OPINION:
The one enormous elephant in the room is fact that despite president after president, Anthony Fauci and others alerting our nation of an impending viral pandemic, our elected officials on Capitol Hill did not prepare us for COVID-19 at all. The fault lies with both political parties.
That our representatives allowed for our nation not to have sufficient personal protective equipment, respirators and ventilators ready for our use in a moment like this is disgraceful. But the fact they left our nation a financial hostage to adversaries such as China and Russia — having to pay these countries inflated prices for these needed goods — is unforgivable. So is the seizure of multiple states’ supplies, paid for by those states’ taxpayers.
This should never be allowed to happen again. Congress can rectify its failure to lead by mandating that from now on these emergency-use items only be made and purchased here in the United States. Both the House and Senate should have included such legislation in one of their already passed coronavirus-support bills. It certainly needs to be in any future bill.
A.J. CASTILLA
Proivdence, R.I.
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