Pelosi & Schumer Hold Trump Accountable for COVID Failures & Health Care Sabotage

During a video press briefing today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer discussed the Republican National Convention and how Trump’s failed coronavirus response and attacks on the Affordable Care Act have threatened health care for millions of Americans.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi:

“The chaos presidency of Donald Trump has brought further crisis to America’s families in the midst of a pandemic. The chaos that he brought forth by calling it a hoax, the denial, the delay, the distortion has resulted in… 180,000 people have died, have died in our country, and millions have been infected.”

“Instead of crushing the virus he’s trying to crush the Affordable Care Act. In the tradition of the Republicans in the Congress who more than 60 times tried to repeal or undermine the Affordable Care Act, this president is trying to crush it in the courts. On November 10 will be the day when we put forth the oral argument to fight his efforts to crush the Affordable Care Act. So central to the Affordable Care Act is that 20 million more people have access to health care. In addition to that, over 150 million families had essential benefits increased. And again, among them, the ever-essential preexisting condition benefits. The president engaged in also saying, ‘I’m there to protect the preexisting conditions.’ He is not. He’s crushing it and this makes all the difference in the world to 130 million families in our country which had someone with a preexisting condition. A child born with a preexisting condition has it for life. People with disabilities in our country depend on that benefit.”

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer:

“The U.S. leads the world in the number of COVID-19 deaths by far, close to 180,000 as has been mentioned, every one of them, leaving friends and family with broken hearts. And Republicans pretend like Donald Trump has a handle on the virus. Republicans have spent their convention trying to papier mâché over reality to cover up the fact that Donald Trump has failed to contain COVID-19. Let’s be clear: President Trump ignored the advice of experts, downplayed the virus, and refused to take swift action to contain the spread of the virus. Every other western country just about, every other Asian country, and developed countries have done a far better job than us because they had leadership and we didn’t. We had chaos. And as a result, the Trump administration’s response to COVID-19 has been an international embarrassment. And we are experiencing the greatest health crisis this country has seen in over 100 years.”

Today’s press briefing is part of the DNC War Room’s counter programming during the Republican National Convention. Each day, the DNC is focusing on a different crisis Trump has created or made worse with his “Chaos Presidency.” Efforts include paid television and digital advertising, holding Trump and speakers accountable for their lies and misinformation, events in battleground states, and more.