STATEMENT: Florida Democratic Party on April Jobs Report

Today, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that the unemployment rate nationwide rose to 14.7%. Since the outbreak began, Floridians filed more than one million unique unemployment claims. This report highlights the consequences of Donald Trump’s erratic response to the coronavirus pandemic, from ignoring warnings from health experts in January to his continued failure to scale up testing nationwide.

In response, Florida Democratic Party Chair Terrie Rizzo released the following statement:

“Instead of preparing us for the pandemic, as other nations’ leaders had, Donald Trump ignored his own intelligence briefings, fell for China’s propaganda, and allowed COVID-19 to spread without widespread testing to track and contain the virus. Trump wasted time containing the virus and now more than 33 million Americans have filed for unemployment.

“This crisis has been especially devastating here in Florida, where hundreds of thousands of jobless Floridians haven’t been able to receive assistance because of a broken unemployment system. Floridians are paying the price for Trump’s inaction and we simply cannot take another four years of his chaotic leadership.”