The Senate should be holding several coronavirus oversight hearings every day, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday in a speech, criticizing the lack of congressional oversight over President Trump’s response to the outbreak.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee is holding a hearing Tuesday featuring immunologist Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Schumer said the hearing is not enough.
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“This is the kind of hearing we need not once a week, but several a day,” Schumer, a New York Democrat, said. “The American people need to hear from experts in a fair, open, and truthful setting.”
The White House has blocked Fauci from appearing before House panels, which are run by Democrats. The Senate hearing will be chaired remotely by Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, who is in self-quarantine because he was exposed to an infected aide. Fauci will also appear remotely because he was potentially exposed to the coronavirus at the White House.
Schumer said Fauci needs to appear before Congress independently of Trump.
“This will be one of the first opportunities for Dr. Fauci to tell the American people the unvarnished truth without the president lurking over his shoulder,” Schumer said. “Dr. Fauci, let it rip.”
Schumer suggested that Trump’s appearances with Fauci have shielded the public from the truth about the spread of the disease and the administration’s response to it.
“Until now, we’ve mostly heard from the members of the coronavirus task force through the distorted lens of the White House press conference, where the president often prevents them from answering, fully interrupts their response, or even contradicts their fact-based advice,” Schumer said.
Schumer criticized Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s Senate agenda, which is mostly focused on confirming judicial and executive branch nominees. Schumer said the Senate should be debating new economic aid and holding more oversight hearings.
McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said the Senate this week will consider reauthorization of a lapsed key surveillance law that “our government needs to fight terrorism and check the agents of China and Russia.”
Schumer called on the GOP to summon Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, and Trump’s coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx to testify about the coronavirus response.
“This is the routine oversight business of Congress, and now, we’re now in a crisis,” Schumer said. “It should occur in every committee every week. There should be testimony from administration officials ranging from Dr. Birx to Secretary Mnuchin to Secretary DeVos and others. We should also be debating another major emergency relief bill as we speak.”
