Fighting Coronavirus Together
This week the Ways and Means Committee held our annual hearing with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. He discussed the administration's current work on health care, the administration's efforts for combating coronavirus, and answered questions we had on both subjects.
When our Founders drafted the United States Constitution, after extensive debate, they were less than a decade removed from winning independence from an autocratic monarchy. In response they intentionally structured our government to separate functions among three branches – the legislative branch to draft legislation and write laws, the executive to implement and enforce laws, and the judicial branch interpret the laws. In addition to these primary functions, each branch is also responsible for ensuring the others work as intended within our constitutional framework. For example, while Congress's primary role is writing laws, we are tasked with ensuring the laws which we created are being implemented consistent with our intent.
Oversight of the President and the Administration should not be a partisan exercise – it is an important function of the legislative branch. Oversight also means working with the executive branch to have detailed discussions between Members of Congress and the departments and agencies which have such an important role in our government.
At the hearing, I was able to ask Secretary Azar about administration efforts to combat the growing coronavirus outbreak. The coronavirus outbreak has dominated recent news and global events and Nebraska has played a key role in both housing quarantined evacuees from China and treating American citizens who have been infected with the virus.
We all want to ensure the effectiveness of our quarantine efforts at preventing the spread of the virus. Because the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) has taken a leading role in the fight against coronavirus, I asked Secretary Azar for an update on the quarantine efforts and he was very confident UNMC is up to the task calling it "one of our finest institutions," with a proven track record using the successful treatment of Ebola patients at UNMC as an example. I have seen UNMC's capabilities firsthand and I share Secretary Azar's confidence in their ability to handle this fight.
Our Founders also chose Congress as the branch of government to have primary authority over government spending. It is imperative we have the resources to fight this virus and this will likely result in a supplemental spending bill. Because timeliness is key in fights against infectious diseases, we must come up with a bipartisan solution as quick as possible. President Trump has stated his willingness to working with Congress and I look forward to working with the administration in the fight against coronavirus.
It was reassuring to hear how seriously President Trump is taking this issue and his willingness to reach out to Congress for solutions. Hearings such as the one this week with Secretary Azar represents accountability across the branches of government and is an important part of connecting people to their government.