In a Thursday interview with MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) called on President Donald Trump to declare a national state of emergency to combat the coronavirus.
Co-host Mika Brzezinski opened the interview asking Durbin if the president should declare a national state of emergency.
Durbin stressed the importance of keeping Americans safe, reasoning a shortage of test kits is enough proof of the need for declaring a national emergency.
“Yes, I believe he should [declare a national state of emergency]. All hands on deck,” Durbin replied. “We’ve got to keep America safe. Speculating on how this started, where it started and where there were politics involved in it, leave that to the historians. At this moment, we want American families to feel safe and feel that we’re doing everything within our power. The first thing I want is to make sure we have the test kits out and available.”
He continued, “When the governor of Illinois calls me, calls my office and tells me there’s a shortage of these kits and the CDC is not providing them to my home state of Illinois, one of the first with an identified coronavirus victim, that, to me is a need for a national emergency response.”
Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent