The Daily Signal - White House Official Explains Trump’s Action Plan to Revitalize Underserved Communities

Episode Date: May 22, 2020

On Thursday, President Donald Trump met with national and Detroit-area African American leaders in Michigan to discuss how distressed communities can recover from COVID-19.  Ja’Ron Smith, deputy assistant to Trump and deputy director of the Office of American Innovation, traveled with Trump to his Michigan meeting and explained what steps the commander-in-chief is taking to revitalize underserved communities' economies. Smith also explains how Trump is ensuring minority communities have access to the medical help they need during COVID-19. We also cover these stories: Trump is withdrawing the U.S. from the Open Skies Treaty. Senate Democrats are denouncing the term “Chinese virus.” Actress Lori Loughlin, one of the most prominent parents involved in the college admissions scandal, will plead guilty. The Daily Signal Podcast is available on Ricochet, Apple Podcasts, Pippa, Google Play, or Stitcher. All of our podcasts can be found at DailySignal.com/podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave a review. You can also leave us a message at 202-608-6205 or write us at [e-mail]. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Friday, May 22nd. I'm Rachel Del Judas. And I'm Kate Trinko. Today, we're featuring our colleague Virginia Allen's interview with Geron Smith, deputy assistant to President Trump and deputy director of the Office of American Innovation. They'll talk about President Trump's initiatives and how his administration is working to help African Americans. Don't forget, if you're enjoying this podcast, please be sure to leave a review or a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and encourage others to subscribe. Now on to our top news. President Trump is withdrawing the U.S. from the Open Skies Treaty, which allows member nations to fly over each other so that they can observe what's going on and be aware that there's no significant military buildup. Russia has been restricting flights in certain areas, and that's what drove the Trump administration decision.

I think we have a very good relationship with Russia, but Russia didn't adhere to the treaty. Trump told reporters on Thursday, per the Hill. So, until they adhere, we will pull out. The treaty has been in effect since 2002. Last week, an additional 2.4 million people filed for unemployment benefits. Per CNN, 38.6 million people have filed for initial unemployment aid since mid-March, when lockdowns began in full force across the country. That corresponds to 23.7 percent of the March U.S. labor force. Senate Democrats are denouncing the term Chinese virus. Senator Kamala Harris, joined by over 20 other Senate Democrats, including Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, is backing a resolution condemning language about the coronavirus that refers to where it originated.

The resolution, which was introduced this month, states the use of anti-Asian terminology and rhetoric related to COVID-19, such as the Chinese virus, Wuhan virus, and Kung flu have perpetuated anti-Asian stigma. And since January 2020, there has been a dramatic increase in reports of hate crimes and incidents against those of Asian descent. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell isn't taking to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's adoption of proxy voting, which House Democrats passed in their fourth coronavirus recovery bill on Friday. It allows each member to call up to 10 proxies, meaning that if Democrats have 20 representatives, all holding 10 proxies, they can pass any bill. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told the Daily Signal podcast. Here's what McConnell had to say about Thursday in a Senate floor speech.

Yesterday, the Speaker announced this arrangement will continue for another 45 days at least. But there's a new wrinkle. House Democrats jammed through a precedent-breaking. remote voting scheme that will let one member cast 10 additional votes. One member cast 10 additional votes. Actually, one person 11 votes. Remember, these are the people who want to remake every state's election laws. There's several problems of this. One of them happens to be Article 1, Section 5 of the U.S. Constitution, which says a majority of each house or a constituter quorum to do business.

Now, for about 231 years, Congresses have managed to fulfill the job requirement. They've worked through a civil war, two world wars, terrorist threats, and a major pandemic without trying to shirk this duty. The 12th Congress endured the war of 1812, including the occupation of Washington

and the burning of this very building that we're in right now. without abandoning in-person meetings. The Constitution requires a physical quorum to do business. Normally, both chambers may presume one. Presume one. But any House member has a right to demand an in-person attendance check. The Democrat's new rule says one person may mark himself and ten others present,

even if they are nowhere in sight. A flat-out lie. There will be enormous constitutional questions around any state. thing the house does if they fail to demonstrate a real quorum, but plow ahead anyhow. For one couple, the college admission scandal where wealthy parents worked with others to enable their children to get accepted to colleges through a variety of underhanded methods, including faking athletic paths, has still been ongoing. Lori Lachlan, an actress and her husband, a fashion designer named Massimo Giannulli,

are now pleading guilty. Purry press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Massachusetts, the couple is pleading guilty to securing the fraudulent omission of their two children to the University of Southern California as purported athletic recruits. Lachlan will spend two months in prison and pay a $150,000 fine, while Giannoli will spend five months in prison and have to pay a $250,000 fine, Both will also have to do community service. Catholics and a number of Lutherans in the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod are joining forces to go against the governor of Minnesota's stringent stay-at-home order to only allow 10 people at church services.

The Catholic bishops of Minnesota, along with many people of faith, were disappointed in Governor Walsh's May 13th announcement that he would end the stay-at-home order to allow more commerce but prohibit religious gatherings of more than 10 people. The bishops of Minnesota are united in our conviction that we can safely resume public masses in accordance with both our religious duties and with accepted public health and safety standards. We can worship in a way that reflects both the love of God and the love of our neighbors. Therefore, we are giving our parishes permission for the resumption of the public celebration of Mass on Tuesday, on Tuesday, May 26th, which will give us time to be ready for the celebration of Pentecost on May 31st. Parishes will be required to follow strict protocols. we have published for sanitation and social distancing and will have to limit attendance to one-third of the seating capacity of the church.

The bishops also added that no one will be required to attend Mass as the bishops of Minnesota are continuing to remove the obligation to attend Sunday Mass. A spokesperson for the governor said the governor remains in routine communication with faith leaders across the state and understands the toll this pandemic is taking on the spiritual health of Minnesotans. the Star Tribune reported. Next up, we'll have Virginia's interview with Geron Smith. Do you have an interest in public policy? Do you want to hear some of the biggest names in American politics speak? Every day, the Heritage Foundation hosts webinars called Heritage Events Live.

Webinar topics range from ethics during the COVID-19 pandemic to the CARES Act and the economy. These webinars are free and open to the public. To find the latest webinar and register, visit Hairsenai. heritage.org slash events. I am joined by Geron Smith, deputy assistant to President Trump and deputy director of the Office of American Innovation. Mr. Smith, thank you so much for being here. Thanks for having me.

Every community across America has been affected by COVID-19, but some have certainly been affected more than others, such as minority communities and underserved communities. Now, on Thursday, President Trump met with national and Detroit area leaders. African-American leaders in Michigan to discuss how distressed communities can recover from COVID-19. Can you tell us a little bit more about the president's priorities for that meeting? Sure. So the meeting is a listening session to learn more about what's working and what's not working. And so far as resources that we've sent, as you may know, through the CARES Act, we sent about $2 billion worth of health care resources to community health centers to help with testing.

And things like if individual happens to contract the disease so they can get the help they need to recover. We've also done a number of different things for minority businesses through the form of PPP and carving out $30 billion for a minority-owned depository institutions as well as CDFIs. Wow. So encouraging to hear. And as you travel and as you talk with African American communities right now, what are some of their greatest concerns and how is the. the White House responding specifically to those concerns that they're raising? So COVID has put a spotlight on a lot of historic disparities that's existed in our African-American community, like issues of access to capital or health care disparities. What we're trying to do

is put together infrastructure that will not only help minority communities or underserved communities like African-Americans deal with those disparities now, but fix them for the future. Last week, Secretary Carson made some recommendations to the president to help improve access to capital as well as improve access to health care. And so we're going to continue to work through that and partner with some of those leaders that we met in Detroit to create a lasting impact. That's so exciting. Now, as you mentioned, you're trying to expand that access. Could you take a minute and just tell me a little bit more of what does that actually look like to expand that medical access during COVID-19 for African-American communities? Sure. I don't want to get too far ahead of the president, but we hope to announce soon more details on what that may look like.

What I can tell you what it looked like before is through the CARES Act, we've allowed for individuals to get access to health care free of charge for COVID-related illnesses. And so that's really been helpful for many communities. We've also expanded access to telehealth resources so that individuals could use. use their connectivity online to get help from a health care provider. As you can imagine, so many areas there aren't surrounded by hospitals and underserved areas. And so we've also created some partnerships with CVS and Walgreens to expand testing capacity. But what we're looking at is seeing if we can take a look at expanding that connectivity so people who don't have resources to connect can get access to those health care systems.

also looking at ways that we can maybe invest in more mobile health care services. But all of these things are being examined and we're working with a number of different local leaders who have expertise in this area to learn what's the best way to create outcomes. That's great. That's exciting. Now, we have seen that the African American community tragically has been more affected by COVID-19 in a negative way. But considering the work that the president is doing, that those in the White House are doing right now to connect those in minority communities, like you say, with the medical care that they need, whether that's through telehealth or other means. Are you optimistic that we'll begin to see a decline in COVID-19 cases and deaths in those minority communities?

Well, I'm optimistic that we can set up infrastructure to help deal with it. We also have to encourage not only minority communities, but people in general, not. to have a fear of going to these health care systems. Since COVID, what we've seen in some community health centers is a decline in attendance and taking advantage of some of the resources. And that doesn't even speak to just COVID-related illnesses, as illnesses that maybe have some pre-existing conditions where they may, because of fear, or going to the hospital, let those illnesses get worse.

And so I think overall we're going to work with community leaders to encourage more people to access these self-dividers and at the same time create more access. The president has tasked the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council to lead the way in making sure the underserved communities are getting that assistance that they need. Could you tell me a little bit more about the work of this council and who sits on it? Sure. So I should have led with that. So the White House Opportunity Revitalization Council was created in 2018 to help revitalize low-income. in underserved areas throughout the country.

And their chief tool was leveraging opportunity zones. Since the beginning of the crisis on the pandemic, the president has renewed the focus of that council. And so we had infrastructure in place to deal with the holistic issues of the underserved communities. And we've used that infrastructure to implement many of the resources I just discussed through the CARES Act. And so many of the agencies like HHS, Department of Education, HUD,

also on its council, including trade. And so we hosted a number of different webinars and met with, had webinars with over half a million African American leaders and Hispanic leaders to get ideas on how we can best create resources and partnerships to deal with COVID response. And so that's been the focus of the council implementing some of the care resources. But as I mentioned last week, the council also made some recommendations to the president. and it included expanding access to capital, expanding ways for health care resources, expanding ways for affordable housing and distance learning. So we're taking a whole of government approach,

but we're going to need a whole of America approach to deal with some of the realities of some of these communities around the country. And you mentioned Opportunity Zones. Would you mind just first thing a second and explaining the important role that Opportunity Zones have been playing in America since they were created under the 2000s. 17 tax cuts and jobs act. And then just explain what role the president does see them playing now as a tool to revitalize the economy.

Sure. So opportunity zones is a designation for low-income census tracks with high poverty and high unemployment. And that allows for individuals who have a capital gain to defer those capital gains. And then in the fact that they leave those capital gains in those low-income census tracts designated as opportunity zones for the long-term. They reduce the amount of capital gains tax they have to pay all the way down to zero if they keep the capital gain or the investment into that loan income census tract to 10 years. And so those tracks have showed some enormous success. And we hope to come up with a best practices report in the next month or so that can talk about all the individual communities around the country. They have 7,100 different zones that have showed a lot of progress since the enactment of the law.

What we're hoping to see is how we can maybe further leverage that tool to bring more investment into the low-income census tracks. But we certainly, since it's a long-term incentive, we can certainly depend on using that in the future and perpetuity through COVID. Yeah, that's great. Well, you know, the top issue of the president has always been the economy, and that's an issue that right now is so much so on everyone's minds. Before COVID-19 hit, African-American unemployment was at a record low. Are you confident that we're going to be able to get back to that point once again? Well, we certainly got the right man in charge. President Trump has done an excellent job of ushering in an economic boom.

And if I had to put my money on anyone who could help get us back to prosperity, it would be President Trump. And so we're going to continue to push pro-growth ideas and deregulatory systems that would encourage. more of the private sector to do what they do best, and that's create jobs and create outcomes for the American people. Let's talk just for a moment about how the president has prioritized helping historically about colleges and universities. President Trump signed legislation to provide HBCUs with over a billion dollars in stimulus funds.

Why was this such a priority to the president and so critical for HBCUs to receive these funds right now? Sure. President Trump realized that these institutions, is our epic center of the black community. And he wanted them to not only be able to flourish in the 21st century economy, but continue to be a part of the American DNA. And so we've done work to make sure that they get permanent funding

and they don't have to go to Congress every year to ask for appropriations. But even in the CARES Act, we're able to get a number of different resources to these institutions from one of the HBCU Digest, Periodical. that talk about HBCUs, they recently just talked about how that historic investment has led to saving one of the colleges with doing cookment. And so we're continuing to make new investments into these institutions. And they're going to be a key pillar into the work that we do to recover. Absolutely. No, they certainly will be. Well, obviously, you know, one of the most basic needs that everyone has right now is food. And those in-dustress communities

are at a greater disadvantage to have that access to food, especially healthy food. But last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the launch of the Farmers to Families Food Box Program. Could you take a second and just tell me a little bit about what that program is? Sure. So I don't want to go into too many of the details, but essentially to make it plain and simple

is create more access to healthy food for low-income families. It's the idea that the Department of the Department of Agriculture, agriculture has put into our budget the last couple years. But through the pandemic and the need for food in some communities, we figured out a way to basically get food boxes delivered directly to people so they don't have to wait in these long lines. That's so exciting to hear. Well, Mr. Smith, you know, you are in meetings and conversations with the president on a regular basis. You traveled with him to the meeting in Michigan. Is the president optimistic that we're going to be able to turn this thing around and get back to?

to a place of economic prosperity. Yes, we're very optimistic, and not only that, we're willing to put the sweat equity and muscle it takes to make it happen. And so this president has always been about results and outcomes, and you're going to continue to see that to the rest of his presidency as we continue to flourish and rebound from this pandemic. And is there one message that the president is really focused on Americans' hearing and understanding right now?

Well, focused on always making America the greatest country ever, and this return of greatness is going to usher in even more greatness more than we've ever seen. And so I really have some confidence of that. And I'm also confident in the work ethic and the fact that the American resilience is real. And we'll continue to partner with local stakeholders around the country to make America a great country and a beacon of light for the rest of the world. Mr. Chishness, we thank you for the work that you're doing right alongside the president. We are very thankful for your leadership during this time.

Okay. Thanks so much for your time. And that'll do it for today's episode. Thanks for listening to the Daily Signal podcast. We appreciate your patience as we record remotely during these weeks. Please be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or Spotify. And please leave us a review or rating on Apple Podcasts to give us your feedback. Stay healthy.

We will be back with you all on Monday. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to you by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. It is executive produced by Kate Shrinco and Rachel Del Judas. Sound designed by Lauren Evans, Thelia Rampersad, Mark Geinie, and John Pop. For more information, visitdailySignal.com.