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April 21, 2020 The clerics have been sworn to secrecy. On this warm morning, they’ve come to a vast and empty parking lot, instructed not to tell anyone of its location. The pitch of asphalt is unusually secure, hidden behind a 12-foot chain-link fence that’s been swathed in sheets of black tarp to prevent anyone from peering through. At the front gate, armed soldiers stand guard.
Inside, large trailers are arranged behind tented canopies and banks of lights. Metal ramps are affixed to each trailer so that stretchers can be wheeled in. The interior walls of the trailers are lined with seven rows of metallic shelving, sturdy enough to support thousands of pounds. The temperature is 24 degrees.
President Joe Biden appears ready to do what it takes to get the American economy back to full capacity and then some.
Biden has proposed a $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package to help steer the economy through the pandemic, and he’s planning to propose a second spending package one with an even heftier price tag that invests heavily in infrastructure, climate, and caregiving. His administration is focusing on those most in need, and is even willing to run the economy a little hot for a while to get the gears churning.
“What gives me the most hope is that he’s given every indication of understanding the urgency of this moment,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) told Vox in a recent interview. She said Americans are “asking for a government that steps up and helps deal with our health care problems, our economic problems, and our race problems.”