On a day when the number of deaths from COVID-19 passed 128,000 nationwide, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had sharp words for Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who is threatening to withhold federal education dollars from school districts that do not reopen for the fall.
The Speaker was responding to a caller's question during a San Francisco town hall meeting about K-12 schools reopening.
Before asking Dr. Grant Colfax, director of the city's Department of Public Health, to answer the question, Pelosi scolded the Trump administration, saying DeVos is "guilty of malfeasance talking about our children that way. We all want our children to go back to school. We can only do that if our children are safe."
In addition to Dr. Colfax, attorney and civil rights activist Eva Paterson and Rev. Susan Hendershot joined Pelosi on the 65-minute town hall.
The stated focus of the gathering was to promote the HEROES Act, a $3 trillion Democratic-sponsored economic stimulus bill passed by the House two months ago as a follow up to the $2 trillion CARES Act passed in late March.
With key provisions of the CARES Act including unemployment and food benefits set to expire at the end of July, Pelosi said it was imperative for Congress to act quickly. "We just can't let that happen," she said.
"(Senate Majority Leader) Mitch McConnell said we needed a pause. Well, we did need a pause, but we certainly don't need one any longer because hunger didn't take a pause and they haven't helped us with food stamps and other emergency food initiatives. The rent doesn't take a pause" Pelosi said.