PHOENIX – Yesterday, after failing to negotiate a pandemic aid package with Congress to give economic relief to the American people, Donald Trump issued an executive order cutting crucial unemployment benefits by $200 a week. Trump also vowed to make permanent cuts to the payroll taxes that fund Social Security, a critical lifeline that helps nearly 1.4 million Arizonans stay afloat, including 993,000 retirees.
In response, Arizona Democratic Party Chairwoman Felecia Rotellini released the following statement:
“Donald Trump’s disastrous pandemic response has been a raw deal for working families and older Americans in Arizona and across the country. Trump’s failure to contain the virus has created an economic crisis for working people all across Arizona. And as the coronavirus outbreak tore through Arizona’s retirement communities and nursing homes, Trump failed to act and left seniors to fend for themselves. Now, after tanking good-faith negotiations to extend economic relief for working families, Trump is cutting unemployment benefits by $200 a week and exploiting a public health crisis to gut Social Security funding — right when communities need help the most.
Trump’s failure of leadership has thrown Arizona’s working families and seniors to the wolves. We need a president who will fight to protect older Americans and ensure that working families have the resources they need to build back better from Trump’s failing economy. That president is Joe Biden.”
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