OCTOBER 15 • 2020 | 17
Significantly, 14% of the
population of Michigan is
African American; yet, they
had over 40% of the deaths.
Clearly, we needed to put
more resources into those
communities that were
impacted.
JN: What can the Senate
do about the COVID-19
pandemic?
PETERS: As the ranking
member on Homeland
Security Committee, I
oversee FEMA, the federal
emergency management
folks who’
ve been assigned
the response to the COVID
crisis. And I have been push-
ing them aggressively to have
a more coordinated federal
response.
And, yet, we have a presi-
dent who said to the gover-
nors you’
re all on your own.
Back in March and April,
Michigan was one of the
hotspots, and it was a strug-
gle to get personal protection
equipment to protect our
healthcare providers. The
national stockpile was clearly
not sufficient to deal with the
magnitude of the problem at
that time.
That’
s why you need a
national policy to deal with
it and understand that state
lines don’
t matter.
Last year, before the pan-
demic, I put out a report
from the Homeland Security
Committee because I saw
our over-reliance on foreign
supplies of critical medical
supplies as a homeland secu-
rity issue.
Basically, I said, when
there is a pandemic in the
United States, we are going to
be in a precarious situation.
Little did I know it’
d be a few
months later, and here we
are. We need to bring back
that production from China
and other places and have it
in the United States and treat
it like we treat war material.
JN: What can the Senate do
to ensure Americans that
their votes are going to be
counted and that this is
going to be a free and fair
election?
PETERS: Regarding possible
cyber attacks, I’
ll say, here in
Michigan, our secretary of
state has been certainly on it
and has been working with
folks from the Department of
Homeland Security to make
sure that there are no vul-
nerabilities when it comes to
that area.
Where I’
m more con-
cerned are the disinforma-
tion campaigns that we’
re
likely to see from foreign
countries, the Russians in
particular.
Regarding absentee bal-
lots, I want to make sure the
mail is delivered in a timely
fashion. I am overseeing the
postal service and called out
the new postmaster general
when he put policies in place
that had the impact of slow-
ing mail down.
We found, starting in
mid-July through the period
when these new policies were
put in place, on-time mail
delivery dropped significant-
ly in the Detroit area.
As a result of public
pressure and as a result
of the pressure that I put
on with my colleagues, he
has since suspended those
policies. So, hopefully, that
will mean on-time delivery
will increase. It’
s starting to
increase now.
When
i
t
comes
to
seni
or
li
vi
ng,
there’
s
no
safer
,
smarter
place
to
be
than
at
an
Eri
ckson
Li
vi
ng®-
managed
communi
ty
li
ke
Fox
Run
i
n
Novi
.
Enj
oy
i
ndependent
seni
or
li
vi
ng,
plus
a
safety
net
of
addi
ti
onal
support
should
you
ever
need
i
t.
•
Feel
safe
and
secure
i
n
a
communi
ty
of
fri
ends,
nei
ghbors,
and
cari
ng
staff.
•
Our
full-ti
me
provi
ders
are
avai
lable
f
or
telehealth
appoi
ntments
and
even
house
calls.
•
You
can
rely
on
the
experti
se
and
financi
al
strength
of
Eri
ckson
Li
vi
ng,
a
nati
onal
leader
i
n
seni
or
li
vi
ng.
You
can
feel
safe
and
confident
at
Fox
Run.
“
“
Our
move
to
our
Eri
ckson
Li
vi
ng
communi
ty
was
the
best
move
we
ever
made!
–Carol
B.
,
a communi
t
y r
esi
dent
Learn
more.
Cal
l
1-800-917-8169
for
your
FREE
brochure.
14263171-DJN
Novi | FoxRunNovi.com