May 4, 2020 | 2:26pm
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy broke with Senate Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who turned down President Trump’s offer to provide rapid-result coronavirus testing for lawmakers returning to work on Capitol Hill, according to a report.
“I do believe it would be critical to have the testing here because there will be a flare-up. Remember how many people from other parts of the country come to this location,” McCarthy (R-Calif.) said in an interview with Politico on Monday.
Pelosi (D-Calif.) and McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a statement Saturday that they would have to reject the president’s “generous” offer because Congress “wants to keep directing resources to the front-line facilities where they can do the most good the most quickly.”
They said members of Congress would rely on testing guidelines issued by the Office of the Attending Physician.
The president blasted Pelosi and McConnell for not taking him up on his offer.
“Interesting? By Congress not wanting the special 5 minute testing apparatus, they are saying that they are not ‘essential,’” Trump wrote in a Twitter posting on Monday. “In any event, we have great testing capacity, and have performed 6.5 million tests, which is more than every country in the world, combined!”
McCarthy agreed with Trump.
“It is your Capitol. It is your government. You want to make sure the government doesn’t collapse or not be able to meet,” he said. “What does that say to the country? What does that say to the rest of the world? You want to make sure it’s functioning.”
McConnell said senators would return on Monday, but Pelosi delayed the House coming back until next week.
