Cotton calls CDC's botched testing rollout 'probably the worst mistake' of US coronavirus response
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Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., a regular critic of China's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, told the "Fox News Rundown" podcast Wednesday that the delay in rolling out testing was the biggest setback to the U.S. response to the outbreak.
"Probably the worst mistake the federal bureaucracy has made is when the Centers for Disease Control [CDC] insisted on doing its own test, manufacturing its own tests from scratch, rather than, if you will, letting a thousand flowers bloom in some of our great laboratories and companies all around the world," Cotton said. "The FDA as well, you know, allowed the CDC to do that and then was slow on certifying all the possible tests in early February. That's regrettable."
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"In the end, though," Cotton added, "the challenge that we have had is not so much a science challenge about developing the right kinds of tests. It's really a production challenge of being able to develop testing equipment for a nation of 330 million people... but over time, we have begun to meet that challenge."
Cotton praised President Trump and his team for making great strides on the testing front.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}SEN. COTTON WARNS OF CHINESE 'ESPIONAGE' LOOKING TO STEAL CORONAVIRUS TREATMENT
"On a per capita basis, we have one of the best records ... for testing," Cotton said. "But it would have been better early on, of course."
"Probably the worst mistake the federal bureaucracy has made is when the Centers for Disease Control insisted on doing its own test, manufacturing its own tests from scratch."
Cotton has long pushed for the U.S. to relocate its medical supply chain out of China and hold the Beijing government accountable for facilitating the spread of coronavirus around the world.
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"I could tell early on in January that China's rhetoric that they were in control and the virus was not a threat and there's no cause for alarm contrasted with their draconian, extreme measures to counteract the virus, like canceling schools nationwide or literally walling the doors shut [in] apartment buildings. That's what set off the alarms to me early on," he told host Jessical Rosenthal.
"But for as long as I've been in public life, I've recognized China as a grave threat to the United States now with an ultimate ambition to replace us as the world's preeminent economic and military power ... China's the most serious long term threat the country faces to our security and prosperity."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Asked about the prospect of Congress approving another round of stimulus money, Cotton said "A lot of money hasn't gone out the door" from the previous coronavirus aid packages, adding "there's enough money still in the pipeline for us to see how that works."
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"Hopefully," he concluded, "within a matter of weeks, not months, we will begin to see people getting back to something more like their normal work and routine ... and it won't be necessary to have trillions of dollars of more spending to replace the productive economic activities of our citizens."
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