TRUMP MAKES THE CDC A CASUALTY IN THE PANDEMIC. 

ACTION ONE: CALL YOUR SENATORS

SAMPLE SCRIPT FOR WYDEN AND MERKLEY:

My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code]. I am calling because…
First, I want to thank you for fighting for us in this dangerous time. Also, I am calling to ask you to publicly endorse the action by Governor Kate Brown in joining a regional alliance to decide when to relax social distancing and reopenbusinesses. Trump claims he has “total authority” but the Constitution says he’s wrong. Please add your voice to this wise move by Governor Brown. 

ACTION TWO: CALL YOUR HOUSE REPS

Not sure who your U.S. Representative is? Find out here. 

SAMPLE SCRIPTS FOR REPRESENTATIVES:

My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code]. I am calling because…
First, I want to thank you for fighting for us in this dangerous time. Also, we need an investigation to understand why one of our greatest public health assets, the CDC, has almost disappeared. Normally, we’d expect a national strategy, supported by the best data, but that is missing from this outbreak-response. Trump has been cutting CDC budgets. Hundreds of jobs are unfilled. And in its first big assignment, to develop a Covid-19 test, it failed catastrophically. We need to know why Trump has lowered our defenses.

ACTION THREE: WRITE TO VOTERS FROM YOUR HOME

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         Stay tuned — more activities to come! 

BACKGROUND:

We all benefit from America’s scientific treasures like the Centers for Disease Control. But amid the pandemic, the CDC has all but disappeared. 
Initially, Trump deferred the response to Covid-19 to the states. It may have been an acknowledgment that Trump’s war on government had hollowed out CDC. 
For years, Trump budgets have choked the life out of America’s most vital public health agency. Hundreds of jobs remain unfilled. The decimation may explain why CDC’s coronavirus test failed catastrophically.  
Ithe downsizing, a CDC epidemiologist working in China was recalled. In her former role, she would have been one of the first to learn of the outbreak in Wuhan.  
Left on their own, states began ordering social distance measures, and fighting for equipment to protect frontline hospital staff and for the lives of victims near death 
The cutthroat competition for PPE and ventilators forced bidding wars and lead to price gouging. But many states are bending the curve.  
States including Oregon are forming regional alliances to coordinate restarting their economies.  
Trump claims only he has the authority to reopen the economy. The president’s “authority is total, he said. 
Well, not according to the Constitution 

SOURCES: 

Stat, April 4, 2020: “An interview with the CDC director on coronavirus, masks, and an agency gone quiet  https://www.statnews.com/2020/04/04/an-interview-with-the-cdc-director-on-coronavirus-masks-and-an-agency-gone-quiet/   
New Yorker, April 9, 2020: “How Did the U.S. End Up with Nurses Wearing Garbage Bags?”  https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-trumps-washington/the-coronavirus-and-how-the-united-states-ended-up-with-nurses-wearing-garbage-bags   
New York Times, April 11, 2020: “Life and Death in the ‘Hot Zone. “If people saw this, they would stay home.” What the war against the coronavirus looks like inside two Bronx hospitals  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/11/opinion/sunday/coronavirus-hospitals-bronx.html?utm_source=pocket-newtab   
New York Times, April 11, 2020: “He Could Have Seen What Was Coming: Behind Trump’s Failure on the Virus”  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/11/us/politics/coronavirus-trump-response.html   
Business Insider, April 12, 2020:  ‘We have thrown 15 years of institutional learning out the window’: Leaked emails show top public-health experts raised alarm about the Trump administration’s botched coronavirus response” https://www.businessinsider.com/leaked-emails-show-experts-alarm-over-trump-admin-coronavirus-response-2020-4?utm_source=reddit.com    
LA Times, April 10, 2020: “States do battle for coronavirus protective gear in a market driven by chaos and fear”   https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-04-10/states-battle-coronavirus-protective-gear-market   
Washington Post, April 10, 2020: “A plan to defeat coronavirus finally emerges, but it’s not from the White HouseIn the absence of federal direction, states and America’s top experts forge the path ahead.”  https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/04/10/contact-tracing-coronavirus-strategy/    
New York Times, March 28, 2020: “The Lost Month: How a Failure to Test Blinded the U.S. to Covid-19”  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/28/us/testing-coronavirus-pandemic.html    
Washington Post, March 14, 2020: “Trump is breaking every rule in the CDC’s 450-page playbook for health crisisThe communication chaos on coronavirus is eroding the most powerful weapon we have: Public trust” https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/03/14/cdc-manual-crisis-coronavirus-trump/   
Vox, April 19, 2020: “How Trump turned ventilators into a form of patronageIt isn’t supposed to work like this” https://www.vox.com/2020/4/10/21215578/trump-ventilators-coronavirus-cory-gardner-colorado-jared-polis-patronage   
Washington Post, Feb. 1, 2018: “CDC to cut by 80 percent efforts to prevent global disease outbreak”   https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2018/02/01/cdc-to-cut-by-80-percent-efforts-to-prevent-global-disease-outbreak/  
USA Today, April 14m, 2020: “Here’s what the Constitution’s 10th Amendment says about Trump’s claim to have total authority over states”  https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/04/14/trump-claim-total-authority-claim-10th-amendment/2988013001/    
The Hill, March 10, 2020: “Trump budget chief holds firm on CDC cuts amid virus outbreak”  https://thehill.com/policy/finance/486817-trump-budget-chief-holds-firm-on-cdc-cuts-amid-virus-outbreak   
Politico Apr 9,2020: “How the CDC director became the MAGA whisperer on coronavirus   https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/09/cdc-director-robert-redfield-coronavirus-176247 
Reuters, March 22, 2020: “Exclusive: U.S. axed CDC expert job in China months before virus outbreak  https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-china-cdc-exclusiv/exclusive-u-s-axed-cdc-expert-job-in-china-months-before-virus-outbreak-idUSKBN21910S