Remarks by Trump, Pence, and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in Press Briefing

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Happiness and leadership are in abundance.

REMARKS

Remarks by President Trump, Vice President Pence, and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in Press Briefing
HEALTHCARE

Issued on: March 15, 2020

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

5:15 P.M. EDT

{snip}

THE PRESIDENT: Beautiful day outside. And I think we have some great things to talk about. I’ll start by discussing the Federal Reserve. As you know, it just happened minutes ago, but, to me, it makes me very happy. And I want to congratulate the Federal Reserve.

For starters, they’ve lowered the Fed rate from what it was, which was 1 to 1.25. And it’s been lowered down to zero, to 0.25 or .25. So it’s 0 to .25. That’s a big difference. It’s quite a bit. It’s about a point.

And, in addition, very importantly, the Federal Reserve is the — going to be purchasing $500 billion of treasuries and $200 billion of mortgage-backed securities. And that number can increase. But they’re going to start with that, and that’s really good news. It’s really great for our country. It’s something that we’re very happy. I have to say this: I’m very happy. And they did it in one step; they didn’t do it in four steps over a long period of time. They did it in one step.

And I think that people in the market should be very thrilled. And that brings us — we’re the strongest country in the world, by far, financially and every other way. And that brings us in line with what other countries are. They’re actually — they actually have negative rates. But, look, we got it down to potentially zero. So that’s a big step, and I’m very happy they did it.

{snip}

I just had a phone call with very impressive people — the biggest in the world, in the world of stores and groceries and all. And I’ll give you the names:

{snip}

Doug McMillon, CEO of Walmart. He’s been fantastic. Doug was here, as you know, on Friday. And he watched the market go up 2,000 points. On Friday, it went up 2,000 — almost 2,000 points.

{snip}

And with that, if it’s okay, I’m just going to go and make some calls. I’m talking about Federal Reserve. I think it’s a tremendous thing that took place just now. I didn’t know I’d be surprised on a Sunday. I don’t know if that’s ever happened on a Sunday before. But I would think there are a lot of people on Wall Street that are very happy. And I can tell you that I’m very happy. I didn’t expect this, and I like being surprised.

So our Vice President, who’s doing an incredible job, is going to take over. And I will see you probably tomorrow. Thank you very much.

{snip}

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, everything that the White House Coronavirus Task Force does is at the direction of the President of the United States. And all the efforts of all federal agencies, in cooperation with state governments and local health officials, is reflective of the decisive leadership the President has brought this early on.

{snip}

END

6:14 P.M. EDT

[Harker]

1. Sounds like Pence isn't taking any responsibility

at all. Either.