{"id":1249870,"date":"2022-01-28T05:08:14","date_gmt":"2022-01-28T10:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1249870"},"modified":"2022-01-28T05:08:22","modified_gmt":"2022-01-28T10:08:22","slug":"paying-the-arsonist-bidens-covid-test-contract-with-china-draws-ire-on-capitol-hill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/paying-the-arsonist-bidens-covid-test-contract-with-china-draws-ire-on-capitol-hill\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Paying The Arsonist\u2019: Biden\u2019s COVID Test Contract With China Draws Ire on Capitol Hill"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fpaying-the-arsonist-bidens-covid-test-contract-with-china-draws-ire-on-capitol-hill%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1249870&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/GettyImages-1238023725-scaled-e1643319269529.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p><span>The Biden administration\u2019s decision to award over a billion dollars to a Chinese company that manufactures coronavirus test kits has prompted outrage from congressional Republicans.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Rep. Michael Waltz (R., Fla.) compared the Pentagon&#8217;s decision to award a $1.3 billion contract to iHealth, <\/span><span>a subsidiary of China\u2019s Andon Health Co. Ltd. that will supply millions of COVID-19 tests to the United States, to &#8220;paying the arsonist for helping put out the fire.&#8221; Waltz said he was concerned that the deal further endangers America\u2019s supply chains and that the United States cannot be reliant on a hostile country such as China, where the virus originated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>After months of nationwide shortages of COVID tests <\/span><span>in the wake of the Omicron variant surge, the Biden administration scrambled to purchase hundreds of millions of tests to send directly to Americans. The implementation has been riddled with failures, ranging from long wait times for the tests to logistical hurdles when delivering to large apartment buildings.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.defense.gov\/News\/Releases\/Release\/Article\/2899818\/dod-awards-contracts-to-purchase-covid-19-antigen-over-the-counter-test-kits-in\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>announcing<\/span><\/a><span> the contract with iHealth and two other companies, the Department of Defense said the administration will purchase almost 400 million kits<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>in a deal that <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/news.bloomberglaw.com\/coronavirus\/test-makers-led-by-ihealth-labs-to-get-2-billion-in-u-s-deal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>totaled<\/span><\/a><span> nearly $2 billion. Rep. Don Bacon (R., Neb.) called the arrangement with a Chinese manufacturer &#8220;ridiculous&#8221; given China has &#8220;not been transparent one iota on what happened at Wuhan.&#8221; Prior to the Pentagon contract, the FDA in December <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/asia.nikkei.com\/Business\/36Kr-KrASIA\/Chinese-startup-develops-PCR-testing-equipment-for-household-use\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>approved<\/span><\/a><span> iHealth\u2019s request to manufacture at-home COVID-19 tests for Americans.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>President Joe Biden has been pressed to invoke the Defense Production Act to step up the ability of American companies to produce tests. <span>White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci said in December that it was unnecessary because American manufacturers were already &#8220;going full speed.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>&#8220;The Defense Production Act can&#8217;t make them go any more full speed than they&#8217;re already going,&#8221; Fauci said.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Sen. Ron Johnson (R., Wis.) said awarding iHealth a lucrative DoD contract is the latest of the administration\u2019s failures when it comes to the coronavirus. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>&#8220;Joe Biden, Dr. Fauci, Dr. Walensky, and our federal health agencies\u2019 handling of COVID-19 has been a complete failure,&#8221; Johnson told the <\/span><i><span>Washington Free Beacon<\/span><\/i><span>. &#8220;The president has been eliminating American jobs since day one in office and this is another insult to American businesses who are suffering under the failure of his economic policies.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The federal iHealth contract follows tens of millions of dollars the company <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/healthcare-pharmaceuticals\/chinas-andon-health-supply-at-home-covid-19-tests-us-2022-01-14\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>received<\/span><\/a><span> from New York and Massachusetts for coronavirus tests. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.) called it a &#8220;dereliction of duty&#8221; by her home state and said <\/span><span>New York governor Kathy Hochul (D.) and Biden are &#8220;putting our national security at risk while simultaneously lining the pockets of the Chinese Communist Party who is responsible for unleashing COVID-19 on the world and then covering it up.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Rep. Bryan Steil (R., Wis.) told the <\/span><i><span>Free Beacon <\/span><\/i><span>that the Biden administration should be &#8220;utilizing and assisting U.S. suppliers&#8221; rather than &#8220;outsourcing critical supplies from China.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The Chinese Communist Party treated the iHealth contract as a <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/national-security\/china-uses-biden-covid-19-testing-plan-as-propaganda\/\">major propaganda victory<\/a>. State-controlled media outlets used iHealth\u2019s business in America to embarrass the Biden administration, arguing that the United States is reliant on China when it comes to health care.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The potential ramifications of routing millions of dollars to China for COVID tests could be long lasting, lawmakers warn. &#8220;When dealing with any Chinese company, all funds inevitably fill the coffers of the Chinese Communist Party and that hurts our national security,&#8221; Waltz cautioned.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Biden administration\u2019s decision to award over a billion dollars to a Chinese company that manufactures coronavirus test kits has prompted outrage from congressional Republicans. Rep. Michael Waltz (R., Fla.) &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1249870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1249870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1249870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1249870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1249870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1249870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1249870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}