Press Releases

Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (WA-01) released the following statement in response to President Trump’s call to slow down COVID-19 testing.

“The assertion by the president, joking or not, that the United States should slow down COVID-19 testing is all but an admission that he and his administration have failed to adequately respond to this pandemic. After dealing with this virus for nearly half a year, the administration has yet to develop a satisfactory national testing strategy, despite Congress’ instructions to do so. Thousands of American lives have been lost due to this lack of leadership.

“Testing, along with wearing masks in public, social distancing, and contact tracing, are the only tools we have to effectively combat the spread of this virus. Identified COVID-19 cases are indeed going up because we are expanding our ability to test for the disease. They are also going up because of this president’s alarming disregard for public health recommendations. The United States accounts for over 25 percent of global COVID-19 cases but only 4 percent of the global population—that is not leadership. 

“We must lead based on science and data with our first priority being the health and safety of all Americans. The Senate must take up the House-passed Heroes Act to provide the critical funding states need to expand their public health response and continue providing essential services during this difficult time.”

On Saturday, June 20, at a campaign rally in Tulsa, OK, President Trump told the crowd he instructed staff to “slow the testing down, please!”