DeLauro Statement on Unacceptable HHS COVID-19 Testing Strategy Report

NEW HAVEN, CT — (May 25, 2020) Today, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03), Chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, released the following statement after the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a new report on COVID-19 testing as required by the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act.

"From the moment this pandemic reached our shores, President Trump and his administration's response has been woefully inadequate, abdicating all responsibility. There was never any plan to address the pandemic, and their new strategy report continues that dangerous lack of leadership as our nation approaches 100,000 deaths from COVID-19—the most of any country in the world. This report is not a national COVID-19 testing strategy; it is an 81-page document telling states they are on their own. When it comes to crucial details like acquiring tests, determining who should be tested, setting goals for how much of the population should be tested, opening up additional testing sites, facilitating contract tracing and isolation efforts, and ensuring communities that have been hit the hardest are given the support they need, there is no national strategy. While I applaud many of our nation's governors for their efforts to date, this global pandemic cannot be their responsibility alone. It is a crisis our entire country must deal with in a unified effort, and that degree of leadership from the White House remains absent."

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