Sen. Cruz on Administration’s Decision to Extend Federal Support for Testing Site in Texas

HOUSTON, Texas - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today issued the following statement regarding the administration's decision to extend federal support for Community-Bases Testing Site in Texas for two weeks:

"I'm grateful the administration heeded my call with Sen. Cornyn to extend federal support for Community-Based Testing Sites in Texas. Our fight against the coronavirus isn't over, and it is important to provide state and local officials every tool available to protect public health. We must remain vigilant as we work to defeat this virus and get our economy back on its feet. Testing is crucial to those endeavors."

Sens. Cruz and John Cornyn (R-Texas) on Thursday sent a letter urging Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Alex Azar and Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Pete Gaynor to continue federal support for the successful program, saying:

"Texas is currently experiencing a rise in confirmed COVID-19 cases. [...] Some of the state's largest cities-where these CBTS sites are located-are experiencing single-day records of new cases. Now is not the time to end a program that is working and successfully increasing testing capacity-especially for underserved communities in the state."

Read the full letter to Secretary Azar and Administrator Gaynor here.

Read about Sen. Cruz's efforts to make testing more widely available here.

For COVID-19 information and additional resources, visit www.cruz.senate.gov/coronavirus/.

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