Congress May 12, 2020

GOP Senator Contradicts Trump: “All Roads Back…Go Through Testing”

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 03: U.S.Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) delivers remarks during the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on "An Emerging Disease Threat: How the U.S. Is Responding to COVID-19, the Novel Coronavirus" on March 3, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images)

A day after Donald Trump declared victory on testing, the GOP chairman of the committee on health said much more testing is needed. Lamar Alexander, speaking remotely from his home in Tennessee, told his committee he believes the U.S. needs millions of coronavirus tests before the country can move forward.

Sen. Lamar Alexander says he thinks the U.S. will need millions of coronavirus tests before it can move forward: "All roads back to work and school go through testing." https://t.co/OxeN3yh9Q7 pic.twitter.com/NUCeWe11L0
— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 12, 2020

On Monday, at a news conference in the White House Rose Garden, Trump declared, “We have met the moment and we have prevailed.”

Trump slammed for storming out of coronavirus briefing after spat with reporters over China, testing – The Washington Post. (Poor Trump is such a pathetic propagandist. 80,000 dead and he wants a victory lap? Testing still broken.) https://t.co/OXESmoB9pA
— Barry R McCaffrey (@mccaffreyr3) May 12, 2020

We rank ~39th in per capita testing. We've spent trillions to alleviate the economic impact. Can we please spend however many tens of billions required to saturate the US with tests? This will be the fastest/best way to reopen the economy for the long haul.
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) May 9, 2020