The spread of COVID-19 represents a serious and unprecedented threat to the health and safety of our communities

Even Italy's health care system isn't as closed & repressive as Bernie Sanders' "Medicare for All" would be. Italy at least allows people to purchase private insurance to access better care than what government provides – but Democrats like Sanders would not, making disaster preparedness worse, not better.

"The average car has 30,000 different parts, and a lot of them come from China. If one part's not available in the basket when the conveyor belt's supposed to bring it up... if China didn't make it, it didn't go on the ship. And if it didn't go on the ship – The big thing to note here is the inter-connectivity of our economy," Texas Insider's Economic Council chair Marc Flaster says of the heretofore neglected economic impacts of the CoronaVirus on the U.S. Economy.

“My job is to protect the United States and to secure the borders, not to get prosecutions. If they'll not give confirmation that they're going to return the individual, then we're not going to turn them over. We’ll prosecute them federally, then deport them. It doesn’t really matter the charge,” said U.S. Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott earlier this week.

In response to COVID-19, over 33 states have closed schools and are concerned about looming federal testing requirements.

The next few weeks are critical to ensure we flatten the curve and slow the spread of coronavirus in our community.

President Trump is allowing “the Treasury Department to defer tax payments, without interest or penalties, for certain individuals and businesses negatively impacted.”

A suite of online tools to facilitate filing and on-time payment of taxes can be found on the agency’s website, and a quick reference site has been set up in response to the COVID–19 emergency.

“Behind all this is the economic impact of the CoronaVirus, which is still uncertain. We can’t look at the impact of a drop in oil and gas prices on Texas in a vacuum, but the consequences for Texas of the drop in prices will depend on two questions: 1.) How low, and 2.) How long,” says the Texas Taxpayers & Research Association's president Dale Craymer.

CDC Grants $35.2 Million Towards Texas COVID-19 Response

“We urge FEMA to work hand-in-hand with state emergency management officials and other state institutions to allocate FEMA resources efficiently and effectively. "

Governor Abbotts announced he is waiving the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) testing requirements for the 2019-2020 school year.

They spoke about how federal funding will help local response efforts, the need to expand testing capabilities and the timeline on vaccine development. 

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz called on federal officials to take four immediate, concrete steps to detect, treat, and prevent the spread of coronavirus or COVID-19.

Annual employment growth for Texas was 2.2 percent in January, marking 117 consecutive months of annual growth.

My colleagues in Congress and I have worked in a bipartisan fashion to provide more than $8 billion in federal resources to fight, prevent and treat coronavirus in the United States.

Their decision to remain closed for an extra week following spring break is helpful given the challenges of combatting the coronavirus (COVID-19).