and congress, on a bipartisan basis has made sure our health experts and leaders have the funding they need. with calm and, all americans, all of us should continue to listen to the experts, take their advice, and take commonsense steps steps to protect ourselves, our families, and our communities. >> the coronavirus continues to spread. with more than 500 confirmed cases in the united states, and two thirds of the 50 states. delay in testing, we don't know if the number of confirmed cases accurately reflects the number of actual cases in the united states. we now know that when the coronavirusl, first. on our soil, the centers for disease control produced kits that did not work properly. and sense many of these test

to our hospitals and medical labs. the administration turned down tips from the world health organization, even though 60 it, and weccepted have no answers as to why. it took weeks to get an accurate test out. and when it took weeks for the federal government to approve certain sites to run those tests, like the north well facility on rhode island that i recently visited, it took weeks and trent weeks to ramp up the americans tested and we are still far behind other countries like south korea in the number and percentage of the population we are able to test for coronavirus. the most powerful tool in responding to a virus is to know precisely where it is and how it is spreading. but because we don't have a complete handle on testing, many of our hospitals, doctors researchers and public health officials are flying blind. we are still far behind where

we should be in understanding how far the viruses already spread. now instead of taking responsibility and working quickly to rectify the early air, the trump administration and especially the president himself, downplayed concerns about the virus. the president falsely said a vaccine will be ready soon. and implied that it was okay for americans to go tove work. even if they had the virus. the president falsely blame the obama administration for policy change that slowed testing, it was regarded as totally false what he said and rather than spend the weekend in washington to get a grip on the crisis, the president was once again golfing at mar-a-lago. i don't want to guess at the number of times this president has criticized other presidents within the same thing. the federal government's initial response to the coronavirus was slipshod at

best. it has greatly hurt the country and it falls at the feet of the president. the buck stops with him. now i know president trump will dismiss these criticisms and accused democrats of playing politics, that is what he always does when there is legitimate criticism. because in president trump's world there is no such thing as a legitimate criticism of his administration but i would tell president trump we don't criticize yourdon's ration for the sake of it, we criticize because we want the administrations response to get better. and we are afraid if we don't speak up if we don't point out the problems publicly and push the administration to change its method of operation it won't change at all and the crisis will continue to worsen. now more than ever, we need president trump to lead our government's response to the

coronavirus competently and consistently, we are all rooting for that. now, with the economic effects of the virus beginning to worsen, there have been rumors that the trump administration look at policies assimilate the economy. let me be very clear, the best way to secure economic security for the american people right now is to deal with the coronavirus itself. competently and full on. something we have not yet seen. getting a handle on the crisis and containing the spread of the virus is by far the best way to address any effect on economy. if anything, the administration must prioritize the health and safety of american workers and families certainly before corporate interests. in that respect, speaker

several policies that the administrations should pursue to help american workers and families. paid sick leave for workers impacted by quarantine orders or responsible for caring for children impacted by school closures. enhanced unemployment f who may lose their jobs from the economic impacts of the epidemic. food security to ensure vulnerable populations do not lose access to food during this epidemic. clear protections for front-line workers like our healthcare professionals and workers who are responsible for cleaning public facilities. wide spread and free corona testing as well as affordable treatment for any non- covered corona virus costs. protections against price gouging and increased capacity of our medical systems. the administration must move

quickly and seriously to address the expanding threat to theac health of the american people and the severe impact of the coronavirus onhe the financial security of american families. again, the best way to deal with the problem here, health and economic is to address the problem head on. and deal with the kinds of problems we have seen the administration in its slipshod and erratic response that must vanish. >> the coronavirus is confirmed in 104 countries. there are more than 100,000 cases worldwide, 4000 people died. the united states we have more than 500 cases, including seven in my home state ofea illinois and at least 20 deaths. with these numbersec