Today, DNC Chair Tom Perez and Miller Center Senior Fellow Chris Lu discussed the unprecedented 32.9% annualized drop in GDP last quarter and additional 2.2 million Americans who applied for some form of unemployment last week. Trump’s failed response to the coronavirus has brought on the staggering health and economic crisis facing our nation.

“It’s been another week of economic hardship for millions of American families. … The only thing more jaw-dropping than these numbers is the incompetence that caused them. Donald Trump inherited the longest uninterrupted string of private sector job growth in our nation’s history, and what did he do with it? He torpedoed it. He plunged us into the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression. As the crisis intensified, he did not take bold action. Instead, he ignored the experts and told everyone it wasn’t a big deal,” said DNC Chair Tom Perez.

“Today is the culmination of three and a half years of failed Trump administration policies. … So how are Donald Trump and his congressional allies trying to help average Americans? Well, for starters, they want to cut unemployment benefits that are allowing millions to pay their rent and groceries. They want to give blanket immunity to companies when their employees get infected. They want to allow companies to fully deduct their three-martini lunches at a time when millions are going to food pantries. And Republicans refuse to help cash-strapped state and local governments that are on the verge of laying off teachers, police, and firefighters. Oh, here’s one more thing: they want to spend $1.75 billion on a new FBI building, which conveniently sits across the street from the Trump hotel,” said Miller Center Senior Fellow Chris Lu.