Thursday during an appearance on Fox News, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), a candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, argued partisan politics were interfering with government’s ability to respond to the coronavirus threat.

Gabbard was not all doom and gloom, noting some progress had been made and encouraged her congressional colleagues to continue to work toward an aid package.

“This continues to be a problem, unfortunately, where partisanship is getting in the way of just delivering what the American people need right now, especially as our country faces this crisis,” she said. “Now is not the time for politics. Now is the time for leaders to step up, stand together, we are all in this together, and to put the health and well-being of the American people above all else. I think it’s a little bit encouraging today that, you know, I came in expecting that we were going to have votes at 10:00 this morning on a direct aid package directed towards working people, everyday Americans across the country.

“But there was concern coming from Republicans,” Gabbard added. “It was not crafted in a bipartisan way. And so that vote never happened. And, literally, both sides are coming together. I think they’re working with the administration on making sure that what we pass in Congress is something that both Democrats and Republicans have worked on to get through the Senate and get onto the president’s desk as quickly as possible.

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