,e spoke in darby, pennsylvania a suburb of philadelphia, after meeting with Small Business owners in that area. Good afternoon, everyone. I apologize for the slight delay. We wanted to make sure everyone was able to get here. Fori think local officials joining me today. They got a lot to do and they have really been very, very busy. Before i begin my remarks, i want to acknowledge, five years ago today, when a white supremacist walked into Mother Emanuel Church in charleston, South Carolina and slaughtered a friend of mine and eight other parishioners, it was a hate ,nrivaled, and it was poisonous a poisonous expression of White Supremacy that still affects our nation and many of our institutions. When i reflect back on the Amazing Grace and compassion of the mother emanuel community, i see our grace and compassion as americans. But we know that grace alone is not enough. We have to put it to work, that grace. We are seeing the best of america in that as well. In the weeks of peaceful protest, civil actions taking place, in cities and towns of every size, in this state and every other state across the country, people are keeping their eyes focused on how dangerous it is, how much danger it is to live the life of a black or brown skin person in this country. Americans are out there marching , notwithstanding the fact that we are in the middle of a pandemic. Thats how critical they think it is. Said,day, donald trump if we stopped testing right now for covid19, we have very few cases, if any. If we stop testing now, we would have very few cases, if any. Statement is not only absurd, tragic. Ually yesterday, the head of the White House Task force on coronavirus, the Vice President , claim success in the fight because deaths are down to fewer than 750 a day. 750 fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, uncles and aunts, husbands, wives, children, dying every day. More than 20,000 a month. Than world war ii level casualties each month. 59 11s eachhan month. This administration is engaging in self congratulations. It may be good enough for donald it who will never, will never, ever be acceptable to my administration. Researchers have shown that tens of thousands of americans have died needlessly because donald trump was slow to respond to the crisis. And then when he did, he bungled the response. For weeks in january and february, i was raising my concerns about how we need to take this virus seriously. All the while, trump was ignoring the reporting from his own Intelligence Community in his daily briefings. And the warnings of his closest advisors. All the while praising the Chinese Government for being transparent in handling this virus instead of demanding access for the cdc that beijing wuhan. Using to give in the American People sacrificed so much to fight this virus. Weve lost lives. Weve lost businesses. Weve lost paychecks. And now, thanks to Donald Trumps bungling, we may lose some of the progress weve begun to make, all because he has lost interest. He is once again ignoring the facts, the Public Health responses still woefully lacking from this administration. More than 117,000 people have died in the United States of america, with an average daily number of cases still climbing in 21 states. We still dont have what we need when it comes to rapid results testing. Capacity. Acing widely available personnel protective equipment for them. Or clear nationwide guidance. Trump pushesident dangerous, disproven drugs, stands in the way of the cdc issuing guidelines on reopening. He refuses to wear a mask, failing the most basic test of leadership. He scaled back meetings of the covid19 task force. I guess theres not much to do. In spite of expert saying that testing and tracing is necessary for reopening, he sent his testings are home his testing home. The money provided to the pentagon for Central Medical 15 has, only 15 , only made it out the door. Trump wants this down as president against covid19. He takes no responsibility. He exercises no leadership. Now he is just flat surrendering the fight. Leading the charge to defeat the virus, he just basically waved a white flag and has retreated. So eager to get back to his Campaign Rallies that he will put people at risk, as everyone pointed out, in violation of the cdc guidelines. They still warned against large gatherings. Notwithstanding cdc guidelines, as long as the people show up and sign a waiver promising they will not hold the campaign liable. To fightumps failure the coronavirus with the same energy and focus he used to troll his enemies on twitter has cost us lives. It is putting hope for an economic recovery at risk. Job numbers, retail sales were better than expected in may, and thats great news for the country. But now Donald Trumps desire to declare victory and be done with it is only going to imperil the continuing progress we have to make. Our economy is still sputtering, with more than 20 Million People unemployed, and no clear guidance from the federal government for what businesses need to do to reopen safely, efficiently, and generate a strong recovery. This is in a debate about whether to reopen. Reopening how we make work for everyone. The employees at the white house get daily covid19 tests. They know they are safe before they go to work, and they know their coworkers are safe. But workers across the country are not asking for daily testing. They are just asking for regular, reliable access to tests. Dont they deserve that . So its not that donald trump doesnt recognize the importance of this action. Is that hes not up to the task, or doesnt care. And now he has seemingly decided he doesnt even want to try. Just like he couldnt wish covid19 away in march, just like he couldnt tweet it away in april, he cant ignore it away in june. So i have some basic questions for president donald trump. Do to makeu going to sure every worker has access to regular testing, so that they have the same confidence to go into a store or go back to work that white house staffers have . Why are you leaving schools and Childcare Centers to navigate the uncertainty all on their own, without effective guidance and resources they need to protect the kids and their communities . Enforce the osha standards for Worker Protection during this Global Pandemic . Lendingthe main street program, created more than two months ago by the congress to help struggling Small Businesses only open for registration to lenders two days ago . And still hasnt distributed a single penny. Why dont you disclose the names, mr. President , of the businesses that received a total of five . Hundred billion dollars in taxpayer funding . Why are they being hidden . Bailouts . Ronies got how many donors . How many big businesses . Didnt need it what business had to shut down because they were denied funding in april . What businesses didnt get special approval that other got byy a that others a nod from the top . Why did you get rid of the watchdog, mr. President . Why did you get rid of the watchdog appointed to oversee every dollar distributed, the Inspector General . Why did you get rid of that person that Congress Passed . What are you trying to hide . Bad management on top of bad planning on top of neglect. It is totally unacceptable for a great nation like ours. Folks, heres the truth. The pandemic is still here. Its going to be here for the foreseeable future, until we get it under control or until we have safe and proven, widely available vaccines. Covid19 is a fact of nature. Virus, to deal with this and everything that comes with it. We have to deal with it head on, honestly. Tell the people the truth. Paraphrase frank than roosevelt in the depression, American People can handle anything if you just tell them the truth. It the wayeal with you are doing it. The only way to deal with it, mr. President , is if we put in , investing and building a dynamic, resilient economy and Health System capable of getting and then staying ahead of new outbreaks. We have the capacity and resources to do that. Ive laid out baseline steps of what needs to be done, from make it work checklist for successful, countable recovery. That i put out back in early april. The steps for a strong reopening that are released last week. Its not rocket science. Granted, have incredible scientists advising me on almost a daily basis on how to proceed, but its not rocket science, its common sense. Perhaps thehis is greatest indictment of Donald Trumps complete, compelling lack of leadership. He wasted months and months and , blamingssing the buck everyone else, refusing to act when he shouldve been preparing our country for a longterm response, and building up our resiliency to respond to future flareups. Yet, we still have a comprehensive system for collecting covid19 case data. This is the basics. Usshouldve been preparing to whether the valleys and peaks of this virus. He should have been working to shore up the vulnerabilities in our Health Care System that have been laid bare in this crisis. He shouldve been working to bridge the inequities and strengthen the crocs and the foundation. Our Economic System that is exposed for everyone to see. E hasnt done any of it because of the depths of Donald Trumps failures, this pandemic will continue to be worse for all americans, and much worse for black and brown americans who are getting hit the hardest. Folks in communities like darby borough, donald trump thinks if he puts his head in the sand, the American People will, too. But it doesnt work that way. Not when hundreds of people are still dying everyday and millions are unemployed, wondering how in gods name they are going to keep the lights on and food on the table. Not when workers are weighed down with worries about their safety or what happens if they get sick. Are steps that we need to be taking now to steer us steadily and strongly in the right direction and see us through this time, to make a more resilient future for all of us. First, we have to do everything we can to avoid deadly spikes in the infection as people begin to go back out in the world. We are not that much better prepared today with the run of fills our over intensive care units then we were three months ago. Second, we have to help give people the assurance and precautions that are necessary to restart the economy with confidence. Littleicans lose what faith they have left in the governments ability met to manage this pandemic, we will see much deeper and longer lasting Economic Impacts then we even with even greater repercussions for peoples wellbeing. , dont leave the American People to face this threat on their own, with no guidance, resources, or leadership. Let support from the cares act expire next month while people are still hurting. Dont leave our frontline workers exposed without the resources needed, and dont waste anymore of our time, mr. President. The American People need confidence in clear guidance, grounded in science thats going to allow them to resume their daily lives. American businesses need the support of the federal government to continue to backstop after this phase of the reopening. Workers need assurances that their health is your first concern. Americans need a president who will put the American People first, not his or her own ego. America needs a president who will do the work. Im ready on day one, after more than three years in office, why isnt donald trump ready . R. President , wake up get to work. There is so much more to be done. Thank you. [applause] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] the Senate Returns monday at 3 00 p. M. Eastern to continue to debate on the judicial nomination of mississippis cory wilson to be a u. S. Court of appeals judge for the fifth circuit. Andr next week, debate votes are possible on the Police Reform legislation introduced by South Carolina republican senator tim scott. All of the senate live on cspan2. The house returns for legislative work thursday at 9 00 a. M. Eastern. They take up their Police Reform bill with debate and votes happening as proxy voting rules are still in effect due to the coronavirus. Also on the agenda, washington, dc statehood, and attempt to override president trumps veto over resolution that would block the education departments student loan forgiveness rule. Follow the house live on cspan. Cspans washington journal, every day. We are taking your calls live on the air on the news of the day, and discussing policy issues that impact you. Coming up monday morning, a university of baltimore law professor on her new book about the history of voting in the campaigntalk about 2020 and campaign trumps president trumps election strategy. Watch live at 7 00 eastern monday morning, and be sure to join the discussion with the phone calls, facebook comments, text messages, and tweets. Next, q a with university of texas professor peniel joseph. He talks about the activism and converging ideologies of malcolm x and Martin Luther king jr. And their impact on civil rights. After that, prime ministers questions from the british house of commons with boris johnson. Then speeches from the copenhagen democracy summit by former secretaries of state Madeleine Albright and current secretary of state mike pompeo. Susan dr. Peniel joseph, you and i planned this interview three months back, but we got sideways with the covid lockdown. What a momentous three months they have been. As a historian, how are you processing this time this country is going through . Prof. Joseph i have been
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