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Rep. Maxine Waters: This President is Failing & Americans are Dying

July 15, 2020

LOS ANGELES – Congresswoman Maxine Waters (CA-43) issued a statement on Donald Trump's failure to address the deadly surge in coronavirus cases and invoke the Defense Production Act (DPA) to provide adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers and vulnerable communities:

"As coronavirus cases and deaths in the United States surge and California, Florida, and Texas emerge as the deadly epicenters of this crisis, it is blatantly obvious that Donald Trump has failed this country in every way possible.

"This week, Los Angeles County set a record for the number of new coronavirus cases in one day – 4,244 – and it's been reported that California, Texas, and Florida represent one in five of all new coronavirus cases worldwide. Doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers have been sounding the alarm for months about the dire need for N-95 masks, gowns, gloves, and other personal protective equipment (PPE). Our nursing homes – which represent more than 40 percent of all COVID-19 deaths – have yet to receive the N-95 masks or adequate PPE replenishments that they were promised by the Trump administration months ago, and we have now learned that 20 percent of these facilities have less than a week's worth supply of PPE. Hospitals in states across the country are running out of emergency room beds and ventilators, and we still don't have adequate testing. Now, in the midst of a deadly surge in coronavirus cases, we're learning from news reports that the Strategic National Stockpile and the Federal Emergency Management Agency have fewer than 900,000 gloves in reserve, which is only 30 percent of the amount requested by state, local, and tribal governments.

"Instead of a real president, the American people are left to suffer through the repeated failures of an impeached criminal who lacks the knowledge, experience, or common human decency to provide the leadership that our country needs to survive this public health nightmare. Donald Trump is too much of a coward to use his authority to fully invoke the Defense Production Act (DPA) in order to meet the PPE and medical device needs of our healthcare industry and communities. He's too insecure to respect the life-saving guidance of Dr. Anthony Fauci, our top infectious disease expert whose approval and trustworthiness ratings are greater than his in the eyes of the American people. He's too untrustworthy to allow hospitals and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to maintain autonomy in recording COVID-19 cases and patient information, and instead wants them to send the data to his administration cronies. He's too ignorant to wear a mask, and he's too incompetent, dangerous, and too much of an international disgrace to serve in office of the presidency for another day."

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Issues:Health Care