NAM Chief Economist Chad Moutray. “Yet, manufacturing business leaders continue to cite difficulties with attracting and retaining talent as one of their top concerns.”

Job Openings Top 10 Million in June, Another Record High

Employers added 590,000 job openings as of the end of June, reaching 10.1 million, according to the Labor Department’s latest JOLTS report. Hiring also rose to reach 6.7 million new hires in June versus 5.9 million in May. The rate of workers voluntarily leaving their jobs — a sign of workers’ confidence — increased to 2.7%. That level is well above the pandemic-era low of 1.6% in April 2020.

“This is another sign of just how strong demand for workers is… it doesn’t look like we’ll see any significant slowdown in the months ahead,” Nick Bunker, director of research at Indeed, told Yahoo Money. “The bargaining power is tilted more towards workers now than it has been in the recent past.”

Senate Passes Trillion-Dollar Infrastructure Bill – Future in House Uncertain

Senators voted 69-30 on the bill, which was spearheaded by a bipartisan group of senators led by Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio). Nineteen GOP senators voted with all Democrats to pass the legislation. The bipartisan deal includes roughly $550 billion in new funding, making it substantially smaller than the $2.6 trillion proposed by Biden earlier this year.

The bill is now heading to the House, where it faces an uncertain future and skepticism from progressives. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has vowed she won’t take it up until the Senate passes the second part of its infrastructure two step, a sweeping $3.5 trillion spending package that includes Democrats’ top priorities.

US COVID Update – New COVID-19 Infections Hit Six-Month High

The United States is averaging more than 100,000 new COVID-19 cases a day, the highest numbers since February, before vaccines became widely available. COVID-19 cases have averaged more than 100,000 for three days in a row, up about 35 percent over the past week.

Infections have been rising sharply since just after July 4, a spike attributable to the delta variant of the coronavirus. Hospitalizations have also spiked in the past week, though there has been a clear disparity between states that have large numbers of people vaccinated and those that don’t.

NYS Vaccine and COVID Update

Vaccine Stats as of Tuesday August 10th:

One Vaccine Dose

64.3% of all New Yorkers – 12,379,960 (plus 23,722 from a day earlier)
In the Hudson Valley 1,313,623 (plus 2,573)

Fully Vaccinated

57.8% of all New Yorkers – 11,252,204 are fully vaccinated (Plus 14,214)
In the Hudson Valley – 1,178,670 (plus 1,679) are fully vaccinated.

The Governor updated COVID data through Monday August 9th. There were 17 COVID related deaths for a total of 43,168.

Hospitalizations:

Patients Currently in Hospital statewide: 1,345

Seven Day Average Positivity Rate:

Statewide 2.97%
Mid-Hudson: 3.05%

Useful Websites:

These 18 New York Counties are Now at High Level of Community Spread

Forty eight of New York’s 62 counties should now require the wearing of masks indoors, and 18 of them have reached the highest level of COVID-19 community spread, federal data shows. Last week 33 counties should require indoor mask wearing; as of Sunday night, it was 48.

18 counties, up from five a week ago, are now deemed at having the highest level of spread: around New York City, its suburbs and into the Albany area. In fact, most of the Hudson Valley is now listed as having high rates of transmission, including Westchester, Rockland, Orange, Sullivan and Dutchess. Putnam and Ulster remained on the substantial list.

Pentagon to Mandate Vaccine for Service Members

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said he would make Covid-19 vaccination mandatory for U.S service members by mid-September, an effort by the Biden administration to combat the highly contagious Delta variant sweeping across the country. During the pandemic, the military has altered its training to keep troops apart and add isolation periods before and after deployments, extending troops’ time away from home and cutting into training time.

The Pentagon vaccination rate is slightly ahead of the national average at 73%. the Pentagon said Monday. Among the services, the Navy has the highest vaccination rate, as 81% of sailors are fully vaccinated, as compared with 60% of the Marine Corps, which has the lowest rate among the services. About 1.3 million men and women serve in uniform across the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force and Space Force.

Kathy Hochul Will Take Over as New York Governor

New York Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul will become governor of New York after Andrew Cuomo announced on Tuesday that he will resign in two weeks.
Hochul will become the state’s first female governor and stands to inherit a political landscape that Cuomo dominated for more than a decade.
Hochul, 62, has served as Cuomo’s lieutenant for nearly the last seven years.

She is the 2020 Council of Industry Manufacturing Champion and a longtime supporter of manufacturing in the State. Since taking office Hochul has been in charge of the State’s Regional Economic Development Council strategy and Workforce Development efforts.

Amazon to Require Masks, Give Away Cash, Cars in Max Your Vax Lottery

Amazon is going big in its efforts to get more workers vaccinated against the coronavirus, even as it announced it will reinstate a mask mandate at its warehouses effective Oct. 9, regardless of workers’ vaccination status. The company is holding the Max Your Vax lottery, which will feature cars, vacations and cash amounts of up to $500,000 as prizes for workers who show they’re fully vaccinated.

Beginning last Monday, employees are required to wear face coverings inside Amazon operations facilities — even if they’re vaccinated — according to a notice sent employees.

What’s In the Infrastructure Bill Passed By the Senate

Despite its reduced size, the bill is still, by any account, big. It currently allocates:

$110 billion for roads and bridges
$105 billion on water infrastructure, including $55 billion on drinking water and lead pipe replacement and $50 billion on water systems resilience against droughts and cyberattacks
$73.5 billion on upgraded power infrastructure, including $65 billion in upgraded power infrastructure like new transmission lines and $7.5 billion for a national network of electric vehicle chargers
$66 billion on passenger rail, including $22 billion in grants for Amtrak
$65 billion in broadband internet funding, to expand internet access for rural communities
$39 billion in public transit programs and improve elderly/disabled access
$25 billion in airport infrastructure
$21 billion in environmental remediation for Superfund and brownfield sites
$17 billion in port infrastructure
$11 billion in transportation safety programs
And $7.5 billion in new zero-emissions busses and ferries.

The Senate Bill has Many “Pay-Fors”

Many who opposed the bill cited its prodigious price tag. Criticism of the size of the bill intensified after the Congressional Budget Office estimated its passage would add $256 billion to the federal deficit over the coming decade.

According to the Associated Press, the bill will be funded by a wide variety of measures, including:

$205 billion in funding from COVID-19 relief funds rejected by the states
$87 billion from spectrum auctions for 5G services
$56 billion from projected economic growth
$49 billion from delaying implementation of a Medicare rule that passes rebates to beneficiaries
$28 billion from strengthened tax enforcement on cryptocurrencies
And $6 billion from selling part of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

U.S. Increases Action Against Forced Labor in China

U.S. lawmakers and Biden administration officials are stepping up pressure on American businesses to stop imports from the Western Chinese region of Xinjiang as Beijing’s alleged use of forced labor emerges as a top item on their bilateral trade agenda. Western officials say the Chinese government uses forced labor of Uyghur and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, the world’s leading producer of cotton and raw materials used in solar panels. Beijing strongly denies the claim.

Imports of cotton and tomato products have already been effectively banned since January, and penalties on purchases of some solar materials were implemented in June.

Canada Opens Its Land Border For Vaccinated American Visitors

Canada lifted its prohibition on Americans crossing the border to shop, vacation or visit on Monday while the United States is maintaining similar restrictions for Canadians, part of a bumpy return to normalcy from COVID-19 travel bans.

U.S. citizens and legal residents must be both fully vaccinated and test negative for COVID-19 within three days to get across one of the world’s longest and busiest land borders, and Canadian officials warn they won’t sacrifice safety for shorter border waits. Travelers also must fill out a detailed application on the arriveCAN app before crossing.

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