Fauci to testify before a GOP-led Senate committee
By Zhang Mengxu
People's Daily app
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Photo: Xinhua

Washington (People’ Daily) - After US media reported that White House officials have blocked Dr Anthony Fauci, the White House’s top infectious disease expert, from appearing at a House of Representatives hearing on America’s coronavirus response, Fauci is set to testify before the GOP-led Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, a spokesperson for Sen. Lamar Alexander said in a statement. 

"Chairman Alexander looks forward to hearing from Dr. Fauci and other administration officials at the Senate health committee’s second hearing back, which will be on Tuesday, May 12," the statement read. 

Previously, White House spokesman Judd Deere had said in a statement that it would be "counter-productive" to the administration's COVID-19 response for Fauci and other top officials to appear before lawmakers to discuss the government's actions in relation to the pandemic. 

American media analysts said Fauci and President Donald Trump sometimes disagreed on how to prevent and control this pandemic. Fauci criticized the testing capability of the United States, calling it a "failure." It isn’t clear whether this was a factor in the White House decision not to allow Fauci to testify. 

Given the topic of the hearing, however, it seems inevitable questions about the Trump administration’s failings in addressing coronavirus would be posed. It also remains to be seen whether Fauci will be deemed too busy to appear before the Republican-controlled Senate committee later in May. 

At present, more than half of the 50 states have taken measures to relax some of the blockade restrictions and do not want the economy excessively influenced. But other US governors, most of whom are Democrats, have adopted a more cautious approach, trying to strike a balance between restarting the state ’s economy and carefully fighting the virus.

After the social distance regulations set by the White House expired on April 30, some US governors pushed to relax restrictions on the blockade. Fauci advised them not to lift the restrictions of the states prematurely. He said: "Obviously you can do this, but you are taking a huge risk."