Defense Department watchdog to oversee $2 trillion coronavirus rescue bill
WASHINGTON — In a Tuesday morning interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she and Congress do not take responsibility for the country’s slow response to the coronavirus at the beginning of the year.
“No, not at all,” she said Tuesday on MSNBC in response to a question from co-host Willie Geist about whether she or Congress bore responsibility.
Instead, she said she was “proud” of the work Congress did, the “speed” with which coronavirus response bills passed, and the “bipartisanship that was the hallmark of it all.”
“We can only go as fast as the signature,” she said of the White House’s support for legislation.
The House Speaker added that she was “sad” there was “no respect for science” from the White House in the beginning but President Donald Trump “will say and do what he does.”
– Nicholas Wu
Pentagon watchdog to oversee $2 trillion in coronavirus relief funds
Glenn Fine, the inspector general for the Defense Department, was appointed to head the committee that will oversee the largest rescue package in U.S. history.
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, which was signed into law by President Donald Trump last week, provides more than $2 trillion to help stave off the economic IMPACTS caused by the COVID-19 outbreak that has now killed more than 3,000 people in the U.S. and nearly 40,000 people worldwide.
The CARES Act calls for the establishment of a Pandemic Response Accountability Committee to oversee the distribution of the funds approved in the massive stimulus bill, as well as the two previous emergency spending bills that were passed to address the outbreak. Fine will head that nine-person committee composed of inspector generals from other departments.
“I look forward to working with my fellow Inspectors General on the Committee to provide effective, independent oversight of the funding provided by the pandemic legislation,” Fine said in a statement on Monday. “Through our efforts, we will seek to promote transparency and ensure that funds are being used consistently with the law’s mandate to respond to this public health crises.”
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During the contentious debate ahead of the final bill’s passage, the establishment of an oversight committee to prevent waste and abuse was insisted upon by congressional Democrats who were particularly concerned that the nearly $500 billion allocated to help large industries could become a corporate “slush fund.”
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said he was pleased with Fine’s appointment.
“The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee is critical to holding President Trump and his administration accountable to the letter and spirit of the law,” Schumer said in a statement. “Glenn Fine has a good reputation as a tough federal prosecutor and former DOJ Inspector General, and must exercise his full oversight authority to ensure that the Trump administration implements the CARES Act as intended.”
Trump clashes with CNN’s Acosta
President Donald Trump’s rocky relationship with the news media was on display again Monday, as he bristled at questions about his handling of the coronavirus outbreak during a White House news conference.
CNN’s Jim Acosta – with whom Trump has clashed on several occasions, including a 2018 exchange that led to a failed White House effort to revoke Acosta’s press credentials – asked the president, “What do you say to Americans who are upset with you over the way you downplayed this crisis over the last couple of months?”
Acosta proceeded to quote several of Trump’s earlier comments in which he said the outbreak “was very much under control” and that “it will go away” like a “miracle.”
“It will go away. And we’re going to have a great victory,” Trump told Acosta. He went on to defend the accuracy of the previous comments while simultaneously explaining he said them because, “I want to keep the country calm. I don’t want panic in the country.”
“I could cause panic much better than even you. I would make you look like a minor league player,” Trump told Acosta. “Instead of asking a nasty, snarky question like that, you should ask a real question.”
Trump later turned his ire on PBS NewsHour’s Yamiche Alcindor, whom he told the previous day to “be nice” and not ask “threatening questions” after she asked about his statement that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was requesting more ventilators than needed.
On Monday, Alcindor asked Trump why the U.S. trailed South Korea in per capita testing for the virus.
“I know South Korea better than anybody,” Trump replied. “You know how many people are in Seoul? You know how big the city of Seoul is?” he asked, trying to explain that the difference was due to population density. Trump then claimed Seoul’s population is 38 million when, according to the city’s government, it is actually about 10 million.
“You should be saying, congratulations to the men and women who have done this job, who have inherited a broken testing system and who have made it great,” Trump said to Alcindor. “And if you don’t say it, I’ll say it. I want to congratulate all of the people, you have done a fantastic job.”