Leaders Rodgers and Cole to Biden Administration: Don’t Punish Doctors, Nurses, and Frontline Workers

Washington, D.C. — House Energy and Commerce Committee Republican Leader Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Republican Leader Tom Cole (R-OK) issued the following statement after the Biden administration announced plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars out of the Provider Relief Fund on a COVID-19 vaccine campaign:

“We are extremely concerned that, after the Biden administration stonewalled Congress for months about the remaining Provider Relief Fund dollars, it just announced $475 million of it will be used for a vaccine campaign. As Democrats have already spent more than a billion dollars on vaccine confidence activity, with no reporting on the success of its outcomes, we believe continuing these efforts is not the best use of these funds.”

They continued, “These funds were intended for doctors, nurses, and frontline health care workers, who have been experiencing record burnout, and should instead be used to mitigate inflation and address the workforce shortages driven by Democrat policymaking.”