Lawmakers perplexed by billions in unspent testing money
“It’s probably a logistical problem as much as anything else, but yeah, it’s a concern,” said Republican. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas.
In April, Congress passed legislation that included $25 billion in additional funds for testing and contact tracing. The money — which included $11 billion that went to states — was put into the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund at the Department of Health and Human Services. Months later, aides and lawmakers say they aren’t sure why so much still hasn’t been spent.
“They’ve never believed we should test,” Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, told CNN. “We’ve got to keep pushing.”
One Democratic aide familiar with discussions around the money said there was some speculation that it had been tied up at the Office of Management and Budget level, but there was no clear evidence whether the holdup had happened for any particular reason or was just a symptom of pushing billions out the door quickly.
Behind the scenes, lawmakers of both parties have asked the administration to explain why the money remains unused. Four Democrats on the Senate Appropriations Committee sent a letter directly to President Donald Trump this week asking for answers.
Republicans have urged the administration in recent weeks to ramp up its response to the coronavirus as polls have shown the President lagging in key swing states and dragging rank-and-file Republicans up for reelection down with him.
“We have to up our game in testing. This is a worldwide problem,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who’s a close ally of Trump’s, told reporters Tuesday.
“You would have to try hard to come up with a more tone-deaf position,” one GOP aide said over the weekend.
On Monday, members flat-out pushed back against the Trump administration’s position that more money for testing wasn’t needed.
“I just think that’s wrong,” said Sen. Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican.
