I was pleased to hear President Trump announce he was suspending sending our taxpayer dollars to the World Health Organization (WHO) while its mismanagement of the coronavirus pandemic is investigated. Annually, Americans send $400-$500 million to the WHO, which in turn has chosen political correctness and a bias towards the Chinese Communist Party government that is dangerous to our national security. The WHO repeated the Chinese government’s false claims that the coronavirus was not spreading, despite warnings by doctors and scientists that it was indeed spreading rapidly. Further, they opposed travel restrictions on China and other countries, thereby leading to the further spread of the virus. Americans deserve better.
I was also pleased to hear Gov. DeSantis make leadership and structural changes to the state’s unemployment system last week. He directed current Department of Management Services (DMS) Secretary Jonathan Satter to lead the efforts to improve the CONNECT system and turnaround time for processing applications. Additionally, Gov. DeSantis issued Executive Order 20-104, which suspends the requirement that Floridians must recertify reemployment assistance status every two weeks.
Since March 15, more than 1.5 million claims have been submitted to the system. As of Thursday, he announced 170,407 payments were sent to Floridians totaling nearly $60 million and over the last two weeks, 23,762 federal unemployment checks had been mailed.
I know many of you have been unable to access the CONNECT system to apply or get the status of your application. My staff and I continue to stay in touch with Gov. DeSantis and state legislators. We can submit your contact information to FLDEO staff and request that they reach out to you as soon as possible to resolve the issue or assist if you need help completing an application, including accessing printed copies. Â
Access to Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is expanding as American companies such as Hancock, MyPillow and even small businesses redirected their output to produce these much-needed items. Yesterday, the governor announced that to date the Division of Emergency Management has sent out: 8 million masks, including N-95, procedure and surgical masks; 5 million gloves; 564,000 shoe covers; 615,000 face shields; 300,000 gowns; More than 100,000 containers of hand sanitizer; 47,000 goggles; and 22,000 coveralls.
Florida has also received $4 billion in federal funding provided to states by the CARES Act to support their efforts to fight this pandemic.
Congressman Daniel Webster represents The Villages in the U.S. House of Representatives.
