As the nation waits on pins and needles for the calm, competent reassurance we can expect from our Dear Leader in a crisis, here’s where we are:
The Trump administration confronted a new threat Tuesday in the mounting coronavirus crisis: a fierce bipartisan backlash amid contradictory statements from the federal government about the severity of the outbreak.
Administration officials sought to swat away concerns their emergency request for $2.5 billion to address the outbreak was inadequate, even as some Republicans joined Democrats in criticizing the amount — and slamming a lack of transparency around efforts to contain the disease on U.S. soil.
The furor came amid new fears of an outbreak in the United States, with a top official from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warning that spread of the respiratory illness in the country is now inevitable. Officials said a burst of new cases in countries like South Korea and Italy prompted the new, urgent warning.
Adding to fears that the virus could continue to spread unabated, a senior member of the International Olympic Committee on Tuesday floated the possibility that the summer games in Tokyo could be canceled if the outbreak isn’t under control by then.
The grim news and the angst on Capitol Hill is threatening to overwhelm the messaging from President Donald Trump and some of his aides, who have been trying to downplay the situation in hopes they can put a lid on the stock market tumble and cable news coverage of mounting deaths around the world. Trump’s advisers and political allies are increasingly concerned that a botched response could hurt the U.S. economy and put his reelection prospects at risk.[…]
Public health and other administration officials fielded questions from more than a dozen senators for about an hour while HHS Secretary Alex Azar and acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf faced sharp interrogations at a pair of Senate budget hearings.
The Republican chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee at Azar’s hearing accused the administration of making a “low ball” request.
“It could be an existential threat to a lot of people in this country,” warned Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.). “So money should not be an object. We should try to contain and eradicate this as much as we can, both in the U.S. and helping our friends all over the world.”
At the homeland security budget hearing, Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.) criticized Wolf for not providing enough information about risks from the outbreak. “You’re supposed to keep us safe, and the American people deserve some straight answers on the coronavirus, and I’m not getting them from you,” Kennedy said.
At the hearing, Wolf incorrectly told Kennedy that the death rate from the coronavirus is similar to that of the flu, when actually the coronavirus appears to be much more lethal.
Trump, who has sought to downplay the coronavirus risk, during a press conference in India Tuesday appeared to claim that the United States was “very close” on a coronavirus vaccine. However, Republican and Democratic senators after the briefing said a vaccine, under the best scenario, was at least a year to 18 months away. The White House later said the president was referring to the Ebola vaccine, which the FDA approved two months ago.
I know I feel safer already. He’s like, smart.