In a recent interview with TIME magazine, Donald Trump said that if reelected, he would disband the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy (OPPR), a permanent office of the executive branch established by Congress in 2022.
The Biden campaign responded quickly to point out that Trump’s failed pandemic response was why the OPPR was created to begin with.
He explained, “And, yeah, I probably would [disband it], because I think we’ve learned a lot and we can mobilize, you know, we can mobilize.
Before declaring a pandemic on March 17, 2020, Donald Trump repeatedly undermined the seriousness of the disease, saying on January 22nd that “It’s just one person coming from China.”
On March 10th, just days before declaring a pandemic, Trump urged everyone to “Just stay calm.
In 2018, the Trump administration disbanded the previous pandemic response unit housed within the National Security Council (NSC), the Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense.
To coordinate the next governmental response to a pandemic, the Biden administration is requesting $6.2 million in its 2025 budget for OPPR. »
