Political Quotes

“Madam President, on Monday, the United States set a new pandemic record with more than 1 million new cases in 24 hours. I am sure you and I and everyone who is thinking about this would have hoped we would be in a very different place right now than we are, but it is pretty significant, 2 years into the pandemic, to set that kind of record. What is most concerning about this is many people who are concerned with catching the virus or who think they may already have it can't get access to tests. I just heard earlier today on a call where the administration was providing information that they have asked for a request for information about who could provide a test and then made a request for proposals about who might be able to provide tests. But we are way down the road to be asking about who can provide tests. Congress has provided more than $80 billion for COVID testing. If you look at the size of the defense budget, this is a pretty big percentage of the defense budget. We have lost track, I think, of how much money $1 billion or $1 trillion or $80 billion is, but the administration has had $80 billion. Over half of it, $47 billion, they got in March in the American Rescue Plan. This is supposed to cover everything from research and development of new rapid tests to manufacturing and purchase of these tests, to funding for State and local governments to distribute these tests.…”