Maine Gov. Janet Mills says the memorandums and executive orders issued by President Donald Trump this past weekend are woefully inadequate, and some unworkable. Mills and governors of both parties made that clear to Vice President Mike Pence during a conference call Monday.
Mills says the president’s order that his administration consider banning evictions has no teeth and really only asks federal agencies to do what they should already be doing. And she says all the governors who were on the call with Pence expressed concerns about whether they could even administer the president’s unemployment proposal.
“All the governors on the conference call that spoke up, including several Republicans, told the vice president that the proposed unemployment Band-Aid that was offered in the White House memorandum was not workable in the states,” she says.
Mills calls on Congress to strike an agreement.
“It’s distressing what is happening in Washington and the polarization that has led us to this point. This is a pandemic. We all ought to work together,” she says.
Mills says there seems to be enough agreement on provisions already before Congress for a compromise to emerge through negotiation.
