Coronavirus US live: New York governor says state will hit peak of cases in six to 21 days | US news

House speaker Nancy Pelosi said Democrats’ fourth coronavirus bill would help to serve state and local leaders grappling with the pandemic.

On a call yesterday with reporters, Pelosi said the legislation would include proposals on clean water, infrastructure and rural broadband.

However, in a separate interview this morning, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell downplayed the possibility of passing such legislation.

“I’m not going to allow this to be an opportunity for the Democrats to achieve unrelated policy items they wouldn’t otherwise be able to pass,” McConnell said.

House speaker Nancy Pelosi also commented on her tense relationship with the president amid the coronavirus pandemic. (The pair have not spoken in five months.)

“If it’s necessary, I’m sure we will speak,” Pelosi told MSNBC. But she added that she didn’t know what she would learn from speaking to Trump.

The House speaker said she mostly communicates with Trump through television interviews. “That is what he hears is what people say publicly – much more than in a call,” Pelosi said.

House speaker Nancy Pelosi made an appearance on MSNBC this morning and called for more testing to fight the coronavirus crisis.

“Proper testing, that has been a problem since the start,” Pelosi said. “Testing, testing, testing.”

Governors reportedly complained to Trump yesterday that they have struggled to provide adequate testing in their states.

Pelosi, who has been extremely critical of the White House’s handling of the pandemic, also defended Congress’ handling of the crisis, saying she is “proud” of the work lawmakers have done.

Trump quickly weighed in on the Democratic speaker’s appearance over Twitter, saying she “wasn’t bad” despite her “usual complaining.”

Hello and welcome to our live blog coverage of the coronavirus emergency. New York governor Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday night that the peak number of concurrent cases in the state, still the country’s foremost hotspot, was expected to arrive in the coming six to 21 days.

As of Tuesday morning there were more than 164,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the United States and 3,161 had died, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University. In New York state there were 67,384 confirmed cases and 1,342 deaths. Neighboring New Jersey had the second-most cases with 16,636 cases and 198 deaths.

In an animated conversation with CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, his younger brother, Andrew Cuomo, the governor, whose handling of the crisis has won strong approval, denied that he would respond to calls from some quarters that he run for president.

Cuomo also had nice words for Donald Trump, who has demanded praise from governors as a condition of their states receiving federal aid. Cuomo’s praise in this case found its mark, with Fox News picking up the comment and Trump tweeting about it.

Here’s a bit of the interview: