Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, September 26, 2020

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Mountain Views-News Saturday, September 26, 2020 

CHAIRMAN SCHIFF REMARKS INTRODUCING LANDMARK REFORMS 
PACKAGE – THE PROTECTING OUR DEMOCRACY ACT

09/25/2020 3:30pm 

(Compared to 9/18/2020)

LOS ANGELE COUNTY* 09/18/20 

 Total Cases 265,775 257,271

Deaths 6,488 6,324 

STATS BY CITY Population Cases Deaths 

 (last week's stats in parenthesis)

 09/18/20

Pasadena 14,1371 2550 (2485) 122 (121)

Uninc- East Pasadena 6,40380 (78) 1 (1)



City of Arcadia 57,754 496 (470) 34 (33)

Uninc. - Arcadia 7.98189 (85) 3 (3)

City of Bradbury 1,06914 (14) 0 (0)

City of Duarte 22,016 552 (534) 29 (29)

Uninc.- Duarte4,428149 (144) 4 (4)

City of Monrovia 38,800 743 (730) 38 (37)

Uninc - Monrovia 3,88181 (80) 0 (0)



City of Sierra Madre 10,989 75 (72) 3 (3)

City of So.Pasadena 26,053280 (265) 26 (27)

Uninc.- Altadena 43,260 696 (673) 14 (13)

La County Testing as of 09/25/20: (2,493,557)

Positivity Rate (No. of persons positive out of total persons tested)

as 09/25/20: 10.1%

Nationally recommended Positivity Level: 5%

Public Health is also reporting four new cases of multisystem inflammatory 
syndrome in children (MIS-C). This brings the total number of MIS-
C cases in L.A. County to 38 children.

 All 38 children with MIS-C in L.A. County were hospitalized and 47% of the children 
were treated in the ICU. Twenty-six percent of these cases were between the ages of 0 and 
4 years old, 37% were between the ages of 5 and 11 years old, and 37% were between the 
ages of 12 and 20 years old. Latino/Latinx children account for 71% of the reported cases. 
None of the children with MIS-C in L.A. County have died due to the illness.

MIS-C is a rare inflammatory condition associated with COVID-19 that can damage 
multiple organ systems, require hospitalization, and be life-threatening. MIS-C symptoms 
include fever that does not go away and inflamed body parts, including the heart, 
lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs. If you believe your child is 
displaying MIS-C symptoms, contact your primary care provider. If you do not have a 
primary care provider, dial 2-1-1 and L.A. County will help connect you to one.

"To the families and friends who are mourning their loved ones, we are deeply sorry, and 
wish you healing and peace," said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public 
Health. "We have seen slight increases in new cases and are paying attention to our 
case, hospitalization and death numbers to understand recent community transmission 
of COVID-19. Data through this upcoming weekend will inform our understanding 
of the impact of Labor Day holiday actions. This information will inform decisions on 
re-opening."

As of September 22, there have been a total of three deaths among the 1,853 pregnant 
women that tested positive for COVID-19. Eighty percent of pregnant women testing 
positive for COVID-19 are Latina/Latinx, 7% are White, 4% are African American/Black, 
3% are Asian, 4% identify with another race, and race/ethnicity was unknown or unspecified 
for 1%. Among the 956 births where there was testing information, 16 babies 
tested positive for the virus.

Public Health encourages expecting and new moms to take extra care and remain home 
as much as possible to avoid potential exposure. If you must go out, wear a cloth face 
covering, keep physical distance from anyone who is not from your household, and wash 
hands frequently especially right before caring for your baby. If you are sick or positive 
for COVID-19 and breastfeeding, wear a mask while breastfeeding or bottle-feeding, and 
be sure to wash your hands before touching the baby or any pump or bottle before using. 
If possible, ask someone else to feed the baby your breastmilk by bottle. Public Health 
has detailed guidance for expecting and new moms at: http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/
media/Coronavirus/docs/people/GuidancePregnancy.pdf 

While there are steps pregnant women and new mothers can take to lower the risk of 
being exposed to COVID-19, all residents and businesses can contribute to protecting 
people who are vulnerable to serious illness from the virus by using the tools we have to 
reduce transmission: implementing all requirements in the business protocols, practicing 
physical distancing and wearing a cloth face covering when out and around other 
people, washing or sanitizing hands frequently, isolating if you have tested positive for 
COVID-19 and quarantining if you have been exposed to someone who has tested positive 
for the virus.

Of the 34 new deaths reported today (excluding Long Beach and Pasadena), 14 people 
that passed away were over the age of 80, nine people who died were between the ages of 
65 and 79 years old, six people who died were between the ages of 50 and 64 years old and 
two people who died were between the ages of 30 and 49 years old. Twenty-eight people 
had underlying health conditions including 13 people over the age of 80 years old, eight 
people between the ages of 65 and 79 years old, five people between the ages of 50 and 64 
years old, and two people between the ages of 30 and 49. Three deaths were reported by 
the City of Long Beach.

Ninety-two percent of the people who died from COVID-19 had underlying health conditions. 
Of those who died, information about race and ethnicity is available for 6,106 
people (99 percent of the cases reported by Public Health); 51% of deaths occurred among 
Latino/Latinx residents, 23% among White residents, 15% among Asian residents, 10% 
among African American/Black residents, less than 1% among Native Hawaiian/Pacific 
Islander residents and 1% among residents identifying with other races. Upon further 
investigation, 40 cases and one death reported earlier were not L.A. County residents.

Testing results are available for more than 2,609,000 individuals with 9% of all people 
testing positive. There are 760 confirmed cases currently hospitalized and 28% of these 
people are confirmed cases in the ICU.



The Reopening Protocols, COVID-19 Data Dashboard, Recovery Metrics, Recovery 
Dashboard, and additional things you can do to protect yourself, your family and your 
community are on the Public Health website, www.publichealth.lacounty.gov.

LOS ANGELES COUNTY 

COVID-19 UPDATE 9/25/2020

Washington, DC – Today, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Chairman 
of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, 
delivered remarks at a press conference introducing 
the Protecting Our Democracy Act – a landmark reforms 
package that will prevent future presidential abuses, restore 
our system of checks and balances, strengthen accountability 
and transparency, and protect our elections.



Schiff’s remarks, as prepared, are below:

 “I am pleased to be joined by the Speaker and my fellow 
Chairs, to announce the introduction of the Protecting Our 
Democracy Act. In introducing this landmark bill, the House 
is taking another vitally important step in our determination 
to protect our democracy.

 “Since taking office, Donald Trump has viewed the constraints 
on his power and the demand for basic transparency 
and accountability as an inconvenience. He has claimed extraordinary 
power, bent and broken the law, and purposefully 
undermined the rule of law. He has probed for where his 
powers are least constrained, bound only by norms for which 
he has no interest. And where he has found weakness, he has 
exploited it, with grave consequences for our nation.

 “The House Democratic Caucus, with the leadership of the 
Speaker, and all the Chairs represented here as well as many 
others, has stood strong. We have defended the law, the Constitution, 
and our nation’s values, even impeaching the president 
when he was caught abusing his power in an effort to 
extort a foreign partner for dirt on his opponent.

 “Today is the latest step in our critical effort to hold this president, 
and all presidents, accountable. This bill is the culmination 
of many months of work by the Caucus to identify the 
most crucially needed reforms to our laws to constrain a lawless 
president. Some of these reforms have been contemplated 
for years, others became necessary only as we witnessed the 
serial abuses of power by this president. 

 “This bill is essential. Not just because Donald Trump’s presidency 
has been so damaging, though it has been. But because 
we owe it to the American people to put in place meaningful 
constraints on power, fix what is broken, and ensure that there 
is never again another Richard Nixon or Donald Trump, for 
either party.

 “What has become painfully clear is that even in a dangerous 
world, the threats from to our democracy from outside 
the country are less than the threat from within. The guardrails 
that have been built over the course of our country’s history 
and strengthened after Watergate have been shaken and 
broken.

 “To take just one example, Donald Trump has abused the 
pardon power in a fashion that no previous president has ever 
done. The power to pardon or commute sentences is embedded 
in the Constitution, and it is one of the least restrained 
powers the president wields. 

 “A president may use this power to correct unjust sentences, 
or to show mercy to those who have reformed. But instead 
this president has used it to reward his friends and cronies, 
even using it to commute the sentence of his longtime political 
advisor Roger Stone for lying to Congress in order to 
coverup for the president. 

 “This is not what the Founders had in mind. That’s why we’ve 
included a provision to deter the abuse of pardons by subjecting 
them to new transparency requirements if they concern a 
case that directly involves the president or their family. This 
is just one of many important provisions in this bill to prevent 
the abuse of presidential power, strengthen our system of 
checks and balances, and prevent interference in our elections.

 “After Watergate, Congress enacted a series of landmark 
laws and reforms. They changed the way politics is conducted. 
They established laws to prevent the abuse of authority and to 
ensure that it would be discovered.

 “We are taking a similar step today, to restore our checks and 
balances, to protect our elections, and to protect the legacy of 
our founders.”



Specifically, the Protecting Our Democracy Act will:



Prevent Presidential Abuses:

 • Prevent Abuse of the Pardon Power: Requires the
Department of Justice (DOJ) and White House to provide 
materials to Congress concerning any self-serving presidential 
pardon or commutation in cases involving the President 
or his/her relatives, contempt of Congress, or obstruction of 
Congress; clarifies that the President and Vice President are 
“public officials” and pardons are “official acts” and “things of 
value” for purposes of the federal bribery statute; and prohibits 
self-pardons by the President.



• Ensure No President is Above the Law: Suspends the
statute of limitations for any federal offense committed by a 
sitting president or vice president, whether it was committed 
before or during their terms in office, to ensure that presidents 
and vice presidents can be held accountable for criminal conduct 
just like every other American and not use their offices as 
a shield to avoid legal consequences.



• Enforce the Foreign and Domestic Emoluments
Clauses of the Constitution: Codifies the Constitution’s Foreign 
and Domestic Emoluments Clauses by prohibiting federal 
officials from accepting of foreign emoluments without 
Congress’s consent and prohibiting the President from accepting 
domestic emoluments; strengthens the process for 
civil actions brought by Congress for violations of the Foreign 
Emoluments Clause; enhances financial disclosure requirements 
related to emoluments; and provides enhanced enforcement 
mechanisms for Congress and for entities within 
the Executive Branch. 



Restore Our System of Checks and Balances, Strengthen Accountability, 
and Transparency:

• Enforce Congressional Subpoenas: Strengthens Congress’ 
tools to enforce lawfully-issued subpoenas; codifies a 
cause of action for Congress to enforce its subpoenas, including 
those issued to government officials; expedites the judicial 
process for congressional subpoena enforcement actions; empowers 
courts to levy fines on government officials who willfully 
fail to comply with congressional subpoenas; and specifies 
the manner in which subpoena recipients must comply.



• Reassert Congressional Power of the Purse: Strengthens 
Congress’ power of the purse by enhancing the Impoundment 
Control Act (ICA), including by adding penalties for 
failure to comply; increasing transparency and reporting requirements 
for the Executive Branch; and strengthens congressional 
budget oversight tools under the ICA and Antideficiency 
Act (ADA) to prevent federal agencies from misusing 
federal funds.



• Strengthen Congressional Oversight of Presidential 
Emergency Declarations: Imposes a limit on Presidential 
declarations of emergencies and any powers triggered by 
such declarations unless extended by a vote of the Congress; 
requires the President to provide all Presidential Emergency 
Action Documents (PEADs) to Congress.



• Provide Security from Political Interference in Justice: 
In order to limit political interference in criminal and 
civil enforcement matters, requires the Attorney General to 
maintain a log of certain communications between the Department 
of Justice (DOJ) and the White House; requires 
the Attorney General to provide the log to the DOJ Inspector 
General (DOJ IG) bi-annually; and requires the DOJ IG 
to report to Congress any inappropriate communications or 
communications evidencing improper political interference. 



• Protect Inspector General Independence: Permits
only the President or the head of an agency to remove or place 
on administrative leave any Inspector General (IG), including 
IGs of the Intelligence Community (IC), and only for cause; 
clarifies that IGs of the IC have sole authority to determine 
matters of urgent concern, which include foreign interference 
in our elections; enhances congressional reporting requirements 
when an IG of the IC is removed or there are disagreements 
between an IG of the IC and heads of agencies; and 
requires the President to provide to Congress documentation 
of cause before removing an IG.



• Protect Whistleblowers: Enhances protections for
federal whistleblowers, including measures to protect the anonymity 
of whistleblowers; clarifies the right of government 
employees, including those in the IC, to provide information 
directly to Congress; creates a private right of action for whistleblowers 
who are publicly outed by government officials; reauthorizes 
the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) and 
provides for whistleblower training for MSPB administrative 
judges; and limits the conditions under which a government 
official or employee may disclose a whistleblower’s identity or 
other whistleblower information, including limitations on the 
sharing of IC whistleblower complaints with persons named 
as subjects in the complaint.



• Provide Accountability for Acting Officials: Makes a
series of changes with respect to the appointment, tenure, and 
qualifications of acting officials of executive agencies; limits 
the tenure of acting heads of agencies to no more than 120 
days.



• Strengthen Hatch Act Enforcement and Penalties:
Strengthens the Office of Special Counsel’s (OSC) ability to investigate 
violations of the Hatch Act; clarifies that employees 
of the Executive Office of the President and the Office of the 
Vice President can be investigated for Hatch Act violations; 
authorizes OSC to issue civil fines for Hatch Act violations 
committed by political appointees; and increases the maximum 
fine for Hatch Act violations by political appointees to 
$50,000.



Protect Our Elections:

• Ensure Reporting of Foreign Interference in Elections: 
Requires that political committees report to the FBI 
and the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) certain foreign 
contacts; requires that each political candidate and immediate 
family member of a candidate notify a designated campaign 
committee official of certain foreign contacts; requires the FBI 
to report to the congressional intelligence committees any reporting 
received pursuant to these provisions.



• Prevent Foreign Interference in Elections: Clarifies
that the definition of a “thing of value” in the Federal Election 
Campaign Act prohibition on foreign donations to political 
campaigns and candidates includes information sought or 
obtained for political advantage; enhances criminal penalties 
for violations of such prohibition; requires that political campaigns 
certify that they understand the prohibition.

 The Protecting Our Democracy Act is sponsored by Chairs 
Adam Schiff, Jerrold Nadler, Carolyn Maloney, John Yarmuth, 
Zoe Lofgren, Eliot Engel, and Richard Neal. It is also sponsored 
by Reps. Steve Cohen, Gerry Connolly, Madeline Dean, 
Hakeem Jeffries, Ted Lieu, Katie Porter, Jamie Raskin, Mary 
Gay Scanlon, Jackie Speier and Eric Swalwell.


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com