{"id":266795,"date":"2020-08-28T02:47:17","date_gmt":"2020-08-28T06:47:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=266795"},"modified":"2020-08-28T02:47:17","modified_gmt":"2020-08-28T06:47:17","slug":"pence-praises-trumps-seamless-covid-response-leaves-out-his-state-feuds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/08\/28\/pence-praises-trumps-seamless-covid-response-leaves-out-his-state-feuds\/","title":{"rendered":"Pence Praises Trump\u2019s \u2018Seamless\u2019 COVID Response, Leaves Out His State Feuds"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
FILE: Mattis with President Trump and Vice President Pence (Photo By James Mattis – 170127-D-GY869-031, Public Domain<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Vice President Mike Pence portrayed his boss, President Donald Trump, as a leader who has reached out across the aisle to help during the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Trump marshaled the full resources of the federal government and directed us to forge a seamless partnership with governors across America in both parties,\u201d Pence said during his speech Wednesday night at the Republican National Convention.<\/p>\n

Clearly, the federal government has provided supplies and funding to states led by both parties in response to the pandemic, and Pence himself has held regular conference calls<\/a> with governors in both parties. But Pence was speaking about the actions of Trump, not his own.<\/p>\n

Pence\u2019s comments ignored Trump\u2019s multiple feuds, frequently with Democratic governors, about state-federal responsibilities and the pandemic response.<\/p>\n

A Trump campaign spokesperson sent us a list of dozens of teleconferences and meetings that Trump or Pence had with governors<\/a>,\u00a0including Democrats such as\u00a0New York\u2019s Andrew Cuomo<\/a>\u00a0and Michigan\u2019s\u00a0Gretchen Whitmer<\/a>. In March, Trump sent a\u00a0letter<\/a>\u00a0to governors thanking them for \u201cstepping up to help America confront this unprecedented global pandemic.\u201d The campaign pointed to actions by administration officials to brief governors about making available supplies, such as\u00a0testing swabs<\/a>,\u00a0utilizing the National Guard<\/a>, and\u00a0reopening state economies<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Trump Argued With Governors Over COVID-19 Supplies, Tests<\/strong><\/p>\n

Early in the pandemic, Trump traded barbs with governors, especially over where the responsibility lay in securing medical supplies for the states<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After declaring a national emergency over the health crisis on March 13, Trump directed governors to order their own ventilators, respirators and supplies, saying the federal government is \u201cnot a shipping clerk.\u201d Governors in both parties shot back that Trump\u2019s stance, and the lack of coordination from Washington, left states bidding against one another and the federal government for access to critical equipment.<\/p>\n

Cuomo<\/a> said it was akin to competing on eBay with all the other states plus the Federal Emergency Management Agency.<\/p>\n

Whitmer and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican and then chair of the National Governors Association, were among those pleading for better coordination from FEMA to ensure that supplies were distributed based on need.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lack of any centralized coordination is creating a counterproductive competition between states and the federal government to secure limited supplies, driving up prices and exacerbating existing shortages,\u201d they wrote in a joint March 30\u00a0op-ed<\/a> in The Washington Post.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0couple of days earlier<\/a>, Trump said during a White House briefing that governors should be \u201cappreciative\u201d toward him and the federal government.<\/p>\n

Speaking of Pence, Trump said: \u201cHe calls all the governors. I tell him \u2014 I mean, I\u2019m a different type of person \u2014 I say, \u2018Mike, don\u2019t call the governor of Washington. You\u2019re wasting your time with him. Don\u2019t call the woman in Michigan.\u2019\u201d On Twitter<\/a>, Trump said Whitmer was \u201cway in over her head, she doesn\u2019t have a clue.\u201d<\/p>\n

In April, Trump said that testing \u201cis a local thing\u201d and that states should turn to commercial labs for help. After he was\u00a0blasted by governors from both parties<\/a>,\u00a0Trump said the federal government would step up efforts to get testing supplies.<\/p>\n

Governors also called on Trump early on to enact the\u00a0Defense Production Act<\/a>, a law that gives the president authority to expedite the supply of materials for national defense, in order to ramp up production of personal protective equipment and COVID-19 testing supplies. While the president did eventually invoke the act to produce ventilators and medical equipment, he\u00a0delayed efforts<\/a>\u00a0to do so and did it sparingly.\u00a0Washington Gov. Jay Inslee<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson<\/a>\u00a0called for him to broaden its use.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s justification for slow-rolling the act was that he didn\u2019t want the government to intervene in the private sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, we\u2019re a country not based on nationalizing our business,\u201d Trump said at a coronavirus task force\u00a0press briefing<\/a>\u00a0on March 22. \u201cCall a person over in Venezuela, ask them how did nationalization of their businesses work out? Not too well.\u201d<\/p>\n

In April, Trump said that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, had reopened Georgia\u00a0\u201ctoo soon.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0In May, he criticized Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, for keeping parts of his state closed that Trump said were\u00a0\u201cbarely affected.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Trump\u00a0said<\/a> in mid-April that it was up to him \u2014 not the governors \u2014 to decide when to reopen states on lockdown.<\/p>\n

Some Governors Bypassed the Federal Government to Work Together<\/strong><\/p>\n

Frustrated with the responses from the Trump administration, some governors teamed up with one another to get needed supplies.<\/p>\n

In May<\/a>, a coalition of governors from seven Northeastern states, including New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and Delaware, joined together to buy personal protective equipment and ventilators and create a unified reopening strategy.<\/p>\n

As late as July<\/a>, some governors were calling on the feds for help and not getting what they needed. There were shortages of testing supplies, as well as personal protective gear. Washington state asked for 4.2 million N95 respirators. It received a bit under 500,000. It asked for about 300,000 gowns. It got about 160,000.<\/p>\n

On Aug. 18, a bipartisan group of governors \u2014 five Democrats and five Republicans \u2014\u00a0announced<\/a> they would be partnering with the Rockefeller Foundation to create a national testing strategy in the absence of federal action. The 10 states are Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina, Utah, Arkansas, Rhode Island and Virginia. Their goal is to buy and deploy 5 million COVID-19 antigen tests.<\/p>\n

Feuds Between Trump Administration and States Continue<\/strong><\/p>\n

The\u00a0Trump administration<\/a> sought to pressure states to reopen schools for in-person instruction. In July, Trump threatened<\/a> to cut off funding if schools didn\u2019t reopen.<\/p>\n

This summer, the Trump administration reduced the federal share of National Guard assistance to the states to help with pandemic response, despite pleas from governors in both parties. An Aug. 3\u00a0memo<\/a>\u00a0said that the federal government would no longer continue to pay for 100% of the tab for most states and that it would be reduced to 75% as of Aug. 21.<\/p>\n

And when the CDC unveiled new testing guidelines that downplayed the need to test people who don\u2019t show symptoms \u2014\u00a0about 40% of those infected<\/a>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Cuomo<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0California Gov. Gavin Newsom<\/a> said that they wouldn\u2019t follow it. Asymptomatic people are thought to be significant spreaders of the virus. Both governors<\/a>\u00a0at times praised certain responses by the Trump administration to help their states respond to the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Our Ruling<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pence said, \u201cPresident Trump marshaled the full resources of our federal government from the outset. He directed us to forge a seamless partnership with governors across America in both political parties.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump and top administration officials have communicated with governors of both parties for months in meetings, phone calls and written communication. But Pence\u2019s comment ignores that Trump has feuded with governors over state-federal responsibilities, supplies and policies for shutting down or reopening. Trump also has suggested a lesser role for the federal government and said that the handling of COVID-19 should be left to the states.<\/p>\n

We rate this claim Mostly False.<\/p>\n

Subscribe<\/a> to KHN’s free Morning Briefing.<\/p>\n

KHN<\/a>\u00a0(Kaiser Health News) is a nonprofit news service covering health issues. It is an editorially independent program of KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation), which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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