Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is calling for U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Alex Azar to resign.
His call for Azar to resign comes amid the coronavirus pandemic, which the senator says the HHS has had a chaotic response to.
Schumer said on the Senate floor on Tuesday, âIt has become abundantly clear that the leadership of the Department of Health and Human Services has allowed perhaps the most important federal agency right now to become subservient to the presidentâs daily whims.â
âSo today, I am calling on Secretary Azar to resign immediately,â he continued. âWe need a Secretary of Health and Human Services who will look out for the American people, not President Trumpâs political interests.â
See Schumerâs remarks below:
Schumer added that Azar âhas not only failed to push back against these outrageous moves by President Trump, heâs been almost entirely silent about the chaos and mismanagement in his own agency.â
His remarks come after reports of controversies at HHS, including the New York Times report on HHS assistant secretary of public affairs Michael Caputo accusing the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of harboring a âresistance unitâ to Trump. Caputo also suggested Trump supporters buy ammunition ahead of the upcoming election.
Additionally, Politico reported on September 11 that Caputo and his team have âdemanded the right to review and seek changesâ to CDC scientific reports on the coronavirus.
House Democrats are launching an investigation following the Politico report.
âDuring the pandemic, experts have relied on these reports to determine how the virus spreads and who is at greatest risk,â Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) wrote in a letter on Sept. 14 first obtained by Politico. âYet HHS officials apparently viewed these scientific reports as opportunities for political manipulation.â
