{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-introduces-legislation-to-expand-access-to-federally-funded-covid-19-testing", "Warren Introduces Legislation to Expand Access to Federally Funded COVID-19 Testing", "2020-12-22", "2020", "2020-12", "Democrat", "Senate", "MA", "Elizabeth Warren", "W000817", "www.warren.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 22, 2020\n\t\t\t Warren Introduces Legislation to Expand Access to Federally Funded COVID-19 Testing \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\"Even as vaccine\r\ndistribution begins, testing will remain a critical tool in reducing rates of\r\nCOVID-19 infections\" The Expanding COVID-19 Testing\r\nCapacity Act of 2020 would require the federal government to manufacture and\r\ndistribute COVID-19 diagnostic tests to expand Americans' access to free\r\nCOVID-19 testing. Bill\r\nText | Bill\r\nOne-Pager Washington, DC - United States Senator Elizabeth Warren\r\n(D-Mass.), a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP)\r\nCommittee, introduced the Expanding COVID-19 Testing Capacity Act of 2020,\r\nwhich would require the federal government to manufacture and distribute\r\nCOVID-19 diagnostic tests to community centers, congregate care settings,\r\nschools, and childcare facilities, religious centers, prisons and jails,\r\nbusinesses that employ essential workers, and other qualified locations across\r\nthe country for the purpose of expanding Americans' access to free COVID-19\r\ntesting. \"It's long past time that the federal government throws real muscle\r\nbehind controlling and mitigating the spread of COVID-19, and investing in and\r\nimplementing aggressive testing measures are a critical part of this effort.\r\nEven as vaccine distribution begins, testing will remain a critical tool in\r\nreducing rates of COVID-19 infections. High-quality and frequent COVID-19\r\ntesting should be easily available to all Americans, and this is why I'm glad\r\nto be introducing legislation to ensure that our nation has expanded access to\r\nfederally funded testing,\" said Senator Warren. \"For many months, physicians with a frontline view of the devastation\r\ncaused by the pandemic have been calling for federal support to enable broader\r\ntesting. A strong national testing framework is a critical component of an\r\noptimal COVID-19 mitigation strategy, and we applaud Senator Warren for her\r\nleadership in introducing this thoughtful bill,\" Massachusetts\r\nMedical Society president Dr. David A. Rosman said. \"We are\r\nespecially pleased by provisions that require test results to be delivered in\r\n24 hours, provide free testing to a wide range of workers regardless of their\r\nsymptoms, ensure transparency on spending and distribution of tests, and\r\naccount for evolving needs and changes in testing technology,\" Nearly 20 million Americans have contracted COVID-19, and over 300,000 have\r\ndied. Though vaccine distribution has begun, public health experts have warned\r\nthat the coming months will be \"the darkest days of the pandemic\" in\r\nthe U.S. To get the virus under control, experts have called for aggressive\r\nCOVID-19 testing, and leadership of the National Institutes of Health has\r\ncalled for testing \"as many people as possible.\" But the nation\r\nis not conducting nearly enough tests to stop the spread of the virus. Though\r\nthe nation's testing capacity has drastically improved since the start of the\r\npandemic, the U.S. is only conducting roughly 2 million daily tests. More\r\ntesting capacity is necessary: labs are experiencing processing delays and\r\nstruggling to access materials-like pipette tips-they need to conduct tests.\r\nThe federal government has yet to provide the resources necessary to mitigate\r\ntesting shortages. To ensure that the nation has the testing capacity it needs, the Expanding\r\nCOVID-19 Testing Capacity Act of 2020 would: \r\n Require the federal\r\n     government to publicly manufacture diagnostic tests and testing supplies. The\r\n     Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) would stabilize the testing\r\n     supply chain by manufacturing, or contracting for the manufacture of,\r\n     diagnostic tests and associated medical products (like personal protective\r\n     equipment, reagents, and pipette tips) and providing those products free of\r\n     charge to state, local, territorial, and tribal health care providers and\r\n     programs.\r\n  \r\n Test essential\r\n     workers, students and teachers, residents and employees at congregate\r\n     facilities, and others for COVID-19. The bill requires the\r\n     federal government to distribute COVID-19 tests to qualified entities like\r\n     schools, nursing homes, homeless shelters, and factories for the purpose\r\n     of providing free testing to individuals at highest risk of COVID-19.\r\n  \r\n Provide federal\r\n     employees with free COVID-19 tests. The federal government would\r\n     provide employees unable to socially distance or telework in the course of\r\n     their jobs with free COVID-19 tests for the duration of the pandemic.\r\n  \r\n Invest an additional\r\n     $25 billion in state, local, territorial, and tribal testing\r\n     systems to strengthen existing infrastructure, develop new testing sites,\r\n     and reduce testing disparities.\r\n  \r\n Ensure individuals\r\n     hired or employed using funding provided by the bill have access to\r\n     critical labor protections, including a $15 minimum wage and\r\n     overtime pay.\r\n  \r\n Require HHS, acting\r\n     through the Food and Drug Administration, to issue a series of guidance\r\n     and reports designed to expedite the approval of COVID-19\r\n     diagnostic tests and provide resources on testing program best practices.\r\n  \r\n Collect demographic\r\n     data on COVID-19 tests administered through the bill to gather\r\n     the information necessary to reduce disparities in COVID-19 outcomes.\r\n Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Senator Warren has been\r\ncalling for an expansion of COVID-19 diagnostic testing and pushing for health\r\nequity in the federal pandemic response. In March, Senator Warren laid\r\nout steps Congress should take to increase diagnostic testing supplies for\r\nCOVID-19 and the resources needed to administer these tests nationwide. In\r\nApril, Senator Warren and Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) introduced\r\nthe bicameral Equitable\r\nData Collection and Disclosure on COVID-19 Act to require the federal\r\ngovernment to collect and report coronavirus demographic data on race and\r\nethnicity. Along with Congresswoman Nannette Diaz Barragn (D-Calif.) and\r\nSenator Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Senator Warren introduced the\r\nFederal Correctional Facilities COVID-19 Response Act, which would require\r\nweekly COVID-19 testing, data collection, and robust COVID-19 prevention\r\nstandards in federal prisons. Last week, Senator Warren and Tina Smith D-Minn.)\r\nreleased\r\nfindings from an investigation\r\ninto the nation's testing capacity and pediatric testing availability\r\nrevealing that \"significant gaps in COVID-19 testing capacity\" remain\r\nacross the country and made recommendations for how the federal government can\r\nimprove national testing infrastructure. ###\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tNext Article\n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-introduces-legislation-to-expand-access-to-federally-funded-covid-19-testing"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4994239900261164, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}