Pelosi slams Trump officials over lack of 'serious plans' as US death toll nears 100,000

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday, May 25 slammed the Trump Administration over still not having a serious plan for increasing the country's testing capacity in the face of the COVID-19 crisis. Taking to Twitter, Pelosi, along with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, Congressman Frank Pallone, and Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and Senator Patty Murray issued a joint statement on the Trump administration. 

According to the statement, Donald Trump's national testing strategy is to "deny the truth" that there are not enough tests and supplies, to reject responsibilities, and to dump the burden on other states.

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'We need clear explanations' 

Slamming Donald Trump, Pelosi, along with others in the joint statement, said that the US President is trying to paint a rosy picture about testing while experts are warning the country of its shortage. The US House leaders demanded clear explanations over how targets were set, how they will be met, and what will be done if they are not.

Speaking about the scheduled re-opening of the US economy, the joint statement urged for the testing to be free, accurate, reliable, and accompanied by tools like contact tracing. 

The leaders further urged Senator McConnell to stop obstructing the House-passed Heroes Act, which would deliver a clear strategy and $75 billion for the testing and contact tracing measures necessary to stop the spreading of COVID-19.

While concluding, the statement read, “We will continue to hold the President’s feet to the fire, and we are going to push Republicans in Congress to join us in demanding the accountability, transparency, action, and leadership the American people deserve from their president.”

Read: Trump alleges Covid survey findings are 'political hit jobs', Pelosi urges to vote him out

 'Testing Miracle' 

Earlier, on May 6, Trump had shared a chart on the number of coronavirus tests conducted by the country as compared to others. Taking to Twitter, he shared the chart which showed that till May 4, the US has conducted up to 7 million COVID-19 tests, compared to other countries like Germany, Italy, France, South Korea, Japan, who had conducted only up to three million tests. 

Trump had slammed his critics for their harsh words over his handling of the coronavirus crisis in the US. The US President added that his government has done "many things right" to contain the spread of the virus. 

Read: 'Nobody in 50 years has been weaker on China than Sleepy Joe Biden': US President Trump

Coronavirus crisis in the US

Leading the number of worldwide cases of novel coronavirus COVID-19 infection, the United States is by far has recorded the highest COVID numbers, surpassing China, Italy, and Iran. Currently, there are a total of 1,706,226 cases of coronavirus in the US, with around 99,805 deaths. Meanwhile, New York --  one of the worst-hit spots in the country, has seen a total of 29,301 deaths and over 372,494 COVID-19 positive cases.

Read: Trump justifies golf round as US Covid deaths near 1 lakh as 'exercise; first in 3 months'