HIGHLIGHTS: AHEAD OF TRUMP RALLIES, SENATOR CASEY, CONGRESSWOMAN WILD, BLAIR CO. DEMS & LANCASTER CO. DIABETIC DISCUSS ADMIN’S BROKEN PROMISES

Statewide & local leaders respond directly to Trump’s Allentown, Lititz & Martinsburg rallies

PENNSYLVANIA — Ahead of President Trump’s rallies in Allentown, Lititz and Martinsburg today, PA Dems Chair Nancy Patton Mills, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), Congresswoman Susan Wild (PA-7), Blair County Democratic Committee Chair Gillian Kratzer, and Lancaster County type-1 diabetic Webb Cook held a virtual press conference to discuss how the Trump administration’s economic policies, COVID-19 response and attacks on health care have left working families across Pennsylvania behind.

A recording of the virtual press conference can be found here, and an audio clip is available here. Check out some of the highlights below: 

Nancy Patton Mills, Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chair:

“Families across this commonwealth are tired of the broken promises, and they’re tired of the president’s failed, ineffective leadership. He’s ushered in one of the worst economic crises since the Great Depression. He’s in court at this very moment trying to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. And he’s yet to come up with a plan to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic which has taken the lives of more than 8,600 of our fellow Pennsylvanians…. 

In just over a week, we have a chance to put an end to this dark chapter in our nation’s history — but that means that all eligible, registered Pennsylvanians must vote. While the voter registration deadline in the commonwealth has passed, I encourage you to visit IWillVote.com/PA to check your registration status and make your plan to vote today.”

U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA):

“What I hope the president would do today or maybe any day between now and Election Day is finally — finally — tell us what is his plan to tackle the virus. But it sounds like that’s not going to be forthcoming, not only because he doesn’t seem to have one, but because his chief of staff basically waved the white flag of surrender in the last 24 hours. So I think the likelihood of the president having a strategy on the virus is probably unlikely…. The good news is Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have a plan and they will implement and execute that plan upon taking office….

It’d be nice if the president, just in his capacity as president, would do these things: have a plan to tackle the virus and have a plan to create jobs. But he doesn’t have a plan as president, nor does he offer a plan as a candidate. Why doesn’t he tell us what he’s going to do to help Pennsylvania if he were to be reelected?”

Congresswoman Susan Wild (PA-7), U.S. House of Representatives:

“For the past four years, President Trump and Republicans in Congress have had countless opportunities to work across the aisle to strengthen our health care laws, support our Main Street businesses, and create good paying jobs right here in the United States. But instead of doing any of those things, they have — as a rule of thumb — chosen to put profits over people and undermined our nation’s core values in the process. People in Pennsylvania are hurting from this pandemic and economic crisis. Frankly, they were hurting as a result of the Trump administration’s policies even before this pandemic ever hit our shores. 

While we in Congress passed critical legislation to keep our small businesses from going under, to develop worker retraining programs, and create child care options to help get parents back to work, the Trump administration spent its energy advancing a lawsuit that could strip millions of Americans of affordable health care — bankrupting millions of people in the middle of the greatest health crisis in modern history.”

Gillian Kratzer, Blair County Democratic Committee Chair:

“The COVID-19 outbreak is absolutely a sobering reminder about how important the Affordable Care Act remains to the Commonwealth. The ACA helped secure coverage for hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians and guaranteed protections for preexisting conditions. And we know with COVID that’s even more important now than ever. 

And right now, it’s not just Washington Republicans that have let our community down. Harrisburg Republicans are fighting for special interests instead of families right here in Blair County….We need Joe Biden in the White House and more Democratic allies in Harrisburg who will help ensure that all Pennsylvanians have access to affordable, quality health care.”

Webb Cook, Lancaster County resident and type-1 diabetic:

“I’ve been a type-1 diabetic now for the last 20 years. Without insulin, I don’t live. So for type-1 diabetics, they have to have insulin. So the increase in these costs has just made it much more difficult. And I think the president really doesn’t recognize the significance of that problem. And I’d point to the press conference that he had one day when he asked his surgeon general whether he should be taking insulin even though he’s not even a diabetic…. We need to move forward. We need Joe Biden in the White House and we need help with this very serious problem. A lot of people in the state of Pennsylvania do.”

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