Nancy Pelosi calls stock market plunge ‘disturbing’ as she pushes for coronavirus funding

The Trump administration has taken numerous steps in response to the virus, such as declaring a public health emergency and imposing travel restrictions and mandatory quarantines.

The White House sent a coronavirus funding package to Congress on Monday night asking for at least $2.5 billion to use in its prevention efforts.

But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called the administration’s plan “inadequate.” His office put forward a plan to allocate $8.5 billion in emergency funds.

In a joint statement Thursday morning, Pelosi and Schumer said, “Any emergency funding supplemental the Congress approves must be entirely new funding—not stolen from other accounts.”

Any such spending plan, they said, must also include provisions to ensure that Trump can’t use that money for anything other than fighting diseases, that eventual vaccines are “affordable and available to all that need it,” and that protections are made for small businesses and state and local governments impacted by the outbreak.

At her news conference, Pelosi also responded to Trump’s claim from the briefing room late Wednesday that “I think the financial markets are very upset when they look at the Democrat candidates standing on that stage making fools out of themselves.”

Seven Democratic presidential candidates met in Charleston, South Carolina, on Tuesday night for an often messy and chaotic debate, just days before the state’s primary.

Trump said investors say “‘if we ever have a president like this’ … When they look at the statements made by the people standing behind those podiums, I think that has a huge effect, yeah.”

Pelosi fired back at Trump: “Well, the market dropped 1,800 points before the debate the other night.”

She added: “The market dropped while he was speaking yesterday at his press conference.”

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/27/pelosi-calls-market-plunge-disturbing-pushes-for-coronavirus-funding.html