http://sandhillsexpress.com/abc_politics/trump-falsely-blames-obama-admin-for-hurting-rollout-of-coronavirus-test-kits-fact-check-abcid36263642/
President Donald Trump is falsely blaming the Obama administration
for the slow rollout of U.S. tests for the new coronavirus, ignoring his
administration’s own fumbles in responding to the health crisis and
mischaracterizing Obama-era policies.
His comments, delivered to reporters at the White House on Wednesday,
come as many Americans are asking how they can get tested for the
dangerous virus to ensure it doesn’t spread unnecessarily through
communities.
The Trump administration has faced sharp questions by state governors
and Democratic lawmakers for the lack of tests available to doctors and
hospitals. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has
acknowledged that its initial test kits didn’t work as designed and that
new tests were needed — delaying the government’s ability to detect and
contain the spread of the virus.
At a briefing at the White House this week, Trump pointed the finger
at the Obama administration, inaccurately suggesting that “a decision”
made under President Barack Obama had tied the hands of his current
administration.
“The Obama administration made a decision on testing that turned out
to be very detrimental to what we’re doing,” Trump said Wednesday. “And
we undid that decision a few days ago so that the testing can take place
in a much more accurate and rapid fashion.”
Under Obama, the Food and Drug Administration exercised only some
oversight of large commercial test kits shipped across state lines. But
there was little to no check done on single medical labs, former
officials said.
“The FDA has generally not enforced premarket review and other
applicable FDA requirements for laboratory tests,” the agency confirmed
in a statement.
In fact, the lack of regulation of medical tests was so concerning to
Obama aides that the FDA proposed the idea – and found bipartisan
support on Capitol Hill – of increasing oversight of medical testing to
protect patients from being given tests they don’t need or from
inaccurate results.
But the Obama administration ultimately never acted on the proposal
and it never became a regulation. Instead, in January 2017, it issued a
“discussion paper” as it left the matter up to Trump.
Last Saturday, the FDA invoked a 2004 law – passed well before Trump
or Obama took office – to specifically authorize coronavirus tests to be
developed in private laboratories like hospitals and given to patients
without prior federal approval.
Worth noting though is that this power was something Health Secretary
Alex Azar and the FDA have had since coronavirus became a global health
crisis in late January.
