FACT CHECK: Democrats’ Misleading Coronavirus Claims

[DigitalDrifter]

Anyone surprised ?

Democrats have criticized President Donald Trump for his administration’s response to the new coronavirus, making claims about cuts to public health programs and the silencing of government experts. But they haven’t always gotten their facts right:

• It’s true that the president’s budget proposals have consistently called for reduced funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but Congress hasn’t enacted those cuts. Some Democrats have correctly said Trump “tried” to implement such cuts, while others wrongly claimed he “slashed funding of the CDC” or “cut the funding,” in the words of Democratic presidential candidates Mike Bloomberg and Joe Biden, respectively.
• Biden said Trump “tried to defund the NIH.” Trump did propose cutting NIH funding, but lawmakers instead have enacted increases.
• Multiple Democrats, including Bloomberg and Biden, have criticized Trump for getting rid of a pandemic response position on the National Security Council. The position was eliminated, although John Bolton, then-national security adviser, was the person directly responsible.
• Biden went too far when he claimed that Trump “hasn’t allowed his scientists to speak” about the coronavirus. It’s true that the government’s top scientists on infectious disease were told to clear their media interviews through a coronavirus task force, but they have since made numerous public appearances.
  

Trump’s Proposed Budget Cuts
It’s true that the president’s proposed budgets have included funding cuts to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — but Congress hasn’t enacted those cuts.

Democrats' Misleading Coronavirus Claims

 

[OldLady]

Anyone surprised ?

Democrats have criticized President Donald Trump for his administration’s response to the new coronavirus, making claims about cuts to public health programs and the silencing of government experts. But they haven’t always gotten their facts right:

• It’s true that the president’s budget proposals have consistently called for reduced funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but Congress hasn’t enacted those cuts. Some Democrats have correctly said Trump “tried” to implement such cuts, while others wrongly claimed he “slashed funding of the CDC” or “cut the funding,” in the words of Democratic presidential candidates Mike Bloomberg and Joe Biden, respectively.
• Biden said Trump “tried to defund the NIH.” Trump did propose cutting NIH funding, but lawmakers instead have enacted increases.
• Multiple Democrats, including Bloomberg and Biden, have criticized Trump for getting rid of a pandemic response position on the National Security Council. The position was eliminated, although John Bolton, then-national security adviser, was the person directly responsible.
• Biden went too far when he claimed that Trump “hasn’t allowed his scientists to speak” about the coronavirus. It’s true that the government’s top scientists on infectious disease were told to clear their media interviews through a coronavirus task force, but they have since made numerous public appearances.

Trump’s Proposed Budget Cuts
It’s true that the president’s proposed budgets have included funding cuts to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — but Congress hasn’t enacted those cuts.

Democrats' Misleading Coronavirus Claims

Remember if it is an elected Democrat, especially one up for reelection in November, take it with a grain of salt. Same with the Republicans.

 

[BlindBoo]

From your link.


The Trump administration did indeed eliminate a key position that would have been involved in pandemic response.

The Washington Post reported that former National Security Adviser John Bolton dissolved the NSC’s Office of Global Health Security and Biodefense in May 2018 in a reorganization effort. That’s when Rear Adm. R. Timothy Ziemer, who was senior director of the office, left his post. He was not replaced.

President Obama had instituted the unit in 2016 following a yearslong Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Trump appointed Ziemer, who had been coordinator of the President’s Malaria Initiative under both President George W. Bush and Obama, to head the office in April 2017.

Ziemer departed abruptly a little over a year later just as a new Ebola outbreak was starting in Congo. He now serves as senior deputy assistant administrator for the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance at USAID.

Tom Bossert, a former White House homeland security adviser who helped develop the administration’s biodefense strategy and was the designated lead for coordinating the American response to a biological crisis, was also reportedly pushed out when Bolton took over. Bossert resigned in April 2018, a day after Bolton started as national security adviser. Three anonymous sources told the Washington Post that Bolton requested his resignation.

Contrary to some recent news reports, Bossert was replaced with a series of people, but the job of coordinating a pandemic response does not appear to have followed. When Trump announced his coronavirus task force on Jan. 29, he did not name current homeland security adviser Julia Nesheiwat in any capacity.

But the lack of someone in the White House to coordinate the response to a widespread disease outbreak in the U.S. is something numerous experts and groups at the time had cautioned against.

In a November 2019 report, the Center for Strategic & International Studies recommended restoring the global health security position on the NSC as one of seven key changes to better protect the American public from global health threats.

“It remains unclear who would be in charge at the White House in the case of a grave pandemic threat or cross-border biological crisis,” the report reads, noting that such leadership is “critical in navigating challenging political issues like quarantines and travel bans and in communicating to and reassuring the American public.”

 

[Zorro!]

While Progressives Politicize Coronavirus, Trump Moves to Limit China’s Pharmaceutical Control.

 

[initforme]

A short time ago he said it was a hoax. Well it's no hoax. I think he's done a good job since he has stepped up. I trust he is going to keep the message of how grave the situation is. If it takes hundreds of billions to get thru it so be it. Best money spent. This is no time to consider costs.

 

[Zorro!]

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