Schumer: The White House Is ‘Caught Flat-Footed’ With No Plan to Deal With the Coronavirus
During a speech on the floor of the Senate on Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) argued that the White House does not have a plan to deal with the coronavirus, which has already spread to the United…
During a speech on the floor of the Senate on Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) argued that the White House does not have a plan to deal with the coronavirus, which has already spread to the United States. Schumer noted that there are 53 confirmed cases in the U.S.
The Democratic leader said, “The Trump administration has been caught flat-footed.”
He continued:
“The administration has no plan to deal with the coronavirus. No plan. And seemingly, no urgency to develop one. Even now, after the virus has already become a worldwide health crisis, with rapidly growing economic risk, the Trump administration is scrambling to respond. We have a crisis and the Trump administration is trying to build an airplane while already in mid-flight.”
Later, he noted that “even as we began to hear about the coronavirus in China, the administration sent us a budget that proposed cutting the CDC budget by 16% — the CDC, the agency on the front lines.”
In a statement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) echoed Schumer’s concerns, saying, “The President’s request for coronavirus response funding is long overdue and completely inadequate to the scale of this emergency.”
The White House is asking Congress for $2.5 billion to fight the coronavirus
. In a statement, spokeswoman for the Office of Management and Budget said, “The Trump administration continues to take the spread of the COVID-19 Coronavirus Disease very seriously. Today, the administration is transmitting to Congress a $2.5 billion supplemental funding plan to accelerate vaccine development, support preparedness and response activities and to procure much needed equipment and supplies.”
The secretary of Health and Human Services told senators on Tuesday that the administration is working to fight the virus, saying, “We are working closely with state, local, and private sector partners to prepare for mitigating the virus’ potential spread in the United States, as we will likely see more cases here