Historic! Nature wins as countries forge deal at COP15

 

Environment Update

COP15: Nations Adopt Historic Agreement for Nature Earlier this week, 196 countries adopted the Global Biodiversity Framework—pledging to protect 30% of the planet's land and ocean by 2030 to meet the overarching goal of creating a "world living in harmony with nature"—at the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity, or COP15. WHAT THEY AGREED TO 3 OF OUR FAVORITE CONSERVATION WINS OF THE YEAR 1. World Leaders Act on Harmful Fisheries Subsidies Credit: Deddy Hendrawan/EyeEm/Getty Images In June, World Trade Organization members agreed to a deal that, once ratified and put into practice, will phase out funding that enables vessels to fish farther and longer out at sea, which rapidly depletes global fish populations. 21 YEARS IN THE MAKING 2. Biden Designates His First New National Monument Credit: Charles Tilford/Flickr Creative Commons In October, President Joe Biden designated his first new national monument, the Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument. The national monument status will not only protect public lands in the region but also honor veterans. MONUMENTAL DEAL 3. Ecuador Expands Galápagos Marine Protections Credit: Michele Westmorland/Getty Images The January expansion of an "underwater superhighway" between the Galápagos and Cocos islands will help protect an important migration path that threatened and endangered marine life rely on. FULL DETAILS Join us on Instagram! From now through New Year's, we're posting 10 of our favorite conservation wins from 2022. FOLLOW ON INSTAGRAM IN THE MEDIA COP15: Nations Reach 'Historic' Deal to Protect Nature BBC Preserving, Protecting Public Lands Is a Top Priority CAPITOL WEEKLY Canada Commits CAD$800 Million to Advance Indigenous-Led Conservation ENDURING EARTH

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POLITICO NIGHTLY: Pelosi’s pandemic strategy

By Heather Caygle and Renuka Rayasam Presented by The Mortgage Bankers Association BIG TIME — Speaker Nancy Pelosi released a massive, 1,800-page coronavirus relief bill today that’s destined to go nowhere in the Senate and is even meeting resistance from some Democrats. Here’s what she’s thinking: Pelosi is banking on Congress having to pass at least one more massive aid package this summer, and she wants to anchor the Democrats’ starting point for it now. Because Pelosi knows this bill will be swiftly dismissed by the Republican-controlled Senate, she went as big as she wanted, putting in roughly $3 trillion worth of Democratic priorities. The centerpiece is $900 billion in funding for state and local governments. Pelosi’s strategy is two-fold: Democrats can paint a stark contrast with Republicans, pointing to this bill as “proof” they’re fighting for the American people while they say the GOP refuses to negotiate; and Pelosi is also trying to ease internal caucus tensions by including proposals from liberal Democrats upset that their ideas were left out of the last four relief packages. But Pelosi’s plan isn’t without potential pitfalls: Some of the most vulnerable — meaning, the most moderate — House Democrats are already bracing for Republican attacks linking them to some of the bill’s most controversial proposals, like easing some immigration detention policies and providing loans for cannabis businesses. And Pelosi has already angered some of the House’s most prominent liberals, including Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, by leaving their marquee proposals out of the otherwise sprawling bill. Jayapal wants the federal government to subsidize payrolls to keep people employed. What’s next? Pelosi is determined to bring the House back Friday for a vote on the behemoth bill, despite some senior liberal lawmakers asking her to delay so they can have more time to negotiate. Democrats are also expected to force through a rules change over Republican objections that will allow committees to meet remotely and members to vote via proxy on bills related to the coronavirus. The rules change is likely to ease some Democrats’ anxiety, who worried they were hurting themselves ahead of the November election because voters haven’t seen them working while they’ve been away from Washington. In her own words: “We must think big for the people now because if we don’t it will cost more in lives and livelihood later,” Pelosi said in a speech from a podium in her speaker’s suite this afternoon. “Not acting is the most expensive course.” Welcome to POLITICO Nightly: Coronavirus Special Edition. I’m afraid stories like this gut-wrenching account of getting fired over Zoom are only going to become more common. Reach out with tips: rrayasam@politico.com or on Twitter at @renurayasam.   A message from The Mortgage Bankers Association: Individual Needs. Individual Solutions. We understand that mortgage relief is not one-size-fits-all. The COVID-19 pandemic has left many Americans in unique financial situations. That’s why we encourage you to contact your mortgage company if paying your mortgage poses a financial hardship. There are options to help meet your needs. MBA.org/consumerinfo   First In Nightly POLITICO Illustration/AP ‘CONSPIRACY BINGO’ — One segment of the internet is experiencing a pandemic boom: conspiracy theorists and far-right extremists. People from white supremacists and anti-vaxxers in the U.S. to fascist and anti-refugee groups across Europe are seizing on the crisis, according to a POLITICO review of thousands social media posts and interviews with misinformation experts tracking their online activities. Far-right extremists have become particularly vocal at a time of deepening public uncertainty and economic trauma, write Mark Scott and Steven Overly . They piggyback on social media to promote virus-related themes drawn from multiple sources — among them, Russian and Chinese disinformation campaigns, the Trump administration’s musings about the virus’ origins and anti-Muslim themes from India’s nationalist ruling party. “Honestly, it’s a dream come true for any and every hate group, snake oil salesman and everything in between,” said Tijana Cvjetićanin, a fact-checker in the Balkans who has watched ultranationalist groups promoting hate-filled messages on social media about Covid-19, often against Jewish communities. Another online researcher put it more succinctly: “It’s like hitting conspiracy bingo.”   JOIN THURSDAY - WHY IS THE INCARCERATION RATE OF WOMEN RISING? Women are the fastest-growing segment of the incarcerated population in the United States, increasing at a rate nearly double that of men over the past 35 years. Join Women Rule Editorial Director Anna Palmer on Thursday at 3 p.m. EDT for a virtual conversation with April Grayson, campaign surrogate and statewide coordinator for the Young Women's Freedom Center; Scott Budnick, founder of the Anti-Recidivism Coalition (ARC); and Emily Ratajkowski, model, actress and activist. Learn about the challenges women face behind bars and how they fit into the criminal-justice reform movement. Have questions? Submit yours by tweeting it to @POLITICOLive using #AskPOLITICO. REGISTER HERE.     Palace Intrigue MASKED MEN — According to a new survey, even most Republicans think President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence should sport face coverings when traveling in public, breaking news reporter Quint Forgey writes. More than 70 percent of respondents in a POLITICO/Morning Consult poll to be published Wednesday say that when Trump and Pence travel, they should wear face masks in public places. Concurring with that position are 82 percent of Democrats, 70 percent of independents and 58 percent of Republicans. Only 12 percent say the president and vice president should not wear face masks in public places, and 17 percent say they do not know or have no opinion. The POLITICO/Morning Consult poll was conducted May 8-10, surveying a national sample of 1,994 registered voters. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 2 percentage points. FAUCI IN 102 SECONDS — Watch Anthony Fauci, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Adm. Brett Giroir and Sen. Rand Paul talk about how best to contain Covid-19 at a Senate committee hearing today.     Talking to the Experts Which parts of the U.S. are likely to be the next Covid hotspots? “Every place in the country is going to get cases. What determines whether someplace has a manageable number of cases isn’t some magic formula. I do think that population-dense cities are going to be the ones that are on the list of the next hotspots. The other thing that can make something a hotspot is reliance on public transportation or common areas where people congregate. That could be small towns that have a large prison population or a meat processing plant. The waves of illness that we've had in most of the cities, even including New York City, have not been big enough to get anywhere near herd immunity. So there’s still a significant proportion of the population that is susceptible. The fact that some place was hit hard in the spring doesn't necessarily mean that they won't be hit hard again.” — Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security “Our approach to modeling hot spots is we’re looking at the intensity of Covid at the county level across the country and trying to adjust for population. This also highlights areas that may have fewer total number of cases, but also fewer hospital beds and fewer ventilators. The new hotspots are not necessarily the most population-dense places. Places that had no cases just a few weeks ago are now emerging. For example, hotspots in northern Arizona and northwestern New Mexico. This is Navajo Nation. There’s a lot less infrastructure. We also have this patchwork of policies across the country. That's why we're seeing a lot of cases emerge along borders of states. Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, Minnesota — there are a lot of cases in between where those boundaries meet, likely because people are taking advantage of different policies. Same thing with northern Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.” — Marynia Kolak, assistant director of health informatics at the Center for Spatial Data Science at the University of Chicago “Something that concerns me is places that don't have sufficient medical resources to contend with another surge of patients. I’m talking about places like New York, but I am very concerned about ring counties that surround major counties. Maybe they are not as dense, but they have a decent chance of having a reoccurrence, and they have fewer medical resources. I’m looking at areas around Indianapolis, Des Moines, the Twin Cities — these look like places that might be exceeding their medical capacity.” — Charles Branas, chair of the Department of Epidemiology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health The Global Fight YEAR OF THE HAWK — As global trade plummets and questions about China’s coronavirus handling mount, Republican trade and China hawks are losing their inhibitions, POLITICO’s Global Translations author Ryan Heath emails. But their enthusiasm for “reshoring” manufacturing could leave Trump politically exposed. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) is among those urging immediate boycotts of Chinese goods, while U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer today described offshoring to China as “a craze” egged on by Wall Street that’s responsible for the loss of “at least 2 million American jobs.” Scott’s political message sounds potent — “they intentionally steal our jobs” and “if you want to help Americans, stop buying their products” — but it won’t be easy to cut off China. Many companies have sought to diversify their supply chains away from China, during three years of Trump trade wars. But instead of production and jobs moving back to the U.S. and Mexico, robots were the big winners. Under the vision of the GOP’s China hawks, Europe, Australia and other allies will quickly follow America’s lead in standing up to China. So far, U.S. allies have not seen it that way. The bottom line is they value the global trading system more than they value their U.S. trading relationship: America’s allies want to criticize China without isolating it. The U.S. government denied quorum to the World Trade Organization’s top appeals court (casting the WTO as yet another global body working against America’s interests), so last month allies including Canada, Australia, Brazil and the EU’s 27 members worked with China to launch an interim alternative court. America’s China trade hawks may shout, but without an effective international coalition, their attempts to isolate China can only go so far. PUNCHLINES In the latest edition of Punchlines, Matt Wuerker teaches you how to develop your own drawing style by sketching faces and people, and explores the keys to drawing one of Washington’s most recognizable figures: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Ask The Audience Our question for readers this week: What does reopening look like where you live? Snap a photo sometime this week and send it to nightly@politico.com. We’ll share our favorites on Friday.   JOIN FRIDAY - HOW DOES THE GLOBAL ECONOMY START MOVING AGAIN? The pandemic has caused the global economy to come to a halt, triggering economic crises around the world. What happens next? Join Global Translations author Ryan Heath on Friday at 1 p.m. EDT for a virtual discussion with Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, focused on the trade-offs and investments needed to get the global economy moving again, the role that China can be expected to play, and how growing debt and deficits will impact the developing world. Have questions? Submit yours by tweeting it to @POLITICOLive using #AskPOLITICO. REGISTER HERE TO PARTICIPATE.     Nightly Number 50 million The number of people the U.S. will be able to test per month for coronavirus by September, according to HHS testing czar Brett Giroir at a Senate hearing today. That would be roughly four times the 12.9-million test goal the administration set for May and announced Monday at a Rose Garden briefing. Volunteers donate blood during an American Red Cross blood drive at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. | Scott Olson/Getty Images Parting Words FAUCI FATIGUE — Fauci’s virtual Senate appearance was meant to warn against a quick reopening — a message some Republicans did not want to hear. Fauci’s testimony today clashed with the GOP’s vision of resuming commerce at some level this spring and summer, and added to growing fatigue among some Republicans with one of the government’s most trusted public health leaders, Burgess Everett, Andrew Desiderio and Marianne LeVine write. “There’s a spectrum of everything. And I think he’s on the overly cautious end of the spectrum,” Covid survivor Sen. Rand Paul said after parrying with Fauci at the hearing. “I don’t think he’s doing it because he’s a bad person, but if we’re overly cautious and we wait until all infectious disease goes away … we’ll wait forever and the country is going to be destroyed.”   A message from The Mortgage Bankers Association: Individual Needs. Individual Solutions. We understand that mortgage relief is not one-size-fits-all. The COVID-19 pandemic has left many Americans in unique financial situations. That’s why we encourage you to contact your mortgage company if paying your mortgage poses a financial hardship. There are options to help meet your needs. Visit MBA.org/consumerinfo for more information on forbearance options.   Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter Renuka Rayasam @renurayasam   Follow us

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POLITICO NIGHTLY: Covering the spread

By Matthew Kaminski and Renuka Rayasam

Presented by

THE GREAT ACCELERATION — Pandemics are said to change history more than wars do. The coronavirus has already upended, well, just about everything. The bull market. The 2020 presidential campaign. Our daily lives. Yet what's likely to prove more enduring are the changes — political, social, economic — that are being accelerated by this crisis. Several stand out: Digital transformation — We all love the internet again. Cloud infrastructure, Big Data, 5G, telecommuting and telemedicine have sped up (and who cares about Cambridge Analytica now?). Big Tech looks set to get richer, and shake free of its recent political problems, faster than it would have without corona. The future of work ... has arrived. In days, Zoom joined Hoover, Xerox and Google in the elite brand-as-verb club. Years from now, we'll wonder why so many people logged so many air miles for business. Sovereign and corporate debt went from a subject of quiet specialist concern to the economic structural weakness that looks most likely to trigger the worst aftershocks in coming months. Bye, bye laissez-faire — Trillions of dollars in rescue funds, talk of nationalization, big government in the economic driver's seat. All enthusiastically backed by Ronald Reagan's Grand Old Party, whose Trump-era flirtation with rejecting the old-time free-trade and free-market religion has been consummated by corona. Illiberal politics — Both the anti-immigrant, close the borders factions (see the U.S., much of Europe) and outright turns to authoritarianism ( Hungary now, maybe Poland soon) have reached a higher gear. Polarization — No, blue and red America aren't coming closer together, the bipartisan rescue plan notwithstanding. Where you stand on when to restart normal life, and how bad this epidemic has been or could be, and whether Trump's to blame, is the newest partisan litmus test. Some other trends will be either reversed or accelerated, and it's too soon to tell which: The decline of experts, from Brexit to the Trump era. For some, corona redeemed expertise. But a backlash may be brewing against public health pros whose aggressive lockdowns exact a destructive economic toll. Ask Tony Fauci, already the target of Trump partisan outrage. American democracy — Delayed or virus-stained primaries, the specter of virtual conventions and even postponing November's election could damage two centuries-plus of constitutional order. Then again, this election could strengthen it — particularly if America figures out how to expand the franchise by enabling people to vote securely by mail or the Internet. Or not. American decline — Ham-handed health policy (see testing snafus ), fights with allies and a sinking economy might speed up China's rise to top dog. Or the crisis could refocus America on long-ignored challenges, such as a weak manufacturing base or rising deficits. Washington might even use a convenient common foe — the birthplace of the coronavirus, China — to rebuild a global coalition of democracies for the 2020s. China's rise — Beijing is looking to pick off allies annoyed with Trump, like Germany and Canada. But it's easy to imagine China's authoritarian rulers, who mishandled the outbreak in Wuhan, failing to keep friends abroad or their own people in check. Corona could wind up doing to the Chinese Communist Party what the 1986 explosion at Chernobyl did to the Soviet one. Globalization — As damaging as corona has been to a borderless world — and to institutions that champion that idea, such as the European Union — you could (not will...) see multilateralism and globalization triumph, probably later than sooner. The world will need trade, which is good news, perhaps, for the beleaguered World Trade Organization. Champions of EU integration will make a renewed case for economic burden-sharing to give the bloc fresh life. The equally beleaguered World Health Organization could be the place to forge a global response to a future pandemic. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly: Coronavirus Special Edition, a nightly intelligence brief from our global newsroom on the effect of the coronavirus on politics and policy, the economy and global health. We'd like to note ahead of the holiday weekend the bipartisan trend of governors declaring the Easter bunny an essential worker. Reach out: rrayasam@politico.com and @renurayasam.

A message from PhRMA: In these unprecedented times, America's biopharmaceutical companies are coming together to achieve one shared goal: beating COVID-19 . We are working with governments and insurers to ensure that when new treatments and vaccines are approved, they will be available and affordable for patients. Explore our efforts.

First In Nightly

TRACKING THE HOTSPOTS — Infections are set to double within a week in more than 240 counties in the United States with 50 or more cases of Covid-19. Our Alice Miranda Ollstein and Beatrice Jin map the 88 counties that could be hardest hit using data on age and other health factors. People in poor health, as well as the elderly and minorities, could see the highest death rates.

Around the Nation

IS IT SAFE TO COME OUT? — In California's Santa Clara County, which quickly shut things down as coronavirus descended, the county executive is warning that major sporting events may not resume by Thanksgiving, our Debra Kahn and Victoria Colliver write. The San Francisco Bay Area was the nation's first metro area to impose shelter-in-place orders 25 days ago, but the bellwether region for the U.S. isn't emerging from hibernation any time soon despite its relative success. In Santa Clara, health officer Sara Cody told county supervisors this week that she wants a sustained reduction in new cases for at least 14 days — or one incubation period — before considering changes to her shelter-in-place order. Bay Area experts predict it could be anywhere from two weeks to more than a month until case numbers start to dwindle, which they expect will give the region enough time to ramp up testing and tracing of contacts. RED MODEL, BLUE MODEL — A new fault line is emerging in the nation's polarized response to the coronavirus pandemic: the modeling used to predict its death count and spread, our David Siders and Myah Ward report. Early bleak forecasts spurred support for extreme social-distancing measures, shutting down whole swaths of the American economy. But in recent days, as scientists lowered projections for deaths from Covid-19 because they said social distancing is working, influential conservatives began casting the data as a sign the virus was never really that bad. The argument carries significant implications not only for the debate over the reopening of the economy, but for the reelection of Trump. Democrats have pummeled the president for his initial response to the pandemic and expect a cratering economy to work against him in November. In shifting blame to the models, conservatives are suggesting an alternative place to put fault.

Palace Intrigue

WHO'S BETTER, WHO'S BEST — Aides to President Donald Trump are debating some potentially radical moves to punish the WHO in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, including cutting off U.S. funding and trying to create an alternative institution, our Nahal Toosi writes. Officials have begun drafting a letter that — if the decision is made — will announce a suspension of U.S. funding to the WHO and a related body, the Pan American Health Organization, according to a person familiar with the issue. The draft document also tells officials at the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development and other institutions to try to route the money to existing alternative organizations.

From the Health Desk

HOSPITAL BILLS — The price of face masks has skyrocketed from 6 cents to $2.80 a piece, said Adam Willmann, president and CEO of Goodall-Witcher, a rural hospital in central Texas. That's just one of the crushing costs facing the hospital at the same time that it's suffering from a steep drop in revenue from a state order canceling non-emergency procedures. The situation is playing out across the country as the pandemic moves from big cities to small towns. Rural hospitals are facing the same economic pressures as restaurants, shops and other businesses ordered to close to keep the virus at bay. "As a rural health care provider, we're fighting to get paid for the work we do," Willmann said. "How are we going to get paid when we don't do work?" About $30 billion of the $100 billion that Congress set aside in its emergency aid package for hospitals and other providers starts flowing to facilities today. But rural hospital lobby groups say that their share won't be enough to cover the loss of profitable elective procedures and the costs of treating Covid-19 patients who lack insurance. Terry Scoggin, CEO of Titus Regional Medical Center in the northeast corner of Texas near the borders of Oklahoma and Arkansas, said the health system he runs will lose about $3 million in just 30 days from the canceling of elective procedures. He's also spending more money to prepare for a surge of Covid-19 patients: He's got a staffer at every door to monitor for symptoms and has set up a taskforce to stockpile protective equipment. Already more than 30 positive cases have been confirmed in Titus and the five surrounding counties. "I've never been busier, but our volume of people is the lowest it's ever been," said Scoggin. The pandemic could wipe out providers in rural areas that serve about a fifth of the country's population, according to the National Rural Health Association. Nearly half of all rural facilities were operating at a financial loss before the current crisis. Scoggin estimates his facility has about two months of cash left. About a third of the adult patients that Titus serves don't have health insurance, so when a surge hits, Titus could spend a huge sum treating patients without getting reimbursed. In order to make sure that the facility is still standing when the pandemic passes, he furloughed or laid off about 10 percent of the health center's staff.

The Very Rev. Andrew Nunn of London's Southwark Cathedral delivers the Good Friday morning prayer via live video broadcast. | Getty Images

Ask The Audience

Nightly asked our readers this week: How has coronavirus changed the way that you think about politics? And you answered. Below are some of your responses, lightly edited for style and clarity. "Anything is possible. In January, spending $2 trillion out of the blue would have been unthinkable. In March, we did it in less than a week." — Jeremy Rosen, lawyer, Chicago "We need to be far more federal in our approaches to many things, including health care, commerce and education. The spectacle of a federal stockpile of health care equipment and supplies that does not actively and quickly dispense the items to states in a national emergency is just ludicrous. Leaving it up to states or cities to decide whether to halt gatherings and issue stay-home directives — also ludicrous." — Martha Knight, retired, Rochester, N.Y.

"I never believed in any type of medical insurance for all. Now without a doubt I believe it should be addressed and passed." Kimber Porter, Riverside, Calif.

"As someone who values the right to vote for offices both local and national, the need for a secure mechanism to vote in times of crisis and emergency is clear. Some voting system by mail or online (If the census is online why can't voting be?) is needed for both the general voting public, and as a mechanism for Congress's daily work." — Autumn Hanline, manager, Charlotte, N.C. "Covid-19 clearly delineates the importance of having mail-in voting or weekend voting, starting with the 2020 election. We must insist on free and fair elections ... no excuses!" — Dorine K. Rader, retired educator, Collegeville, Pa. "It's made me think how stubbornly we have kept to traditions even with the tremendous advances in technology available, traditions like in-person voting and physical attendance of legislators in order to vote that seem antiquated now." — Teigan Avery, university student, Missoula, Mont.

The Global Fight

A SPANISH SUGGESTION — Spain, with a coronavirus death toll topping 16,000, has begun a push for a more coordinated global response to the pandemic, Santiago Cabanas, Spain's ambassador to the U.S., told our Ryan Heath. Describing health as "a global public good," Cabanas said "it's in our interest that we support countries like Iran or Venezuela, irrespective of the nature of the regimes." The price of refusing assistance to those populations might be a reimporting of the virus back into Europe and the U.S. in several months. Cabanas said tourism-dependent Spain would lift its ban on travel by non-EU citizens "as soon as possible," but only when "we're sure that everybody's safe in coming." Spain remains under a national lockdown until at least April 25. Cabanas also said there is a "great risk" that authoritarian governments will be perceived as handling the pandemic better than democracies. FREEDOM FIGHTERS — The Human Rights Foundation has announced what it calls "the world's first event to focus on the friction between individual freedom and the state response to the virus," the group's president, Thor Halvorssen, tells our Ben Schreckinger . The virtual conference, taking place Monday and Tuesday, focuses on the response of authoritarian regimes to the outbreak of the disease. It will feature online talks by speakers such as Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Anne Applebaum; Joshua Wong, a leader of Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests; and Russian activist Garry Kasparov, who serves as the foundation's chairman. In February, the foundation postponed its annual Oslo Freedom Forum, a premier gathering of activists from across the planet, because of coronavirus. Now the group is striking back with COVIDCon. Much of the value of summits on the international NGO circuit comes from the in-person schmoozing, but a virtual global conference can be organized much more quickly than in-person one. Perhaps the virtual summit format will outlive the pandemic, and COVIDCon could be the start of something of a trend in global activism — something like the 21st century's answer to the telethon. Nightly Number $600 billion — The amount the travel and retail industries want pumped into the Small Business Administration's loan program, according to a five-page memo outlining the next steps they want Congress to take. The industries' trade groups also recommended extending the loan program through December, allowing businesses to receive up to three loans, expanding eligibility rules and providing another $20 billion for airports. (h/t POLITICO Influence author Theodoric Meyer) Parting Words WINNERS AND LOSERS — Lobbyists for industries from retail to reefer have been hustling to make the case that they're too important to be shut down — a designation that could mean millions for companies and the employees who keep them running. They've also appealed to the Trump administration, which has put out recommendations outlining which industries it considers essential — although states and cities aren't bound by the recommendations. The National Shooting Sports Federation, for example, successfully convinced the Trump administration to add gun stores and shooting ranges to its list of essential businesses. The move convinced New Jersey to change its own rules — but it didn't sway Los Angeles, which has shut down its gun stores. Mea culpa: On Thursday, we incorrectly labeled North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper's political affiliation. He is a Democrat.   A message from PhRMA: In these unprecedented times, America's biopharmaceutical companies are coming together to achieve one shared goal: beating COVID-19. The investments we've made have prepared us to act swiftly: · Working with governments and insurers to ensure that when new treatments and vaccines are approved, they will be available and affordable for patients · Coordinating with governments and diagnostic partners to increase COVID-19 testing capability and capacity · Protecting the integrity of the pharmaceutical supply chain and keeping our plants open to maintain a steady supply of medicines for patients Explore our efforts.   Did someone forward you this email? Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter Renuka Rayasam @renurayasam   Follow us  POLITICO, LLC 1000 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, VA, 22209, USA