GOP senator: US ‘not as prepared as we should have been’ on coronavirus

Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander (R) on Thursday acknowledged that the U.S. was caught flat-footed in responding to the coronavirus pandemic that has caused over 70,000 deaths in the U.S.

“We’re not as prepared as we should have been,” Alexander, 79, told CNN’s Dana Bash on The Daily DC podcast.

The senator, who’s retiring at the end of his term in January, said on the podcast that the U.S. needs to be actively working on preparing for the future, whether that’s another wave of COVID-19 “or for the next virus, which is surely coming.”

“We need to do it this year while the iron’s hot, while this is on our mind,” Alexander explained.

Since late January when the first COVID-19 case was reported in the country, the coronavirus has spread to all 50 states, crippling the U.S.’s economy and infecting over 1.2 million people.

President Trump has tried to ward off widespread criticism regarding his administration’s response to the pandemic, touting the progress that has been made. Earlier this week, the president blocked Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading virologist and a crucial member of the White House’s coronavirus task force, from testifying to the Democratic-controlled House.

Instead, Fauci will testify on May 12 in front of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which Alexander chairs. 

While on the podcast, Alexander dismissed the notion that his committee would go easy on Fauci.

“People know me better than that,” he said. “Look, I will ask the questions I need to ask. But remember, about half of our members are Democrats and they get to ask questions, too. So I would not say a committee that includes [Sens.] Patty Murray [D-Wash.], Elizabeth Warren [D-Mass.], Bernie Sanders [I-Vt.] is a committee that’s going to go easy.”