Paul Egan, Detroit Free Press 3/28/2020
President Donald Trump has approved Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's request for a federal major disaster declaration related to the coronavirus, the White House announced Saturday.
© Provided by Detroit Free Press Gov. Gretchen Whitmer
Whitmer said in a news release she appreciates the approval as "a good start," but said the federal government has not approved Michigan's request in full.
Separately, Whitmer announced Saturday that Michigan has received a shipment of 112,800 N95 masks from the strategic national stockpile, with an additional shipment of 8,000 masks on the way.
The approvals came despite Trump's public complaints as recently as Friday that Whitmer has not shown sufficient appreciation for what his administration has done to fight the pandemic. Trump attacked Whitmer on Twitter Friday and said on Fox News Thursday that Whitmer's criticism of federal planning and action has not been "pleasant."
The major disaster declaration through the Federal Emergency Management Agency makes the state eligible for statewide crisis counseling and provides funding for state, tribal, and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations for emergency protective measures, including direct federal assistance, the White House said in a news release.
Whitmer said Michigan requested much more.
"While Michigan made a broad request for aid in every individual assistance and public assistance program from the individual assistance category, funding was approved for the crisis counseling program and funding for emergency protective measures from the public assistance category was also approved," Whitmer said.
“This is a good start, and it will help us protect Michiganders and slow the spread of COVID-19,” she said.
“I’m hopeful that the president will review my request for individual assistance programs that would provide meals to families who need them and rental assistance and temporary housing for families. I look forward to the federal government’s continued partnership as we work to fight this virus.”
Whitmer said Thursday she had sent the disaster declaration request to FEMA, one day after the Free Press revealed that Michigan had not yet made such a request, despite the fact several other states had already received major disaster declarations from Washington, D.C.
Whitmer said Thursday that if her request was granted in full, it would help the state provide meals, rental assistance and temporary housing, mental health therapy and counseling, and "much-needed additional capacity" as the state's health care system struggles to keep up with the expanding coronavirus pandemic in Michigan.
On Saturday, Whitmer said the crisis counseling program the White House approved provides services for those whose mental health has been impacted by the spread of COVID-19.
The federal government also granted Whitmer's request for emergency protective measures, including funding for transporting and positioning equipment, Michigan's emergency operations center, medical supplies and personal protective equipment, medical care and transport, and childcare, Whitmer said. The governor’s request for hazard mitigation assistance to help provide relief during planning for recovery is under review, she said.
Whitmer said the relief package approved by Congress Friday will provide relief in some of the requested areas of individual assistance, including unemployment insurance and nutritional food assistance under the Stafford Act. But she said FEMA can also provide aid in these areas where they do not overlap with existing programs.
Michigan requested assistance for both disaster unemployment assistance and nutritional food assistance that have not yet been approved, she said.
Michigan has the fifth-most cases of coronavirus in the nation, with more than 3,600, and at least 92 deaths, as of Saturday.
The Trump administration has already declared major disasters for states and territories including New Jersey, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, New York, California, Washington, South Carolina, and Puerto Rico.
Whitmer has been critical of a lack of federal preparation for the pandemic and what she has said is a lack of a national strategy and inadequate assistance in helping Michigan and other states procure needed test kits, masks, gloves, personal protection equipment, hand sanitizer, ventilators, and other items.
Friday night on Twitter, Trump said: "I love Michigan," and although the White House was doing a great job helping the state, "your Governor, Gretchen 'Half' Whitmer is way in over her head, she doesn’t have a clue. Likes blaming everyone for her own ineptitude!"
Earlier, at a White House briefing, Trump said that Vice President Mike Pence, who is in charge of the coronavirus response, calls all the governors, but Trump tells them not to call the governors of Michigan and Washington state, who have been critical of him.
I love Michigan, one of the reasons we are doing such a GREAT job for them during this horrible Pandemic. Yet your Governor, Gretchen “Half” Whitmer is way in over her head, she doesn’t have a clue. Likes blaming everyone for her own ineptitude! #MAGA— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 28, 2020
"I want them to be appreciative," Trump said.
Whitmer has said she is not trying to get into a fight with the White House and there must be "all hands on deck" to fight the coronavirus.
The arrival of 112,800 masks from the federal government Saturday is "great news for our front line health care workers,” Whitmer said. “We’ll keep working hard along with FEMA and the White House to get more of the personal protective equipment we need to keep Michiganders safe.”
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said Friday he has asked Vice President Mike Pence not to call governors he says have not been "appreciative" enough of his efforts on coronavirus – a group of critics that included a governor he referred to only by gender,Whitmer said in a news release she appreciates the approval as "a good start," but said the federal government has not approved Michigan's request in full.
Separately, Whitmer announced Saturday that Michigan has received a shipment of 112,800 N95 masks from the strategic national stockpile, with an additional shipment of 8,000 masks on the way.
The approvals came despite Trump's public complaints as recently as Friday that Whitmer has not shown sufficient appreciation for what his administration has done to fight the pandemic. Trump attacked Whitmer on Twitter Friday and said on Fox News Thursday that Whitmer's criticism of federal planning and action has not been "pleasant."
The major disaster declaration through the Federal Emergency Management Agency makes the state eligible for statewide crisis counseling and provides funding for state, tribal, and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations for emergency protective measures, including direct federal assistance, the White House said in a news release.
Whitmer said Michigan requested much more.
"While Michigan made a broad request for aid in every individual assistance and public assistance program from the individual assistance category, funding was approved for the crisis counseling program and funding for emergency protective measures from the public assistance category was also approved," Whitmer said.
“This is a good start, and it will help us protect Michiganders and slow the spread of COVID-19,” she said.
“I’m hopeful that the president will review my request for individual assistance programs that would provide meals to families who need them and rental assistance and temporary housing for families. I look forward to the federal government’s continued partnership as we work to fight this virus.”
Whitmer said Thursday she had sent the disaster declaration request to FEMA, one day after the Free Press revealed that Michigan had not yet made such a request, despite the fact several other states had already received major disaster declarations from Washington, D.C.
Whitmer said Thursday that if her request was granted in full, it would help the state provide meals, rental assistance and temporary housing, mental health therapy and counseling, and "much-needed additional capacity" as the state's health care system struggles to keep up with the expanding coronavirus pandemic in Michigan.
On Saturday, Whitmer said the crisis counseling program the White House approved provides services for those whose mental health has been impacted by the spread of COVID-19.
The federal government also granted Whitmer's request for emergency protective measures, including funding for transporting and positioning equipment, Michigan's emergency operations center, medical supplies and personal protective equipment, medical care and transport, and childcare, Whitmer said. The governor’s request for hazard mitigation assistance to help provide relief during planning for recovery is under review, she said.
Whitmer said the relief package approved by Congress Friday will provide relief in some of the requested areas of individual assistance, including unemployment insurance and nutritional food assistance under the Stafford Act. But she said FEMA can also provide aid in these areas where they do not overlap with existing programs.
Michigan requested assistance for both disaster unemployment assistance and nutritional food assistance that have not yet been approved, she said.
Michigan has the fifth-most cases of coronavirus in the nation, with more than 3,600, and at least 92 deaths, as of Saturday.
The Trump administration has already declared major disasters for states and territories including New Jersey, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, New York, California, Washington, South Carolina, and Puerto Rico.
Whitmer has been critical of a lack of federal preparation for the pandemic and what she has said is a lack of a national strategy and inadequate assistance in helping Michigan and other states procure needed test kits, masks, gloves, personal protection equipment, hand sanitizer, ventilators, and other items.
Friday night on Twitter, Trump said: "I love Michigan," and although the White House was doing a great job helping the state, "your Governor, Gretchen 'Half' Whitmer is way in over her head, she doesn’t have a clue. Likes blaming everyone for her own ineptitude!"
Earlier, at a White House briefing, Trump said that Vice President Mike Pence, who is in charge of the coronavirus response, calls all the governors, but Trump tells them not to call the governors of Michigan and Washington state, who have been critical of him.
I love Michigan, one of the reasons we are doing such a GREAT job for them during this horrible Pandemic. Yet your Governor, Gretchen “Half” Whitmer is way in over her head, she doesn’t have a clue. Likes blaming everyone for her own ineptitude! #MAGA— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 28, 2020
"I want them to be appreciative," Trump said.
Whitmer has said she is not trying to get into a fight with the White House and there must be "all hands on deck" to fight the coronavirus.
The arrival of 112,800 masks from the federal government Saturday is "great news for our front line health care workers,” Whitmer said. “We’ll keep working hard along with FEMA and the White House to get more of the personal protective equipment we need to keep Michiganders safe.”
Trump to Mike Pence: 'Don't call the woman in Michigan,' aka Gov. Gretchen Whitmer
David JacksonMichael CollinsUSA TODAY 3/27/2020
"Don't call the woman in Michigan," Trump said at a press conference while discussing Pence's work as head of the White House Coronavirus Task Force.
That governor – Gretchen Whitmer – replied on Twitter that "right now, we all need to be focused on fighting the virus, not each other."
"I’m willing to work with anyone as long as we get the personal protective equipment we need for the people of Michigan," she said.
Harsh words:President Trump slams Gov. Whitmer as he weighs disaster request for Michigan
Trump told reporters that most – but not all – governors have been appreciative of his administration's response to the coronavirus pandemic.
"I want them to be appreciative," he said. "I don't want them to say things that aren't true."
Asked which governors he was referring to, Trump slammed Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, calling him “a failed presidential candidate.”
Whitmer, he said, “has no idea what’s going on, and all she does is say it’s the federal government’s fault."
It's not the first time Trump and Whitmer have clashed over the federal government's coronavirus response.
Earlier this month, Trump attacked Whitmer in a tweet after she told MSNBC that “the federal government did not take this seriously early enough."
During an interview with Fox New's Sean Hannity on Thursday night, Trump claimed the Michigan governor – whose name he forgot – is "not stepping up. I don't know if she knows what's going on. But all she does is sit there and blame the federal government."
"Hi, my name is Gretchen Whitmer, and that governor is me," Whitmer shot back on Twitter. "I've asked repeatedly and respectfully for help. We need it. No more political attacks, just PPEs, ventilators, N95 masks, test kits."
She added: "You said you stand with Michigan — prove it."
Trump said during the Fox News interview that he loves the people of Michigan and "Michigan is a very important state."
Indeed it is. The Trump campaign's 2016 victory in Michigan – the first for a GOP presidential candidate in that state since 1988 – helped provide him his margin of victory in the Electoral College. Michigan is a key state to his re-election.
Though Trump doesn't want Pence to talk to Whitmer, he suggested the vice president is unlikely to take that advice.
"He'll call quietly anyway," Trump said.
Contributing: Courtney Subramanian
Michigan Governor Claims Federal Government Told Vendors ‘Not to Send Stuff Here’
by Aaron Keller | March 27th, 2020 LAW&CRIME
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-Mich.) suggested Friday that President Donald Trump was too busy trashing her on Sean Hannity’s Fox News broadcast Thursday night to take her call about her state’s need for COVID-19 medical supplies. Whitmer also said someone — we’re not sure who — was interfering with Michigan’s ability to order supplies on its own:
We need assistance. When the federal government told us that we needed to go it ourselves, we started procuring every item we could get our hands on. But, what I’ve gotten back is that vendors with whom we had contracts are now being told not to send stuff here to Michigan. It’s really concerning. I reached out to the White House last night, asked for a phone call with the president, ironically at the same time all this other stuff was going on. The fact of the matter remains: we need help, and at the very least, we don’t need people standing in our way of getting it.
Appearing on CNN’s The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer Friday evening, Whitmer said that a state-led “patchwork” attempt to secure medical equipment was prone to — and was indeed causing — trouble. “We’ve entered into a number of contracts, and as we are getting closer to the date when shipments are supposed to come in, they’re getting cancelled or they’re getting delayed. We’re being told they’re going first to the federal government,” Whitmer said of the supplies. She added that other local governments (such as Massachusetts and Los Angeles) were experiencing similar issues. “We are bidding against one another other . . . we are struggling to grab every PPE we get our hands on,” she said.
It was unclear who told the vendors not to send equipment and supplies, but the conversation on WWJ-AM, a Detroit news radio station, came after the hosts asked Whitmer to respond to comments Trump made Thursday evening on Hannity. Trump attacked Gov. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) first while completely mischaracterizing a federal law which requires his administration to keep a stockpile of medical supplies “appropriate and practicable” to “provide for and optimize the emergency health security of the United States” during an emergency. (Law&Crime previously discussed that law here.)
“We’re really a second line of attack. The first line of attack is supposed to be the hospitals and the local government and the states, the states themselves,” Trump said. “We have people like Governor Insley — he should be doing more! He shouldn’t be relying on the federal government . . . he was a failed presidential candidate and, you know, he’s always complaining.”
“You have to understand, this has to be managed by local government and by the governors, it can’t be managed by the federal government,” Trump later said.
(Again, federal law requires the federal government to manage the so-called “strategic national stockpile” of medical supplies. Trump vaguely referenced the stockpile without naming it by saying there was a “broken chain” of “monster warehouses” and that he was “filling it up very strongly.)
From there, Trump shifted his attention to Gov. Whitmer: “Your governor of Michigan, I mean, she’s not stepping up, I don’t know if she knows what’s going on, but all she does is sit there and blame the federal government. She doesn’t get it done. And we send her a lot. Now she wants a declaration of emergency, and we’ll have to make a decision on that.”
Trump, perhaps realizing that Michigan gave him an electoral college win in 2016 but in 2018 elected a Democrat as governor, backed things up: “Michigan is a very important state; I love the people of Michigan, what they do. I’m bringing many, many car factories into Michigan, and she is a new governor, and it’s not been pleasant.” Whitmer took office on January 1, 2019.
“The federal preparation was concerning,” Whitmer said on the radio Friday. “All of our focus needs to be on COVID-19, right now, right here, and so I need partnership [from] the federal government … we have to be all hands on deck here.” Whitmer said she refused to engage in personal attacks and praised Vice President Mike Pence for working amiably with her.
On Fox News, Trump went back to complain about Insley but circled again to Whitmer. “We’ve had a big problem with, uh, the young — a woman governor — from — you know who I’m talking about — from Michigan,” said the president. Whitmer, speaking on the radio the next day, said she was being “uniquely singled out” among a chorus of complaining governors who are displeased with the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It remains unclear who, precisely, the governor was referencing on the radio as attempting to stymie her ability to procure medical equipment. “The governor’s office could not provide any additional information Friday afternoon substantiating Whitmer’s allegation,” reported Crain’s Detroit Business. Crain’s was also not able to determine from the governor’s office the names of any vendors who backed out of helping the state. The governor’s office did tell Crain’s that Michigan needed 400,000 masks each day for at least the next several weeks to keep up with demand.
[Featured image by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images.]
[Editor’s Note: This piece has been updated to include additional comments from Gov. Whitmer’s CNN appearance Friday and to include a link to that appearance.]
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