Senate Republicans Refuse to Hold the President Responsible for Broken Promises on Coronavirus Response

Trump Failed to Prepare for this Pandemic & Is Now Mismanaging the Response — But Senate Republicans Have Not Demanded Answers from the White House for Exacerbating a Public Health and Economic Crisis

As report after report details the Trump administration’s failure to prepare for and now respond to this pandemic, Senate Republicans still refuse to hold the White House accountable — even as Trump leaves behind a trail of “unfulfilled” and “unmet” promises.

The Associated Press and NPR review how the president has broken repeated public pledges like delivering widespread testing, securing necessary medical supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE), producing life-saving ventilators, and more. They conclude that “few of the promises made… have come to pass.” Republican senators have been silent throughout, pointing fingers elsewhere and even defending the president’s incompetence in some cases.

“The United States now has more confirmed cases and more deaths than any country because of this administration’s dangerous failure to prepare for this threat and the mismanagement of the current response,” said DSCC spokesperson Stewart Boss. “Republican Senators are refusing to hold the administration accountable for its repeated and well-documented failures to get a handle on issues like testing, PPE, and ventilators that are wreaking havoc on our economy and our public health system, and voters will not forget.”

These broken promises are not the only issues where GOP senators have been unwilling to hold the president accountable on the failed coronavirus response in recent weeks: Most have also refused to condemn Trump’s decision to keep special enrollment in the Affordable Care Act’s federal health insurance marketplace closed, Trump’s removal of the independent watchdog designated to oversee the $2 trillion coronavirus relief package and “safeguard against wasteful spending,” and Trump’s failure to listen to repeated ominous intelligence warnings early on about the threat of the virus.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

NPR: A Month After Emergency Declaration, Trump’s Promises Largely Unfulfilled

• One month ago today, President Trump declared a national emergency. In a Rose Garden address, flanked by leaders from giant retailers and medical testing companies, he promised a mobilization of public and private resources to attack the coronavirus.

• But few of the promises made that day have come to pass.

• NPR’s Investigations Team dug into each of the claims made from the podium that day. And rather than a sweeping national campaign of screening, drive-through sample collection and lab testing, it found a smattering of small pilot projects and aborted efforts. In some cases, no action was taken at all.

Associated Press: Trump leaves trail of unmet promises in coronavirus response

• For several months, President Donald Trump and his officials have cast a fog of promises meant to reassure a country in the throes of the coronavirus pandemic. Trump and his team haven’t delivered on critical ones.

• Piercing that fog is the bottom-line reality that Americans are going without the medical supplies and much of the financial help they most need from the government at the very time they need it most — and were told they would have it.

• But in large measure they will arrive on the down slope of the pandemic… landing too late for this outbreak’s lethal curve.

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