VOA news for Wednesday, March 18th, 2020

VOA news for Wednesday, March 18th, 2020
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This is VOA News. I'm Michael Brown.
With the corona virus cases already topping 5800, President Donald Trump is asking Congress to help Americans through this financial storm.
AP Washington correspondent Sagar Magani reports.
“We're going big.”
The President says it's nobody's fault.
The viruses is hitting the economy hard and Treasury chief Stephen Mnuchin says the President wants to get cash to those affected.
“We're looking at sending checks to Americans immediately,” in the next two weeks.
There are a few details including how much money Congress would have to sign off as well.
The administration's urging lawmakers to approve an $850 billion rescue package bigger than the 2008 bank bailout or the 2009 Recovery Act. The White House says it hopes it can pass quickly and senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell says this chamber should not adjourn until then. Though it's a big undertaking for a slow-moving Congress, Sagar Magani, Washington.
Former US Vice President Joe Biden swept a convincing win over senator Bernie Sanders in Tuesday's Democratic presidential primaries in Florida, Illinois and Arizona.
Biden thanked voters and election workers. Americans in three states went to the polls today.
“I want to thank all the public officials and the poll workers who work closely with the public health authorities to insure safe opportunities for voting, to clean and disinfect voting booths, and to make sure the voters could cast their ballots while maintaining the distance from one another that was safe.”
The victories place Biden well ahead of Sanders, in the race to clinch the party's nomination.
The governor of the state of Ohio postponed Tuesday's primary because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Ohio is now set to vote in June.
For details on more news, we invite you to join us at our website, VOAnews.com or on the VOA mobile app. From here in Washington, this is VOA news.
US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the Pentagon will provide millions of respirator masks and ventilators to federal health authorities to help in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
“The Department of Defense will make available up to 5,000,000 N95 respirator masks and other personal protective equipment from our own strategic reserves to the Department of Health and Human Services for distribution.
The first 1 million masks will be made available immediately.”
As presented the ventilators are designed for use by troops in the military will need to train civilians on how to use them.
There are no, rather, new limits, being placed on key items as America navigates the spreading of the virus. AP correspondent Jackie Quinn has that story.
Major retailers are trying to keep up with the demand for key supplies during the virus shutdown.
Kroger says it's limiting certain items; cold and flu medicine, soap cleaning products, water and the, oh, so scarce, toilet paper.
Consumers are finding empty shelves where those essentials used to be, even prompting the President this week to urge shoppers to stop hoarding groceries and supplies.
Amazon's making a change, telling some vendors not to bother shipping nonessentials like telephone cases, it's keeping warehouses cleared for toilet paper, hand sanitizer and other items in high demand, like diapers, canned foods and disinfecting wipes.
Amazon's adding more workers but warns deliveries will take longer than usual.
I'm Jackie Quinn.
A migrant advocacy group is suing the Trump administration to stop three children from deportation to El Salvador, where the family said their lives would be in danger.
VOA’s Marissa Melton reports.
The three children are in a US facility, their mother is in a tent camp in Mexico, while their father lives in Maryland outside Washington DC and says he is willing to bring his children into his home.
Lawyers for the coalition action Justice Center say the children should be considered unaccompanied minors, and deserve an asylum hearing.
The lawyer say that children would be in grave danger if deported because their father ran a church in El Salvador, where he preached against the violent MS-13 gang.
The family fled El Salvador from Mexico.
The father and a fourth child entered the US last June and were allowed to stay.
Marissa Melton, VOA news.
Volkswagen says it will close most of its European plants for two weeks due to the uncertainty about the demand for cars and the supplies and parts of it the virus outbreak.
But details on much more news as always, we invite you to join us at our website, VOAnews.com or on the VOA mobile app. From here in Washington. I'm Michael Brown, VOA news.