ON THE GOVERNMENT’S PANDEMIC RESPONSE
Good: “President Trump and the White House Coronavirus Task Force are leading an unprecedented, comprehensive, and aggressive approach to slow the spread of the virus. I applaud the President for his hard work to bring a vaccine to the American people in record time. Furthermore, I fully support his bold response to COVID-19, which includes his declared public health emergency and suspended entry into the U.S. back on January 31 as well as making the U.S. the world leader in COVID-19 testing.”
Webb: “We have Congress’s response and we have the administration’s response and they’re somewhat different roles. I think [Congress] has been focused on [trying to] stabilize our economy, stabilize families, and stabilize businesses in the midst of all this. I will acknowledge the first tranche of funding, which included that funding for the PPP [Paycheck Protection Program], which included the funding in terms of unemployment insurance, I think that was really critical especially to help early on in this pandemic. There are really important eviction protections that were included and I think that was important … On the other hand, when we talk about the response with regard to actually addressing the virus, that’s where I’ll get into the testing, which I feel like we still haven’t gotten our arms around. That’s making sure that in all of our localities we’re able to get tests to individuals who may need it and get test results quickly. … You’ve got to be able to test so that you can isolate and contact trace.”