July 29, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 134 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session

[Page H3889]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           OUR NATION STILL LACKS A NATIONAL TESTING STRATEGY

  (Ms. DEAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. DEAN. Mr. Speaker, we are halfway through this year and 6 months 
into this pandemic, and our Nation still lacks a national testing 
strategy.
  The President claimed that he was a wartime President, but with 
150,000 Americans dead, this administration has not given this the 
wartime seriousness it deserves.
  The administration must get serious about this virus. Invoke our full 
powers through the Defense Production Act and urge the Senate to pass 
the testing resources the House has made available in the HEROES Act. 
Protect American citizens across this Nation.
  Our Nation needs a national strategy. It needs results, not long 
waiting times making it impossible to manage and mitigate the pandemic. 
In my district alone, people are waiting for 10 days or more to receive 
their results. That is simply unacceptable. And while they wait, they 
may be going out, putting others at risk.
  Mr. Speaker, it is dangerously irresponsible to have such inadequate 
testing in the United States of America, where our resources are so 
vast. I urge this administration to summon our vast resources and the 
courage to command a national testing strategy.

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