Trump's ex-chief of staff Mick Mulvaney says U.S. has 'inexcusable' problems with COVID-19 testing

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump's former acting chief of staff criticized the country's coronavirus testing on Monday and argued that any future relief package should focus on COVID itself as the "root cause" of the recession, rather than on remedies like stimulus checks.

"I know it isn’t popular to talk about in some Republican circles, but we still have a testing problem in this country," Mick Mulvaney, who is currently the U.S.' special envoy to Northern Ireland, wrote in an op-ed for CNBC.

Mulvaney described his family's efforts to get tested for the coronavirus, noting that they had to wait up to a week to receive his son's results, while being told his daughter didn't meet the criteria for receiving a test, even though she was planning on visiting her grandparents.

"That is simply inexcusable at this point in the pandemic," Mulvaney said.

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Trump has frequently boasted about the United States' response to coronavirus and its testing capabilities compared to other countries. He has attributed a rise in coronavirus cases to expanded testing, even though the surges in cases in hard-hit states exceed the increases in testing and hospitals are facing growing strains.

Asked about Mulvaney's stance that testing was still an issue, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said at a news briefing that the U.S. is "doing a pretty good job" on testing.

"Our reaction [to the op-ed] is that we lead the world in testing," she said. "We've done more than 40 million tests. That is an extraordinary number."

Mulvaney, who was previously a Republican congressman representing South Carolina, wrote that rather than focusing on giving Americans another round of stimulus checks, future legislation from Congress should aim to address the public health crisis. The reason people aren't traveling and going on vacations is not necessarily because they lack the funds to do so, Mulvaney wrote, but because they are afraid of the health consequences. 

"Giving people a check, or some financial incentive to travel, won’t solve their problem. Make people feel safe to go back on an airplane or cruise ship, and they will of their own accord," Mulvaney said, listing research, temporary hospital beds and therapeutics as other places money should go.

Members of Congress are negotiating over the next round of coronavirus stimulus and have laid out their priorities for the next package. Congressional Democrats want the increase in unemployment benefits to be included in the next bill, whereas Republicans want liability protections for businesses opening up amid the pandemic. 

"If we are going to borrow hundreds of billions of dollars, let’s do it to treat the cause of our economic illness, not just the symptoms," Mulvaney wrote.

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Mulvaney, who also served in other roles in the White House, played a part in Trump's impeachment saga and the controversy with Ukraine. He was replaced as chief of staff by Mark Meadows in March. 

In late February, as Trump was downplaying the threat of the virus in the U.S., Mulvaney blamed the news media for plummeting stock prices and said the media thinks "this is going to be what brings down the president."

Contributing: Nicholas Wu