“President Trump and Republicans insist on reopening the economy even knowing that it would cause severe loss of American life. I agree with business leaders, including the U. S. Chamber of Commerce, that even if we begin to open our economy, workers and consumers will be reluctant to leave their homes if they do not feel safe. The only way to ensure that they feel safe enough is to ramp up testing on a massive scale. Instead, this Administration has failed to implement a comprehensive testing regime and continues to dodge responsibility to lead in this crisis, now saying that states must come up with their own way of producing the tens of millions of tests required. That is a shocking abdication of the President’s duty to the American people.

“Thankfully, many of our nation’s governors have stepped up and provided leadership where this White House is lacking in it. Congress continues to work in a bipartisan way to meet this moment with major legislation to help workers and small businesses and to promote development of treatments and a vaccine. All of us want to reopen our economy, but doing so prematurely will cause a resurgence in coronavirus transmissions that will place lives in danger and set back our recovery because consumers will not return to stores or restaurants and workers will not feel safe going back to their jobs. Though we cannot turn back the clock and address the Administration’s serious missteps at the start of this crisis, we can ensure going forward that we do everything possible to end it in the quickest and safest way and according to science-based strategies."