Former acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney called coronavirus testing delays and roadblocks that were experienced by his son and his daughter “inexcusable.”
“I know it isn’t popular to talk about in some Republican circles, but we still have a testing problem in this country,” Mulvaney wrote in an op-ed published by CNBC on Monday. “My son was tested recently; we had to wait 5 to 7 days for results. My daughter wanted to get tested before visiting her grandparents, but was told she didn’t qualify. That is simply inexcusable at this point in the pandemic.”
In the piece, Mulvaney wrote that Congress should address the economic fallout from the coronavirus through measures that would accelerate potential treatments, such as research, temporary hospital beds, or therapeutics. “Ordinary fiscal tools might not be particularly efficacious,” he adds.
“Giving people a check, or some financial incentive to travel, won’t solve their problem,” Mulvaney writes. “Make people feel safe to go back on an airplane or cruise ship, and they will of their own accord.”
He suggested a payroll tax cut or inflation-adjusted capital gains tax as potential fiscal solutions.
President Trump said during a press conference about unemployment last month that his administration would be “asking for additional stimulus money.” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said too that the administration was “very seriously considering” a second round of stimulus checks.
“Elections, despite what too many politicians think, cannot be bought,” Mulvaney adds. “But problems can be solved.”
Mulvaney, now the United States special envoy for Northern Ireland, left the White House in March as the virus spread rapidly around the country.
