President Donald Trump falsely believes that COVID-19 testing is the cause of the spread of coronavirus, instead of a measure of reality.
"When you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more people. You’re going to find more cases. So I said to my people slow the testing down please," Trump admitted at his controversial Tulsa campaign rally in June.
"If we didn’t do testing, we’d have no cases," he falsely claimed days later.
Now it seems the White House is attempting to base public policy on Trump's incorrect understanding of science.
"The Trump administration is trying to block billions of dollars for states to conduct testing and contact tracing in the upcoming coronavirus relief bill," The Washington Post reported Saturday, citing, "people involved in the talks."
"The administration is also trying to block billions of dollars that GOP senators want to allocate for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and billions more for the Pentagon and State Department to address the pandemic at home and abroad," the sources explained to the newspaper.
The White House position is opposed by GOP senators.
"The administration’s posture has angered some GOP senators, the officials said, and some lawmakers are trying to push back and ensure that the money stays in the bill," the newspaper reported. "The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to reveal confidential deliberations, cautioned that the talks were fluid and the numbers were in flux."
The clock is ticking for a deal.
"The two political parties are far apart on a number of contentious issues, such as unemployment insurance, but the conflict between Trump administration officials and Senate Republicans on money for testing and other priorities is creating a major complication even before bipartisan negotiations get under way. Some lawmakers are trying to reach a deal quickly, as enhanced unemployment benefits for millions of Americans are set to expire in less than two weeks," The Post reported.
Read the full report.
