Senate coronavirus hearing was less about seeking truth, more about disparaging Trump administration

On Tuesday, May 12, the Senate held the first-ever coronavirus response hearing. 

Adm. Brett Giroir and Drs. Anthony Fauci, Robert Redfield and Stephen Hahn were asked to answer a variety of questions in regard to the Federal Government’s overall response to the coronavirus. However, it was made immediately clear that this hearing was less about seeking truth and more about airing grievances.

The Democratic senators especially took most of their time to drone on and on about their disapproval of the Trump White House. 

Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) claimed that the Trump administration has a record of doling out “broken promises;” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) said, “The time for magical thinking is over here, President Trump must admit the federal response has been insufficient,” (she said this, of course, to the four men in charge of leading the federal response); and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) threw a tantrum, complaining that the answers and guidance being provided were “not very helpful, thank you.” 

Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT), who obviously forgot he was no longer on the campaign trail, went so far as to demand that Hahn guarantee that the coronavirus vaccine — once available — would be accessible to all Americans, regardless of income. Hahn, FDA Commissioner, does not control the price of vaccines; however, he answered eloquently, stating: “The payment of vaccines is not the responsibility of the FDA but I share your concern that the vaccine should be available to every American.” 

Many Democratic senators also argued against reopening the economy, claiming that the country is ill-equipped and underprepared to deal with the inevitable resurgence of cases in the fall. But these arguments came after Redfield explained that the CDC has been working directly with state public health leaders to identify needs, collect data and conduct contact tracing.; after Giroir explained that the Federal Government will not only help states accomplish their testing goals (and that they are on track to accomplish these goals for May and June) but also help procure the swabs necessary to complete these tests; after Hahn explained that the FDA is monitoring the marketplace for fraudulent tests and working with manufacturers to ensure that the supply chain is robust and strong enough to handle the deployment of testing, equipment, etc.; and after Fauci explained that there are a number of broad-spectrum anti-virals in various stages of testing. 

The Federal Government is doing everything in its power to ensure the country is prepared to reopen, but Democrats won’t hear it. 

When asked by Warren if he believes that we have enough “robust, counter-measures in place” to prevent a “bad fall and winter,” Fauci said: “Right now the projection is, that by the time we get to the end of the summer and early fall, we will have [those measures] in place.” 

Sen. Warren thanked Fauci for being hopeful, and then went on to say that the American government does not have the coronavirus “under control.” 

If you should take away anything from today’s Senate hearing, let it be this: Democrats do not care about saving American lives or the American economy — their only goal is to ensure President Trump fails. Instead of adding value to the public discourse surrounding the virus, they complain, place blame and wait for Republicans to create solutions. Today’s hearing could have been insightful, instead, it was dismal.

Photo by Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post via AP, Pool

Scroll down to comment!