Tammy Baldwin calls on Trump to deliver medical supplies

    By
    Ruth Conniff
    -
    Sen. Tammy Baldwin speaking at a podium
    Sen. Tammy Baldwin photo by ljlphoto.com ”>CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

    On Friday Sen. Tammy Baldwin sent a letter to President Donald Trump, reminding him of her April 13 call for supplies needed to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

    “In my letter, I urged you to act to deliver this assistance swiftly. It is now six months later, and Wisconsin is still experiencing supply shortages,” Baldwin wrote. 

    The shortages “couldn’t come at a worse time,” she added. “Wisconsin is currently experiencing one of the most serious outbreaks in the nation, and health care providers continue to share concerns about supply shortages. It is long past time for you to show leadership and take action to support our state with the supplies that we need and deserve.”

    ThedaCare, a community health system in Northeastern Wisconsin, and Bellin Health in Green Bay are currently facing shortages of N95 masks, Baldwin wrote.

    Other healthcare facilities around the state are in need of surgical gowns, reagents needed for COVID-19 testing and other supplies.

    “Throughout this crisis, I have called on you to provide Wisconsin with the supplies we need to combat COVID-19,” Baldwin wrote. “However, you have mismanaged the federal distribution of medical supplies we need and failed to work constructively with Congress to reach agreement on additional COVID-19 relief funding that our state desperately needs.”

    “We cannot afford more of your empty promises, and we cannot afford to wait,” she concluded.

    Ruth Conniff
    Ruth Conniff
    Ruth Conniff is Editor-in-chief of the Wisconsin Examiner. She formerly served as Editor-in-chief of The Progressive Magazine where she worked for many years from both Madison and Washington, DC. Shortly after Donald Trump took office she moved with her family to Oaxaca, Mexico, and covered U.S./Mexico relations, the migrant caravan, and Mexico’s efforts to grapple with Trump. Conniff is a frequent guest on MSNBC and has appeared on Good Morning America, Democracy Now!, Wisconsin Public Radio, CNN, Fox News and many other radio and television outlets. She has also written for The Nation, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Los Angeles Times, among other publications. She graduated from Yale University in 1990, where she ran track and edited the campus magazine The New Journal. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin with her husband and three daughters.