Tillis, who along with all but one other Republican senator was named to an economic task force for reopening the country’s economy, has supported the four coronavirus aid packages that have passed the Senate, including a replenishing this week of billions for loans and grants to small businesses to keep workers on their payroll.
He accused Democratic congressional leaders of playing “partisan political games resulting in extra unnecessary hardship and uncertainty for small business owners across the state and country.”
The program ran out of its original $350 billion allotment on April 16. The Senate approved another $310 billion for the program on Tuesday, and the House passed it Thursday.
Democrats held up the package to get additional funding for testing, hospitals and small businesses added. Cunningham, who wants more oversight of the federal spending, applauded the new funding and said additional money is needed for municipalities, who are struggling with financial hardships and may be forced to cut back on critical services.
“I do think Congress needs to act,” Cunningham said Tuesday before Senate passage.
Cunningham, a former state senator and Army prosecutor, has been critical of parts of the administration’s response, including asking for an investigation into the shipment of personal protective equipment overseas when the U.S. has faced shortages.
“We knew we were facing a crisis,” Cunningham said. “You look all the way back to the weeks after the senators were being given briefings about the risks. ... We were shipping PPE out of our country at a time when we needed it.”
Cunningham cited the State Department’s help in shipping almost 18 tons of PPE to China in early February, after senators received a briefing on the virus on Feb. 5. The supplies were donated by charitable organizations, including North Carolina-based Samaritan’s Purse.
“It isn’t about seizing the supplies. It’s about a coordinated national response. The message needs to be sent about where we need to be preparing. The national stockpiles were not ready for what many of the epidemiologists were preparing.” Cunningham said. “The first role in a crisis is to send signals to the marketplace where need is great.”
Cunningham pointed to reports that the Trump administration called Thailand asking for help with supplies only to find out that the U.S. had just shipped supplies to it. And a recent report from WBTV about the Defense Logistics Agency selling ventilators and face masks.