Monday on MSNBC, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) said President Donald Trump’s executive orders addressing the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic were a bad “public relations stunt.”
Host Steve Kornacki said, “I know you don’t think the president should have taken these actions over the weekend. I know you don’t like the approach that he’s put in them. But practically speaking, do you believe the things that he has done or says he has done through these executive actions. Do you believe they are going to be implemented?”
Jayapal said, “I don’t know if they’re going to be implemented, but even if they are, these were a PR stunt, nothing more than a public relations stunt and a bad one at that.”
She continued, “These executive orders, he does not continue the eviction on rent and mortgage assistance. He says maybe they should be considered as continuing the eviction moratorium. He says that he’s increasing or he’s continuing unemployment benefits, but he’s actually slashing them in half because he’s asking for states who have no money to participate in giving even less unemployment than what was assured before to people. He really has done nothing with these executive orders.”
She added, “To me, what’s horrifying is he’s thinking about which battlefield to deliver his acceptance nomination speech, but we have the battlefield of coronavirus right here in America. And these executive orders do nothing to put money in people’s pockets to help deal with the testing and contact tracing. You mentioned the statistics for New Zealand. They took immediate action. We in the United States of America have shown no leadership because this president refuses to admit that this is a real thing. Now we surpassed 5 million cases and 3.5 million in the 12 weeks since the House of Representatives passed the HEROES Act. One hundred sixty-three thousand deaths of Americans and I just think it’s disgraceful because there is no relief, and my constituents are desperate. They’re getting kicked out of their homes. They don’t have money for food on the table. There is no money for their kids to go to school. There’s no assistance for states and local governments to actually be able to deal with all the things that they’re having to deal with. So, complete lack of leadership from the president. What he needs to do is come back to the table and negotiate.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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