In response to President-elect Joe Biden’s announcement of a crucial COVID relief and economic stimulus package tonight, Protect Our Care’s Coronavirus War Room Director Zac Petkanas released the following statement:
“In his announcement tonight, President-elect Joe Biden presented the ‘American Rescue Plan,’ a COVID relief and economic stimulus package that places the needs of struggling American families at its core. It’s an example of the leadership and empathy that has been sorely lacking from the federal government’s pandemic response for ten long months.
“In the last days of the outgoing Trump Administration, deaths and new infections are skyrocketing as hospitals are overwhelmed and the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression continues to rage.
“President-elect Biden’s plan offers the things Mitch McConnell and his allies repeatedly tried to cut out from previous relief packages – sending more direct monetary relief for all Americans, extending unemployment benefits, providing state and local communities badly needed-funding, and most crucially, expanding the federal role in the vaccination process in order to fix the currently failing program and dramatically speed up the administration of these life-saving vaccines.
“Donald Trump’s pandemic response has been a catastrophic failure that left death and destruction in his wake. Fixing the crisis he worsened will be a long, difficult task. But the plan announced tonight is a major step forward and will bring relief to millions of Americans.”