Three House Democrats ask GAO for review of monkeypox response

Amber CoakleyAugust 2, 2022

FILE - Committee chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., gives opening remarks as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds its first public hearing to reveal the findings of a year-long investigation, at the Capitol in Washington, June 9, 2022. Some of what the House Jan. 6 committee has revealed over the last six weeks about the Capitol insurrection and former President Donald Trump’s actions in the weeks beforehand has been new. And some of it has just become more vivid, thanks to the panel’s interviews of more than 1,000 witnesses. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE – Committee chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., gives opening remarks at the Capitol in Washington, June 9, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

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UPDATED 7:29 AM PT – Tuesday, August 2, 2022

Three House Democrats are requesting a review of the federal government’s response to monkeypox. Representatives Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), Richie Torres (D-N.Y.) and Val Demings (D-Fla.) wrote a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on Monday.

The three Democrats asked the agency to conduct a review of the response due to concerns about the virus spreading over the past two months because of delays in procuring tests as well as vaccines. The letter also included a request for the GAO to figure out if any agencies learned anything from the response of the COVID-19 pandemic.

House Homeland Security Chair @BennieGThompson, @valdemings, and I are calling on @USGAO to investigate the federal government’s delayed response to the Monkeypox outbreak.

The US should spare no effort to secure the homeland from infectious disease. https://t.co/plEonSBXBm

— Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) August 2, 2022

According the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are now more than 5,000 cases of monkeypox in the US. The virus has been detected in 47 states with Montana, Vermont and Wyoming being the only three with zero cases reported. California and New York are leading in case numbers, while Illinois trails behind them in third.

President Joe Biden is receiving pressure from Democrat House lawmakers to declare a public health emergency amid the rising number in cases across the country.