Opening statement by President Donald Trump
[0:00:00] PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Thank you very much. I had a very good telephone conversation — extremely good — with Senator Schumer a little while ago. We're working on various elements of the deal, and the Democrats are very much wanting something to happen, and the Republicans, likewise, are very much wanting something to happen. And I think it will.
I spoke with — at length with Mitch McConnell. And there's tremendous spirit to get something done, so we'll see what happens. But my conversation was very good with Senator Schumer.
I thank you all for joining us, and I'd like to begin by providing an update on what we are doing to minimize the impact of the Chinese virus on our nation's students.
With many schools closed due to the virus, the Department of Education will not enforce standardized testing requirements, very importantly, for students in elementary through high school for the current year. They've been through a lot. They've been going back and forth; schools open, schools not open. It's been all standardized testing. And, you know, it's — we're not going to be enforcing that, so I think you can let the people know. I think probably a lot of the students will be extremely happy; some probably not. The ones that work hard, maybe not. But it's one of those things. Unfortunate — very unfortunate circumstance.
We've also temporarily waived all interest on federally held student loans. They'll be very happy to hear that. And I've instructed them to take that action immediately. And today, Secretary DeVos has directed federal lenders to allow borrowers to suspend their student loans and loan payments without penalty for at least the next 60 days. And if we need more, we'll extend that period of time. Borrowers should contact their lenders, but we've given them very strong instructions.
So we've temporarily waived all interest on federally held student loans. That's a big thing. That's going to make a lot of students very happy. And we have more to come on student loans — more good news for the students — but we'll do that at a different time.
This morning, the Treasury Department also announced that we're moving Tax Day from April 15 to July 15. So we're moving it out to July 15th so that people will have time and people will be able to — hopefully, by that time, we'll have people getting back to their lives. Families and businesses will have this extra time to file with no interest or penalties. We're getting rid of interest and penalties.
However, if you have refunds or credits you would like to claim, you may still file. In other words, you can file early if you are owed money by the IRS. Other than that, we're moving it all the way out to July 15th — no interest, no penalties. Your new date will be July 15.
Today, our team will also provide an update on our continuing effort to prevent the transmission of virus across America's borders. And I watched what's been happening in California with Governor Newsom and, this morning, with Governor Cuomo, and I applaud them. They're taking very strong, bold steps, and I applaud them. And we're all working together. We're working very closely together, including those two governors.
But I would say, based on the call — the media was there — I think we can say that, with respect to virtually every governor on that call, I think every governor — we had almost all of them, if not all of them — and I would say that you could see for yourselves that the level of respect and esprit de corps working together was extraordinary. There was nobody angry, nobody upset. We're able to help them, and that's what we're all about. We want to help.
We're doing things that a lot of people wouldn't be able to do. But the relationship with governors and states is, I think, very extraordinary, especially under the circumstances where this just came upon us.
We're working with Canada and Mexico to prevent the spread of the virus across North America, very closely. You heard what we did yesterday with Canada. And Secretary of State Pompeo will be making a statement in a little while having to do with Mexico and the border. And Chad likewise — Chad Wolf will likewise be making a statement. This is a joint comprehensive effort in collaboration with our neighbors.