Following is a list of the prepared testimony:
https://waysandmeans.house.gov/legislation/hearings/us-china-trade-and-competition
The Complete Witness List Includes:
Thea Lee
President, Economic Policy Institute (EPI) and Commissioner, U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission
Motor and Equipment Manufacturers Association
March 6, 2020
“Taking needed sick time means workers go without pay or must show up at work while sick and delay seeking treatment for themselves or their dependents,” economists Elise Gould and Jessica Schieder wrote in a 2017 paper for the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.
Wisconsin Examiner
March 6, 2020
“There’s a reason why people are going to work when they or their kids are sick, if they don’t have paid sick days,” says Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, speaking with MarketWatch. “They have to put food on the table and a roof over their head.”
PayScale
March 6, 2020
“There’s a reason why people are going to work when they or their kids are sick, if they don’t have paid sick days,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning Washington, D.C., think tank. “They have to put food on the table and a roof over their head.”
MarketWatch
March 6, 2020
The Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, suggests short-term measures that would generate confidence and real economic impact, like pledging that the government will cover all health-spending related to Covid-19, a measure taken by South Korea. This could alleviate spending concerns among citizens who worry about future medical bills and also improve self-reporting and treatment, a boon for public heath efforts.
The Institute also suggests that lawmakers could provide short-term cash payments to households, or take on cost-sharing measures, to make up the difference for workers who see hours reduced because of the spreading virus. These payments could prevent the demand shock if low-income workers miss weeks of paychecks.
Quartz
March 6, 2020
The Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, suggests short-term measures that it says would build confidence and have a real economic impact — such as the government covering health spending related to the virus. The institute also proposes lawmakers provide short-term cash payments to households to make up the difference for workers who see their hours reduced as the virus spreads.
Inside Sources
March 6, 2020
Josh Bivens, research director at the nonprofit think tank Economic Policy Institute, said that while the Federal Reserve is a very important economic institution, it is “largely a sideshow in the response to Covid-19,” using the official name of the coronavirus.
“For one thing, their main instrument to boost demand (cutting interest rates) operates with a lag that is long enough to likely miss much of the epidemic’s duration,” he wrote in a blog post Tuesday. “Further, unlike fiscal policy responses, the Fed’s tool really cannot be tailored or targeted in any way to alleviate particular distress.” (Parentheses in original.)
Courthouse News Service
March 6, 2020
As this graphic from the Economic Policy Institute shows, wages at the bottom are up because of those states and localities that increased the minimum wage.
The National Memo
March 5, 2020
Among people near retirement, worries over these costs are second only to the fear of running out of money, according to a 2019 report from Empower Retirement. For many, that concern is well-founded; out-of-pocket medical costs average $285,000 for a 65-year-old couple retiring in 2019, according to Fidelity Investments. That amount would wipe out savings accounts for many older workers — the average retirement savings among people ages 56 to 61 was less than $250,000 at the end of 2016, according to data from the Survey of Consumer Finances analyzed by the Economic Policy Institute.
Investment News
March 5, 2020