The unprecedented decision by the GSA to refuse to certify the results of the presidential election and obstruct the Biden transition team from moving forward with their work endangers the lives of Americans by preventing the incoming Administration from being ready to tackle the crisis on day one.
This week, Protect Our Care’s Coronavirus War Room brought together experts and former officials to reveal just how dangerous this politicization is:
Clips from Coronavirus War Room Press Call with former senior HHS and VA officials:
Washington Post: Biden And Democrats Push Back Against Trump And Republicans’ Recalcitrance Over Election Results.
- “‘We are in the midst of a crisis and what we know is that every lost day is a lost life and a lost livelihood,’ said Kathleen Sebelius, who began her tenure as secretary of health and human services in 2009 amid the swine flu pandemic. ‘Every day wasted is a life that is unfortunately wasted.’” [Washington Post, 11/10/20]
- “‘Another former Cabinet secretary, David Shulkin, who led the Department of Veterans Affairs under Trump and was undersecretary in the final years of the Obama administration, said the transition process is governed by law, but the nation is seeing ‘complete disregard of essentially what should happen.’ Orders from the White House not to recognize the election results are ‘putting us into quicksand, where [government officials] are feeling paralyzed until they get that direction from the White House,’” Shulkin said.” [Washington Post, 11/10/20]
- “‘If you are going to distribute hundreds of millions of vials of vaccine as quickly as possible, the incoming administration needs to know the status of each and every one of them,’ said Leslie A. Dach, a former senior counselor at the Department of Health and Human Services during the Obama administration and now chairman of the group Protect Our Care, which organized a briefing Tuesday.” [Washington Post, 11/10/20]
Roll Call: Is President Trump Directing The GSA To Decline To Call Joe Biden The President-Elect? They Won’t Say
- “‘This is a very difficult time, and the importance of this transition time to assure continuity of government and continuity of government services,’ former Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin said Tuesday on a call organized by the Coronavirus War Room.” [Roll Call, 11/12/20]
McClatchy: ‘Every Day Counts.’ Sebelius Criticizes Efforts To Delay Transfer From Trump To Biden
- “The delay will hamper Biden’s team’s ability to prepare for taking over the federal government in January. ‘It’s only 10 weeks and that’s not a very long time when you think of all the federal government. So every day counts. Every delay counts. And so we’re in very unprecedented territory,’ said Sebelius, a two-term Kansas governor who served in President Barack Obama’s cabinet from 2009 to 2014. ‘We’ve never seen elected officials just say… “We’re not going to turn over the reins of government. We’re not going to recognize the winner as the winner,’’’ she said, noting that facilitating the transfer to Biden does not preclude Trump from pursuing recounts and lawsuits as he contests the election’s outcome.” [McClatchy DC, 11/10/20]
Financial Post: Obama Officials Call For Transition To Begin: Election Update
- “‘We are losing vital time,’ said former Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin. ‘This is serious from a national security issue. This is serious from the health issue that we’re facing right now.’” [Financial Post, 11/10/20]
- “The Biden-Harris transition team has assembled a coronavirus task force, but without an official designation from the General Services Administration that Biden is the apparent winner, the team can’t access agency officials and documents — including details about coronavirus vaccine research and supplies, said Leslie Dach, a senior Health and Human Services official under Obama.” [Financial Post, 11/10/20]
- “Critical conversations among the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health cannot happen without the GSA determination, said Kathleen Sebelius, who was Health and Human Services secretary under Obama. She likened the delay to a ‘hostile takeover’ by an administration reluctant to relinquish power and share information. ‘What are those agencies missing right now’ and what expertise is needed to prepare for a vaccination campaign? Sebelius asked. Biden and Harris’ coronavirus task force can get ready and develop recommendations, ‘but it can’t happen without a dialogue.’” [Financial Post, 11/10/20]
Leslie Dach, POC Chairman and Former Top HHS Official, On the Transition’s Role During the Coronavirus Response
- New York Times: Trump Appointee Stands Between Biden’s Team And A Smooth Transition. “Leslie Dach, who was to lead the transition for the Department of Health and Human Services had Hillary Clinton won the presidency in 2016, said that despite the advance work done by Mr. Biden’s team during the campaign, nothing could supplant having direct access to agencies, and that is impossible without Ms. Murphy. ‘I think this is Trump sending a clear signal to everybody still standing in the administration that you’ve got to still follow his grievances,’ Mr. Dach said.” [New York Times, 11/9/20]
- CNN: ‘He Knows How To Work Inside This Government’: How Ron Klain’s Experience Prepares Him To Lead Biden’s Staff “’He brings skills that work across a range of issues. Ron was not a disease expert when he agreed to do that job, but after a few days, you would have thought he was,’ said Leslie Dach, who led the Department of Health and Human Services’ response to the Ebola outbreak. ‘He knows how to work inside this government. So sitting around a table with representatives from probably 12 or 15 Cabinet departments, he knew how to get better work and more work out of us, and do it in an integrated way,’ Dach said. ‘He doesn’t play the bureaucratic game. He respects the people he works with. And that’s important. But he also knows how to cut through the mumbo-jumbo; he knows how to put his foot on the pedal.’” [CNN, 11/12/20]
- CNN: Biden Team Seeks Covid-19 Back-channels With Transition Locked Out “‘This is a desperate public health situation and having to work around (the system), because of the President’s grievances is going to cost people their lives. It’s pointless and stupid,’ said Leslie Dach, a former senior counsel at Health and Human Services in the Obama administration. ‘You’re losing time. … Piecing this all together is possible, but so much more inefficient.’ It’s not just the virus information being denied Biden’s team, it’s also issues with things like personal protective equipment, Dach said. Health care workers have started raising alarms about new potential shortages of PPE as the country heads into the winter months and the virus continues to rage. ’Where is the stockpile? What is being deployed? Are we making the best use of Defense Production Act? There are things they need to know,’” he said.” [CNN, 11/13/20]
- Daily Beast: Biden’s COVID Co-Chair: The Right Hates Him Already, and That’s Good. “‘In a good way, he’s been around,’ says Leslie Dach with the advocacy group Protect Our Care. ‘He has judgment and relationships. To most Americans, his name recognition will be nil.’ And those who do remember will be divided between seeing him as a hero fighting for good public health policy against steep odds and those who saw his zealousness then as government overreach, much as Trumpers today view efforts to impose mask wearing.” [Daily Beast, 11/12/20]