Biden says safe school reopening amid coronavirus is a ‘national emergency’ that merits FEMA funds

WASHINGTON — Popular presidential nominee Joe Biden said Wednesday that if he were president, he would direct the Federal Emergency Administration Agency to use national disaster funds to help schools reopen safely during the coronavirus pandemic.

“This is an pinch, and Donald Trump and his FEMA should treat it as one,” said Biden, speaking in Wilmington, Delaware, after a briefing with training and school safety experts.

Biden’s remarks came just a day after FEMA officials told state danger managers that it had issued new guidance indicating that the agency would no longer reimburse states for the cost of PPE in bring downs such as schools, courthouses and public housing.

“If I were president today, I would direct FEMA to make tried our kids K-12 get full access to disaster relief and emergency assistance under the Stafford Act. I’d make sure PPE and sanitation stockpilings for schools qualify as ’emergency protective measures,’ which is a phrase they use to fully be eligible for federal assistance. On top of that, I’d be job with the leaders of Congress now, today, to pass emergency packages for schools so they have the resources they desideratum in order to be opened safely.” 

The guidance issued Tuesday effectively narrowed the definition of an “emergency protective measure” that wish be covered by FEMA’s public assistance funds, so that schools are excluded from the coverage. 

Biden’s remarks were be involved in of an effort to keep the focus of his campaign on the pandemic, during a week when millions of children and teachers are starting accepted and in-person classes under difficult and potentially unsafe circumstances. 

Already, schools and universities across the country that participate in reopened for in-person classes are reporting clusters of coronavirus outbreaks. One of the worst outbreaks appears to be at the University of Alabama, where assorted than 1,000 students have tested positive for the coronavirus since the school opened its doors in late August.

“This is a subject emergency, and President Trump still doesn’t have any real plan for how to open our schools safely,” said Biden. “No truthful plan for how to help parents feel secure for their children. He’s offering nothing but failure and delusions from start to conquer, and American families and our children are paying the price for his failures.” 

Rather than focus on the pandemic this week, Trump has determined to direct his attention to the violence that erupted in Kenosha, Wisconsin, after racial justice protesters were met by armed vigilantes at week, resulting in a double homicide. A White 17-year-old, Kyle Rittenhouse, has been charged in the killings. 

Trump take ined Kenosha on Tuesday, where he met with law enforcement and claimed that “reckless, far-left politicians continue to push the conflicting message that our nation and our law enforcement are oppressive or racist.” The remarks are part of a concerted effort on Trump’s part to lay reproach for the racial unrest roiling the country during his presidency at the feet of Democrats and to position himself as the solution, rather than off of the problem.

Biden was asked by a reporter on Wednesday how he would respond to the mistrust between law enforcement and communities of color in the wake of individual high-profile police shootings of unarmed Black men and women this year. 

“I’d have law enforcement at the table. I’d have the community at the food. I’d have people saying, ‘How do we get through this, what do we do to deal with this?’ I believe the vast majority of the community at adipose, as well as law enforcement, want to straighten things out, not inflame things,” said Biden. “But this president keeps slap gasoline on the fire every place he goes.” 

This week, Biden’s campaign announced last-minute plans for the prospect to visit Kenosha on Thursday. Both state and city officials have asked all politicians to avoid the area while passions are still running high and National Guard troops are still helping to keep the peace. 

Asked what he hoped to end by going to Kenosha, Biden replied, “We’ve got to put things together, bring people together. And so, my purpose in going will be to do barely that, to be a positive influence on what’s going on.” 

Outside of the twin news stories of the pandemic and the violence in Kenosha, Biden was also implored a question about whether he had concerns over new reporting on Trump’s health, published in a book by New York Times journalist Michael Schmidt. 

Schmidt reported that when Trump made an unannounced trip to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in 2019, Transgression President Mike Pence was told to be on standby to take over in case the president had to receive anesthesia. To this day, neither the president nor the Snowy House has explained the purpose of Trump’s hospital visit.

“I’m not going to speculate on what it means” that traditional minute for presidential hospital trips wasn’t followed, said Biden. “But what I can say is that nothing this administration does is routine … So who in God’s name knows what it’s all about? I don’t know, and I’m not going to speculate. I’ll let the experts do that.”

Trump has vehemently denied guess that he might have suffered from a mini-stroke or a cardiovascular event while in office.