Biden, the supposed Democratic candidate to challenge Trump in November, attacked the president not to mention that the United States reached a record high in coronavirus cases in his speech that day, ridiculed the lack of oversight in stimulus programs and told him Trump to “act.” , lead … or get out of the way so others can. ”
We take a look at the facts surrounding some of the allegations he made against the President and his administration.
Biden suggested that the federal government had no guidance for states to reopen.
“Without a uniform plan and the guidance of the federal government that state and local leaders can use to inform their reopening plans,” Biden said, “it will simply continue to be worse than it otherwise would have been.”
Done first: Although not mandatory, the administration has published guidelines and criteria for states to reopen.
The White House has “Guidelines for the opening of America again” that describes the criteria that states and / or regions must “satisfy before proceeding to a gradual opening.” These criteria include having a downward trajectory of coronavirus cases and influenza-like illness for two weeks, as well as robust testing programs and more.
At a Senate hearing on Tuesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of the President’s coronavirus task force, criticized some states for possibly “going too fast and skipping some of the checkpoints “established by White House guidelines for reopening.
EPP shortage
As some states reverse course in their reopening efforts amid record increases in coronavirus cases, Biden said hospitals and health workers are not fully equipped to handle these spikes.
“Our health workers are still rationing personal protective equipment,” he said.
Facts First: It is true that some hospitals and healthcare workers have to ration or use alternatives to PPE due to shortages.
At Cambridge Health Alliance’s Cambridge Hospital in Massachusetts, nurses must wear single-use face masks for at least five shifts before they can get a new one, the Boston Globe reported June 21.
Republican Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee Thursday afternoon that “the issue of PPE – personal protective equipment – is front and center.”
“In a conversation with community leaders, including hospitals and public health officials, the concern is that supply is short once again as the number increases,” Moran said.
Megan Ranney, an emergency room doctor who helped found the GetUsPPE group, told CNN that as of June 19, her organization receives tens of thousands of requests each week from healthcare systems in less than a week. of PPE on hand, indicating that doctors are still in Conservation and reuse of protective equipment.
Support for American workers
During the speech, Biden said, “Has (Trump) done anything, anything real, to prioritize support for American workers who need help now?”
Facts First: Trump has signed legislation aimed at helping working Americans, though it is unclear what Biden means by “prioritizing support.”
Congress passed and Trump signed the largest emergency aid package in United States history on March 27.
The approximately $ 2 trillion CARES Act stimulus package included, among a myriad of other items, direct financial assistance to Americans. People who earn $ 75,000 in adjusted gross income or less should have received direct payments of $ 1,200 each, with married couples earning up to $ 150,000 and receiving $ 2,400, and an additional $ 500 for each child. Some reports suggest that Trump supports another round of these direct payments.
A big part of the stimulus package is the $ 660 billion Salary Protection Program, which provides forgivable loans to small businesses if at least 75% of the money goes to payroll expenses. So far, more than 4.8 million small businesses have accessed the funds. During an interview with Politico on April 25, Biden argued that another stimulus package was needed and that it should be “much, much bigger” than the CARES Act.
On March 18, Trump enacted a coronavirus relief package. The package included provisions for free Covid-19 testing and paid emergency licenses for certain people affected by the coronavirus, with payments limited to $ 511 per day. It also increased Medicaid funding, certain tax credits, and expanded food assistance.
There are many critics of these programs and packages and a good amount of evidence that some of the funds were not intended for Americans and small businesses in greatest need. While one could argue that Trump has not done enough to help struggling Americans, suggesting that Trump has done nothing to support working Americans is not accurate.
Responsibility
Biden also said that Trump and Republicans “distribute taxpayer money to large corporations with zero liability.”
Facts First: While it is unclear which funds Biden specifically refers to, there have been red flags when it comes to monitoring CARES funds.
As CNN reported, when Trump signed the CARES Act, it included a signing statement that suggested it would ignore various oversight requirements and possibly prevent certain general reports from inspectors from going to Congress without “presidential oversight.”
Then, after acting Pentagon Inspector General Glenn Fine was selected to chair the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, a group of inspectors general overseeing stimulus spending, Trump replaced Fine.
Another red flag was produced in mid-June when leaders of this committee said they were facing “potentially significant transparency and oversight problems” in a letter to four congressional committee chairs, Phil Mattingly of CNN reported. According to the letter, the problem involved a draft legal opinion from the Treasury Department’s general advisory office alleging that it was not necessary to provide borrower information for PPP loans.
Days later, on June 19, the Treasury Department and the Small Business Administration reversed course after a barrage of criticism saying they would reveal information on who received PPP loans.
These and other issues raise questions about the level of responsibility and oversight of stimulus funds, although “zero liability” is an exaggeration.
Recognizing the impact of the coronavirus
The President’s Empathy.
Criticizing the administration’s response to the coronavirus, Biden asked whether Trump “had ever expressed true empathy for those families who will never again be whole because of this virus.”
Facts First: Although we can’t verify how “real” his empathy has been, Trump has expressed his condolences for the families of those lost to the coronavirus more than once.
After the coronavirus deaths in the United States reached 100,000, Trump tweeted: “To all the families and friends of those who died, I want to extend my sincere sympathy and love for all that these great people represented and represented.”
And at a White House roundtable on May 29, he said: “Our nation continues to mourn for the lives claimed by the virus and to mourn for families who have lost loved ones.”
In comments since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Trump often condolences to Vice President Mike Pence and other officials, preferring instead to emphasize the supposed progress in slowing down the spread of the coronavirus or focus on areas of relative success as part of the jobs recent report.
“Almost 130,000 Americans have died and millions more have lost their jobs, but Donald Trump continually pretends to be the real victim of Covid-19,” Biden campaign spokesman Michael Gwin told CNN.
Impact on certain minority communities
Biden suggested that the president has not mentioned the racial aspect of the coronavirus, which studies have shown is affecting non-white Americans, especially the especially strong black community.
“Has Donald Trump even acknowledged the disproportionate impact this disease is having on the black, brown, and Native American communities?” Biden said. “You know the answer. Of course not.”
Facts First: Although Biden could argue that the President could do more, Trump has recognized the disproportionate impact that the coronavirus has had on black and brown communities in the United States. It has also struggled to engage with some Native American communities as the virus continues to spread.
In May, Trump participated in a roundtable on supporting Native Americans with Navajo Nation Vice President Myron Lizer. During the discussion, the President acknowledged that “Native Americans have been hit hard by the terrible pandemic,” citing the significant cost that the coronavirus has had on members of the Navajo Nation in particular.
During the coronavirus press conference on April 7, the president repeatedly mentioned data indicating that African Americans are at increased risk for coronavirus.
“We are actively participating in the problem of increasing impacts (this is a real problem and it shows very strongly in our data) on the African-American community,” Trump said. “It has been disproportionate. They are being hit very, very hard.”
At the coronavirus press conference on April 18, the President once again noted the disproportionate impact the virus was having on African Americans, adding that “equally in Hispanic communities, the numbers are disproportionate.”
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