Hours after the June jobs report – which announced an increase of 4.8 million jobs – was released Thursday morning, former Vice President Joe Biden gave a speech lambasting President Donald Trump over his response to the coronavirus.
Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee to challenge Trump in November, attacked the President for not mentioning the US hitting an all-time high for coronavirus cases in his speech earlier that day, ridiculed the lack of oversight in stimulus programs and told Trump to “act, lead … or get out of the way so others can.”
We took a look at the facts around some of the accusations he leveled against the President and his administration.
Federal guidelines on reopening
Biden suggested that the federal government did not have guidance for states to reopen.
“Without a uniformed plan and guidance from the federal government that state and local leaders can use to inform their reopening plans,” Biden said, “it’s just going to continue to be worse than it would have been otherwise.”
Facts First: While not mandatory, the administration has released guidance and criteria for states to reopen.
The White House has “Guidelines for Opening Up America Again” which outlines the criteria states and or regions should “satisfy before proceeding to a phased opening.” These criteria include having a downward trajectory of cases of coronavirus and influenza-like illnesses for two weeks, as well as robust testing programs and more.
In a Senate hearing Tuesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of the President’s coronavirus task force, criticized some states for possibly “going too quickly and skipping over some of the checkpoints” laid out by the White House guidelines for reopening.
PPE shortages
As some states reverse course on their reopening efforts amid record high increases in coronavirus cases, Biden claimed hospitals and health care workers are not fully equipped to handle these spikes.
“Our health care workers are still rationing personal protective equipment,” he said.
Facts First: It’s true that some hospitals and health care workers are having to ration or use alternatives to PPE because of shortages.
At Cambridge Health Alliance’s Cambridge Hospital in Massachusetts, nurses must wear single-use face masks for at least five shifts before they can get a new one, the Boston Globe reported on June 21.
Republican Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Thursday afternoon that “the issue of PPE – personal protection equipment – is back front and center.”
“In a conversation with community leaders, including hospital and public health officials, the concern is the supply is short, once again, as the numbers increase,” Moran said.
Megan Ranney, an emergency room doctor who helped found the group GetUsPPE told CNN that as of June 19, her organization receives tens of thousands of requests each week from health care systems with less than a week of PPE on hand, indicating that doctors are still conserving and reusing protective equipment.
Support for working Americans
During the speech, Biden said “has (Trump) done anything, anything real to prioritize support for working Americans who need help now?”
Facts First: Trump has signed legislation aimed to help working Americans, though it’s unclear what Biden means by “prioritize support.”
Congress passed and Trump signed the largest emergency aid package in US history on March 27.
The roughly $2 trillion CARES Act stimulus package included, among a myriad of other items, direct financial assistance to Americans. Individuals who earn $75,000 in adjusted gross income or less should have received direct payments of $1,200 each, with married couples earning up to $150,000 receiving $2,400 – and an additional $500 per each child. Some reports suggest Trump supports another round of these direct payments.
A large part of the stimulus package is the $660 billion Paycheck Protection Program, which provides forgivable loans to small businesses if at least 75% of the money goes toward payroll expenses. So far, more than 4.8 million small businesses have accessed the funds. During an interview with Politico on April 25, Biden argued that another stimulus package was needed and should be “a hell of a lot bigger” than the CARES Act.
On March 18, Trump signed into law a coronavirus relief package. The package included provisions for free testing for Covid-19 and paid emergency leave for certain people impacted by the coronavirus, with payments capped at $511 a day. It also increased Medicaid funding, certain tax credits, and expanded food assistance.
There are many critics of these programs and packages and a good deal of evidence that some of the funds did not go to those Americans and small businesses most in need. While one could argue that Trump hasn’t done enough to help struggling Americans, suggesting that Trump has not done anything to support working Americans isn’t accurate.
Accountability
Biden also said that Trump and Republicans “dole out taxpayer money to big corporations with zero accountability.”
Facts First: While it’s unclear what funds Biden is specifically referencing, there have been red flags when it comes to oversight on funds from the CARES Act.
As CNN reported, when Trump signed the CARES Act he included a signing statement suggesting he would ignore several oversight requirements and would possibly prevent certain inspectors general reports from going to Congress without “presidential supervision.”
Then, after acting inspector general for the Pentagon, Glenn Fine, was selected to chair the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee – a group of inspectors general who oversee the stimulus spending – Trump replaced Fine.
Another red flag came in mid-June, when leaders of this committee said they faced “potentially significant transparency and oversight issues” in a letter to four congressional committee chairs, CNN’s Phil Mattingly reported. According to the letter, the issue involved a legal opinion draft from the Treasury Department’s office of general counsel claiming it didn’t need to provide borrower information for the PPP loans.
Days later, on June 19, the Treasury Department and Small Business Administration reversed course after a barrage of criticism saying they would disclose information on who received loans from the PPP.
These and other issues raise questions as to the level of accountability and oversight over stimulus funds, though “zero accountability” is an overstatement.
Acknowledging impact of the coronavirus
The President’s empathy
Criticizing the administration’s response to coronavirus, Biden asked whether Trump has “even once expressed any real empathy for those families who will never again be whole because of this virus.”
Facts First: Though we can’t fact check how “real” his empathy has been, Trump has expressed condolences for the families of those lost to coronavirus more than once.
After US coronavirus deaths reached 100,000, Trump tweeted, “To all of the families & friends of those who have passed, I want to extend my heartfelt sympathy & love for everything that these great people stood for & represent.”
And at a White House roundtable on May 29, he said, “Our nation continues to mourn for the lives claimed by the virus and grieve for the families who have lost loved ones.”
In remarks since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Trump has often left the condolences to Vice President Mike Pence and other officials, preferring instead to emphasize supposed progress in slowing the spread of coronavirus or focusing on areas of relative success like parts of the recent jobs report.
“Almost 130,000 Americans have died and millions more have lost their jobs, but Donald Trump continually pretends like he’s the real victim of Covid-19,” Biden campaign spokesperson Michael Gwin told CNN.
Impact on certain minority communities
Biden suggested the President has not mentioned the racial aspect of the coronavirus, which studies show is hitting nonwhite Americans, especially the Black community, especially hard.
“Has Donald Trump even acknowledged the disproportionate impact this disease is having on black, brown and Native American communities?” Biden said. “You know the answer. Of course not.”
Facts First: Although Biden could argue the President could do more, Trump has acknowledged the disproportionate impact coronavirus has had on Black and brown communities in the US. He has also made an effort to engage with some Native American communities as the virus continues to spread.
In May, Trump participated in a roundtable discussion on supporting Native Americans with Navajo Nation Vice President Myron Lizer. During the discussion, the President acknowledged that “Native Americans have been hit hard by the terrible pandemic,” citing the significant toll the coronavirus has had on members of the Navajo Nation in particular.
During the coronavirus press briefing on April 7, the President mentioned on multiple occasions data indicating Black Americans are at higher risk for coronavirus.
“We’re actively engaging on the problem of increased impacts – this is a real problem, and it’s showing up very strongly in our data – on the African American community,” Trump said. “It’s been disproportional. They’re getting hit very, very hard.”
At the April 18 coronavirus press briefing, the President once again noted the disproportionate impact the virus was having on the African American, adding that “likewise Hispanic communities, the numbers are disproportionate.”