A House hearing on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of fraud perpetrated by pandemic aid scammers was hobbled Thursday when a key Biden administration official opted to skip her appearance.
Isabella Casillas Guzman, head of the Small Business Administration, turned down an invite to appear before the House Small Business Committee, citing scheduling conflicts.
As a result, lawmakers were left scrambling to rectify the vast gap between the SBA’s $36 billion estimate of COVID-19 fraud and the $200 billion projection from its Office of Inspector General, led by Hannibal Ware — who did find the time to show up for the hearing.
“I want to reiterate how disappointed I am the administrator did not show up today,” committee Chairman Roger Williams (R-Texas) said during the Q-and-A period.
“This is a big deal. And I would assume she would have an army of her staff here to defend her work and the SBA as a whole.”
At one point, Rep. Mark Alford (R-Mo.) read aloud his prepared questions to Guzman to showcase his disgust.
“It is very disappointing that someone that we pay our federal taxpayers’ dollars, out of the US Treasury cannot be here to answer questions,” he said.
Democrats swooped to Guzman’s defense, claiming that most of the wrongdoing uncovered occurred under her predecessor, Jovita Carranza, who wasn’t at the hearing either.
“The vast majority of the fraud took place in the first nine months of 2020,” said Rep. Morgan McGarvey (D-Ky.). “Who was the small business administrator at that time? … It wasn’t Miss Guzman, was it? … I guess there’s an empty seat here for them too.” --->READ MORE HERE
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| CHRIS DELMAS/AFP/Getty Images |
Bad survey respondents could be skewing results and fueling misinformation.
If true, the numbers were alarming.
Back in 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the results of an internet survey that found that 4% of adult respondents said they drank or gargled diluted bleach solutions, soapy water and other disinfectants in an effort to protect themselves from the coronavirus. Extrapolated to the U.S. population, that would mean that more than 10 million adult Americans engaged in such activities.
The survey captured headlines – partially because it was a shocking finding but also because it was conducted the month following former President Trump’s infamous press briefing when he asked officials to study if disinfectants could be injected into the body to treat the coronavirus.
"And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in one minute,” Trump said from the White House. “And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning, because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it’d be interesting to check that, so that you’re going to have to use medical doctors with – but it sounds interesting to me.”
Asked to clarify his remarks, Trump added: “It wouldn’t be through injections, almost a cleaning and sterilization of an area.” Later, he said that he was being sarcastic.
The comments spurred so much confusion that even Lysol issued a statement urging people not to administer its disinfectants “into the human body.”
To some, the survey’s subsequent findings meant that Trump’s comments could have encouraged people to misuse bleach and other disinfectants. But were the results accurate?
A peer-reviewed study published last week in the journal PLOS ONE found that in its attempt to replicate the CDC’s survey results, reports of ingesting household cleaners were made by so-called “problematic respondents.” --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to relevant/related stories and resources:
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Cannabis-related ER visits increased among young Americans during COVID pandemic: CDC
USA TODAY: Coronavirus Updates
WSJ: Coronavirus Live Updates
YAHOO NEWS: Coronavirus Live Updates
NEW YORK POST: Coronavirus The Latest
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