Statement by Vice President Joe Biden on Q2 Economic GDP and UI Filings

Today, we learned that the last three months were the worst period for economic growth our nation has experienced in the 70 years since we started measuring it —a drop of nearly 33 percent. And the already unthinkably high numbers of American workers filing for unemployment each week continues to go in the wrong direction.

The depth of economic devastation our nation is experiencing is not an act of God, it's a failure of presidential leadership. Had President Trump taken immediate and decisive action, tens of thousands of lives and millions of jobs would never have been lost.

And now, Trump is failing to effectively manage our recovery — and Republicans in Congress are refusing to give working families the help they need today. We won't get our small businesses and our workers back to full strength on denials and magical thinking — it's going to take concerned, thoughtful, and sustained leadership. Only paying attention to the stock market and ignoring science won't deliver progress. Giving big businesses even bigger deductions for three-martini lunches won't help working families keep their health care, put food on the table, or pay their rent.

We're months and months into this pandemic, and still President Trump has failed to step up and mobilize an all-out response to COVID-19 or to drive a safe and effective recovery. It's unacceptable. We need to extend meaningful and substantial relief for workers now and ensure our states and local governments are not starved into laying off teachers, first responders, and health workers. We need a massive public health response to save lives and get our economy back up to speed so we can get to work and build back better than before.

We need a president to care, lead, and act.