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TODAY'S HEADLINES:

Joe Biden won the primary elections in Illinois, Arizona and Florida by a landslide on Tuesday, effectively shutting down Bernie Sanders’ chance to mount a comeback against the party establishment’s chosen candidate.

Meanwhile, the Trump Administration and Congress are planning on direct cash payments to every American to offset the economic effects of the coronavirus -- which progressives worry may be insufficient to stop the working class’s bleeding.

And lastly, a new report out of the United Kingdom has shocked world leaders by suggesting that the death toll and catastrophic effects of the virus could be much worse than scientists initially feared.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Tuesday night once again belonged to Joe Biden. The former Vice President won primary elections in Illinois, Florida, and Arizona, despite more chaos and the threat of contamination at the polls.

Biden’s surging victories mean the Sanders campaign has almost no route to winning the nomination. Biden won by double digits and sometimes much more in each of the three states that voted.

The election process, once again, was extremely messy. Voters reported long lines, polls not stocked with hand sanitizer and other vital virus-prevention tools, and even unopened precincts.

Ohio, for its part, did not hold a primary, instead postponing its election until June at the last minute in defiance of a court order. The DNC responded to this with characteristic grace, threatening that states which held their primaries after a June 9 cutoff would have their delegates slashed.

In short remarks as polls closed, Sanders sought to put the focus back on his priorities for the country. It seems like once again, Bernie will return to tilting at the Democratic party’s windmill, and hoping that he can use the rest of his time in the race to drag Biden toward the left however he can.

The new bipartisan tactic to offset the terrible effects of the coronavirus for U.S. workers is cold hard cash.

The Trump Administration and high-ranking members of both political parties in Congress put forward plans to deliver Americans immediate cash payments to account for missed wages during lockdowns, quarantines, and the economic recession that is sure to follow.

But while everyone agrees that the American people need some help, the devil as always lurks in the details. Mitt Romney’s plan, which Trump expressed support for, is to give every American an immediate $1,000 cash payment.

This, of course, would be just a band-aid compared to what American workers have lost.

As progressives noted early on, mainstream Democrats are actually at risk of being outflanked by the Republican plan if they insist on some kind of overly-complicated means-tested plan that only serves certain people, instead of just outbidding the Republican plan and ensuring that any direct relief is coupled with student loan and other debt forgiveness.

Fortunately, a group of Senators led by Cory Booker, Michael Bennett and Sherrod Brown put forward a plan to send every American $2,000, with no means-testing and additional payments later in the year. Bernie Sanders’ campaign put out an even more ambitious plan calling for $2000 payments every month.

Whatever Congress decides, they better do it fast. Brown’s state, Ohio, saw 11,995 unemployment claims on Sunday, and 36,645 on Monday. The Sunday before that, when bars and businesses were still open across the country, there were only 536.

The worst coronavirus news comes last, unfortunately. In a new report released to the public on Monday and shared with world leaders in the UK and U.S., researchers warn that the death toll from the coronavirus could reach the millions in the U.S., completely overwhelming healthcare systems many times over.

The report, conducted by researchers at the Imperial College of London, appears to be one of the factors that finally made the Trump White House start taking the virus seriously.

Its key finding is that extremely dreastic restrictions on work, schools and social gatherings may be necessary for up to 18 months, until a vaccine to the virus can be found.

Researchers warn that anything short of this could result the virus still spreading at rates that would overwhelm health care systems in any developed country in the world. The strict social restrictions were the only way to keep it within manageable levels, although the study noted that they could be relaxed for short periods at intervals and then reinstated if cases began to flare up again.

The study’s lead author, Dr. Niall Ferguson, told the New York Times quote: “We don’t have a clear exit strategy. We’re going to have to suppress this virus — frankly, indefinitely — until we have a vaccine.”

There’s no way around it -- this will likely mean long-standing changes to everyday life. But the core of the strategy for beating the disease is still social distancing and mitigating personal risk, steps which we have already begun. It just may last a lot longer than anyone hoped.

One point of light from a miserable night across America: Marie Newman, an outspoken progressive, beat anti-abortion incumbent Rep. Dan Lipinski in the Democratic primary for Illinois’s Third congressional district. Newman’s victory is the first major win for progressive activist group Justice Democrats since Alexandria Ocasio Cortez’s historic election in 2018.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

In news that should surprise no one, the Trump administration is using the current crisis to do even more fascism, conducting ICE raids in the LA area amidst coronavirus lockdowns, and taking steps to close down the southern border to migrants, citing fears of the virus, while simultaneously shutting down asylum hearings and immigration interviews.

New York’s Attorney General suspended all medical and student debt collection until April 16, a policy that will hopefully convince other states to enact similar relief for their constituents.

And finally, Senate Democrats introduced a new bill to repair the gaps in the House’s woefully incomplete paid leave legislation, which House Democrats made even weaker earlier Tuesday. We’ll see how the Senate’s bill fares on Mitch McConnell floor.

That’s it for the Majority Report’s AM Quickie today. Stay safe and healthy out there

#AMQuickie: March 18, 2020

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Jack Crosbie

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn