U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin: Trump Needs to Start Working with Congress to Pass Bipartisan Legislation That Helps Wisconsin With Ongoing and Worsening Public Health and Economic Crisis

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin released the following statement today calling on President Trump to start working with Congress to pass bipartisan legislation that helps Wisconsin with the ongoing and worsening public health and economic crisis the state continues to face.

“Three months ago, the House passed the HEROES Act, and for three months President Trump and Majority Leader McConnell have failed to take action on this bipartisan legislation. This failure of leadership has brought our country to over five million COVID-19 cases, with total infections more than doubling in the last two months. In Wisconsin, on Saturday we once again had a single-day record of new coronavirus cases. This White House has abandoned our state by not providing us the testing supplies we need to conduct the level of widespread testing that is necessary to more effectively turn things around. In addition, many hospitals across Wisconsin continue to work with less than a week’s supply of face shields, goggles, gowns, paper medical masks and N95 masks. The Trump administration has failed to deliver for Wisconsin, and as this pandemic continues to grow the President is opposing legislation that would help our state take on this public health crisis.

“Over 30 million people are out of work and depending on an extension of federal unemployment benefits, but President Trump is proposing to cut this federal support to Wisconsinites out of work and issue an unworkable, unfunded mandate to states that instead need federal funding to help cover budgetary shortfalls and provide essential services like health care for those that have lost their employee sponsored insurance during this pandemic.

“This public health and economic crisis has gotten worse, and President Trump needs to stop offering more executive chaos and start working with Congress to pass bipartisan legislation that helps Wisconsin. It is past time to take action in the Senate to pass bipartisan legislation that extends federal unemployment benefits and provides stimulus payments to families that need help. We need to deliver more federal funding for schools to safely reopen, to support small businesses, and to help local governments pay essential workers and provide essential services. The House did all of this more than three months ago, and the Senate should pass bipartisan legislation that delivers this support and relief for Wisconsin.”