Considers giving block grants to states.
President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence participated in a teleconference with governors of all 50 states from the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Thursday afternoon. During that meeting, President Trump said that he’s “very strongly” considering “the idea of a block grant to the states to help fill revenue shortfalls.”
A block grant is money from the federal government given to local authorities for them to allocate.
Vice President Pence reiterated a morning announcement that FEMA would now take the lead in the federal government’s national response. “Our nation’s response, through FEMA, will be locally executed, state-managed, and federally-supported,” the vice president said.
Several governors complained on the call that they were having difficulties ordering medical equipment directly from suppliers, as the president had directed they do earlier in the week, with Illinois Governor JB Pritzker even saying he felt his state’s ability to test was “monopolized by this drive-through program that the federal government is doing.” Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker also said his state had lost out multiple times to the federal government in trying to get supplies. Similar alarms were raised by other governors. The president encouraged them to keep working on it.
President Trump said the Food and Drug Administration was now fast-tracking possible treatments, and “we are going to be able to make [chloroquine] available almost immediately.”
He also gave the governors an update on the stimulus. “More help is on the way as we speak,” he said.
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For Congress to consider legislation that would incentivize and encourage the manufacture of pharmaceuticals within the U.S. without reliance on foreign suppliers.
- For the “buy American” agenda of President Trump that also encourages the employment of American workers.
Sources: ABC News, NPR
