Interview: Rep. Susan Wild on How Congress Can Respond to the Pandemic

“The problem is, though, we can’t rely on volunteerism, donations, and gifts for much longer because—quite frankly—most of these places are getting pretty tapped out.”

On August 13th, Merion West editor Erich Prince was joined by Rep. Susan Wild, a Democrat who represents Pennsylvania’s 7th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives. In this conversation, Mr. Prince and Rep. Wild discuss the ongoing state of negotiations on relief for those impacted by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, how cities and organizations in her district are rising to the challenge, and how Congress might be able to tailor its responses to each type of industry affected by the virus. Rep. Wild also briefly weighs in on former Vice President Joe Biden’s recent selection of Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate.

Congresswoman, how are you?

I’m doing well, Erich. Thank you for reaching out.

So, to get started, between scheduling this interview and now, there was some big news with Vice President Biden’s selection of Senator Harris [as his running mate]. Any reaction to this choice?

Yes, I think it’s an excellent pick. I think that—aside from the historic nature, which has been talked about plenty—I think she’s incredibly well-qualified. I think she brings a lot of dynamic appeal to the ticket. I think the energy that we’ve seen from her and from Joe Biden in the last 24 hours has been remarkable. And the other thing is that she—and this is strictly anecdotal, based on what I’ve seen and heard from my own personal social media platform and from friends—I’m seeing an awful lot of enthusiasm among those suburban women that we’ve heard so much about lately, and they seem pretty excited about her.

And especially in Pennsylvania—I know we talk about the Pennsylvania suburbs as a major battleground.