Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York on Wednesday said America is served by “everyday heroes,” from farmers to truckers, but the nation owes a great debt this year to frontline health workers battling COVID-19.
The Republican congressman vouched for President Trump’s support for those workers by recounting how senior adviser Jared Kushner made sure Suffolk County — part of his Long Island district — received hundreds of thousands of N95 masks to fill shortages.
“That number quickly grew to a staggering 1.2 million items of [personal protective equipment] in just one month, including masks, gowns, and more,” Mr. Zeldin said on the third night of the Republican National Convention. “The president sent thousands of ventilators to New York. He deployed the USS Comfort and converted the Javits Center to ensure our hospitals would never be overwhelmed.”
“The president’s phenomenal effort delivered for our frontline workers,” he added. “In the midst of a once-in-a-century pandemic — an unforeseeable crisis sent to us from a faraway land — the president delivered for our everyday heroes.”
Mr. Trump faced early criticism over stutter steps in developing the tests needed to track the coronavirus.
Democrats also said he should have made quicker use of the Defense Production Act to provide much-needed equipment, though Mr. Trump likes to say that no patient was denied a ventilator after he marshaled production at shuttered car factories and other locations.
