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WASHINGTON (BLOOMBERG) – US President-elect Joe Biden on Thursday (Nov. 19) attacked the Trump administration’s lack of cooperation in the presidential transition, which he says hampers his team’s ability to obtain up-to-date information on the coronavirus pandemic.
Biden said he could not “understand” President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede the election, saying he would “go down in history as one of the most irresponsible presidents.”
“Far from me to question his motives, it is simply outrageous what he is doing,” Biden said, referring to Trump’s legal maneuvers to overturn the election result.
Biden asked the administration to allow his team to obtain details on a coronavirus vaccine and distribution plans.
“I would like to know exactly what this administration has in mind in terms of their Operation Warp Speed and how they plan it,” he said.
Biden said he has not ruled out legal action to force the hand of the General Services Administration, which has so far refused to sign a verification that Biden likely won the election and released money and access to government officials.
Until the paperwork is signed, Biden cannot receive national security reports or real-time data on the coronavirus.
Biden also spoke with governors who briefed him on the state of the pandemic in their states as the virus spreads across the country.
“The governors made it clear that beating Covid-19 will require all of us to work together,” Biden said.
Noting that state and local budgets have been devastated by the pandemic-related slowdown, he said, “We have to come together. The federal government has to provide this relief.”
“My transition team has not been able to access the information we need” about vaccine testing, development and distribution, he told the executive committee of the National Governors Association, in a video conference, made up of five Republican and five Democratic governors. .
The meeting came as his team finds solutions for information and guidance as Trump continues to block Biden’s efforts to build an administration. Transition officials have begun contacting staff of congressional appropriations committees for information on federal agencies, people familiar with the meetings said.
Meanwhile, the president maintains his baseless claims that widespread fraud invalidates the election and insists that it will prevail.
A Democratic House aide said Biden’s transition aides will meet with the staff of the House Appropriations Committee, which deals with all federal agencies and their budgets. And a Democratic Senate aide said phone calls have already been made between Senate Appropriations Committee staff and Biden’s aides.
Business groups are joining the list of those clamoring for the presidential transition to begin.
The Executive Director of the US Chamber of Commerce, Tom Donohue, the National Association of Manufacturers and Mr. Joshua Bolten, president of the Business Roundtable trade group for CEOs, have said that it is time for the process to move forward.
The Trump White House continues to move forward with a 2022 fiscal budget proposal assuming Trump will have a second term, and as appropriations committees attempt to finalize 2021 fiscal funding bills before the December 11 deadline. .
Biden’s transition team assembled agency review teams, made up of more than 500 people, who are charged with communicating with federal agencies to better understand their policies and operations, but those efforts cannot begin until the GSA officially designates that the transfer of power from the Trump administration to a Biden can begin.
Biden’s advisers have warned of dire consequences if the Trump administration continues to deny the federal government access, especially real-time data on the coronavirus pandemic and plans to distribute a vaccine.
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