‘We’ve got to have more testing.’ Blunt disagrees with Trump on coronavirus screening
Sen. Roy Blunt disagrees with President Donald Trump that the U.S. should slow down testing for COVID-19.
Trump said in a rally in Tulsa on Saturday that he’s urged his staff to ramp back the pace of testing, blaming the spike in cases on increased screening.
White House officials initially tried to downplay the comment as a joke. But Trump reasserted his stance this week and the administration now plans on cutting off federal support for testing at 13 sites, including seven in Texas, where cases are on the rise.
Blunt, the Missouri Republican who chairs the subcommittee that oversees public health funding, told reporters Thursday that testing needs to be accelerated as schools and employers prepare to reopen.
“The president’s right when he says more testing means you’re going to have more cases, but I think we’ve got to have more testing,” Blunt said in a call with Missouri news outlets.
Blunt said the nation needs more testing “for moms and dads to feel good about kids going back to a campus environment” and to prevent spread in the workplace.
He said widespread testing should remain a high priority until a vaccine is developed and noted that he crafted legislation, which Trump signed in April, to create a $1 billion program aimed at increasing testing capacity.
His subcommittee will hold a hearing next week on progress toward a coronavirus vaccine and “being sure that we have a plan to fairly and quickly get that vaccine across the country.”
A member of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, Blunt said he expects Congress to pass another economic relief bill related to the pandemic before the end of July “as we move from rescue to recovery,” but he was vague about what would be included in the bill.
“We’ve always been in two fights here. One’s the fight against the virus. The other’s the fight for the economy,” Blunt said.
This story was originally published June 25, 2020 at 2:38 PM.
