New GAO Report Calls for ‘Urgent Actions’ to Address ‘Catastrophic’ Pandemic

Washington, D.C. (November 30, 2020) — Today, Rep. James E. Clyburn, Chairman of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, issued the following statement in response to a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on the Administration's failed response to the coronavirus pandemic.

"Today's troubling report from the Government Accountability Office shows that more than 10 months into this pandemic, the Trump Administration still refuses to learn from its repeated failures, leading to more disease, more deaths, and more economic devastation across this country. GAO found the Administration has refused to fix shortages in testing and vaccine supplies, issued confusing public health guidance that is ‘eroding trust in government,' and failed to tackle potentially ‘substantial' fraud in corporate relief programs. With the coronavirus killing more than one thousand Americans each day, I strongly agree with GAO that we need ‘urgent actions' to prevent the further loss of Americans' lives and livelihoods."

Today's GAO report includes the following findings, among others:

• States Face Shortages in Vaccine and Testing Supplies. The majority of states reported to GAO that they are concerned "about having adequate supplies to distribute and administer a future COVID-19 vaccine," and many states reported shortages in rapid test kits and other testing supplies. Yet the Trump Administration has refused for more than two months to show federal leadership to fix supply shortages, which GAO calls a "critical imperative."

• The Administration Lacks a National Plan to Distribute Vaccines.The federal government has not provided state and local officials with criteria for allocating vaccines, and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) did not accept GAO's recommendation to "establish a time frame for documenting and sharing a national plan for distributing and administering a COVID-19 vaccine."

• Confusing, Inconsistent Public Health Guidance is Eroding Public Trust.GAO reports that HHS testing guidance "has not always been transparent, raising the risk of confusion and eroding trust in government." CDC recently updated some coronavirus guidance for schools, but elements of the guidance "remains inconsistent and unclear."

• Aviation Payroll Support from Treasury May be Subject to Fraud and Abuse. Congress created the Payroll Support Program (PSP) to help airline workers, but GAO identified a risk that funds may be used "for purposes other than payroll support"—in part because Treasury sent funds to some companies after they conducted layoffs. GAO also found that Treasury "has not yet finalized a monitoring system to identify and respond to the risk of noncompliance with PSP agreement terms, potentially hindering its ability to detect program misuse in a timely manner."

GAO's report is consistent with the Select Subcommittee's finding in an October 30, 2020, staff report that the Trump Administration's failed response to the pandemic exacerbated the nation's public health and economic crises.

The Select Subcommittee has also pressed the Administration to improve public health guidance and issued a separate staff report on how the Treasury Department's mismanagement of the PSP has caused thousands of workers to lose their job.

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