September 01, 2020

Trump COVID-19 Watch

Washington, DC - Elizabeth Warren is continuing her oversight of the Trump Administration's COVID-19 response. Over 183,000 Americans have died, over 6 million cases have been confirmed, and unemployment rates remain at the highest levels in decades. President Donald Trump's failure to lead has allowed the virus to spread and put millions of Americans' lives and livelihoods at risk. 

Senator Warren, leading HELP Committee Democrats, raised fresh concerns about the Trump Administration's politicized COVID-19 response, including new evidence the Administration favored political allies when distributing testing and federal support for states fighting the virus.

Senators Warren and Markey also raised concerns that the Administration is politicizing FDA decisions, including pressuring the FDA to issue an Emergency Use Authorization for convalescent plasma as a treatment for COVID-19. The senators requested communications between the White House and FDA in order to investigate.

Senator Warren and Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.) questioned the largest coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) testing laboratories to try to better understand their capacities to process COVID-19 tests in a timely fashion. Their inquiries came amid troubling reports that CDC has "quietly" changed guidance on asymptomatic COVID-19 testing.

Senators Warren, Hirono, Murray and their colleagues once again asked Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper to meaningfully respond to their questions about DoD's strategy for addressing the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and protecting the health and wellbeing of servicemembers and their families. The Pentagon brushed off the senators' April inquiries, but COVID-19 cases continued to rise at alarming rates within DoD and reports show that, months into the pandemic, the Pentagon has not tested the vast majority of servicemembers.

UPCOMING: Senator Warren will be raising concerns and questions about the effectiveness of President Trump's Executive Order to address the nation's overreliance on foreign nations for key drug products.

###