House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that Republicans are engaged in "an absurd circus" and "refuse to accept" the realities of the COVID-19 crisis and that Joe Biden has been elected president of the United States.
"This is a red alert and all hands on deck, but it should have been a long time ago," Pelosi said. "The president and the Republicans in Congress have ignored by delay, distortion, denial. Deaths have been caused."
The longtime San Francisco Congresswoman, who easily won reelection last week, slammed the GOP while speaking to the media alongside Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. She accused her Republican colleagues of showing "contempt for science and disdain for governance" in failing to control the coronavirus pandemic.
The country’s surge in new cases continues to worsen.
"Yesterday, our nation suffered a horrifying 144,000 new infections recorded," Pelosi said. "The eighth straight day of over 100,000 cases bring reported. More than 65,000 Americans are hospitalized with COVID, a new record that threatens to overwhelm our hospitals and our hospitals in rural areas (are) particularly affected."
Pelosi’s home state, California, is expected to hit one million confirmed coronavirus cases Thursday. It will become the second state to do so, alongside Texas.
"What are they doing now? Continuing to ignore…in spite of these numbers."
Pelosi also spoke on the presidential election results, an outcome disputed by Republicans as President Trump continues to push unfounded allegations and baseless theories of voter fraud.
"They are engaged in an absurd circus right now, refusing to accept reality," Pelosi said. She encouraged the GOP to "stop the circus" and "get to work on what really matters to the American people, their health and their economic security."
"The election is over," Schumer echoed. "It wasn't close. President Trump lost. Joe Biden will be the next president of the United States. Senate Republicans, stop denying reality. Stop deliberately and recklessly sowing doubt about our democratic process. And start focusing on COVID."
