WASHINGTON — The Republican senator who had been main negotiations with the White Home over new pandemic aid funding accused the Biden administration on Thursday of giving him “patently false” info when it mentioned it was out of cash to purchase extra coronavirus vaccines and coverings, in a tense alternate that appeared to additional dim the probabilities of Congress approving new funds.
Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, mentioned throughout a heated Senate well being committee listening to that he was surprised final week when White Home officers introduced they’d repurpose $10 billion in federal Covid-19 meant for virus testing and protecting gear and as an alternative spend the cash on antiviral medication and vaccines. That, he maintained, meant the administration was not out of cash for coronavirus provides in any case — despite the fact that the White Home has made clear it might be shortchanging some forms of provides by redirecting funds to replenish others.
Administration officers have mentioned for months that except Congress licensed new spending, they’d be unable to purchase extra capsules and pictures in anticipation of a doable fall wave. The White Home has requested Congress for $22.5 billion in emergency aid; Mr. Romney helped negotiate a $10 billion compromise, which stays stalled.
“Washington operates on a relationship of belief between the respective events, the administration and Congress,” Mr. Romney mentioned. “For the administration to offer info to us that was patently false is one thing which dramatically assaults that belief.”
Daybreak O’Connell, the assistant well being secretary for emergency preparedness and response, testified that the administration needed to make “vital trade-offs — trade-offs that none of us needed to make” — in rerouting the $10 billion.
She mentioned the cash got here partly from the administration’s coronavirus testing program, and from the Strategic Nationwide Stockpile, the nation’s emergency medical reserve, which she mentioned wouldn’t be capable of buy domestically manufactured surgical robes, and would “wrestle to have the ability to preserve” its present ranges of protecting gear consequently. Stockpile shortages have been a serious downside early within the pandemic, when many well being care employees have been contaminated or died for lack of protecting gear.
Mr. Romney’s remark mirrored a broader political theme that Republicans are more likely to elevate of their midterm election campaigns: that the administration had wasted Covid-19 aid {dollars}, an accusation the White Home has sought to refute. Jen Psaki, the previous White Home press secretary, introduced a 385-page briefing guide to the White Home press room in April, which she mentioned detailed what cash had been spent, when and for what cause.
“We’ve additionally given Congress a full accounting of each greenback that’s been spent,” Ms. Psaki mentioned then.
Thursday’s session was the primary Senate well being committee listening to on the coronavirus response since January — an indication that curiosity within the pandemic is waning on Capitol Hill, in addition to across the nation. Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical adviser for the pandemic, testified remotely from dwelling, the place he’s isolating after testing constructive for the coronavirus. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, and Dr. Robert Califf, the commissioner of the Meals and Drug Administration, additionally testified.
Every of the witnesses made a plea for more cash; Dr. Walensky, for instance, mentioned that and not using a recent infusion of funds, the C.D.C. couldn’t proceed surveillance research, together with “complete monitoring of post-Covid situations” and research of latest moms with Covid, and the way their sickness impacts their infants.
Republicans have insisted that any new cash be offset with cuts to different packages. Senator Richard M. Burr of North Carolina, the highest Republican on the committee, closed the listening to with a blistering evaluation, accusing Democrats and the White Home of “making an attempt to strain Republicans to open a checkbook, signal the examine and let the administration fill within the stability with no element on how, when or what was being requested for.”
“No person has labored more durable on this subject, I feel, on the Hill than I’ve,” Mr. Burr went on. “No person’s gone to bat for emergency cash with no strings connected greater than I’ve. However there’s a cut-off date the place my endurance runs out.”
Mr. Romney — the 2012 Republican presidential nominee — sounded extra harm than indignant. He mentioned wouldn’t have “labored as laborious” over “many weeks and intensive negotiations” if he had recognized different cash was obtainable.
“We ought to be apprised of what these trade-offs are, and have that dialogue and assist make that call collectively,” he advised Ms. O’Connell. “You shouldn’t be capable of say: ‘Hey, we’re trade-offs. We’re not going to let you know about them.’ ”
