News / Politics

Schumer calls for hearings on Trump's 'abject failure at implementing' coronavirus relief

Tuesday, 28 April 2020 5:22 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 28 April 2020 5:34 PM ]

US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks at a press conference at Corona Plaza in Queens on April 14, 2020 in New York City. (AFP photo)

US Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) has blasted the administration of President Donald Trump for failing to implement the coronavirus response laws passed in Congress.

“This administration has been an abject failure at implementing most of these laws,” Schumer said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Tuesday.

Schumer said he would call on the Senate to begin oversight hearings next week.

“The executive branch has failed miserably implementing almost all the things Congress has passed,” he said. “I’ve never seen an administration so bad at enacting the laws that Congress has put together.”

Schumer announced that he and other Senate Democrats will send a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) demanding Senate oversight hearings for the first four coronavirus relief bills passed by Congress, including the $2.2 trillion CARES Act.

“What we should do now that we’re coming back next week is have hearings, oversight. Haul in Dr. Birx, Dr. Fauci, Azar, and say ‘Why isn’t testing working?’” he said, referring to Dr. Deborah Birx and Dr. Anthony Fauci, two senior health advisors to President Trump, and Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar.

Schumer slmmed the Trump administration not only for its poor responding to the pandemic, but also, for corporate favoritism in response money was distributed.

The Democratic leader called for Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Small Business Administration administrator Jovita Carranza to testify about the poor response.

“Call these people before the Congress,” Schumer said. “This will enable [senators] to ask tough question after tough question.”

Ford O'Connell, a Trump supporter and former Republican congressional candidate in Florida, expressed hope that the administration make efforts to correst its poor response to coronavirus pandemic.

He warned that Trump's failure in his response to COVID-19 eroded his chances for re-election in 2020.

"Covid-19 has eroded the traditional incumbency advantage Trump would normally enjoy because of the way it has destroyed the economy," said O'Connell.

O'Connell noted that the determining factor in the upcoming election would Trump's response to the pandemic.

"Trump isn't really running against [Joe] Biden, he is running against the virus. That is why he['s] ... desperate to get the economy open as safely and as quickly as possible."

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