Talking points to boost Democrats and take on Trump’s allies in Massachusetts.

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Our goal with the MassDems Wire is to give you the tools to boost Democrats and take on Trump and his Republican allies here in Massachusetts. Use these talking points on social media, as the basis for a letter to the editor of your local paper, in emails to your personal network, or in conversations with your friends and neighbors.
September 29, 2020

TONIGHT: Vice Presidential Debate
Trump Abandons Coronavirus Relief Talks
Charlie Baker Fails to Provide COVID-19 Data
TONIGHT: Vice Presidential Debate
The Vice Presidential debate will be held tonight at 9 PM. This debate will feature our Vice Presidential nominee holding the Trump-Pence Administration accountable for their devastating failures, while offering a vision for our future with Joe Biden as our President. Follow and retweet @DNCWarRoom to hold Pence accountable during the debate.
* In February, Donald Trump tapped Mike Pence to lead the White House Coronavirus task force. Since then, 210,000 Americans have died from COVID-19, more than 7.5 million have been infected, and tens of millions of Americans have lost their jobs.
* From the start, Trump and Pence lied to the American people about the threat of COVID-19, contradicted experts, and refused to follow basic health and safety guidelines.
* COVID-19 cases are surging across the country--again--and there’s an outbreak in the White House. Pence and the administration don’t have a plan to protect themselves from infection, nevermind the entire country.
* Together with Joe Biden, Kamala Harris is focused on building our country back better and giving working families their fair shot. Tonight, she’ll talk about how a Biden-Harris administration will work for all Americans, not just the wealthy and well connected.

Trump Abandons Coronavirus Relief Talks
Democrats are ready to provide much needed aid with a comprehensive package, but Trump and the Republicans are focused on pushing their Supreme Court nominee through the Senate first.
* Yesterday, Trump abandoned stimulus talks that would have helped small businesses, schools, struggling families, and unemployed workers.
* Instead, he’s rushing a Supreme Court confirmation because he wants the Court to take away your health care as quickly as possible. 74% of Americans ([link removed]) believe Congress should take action on COVID relief before a SCOTUS appointment.
* Trump never really tried to get a deal for struggling Americans. He never attended negotiations or brought Republicans and Democrats together. Nearly 5 months after the House passed the Heroes Act, he hasn’t stepped up to lead.
* Yesterday, Joe Biden spoke about the need to bring people together to unite our country and to get things done for the American people. That’s what he did when he secured the votes for relief after the last recession, which pulled our nation back from the brink in 2009 and kicked off the longest uninterrupted streak of job growth in our history.

Charlie Baker Fails to Provide COVID-19 Data
This week, reporting showed that Governor Charlie Baker and his administration are failing to collect required data ([link removed]) on race, ethnicity, language, occupation, and disability status of people who test positive for coronavirus. This isn’t the first time Baker’s been caught obscuring the inequities of his administration's response--it’s a pattern that goes back to the start of the pandemic.
* With over a million deaths worldwide, Republicans continue to downplay the risk of the coronavirus. In Massachusetts, Governor Charlie Baker is continuing to keep the public in the dark about COVID-19 cases and deaths.
* Baker’s administration is falling to collect crucial information about the race, ethnicity, language, occupation, or disability status of people who test positive for the virus, despite being required to do so.
+ Since July 1, over 84% of tests are missing occupational information and over 91% are missing information about primary language.
* The missing data helps health experts identify trends and disparities among groups more vulnerable to the virus. It’s how we make sure our response is complete and equitable.
* This isn’t new. Baker’s administration initially blocked access to information about cases by municipalities to keep us seeing that COVID-19 hotspots were overwhelmingly concentrated in communities of color.
* On top of that, a recent report ([link removed]) showed that the Baker and his administration hasn’t released the $20 million in federal funds allocated to address racial disparities in health highlighted by the pandemic.
* Comprehensive and correct information about COVID-19 is how we control the spread of this virus. Baker’s not just putting us at greater risk for another outbreak, he’s worsening the already deep inequities in our state.

We encourage you to share these talking points with your networks online and offline. Questions about the information outlined above and about the MassDems Wire program may be directed at our Communications Manager, Allison Mitchell. (mailto:[email protected]?subject=Wednesday%20Wire)

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