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Missouri Gov. Mike Parson defended the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic on Saturday, arguing that the president and vice president “did nothing but almost move mountains for the entire country.”
“When you think about where we were at 60 days ago — to do what they did to get that CARES package out as early as they did, to almost retool the manufacturing across the United States to make PPE [personal protective equipment] supply for every state,” the Republican governor said on “Cavuto Live.”
“To be critical of that being done and the federal government to get all that done in 60 days — I mean, people just need to sit back and take a breath here and realize what’s been accomplished in 60 days by the president, the vice president, and frankly the governors.”
His comments came as Congress deliberated over another round of coronavirus relief that will need to get the president’s approval. Critics have charged the Trump administration with having lagging in its response to the pandemic, and not moving quickly enough to ensure adequate testing for Americans.
Parson, however, said he doesn’t think Trump could have done much more.
“It’s easy to be critical of people — it’s easy to do that, anybody can do that,” he said.
Democrats powered a massive $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill through the House on Friday
It has virtually no chance of final passage as written, but will likely spark difficult negotiations with the White House and Senate Republicans. Any product would probably be the last major COVID-19 response bill before November’s presidential and congressional elections.
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The enormous Democratic measure would cost more than the prior four coronavirus bills combined. It would deliver almost $1 trillion for state and local governments, another round of $1,200 stimulus payments to individuals and help for the unemployed, renters and homeowners, college debt holders and the struggling Postal Service.
Parson also emphasized the need to take personal responsibilty during the pandemic. While discussing congressional relief, he pushed back on the idea that the federal government should bail out states facing financial problems during the crisis.
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“People that haven’t done a good job in their states of managing their state whether it’s last year, whether it’s years before, should not be bailed out and shouldn’t get an advantage over states that have really took the responsibility to balance their budgets and make sure you’re prepared when a disaster hits and you can do that,” he said.
“There’s a place for the federal government, but we shouldn’t always just reach out to the federal government and say you got to fix our problems in the state. That’s what governors do,” he added. “… What they’re doing is helpful, but I’m not going to ask the federal government to come in and bail out the entire state of Missouri.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
