In a joint statement, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell rejected Trump’s offer 1,000 virus test kits for Congress.
In a statement provided to PoliticusUSA, Pelosi and McConnell said:
Congress is grateful for the Administration’s generous offer to deploy rapid COVID-19 testing capabilities to Capitol Hill, but we respectfully decline the offer at this time. Our country’s testing capacities are continuing to scale up nationwide and Congress wants to keep directing resources to the front-line facilities where they can do the most good the most quickly.
Consistent with CDC guidelines, Congress will use the current testing protocols that the Office of the Attending Physician has put in place until these speedier technologies become more widely available.
Trump offered McConnell 1,000 rapid virus tests because the Majority Leader is bringing the Senate back into session to confirm more Trump judicial nominees. Trump has taken over the federal supply of the rapid coronavirus test kits and only gave each state 100 cartridges for tests. States are not able to get rapid testing cartridges from any other source.
Congress did the right thing by telling Trump to give the testing machines and cartridges to Americans who need to be tested. There is no indication that Trump will follow their recommendation, but Trump’s priorities remain his own self-interest, not the American people.
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Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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