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Graham says ‘the whole world should send China a bill’ over Beijing’s response to coronavirus

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Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told “Hannity” Monday that China should pay — literally — for its response to the coronavirus that enabled the contagion to spread around the world.

“If it were up to me, the whole world should send China a bill for the pandemic,” Graham said. “This is the third pandemic to come out of China and they come from these wet markets where they have bats and monkeys with the virus — carrying the virus — intermingled with the food supply. Yeah, I’d make China pay big time.”

THE CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK STATE BY STATE

“And here’s the question for 2020,” Graham added. “Who do you want to take on China? Trump or Joe Biden? I don’t think that would be a hard decision for most people.”

Graham also said that a proposal by Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., to force China to forgive U.S. debt as a consequence of their response to the pandemic “makes sense to me.”

When host Sean Hannity raised the possibility of another coronavirus aid bill including fuding for infrastructure projects, Graham joked that former President Barack Obama “spent $787 billion [on his stimulus package] and you didn’t even get a t-shirt.”

CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE

“[Trump] knows shovel-ready when he sees it … We doubled the size of the Department of Education in the Obama stimulus package, that’s not going to happen with the Trump stimulus package.”

“When it comes to what you do next,” Graham added, “we need to look at China from top to bottom, get our medical supply chain back and if we do a stimulus bill, it has to stimulate the economy, not the government.”

Sen. Rick Scott blasts WHO over its ‘work for Communist China,’ calls for congressional probe

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Senate Homeland Security Committee member Rick Scott, R-Fla., told “Tucker Carlson Tonight” Monday Congress must investigate the World Health Organization over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

Scott accused the global health agency of doing “work for Communist China.”

WHO DIRECTOR TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYSEUS FACES CALLS FOR RESIGNATION OVER HANDLING OF CORONAVIRUS, CHINA

“At first they said in a tweet [Jan. 14] that there was no evidence that there was human to human transmission. Lie. Then they said on the 20th or something, ‘China’s doing a great job’. Lie,” Scott said.

The U.S. taxpayers contributed $513 million to the WHO in 2017, up from $341 million the prior year, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Scott noted that WHO Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, claimed President Trump’s move to restrict travel from China at the end of January would create “fear and stigma with little health benefit.”

“When Trump did the right thing by doing the travel ban they attacked Trump for doing the wrong thing,” he said. “I asked them [the WHO] to do an investigation of China back in February … [and] if they had done their job, everyone would have gotten more ready, we wouldn’t have shut down this economy and we wouldn’t have all these people dead all over the world.”

CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE

“So I want an investigation,” Scott went on. “I am on [the] Homeland Security [committee], I talked to the chairman [Sen.] Ron Johnson [,R-Wis.], he’s agreed to do it. We are going to investigate why did they do what they did, what was their purpose and then why are we as American taxpayers giving them some of our dollars.”

Scott is the latest Republican lawmaker to demand  Tedros step down as director general.

Last week, Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., told Fox Business’ “Mornings with Maria” that she has “never trusted a communist” and added that the Chinese government’s “cover-up of this virus that originated with them has caused unnecessary deaths around America and around the world … I think Dr. Tedros needs to step down.”

THE CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK STATE-BY-STATE

McSally stepped up her criticism Friday, saying: “Dr. Tedros deceived the world. At one point, he even praised China’s ‘transparency during its coronavirus response efforts’ despite a mountain of evidence showing the regime concealed the severity of the outbreak. This deception cost lives. “

Fox News’ Tyler Olson contributed to this report.

Sen. Kelly Loeffler dumped travel stock just before Trump barred travel to US from Europe

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Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., sold off $46,027 worth of stock in an online travel company days after the shares were purchased and just before President Trump restricted most travel from Europe to the United States amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new report.

Trump announced on March 11 that the U.S. was suspending most travel from Europe into the U.S. for 30 days in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19.

On March 10 and 11, Loeffler sold her shares in Booking Holdings, which facilities online bookings for travel services, flights and hotels. Those shares had been purchased March 6 — the day she visited the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta with President Trump to be updated on the fast-spreading virus.

Bloomberg first reported on the stock trades, which were disclosed by Loeffler’s office

CLICK HERE FOR FOX NEWS’ COMPLETE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE

The travel and airline industries have been virtually wiped out by the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the globe, which has forced governments to issue stay-at-home orders for billions of people around the world.

Loeffler had purchased the shares with her husband, Jeffrey Sprecher, who is chairman of the New York Stock Exchange and whose net worth is said to be north of $500 million.

Loeffler and her husband also sold stock on Jan. 24 — the same day she sat in on a briefing from two members of President Trump’s Coronavirus Task Force, according to a Daily Beast report.

Between that day and Feb. 14, the couple sold shares worth between $1.2 million and $3.1 million, the report said. They also purchased stock in a maker of software that helps people work at home — just before millions of Americans were forced to leave their offices because of the outbreak, the report said.

Loeffler denied claims of wrongdoing during a recent appearance on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom.”

“If you actually look at the personal transaction reports that were filed, it notices at the bottom that I’m only informed of my transactions after they occur — several weeks,” she said. “So, certainly, those transactions — at least on my behalf — were a mix of buys and sells. Very routine for my portfolio.”

“Her stock portfolio is managed independently by third-party advisors,” spokeswoman Kerry Rom told The Associated Press this week. “Sen. Loeffler continues to operate with integrity and transparency — following both the spirit and the letter of the law.”

Loeffler has faced additional scrutiny following the mandatory disclosure filed Tuesday, and after she and Sprecher sold off substantial portions of their portfolio last month, as well.

According to the filing, across four transactions in late February and early March, Sprecher purchased between about $166,000 and $415,000 in DuPont stock. DuPont says it is “working around the clock in all parts of the world to increase capacity of protective garments during this time of high demand” amid the coronavirus outbreak, according to its website.

The couple also purchased up to $50,000 in Amazon stock, $250,000 in Chevron stock and $350,000 in CME stocks, according to the disclosure. They simultaneously sold off between $100,000 and $250,000 worth of DocuSign shares and up to $150,000 in Facebook stock, as well as holdings in retail stores including Lululemon, TJ Maxx and Ross.

SCHUMER WANTS ETHICS PROBES OVER PRE-CORONAVIRUS STOCK SALES BY BURR, FEINSTEIN, OTHERS

Loeffler is one of a handful of senators who are facing criticism amid stock selloffs ahead of the coronavirus crisis, which has seen the stock market tank in recent weeks.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., is reportedly being investigated by the Justice Department over his sale of as much as $1.7 million in stocks in the run-up to the coronavirus crisis. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is also said to be involved, and the FBI has reportedly reached out to Burr for information.

According to ProPublica, Burr used more than 30 transactions to dump between $628,000 and $1.72 million on Feb. 13.

CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE

Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and her husband reportedly sold between $1.5 million and $6 million in stock in California biotech company Allogene Therapeutics, between Jan. 31 and Feb. 18, The New York Times had reported.

And Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., sold as much as $400,000 in stock on Jan. 27, in companies such as PayPal, Apple and real estate company Brookfield Asset Management, The New York Times also reported.

Fox News’ Brooke Singman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Sen. Kennedy: Congress tried to hide ‘spending porn on pet projects’ in stimulus bill, but Americans noticed

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In an effort to reach a compromise on the $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package which President Trump signed last week, Republican lawmakers had to “swallow” the “spending porn on pet projects” in the bill, Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said.

Speaking on “Sunday Morning Futures,” Kennedy railed against what he called “all kinds of porn” that “some powerful members of Congress” included in the bill. He said those lawmakers “think the American people… are morons and won’t notice, but they did.”

“They think the American people… are morons and won’t notice, but they did.”

— Sen. John Kennedy

“It’s why so many Americans think there’s no intelligent life in Washington, D.C.,” he said. “This is what many Americans heard. Members of Congress say, ‘Oh, my God. We could run out of ventilators. Oh, my God, people could die quickly. Let’s give money to the Kennedy Center and the post office now.’ That tells the American people that common sense is dead. Nonetheless, those of us who are fiscal conservatives, we swallowed it. We had to, we passed the bill. I think it’s going to help the American people,” Kennedy told Maria Bartiromo.

“But,” he added, “a pox on the house and houses of all those members of Congress who took advantage of this disaster, this tragedy, to take care of their pet projects.”

CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE

Many Republican lawmakers criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., saying she used the crisis as leverage to try jamming through a political “wish list” of unrelated items. Kennedy said they included a provision to speed up the FDA review process of sunscreen products, funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and additional cash for the post office.

“It’s not a priority right now,” Kennedy said. “I think once we drill down, we’re gonna find out that she’s [Pelosi] not the only one. I think some other people in powerful positions piled on, and I don’t like it, and it’s not fair to the American people.”

“Now, look, I’m tired as a tick. I squeak when I walk. I’m so cheap with taxpayer money. But, I said, ‘look, this is necessary. I swallowed it and said, we’re gonna spend 2-trillion-plus dollars because the American people need it. But, when I pick up this bill and see this kind of spending porn where people were taking advantage of a catastrophe for the American people, it pi–es me off,” he continued.

Pelosi, for her part, has pointed the finger at Trump, saying he downplayed the seriousness of the coronavirus and delayed ramping up the federal government’s response to it — claims the White House has denied.

Kennedy’s state has been a “hot spot” of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., with over 3,300 reported cases to date. The Louisiana senator has been focussed on “saving lives” while “also trying to save livelihoods” and despite his criticisms, his people will rely heavily on the economic relief bill for help, he explained.

“We are coping. We have about 3,300 cases, we’ve had around 130 deaths, we’re clearly a hot spot. It began in New Orleans and it’s kind of moving out through this, throughout the state,” Kennedy said.

“I will say that a lot of my people are very upset at the spending porn on pet projects that was slipped into the bill, but my people are also grateful for help from the American taxpayer.”

— Sen. John Kennedy

“We’re we’re trying to save lives and we’re also trying to save livelihoods because our economy shut down. The legislation we just passed will help. It’ll get money directly to people, to hospitals, to businesses. I will say that a lot of my people are very upset at the spending porn on pet projects that was slipped into the bill, but my people are also grateful for help from the American taxpayer.”

US DRUG INDUSTRY AIMS TO WRESTLE BACK MANUFACTURING FROM CHINA

Kennedy later said the coronavirus pandemic underscored the importance of securing America’s medical supply chain and ramping up production of life-saving medicines to end the country’s long-time reliance on the Chinese government.

“Sometimes, the cheapest is not in your national interest, and right. We may be able to back components for pharmaceutical drugs cheaper in China, but we’ve learned through this experience that that may not be in the national interest,” he concluded. “And, after this is over, we beat the virus and we will, you’re going to see some change, though, long overdue.”

Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo contributed to this report.

Tom Coburn dead at 72: Doctor turned Conservative maverick who railed against government waste

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Former U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma family doctor who earned a reputation as a conservative political maverick as he railed against federal earmarks and subsidies for the rich, has died. He was 72.

Coburn, who also delivered more than 4,000 babies while an obstetrician in Muskogee, where he treated patients for free while in the Senate, died early Saturday morning, his cousin Bob Coburn told The Associated Press in a text message. Tom Coburn was diagnosed with prostate cancer years earlier.

Known for bluntly speaking his mind, Coburn, a Republican, frequently criticized the growth of the federal deficit and what he said was excessive government spending endorsed by politicians from both political parties.

FORMER SEN. TOM COBURN DIES AFTER YEARS-LONG CANCER BATTLE

“I’ve got a flat forehead from beating my head against the wall,” he told voters during a town hall in July 2010.

First elected to the U.S. House during the so-called Republican Revolution in 1994, Coburn fiercely criticized the use of federal money for special state projects and was among the few members of Congress who refused to seek such earmarks for their home states. He represented northeastern Oklahoma for three terms, keeping a pledge in 2000 not to seek re-election.

He returned to his medical practice in Muskogee before asking voters in 2004 to send him back to Washington, this time to the Senate, so he could fight big spenders and ensure “that our children and grandchildren have a future.”

He left the Senate in early 2015, before his second term that expired. He announced the decision just months after being diagnosed with a recurrence of prostate cancer, but said his health wasn’t the reason. He said he was convinced he could “best serve my own children and grandchildren by shifting my focus elsewhere.”

U.S. Sen. James Lankford, a Republican from Oklahoma, called Coburn “an inspiration to many.”

“He was unwavering in his conservative values, but he had deep and meaningful friendships with people from all political and personal backgrounds,” Lankford said in a statement.

FLASHBACK- TOM COBURN: HERE’S WHY PRICE TRANSPARENCY CAN REVOLUTIONIZE HEALTH CARE

In 2009, Coburn shrugged off constituent complaints after the state’s largest newspaper, The Oklahoman, ran a front-page photograph of Coburn hugging then-President Barack Obama.

“I’m not aligned with him politically. I don’t know what people back home in Oklahoma would be worried about,” Coburn told the paper. “But you need to separate the difference in political philosophy versus friendship. How better to influence somebody than love them?”

Coburn said he and Obama had become friends during orientation as freshman senators in 2004.

As a senator, Coburn released a series of reports on what he described as wasteful government spending.

A 37-page report in 2011, dubbed “Subsidies of the Rich and Famous,” detailed nearly $30 billion spent annually in government subsidies, tax breaks and federal grant programs to millionaires.

“From tax write-offs for gambling losses, vacation homes, and luxury yachts to subsidies for their ranches and estates, the government is subsidizing the lifestyles of the rich and famous,” Coburn wrote in the report.

A joint report in August 2010 by Coburn and Arizona Sen. John McCain, who died in 2018, criticized stimulus spending, including $1.9 million for international ant research and $39.7 million to upgrade the Statehouse and political offices in Topeka, Kansas.

Coburn’s stubbornness and thwarting of legislation considered worthy by Democrats frustrated then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

“You cannot negotiate with Coburn,” Reid, a Democrat, declared in 2008. “It’s just something you learn over the years is a waste of time.”

During debate over the debt ceiling in the summer of 2011, Coburn was part of a bipartisan “Gang of Six” senators who supported an alternative plan to cut the deficit by almost $4 trillion over the next decade through budget cuts and increased revenue through changes to the tax code.

COBURN’S WASTE BOOK DETAILS $19 BILLION IN EYE-OPENING GOVERNMENT EXPENSES

Coburn also released a 614-page plan that outlined how the government could slash $9 trillion from the federal deficit over the next decade. Coburn’s suggestion led to the elimination of a federal tax subsidy for ethanol later that year.

After leaving the Senate, Coburn continued to crusade against taxes, criticizing the Oklahoma Legislature when it passed a package of tax hikes in 2018 to shore up the state budget. A group led by Coburn attempted to launch a petition drive to overturn the tax hikes, but was ultimately unsuccessful.

“Our state and our nation are better because of the lessons in fiscal responsibility we’ve learned from Dr. Coburn,” Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, said in a statement Saturday.

Born in Casper, Wyoming, on March 14, 1948, Coburn grew up in Muskogee, Oklahoma. After graduating from Oklahoma State University, he went to work at his family’s business in Virginia, Ophthalmic Division of Coburn Opticals, from 1970 to 1978. He later attended medical school at the University of Oklahoma.

By the time he jumped into politics — a decision he said was based on runaway government spending and his distaste for career politicians — he was married to his wife, Carolyn, with three children and had established a successful medical practice.

While in the Senate, Coburn delivered babies for free after he was threatened with censure for violating Senate conflict-of-interest rules that prohibited him from receiving compensation for professional services.

Coburn had several health scares during his time in office. He was treated for malignant melanoma in 1975, and in 2011, he underwent surgery for prostate cancer.

But health woes didn’t seem to damper his contentious attitude.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

After revealing in 2003 that he had been diagnosed with colon cancer and underwent surgery and chemotherapy, he told a Tulsa World reporter: “You should be writing about Medicaid and Medicare instead of my health.”

Tom Coburn dead at 72: Doctor turned Conservative maverick who railed against government waste

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Former U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma family doctor who earned a reputation as a conservative political maverick as he railed against federal earmarks and subsidies for the rich, has died. He was 72.

Coburn, who also delivered more than 4,000 babies while an obstetrician in Muskogee, where he treated patients for free while in the Senate, died early Saturday morning, his cousin Bob Coburn told The Associated Press in a text message. Tom Coburn was diagnosed with prostate cancer years earlier.

Known for bluntly speaking his mind, Coburn, a Republican, frequently criticized the growth of the federal deficit and what he said was excessive government spending endorsed by politicians from both political parties.

FORMER SEN. TOM COBURN DIES AFTER YEARS-LONG CANCER BATTLE

“I’ve got a flat forehead from beating my head against the wall,” he told voters during a town hall in July 2010.

First elected to the U.S. House during the so-called Republican Revolution in 1994, Coburn fiercely criticized the use of federal money for special state projects and was among the few members of Congress who refused to seek such earmarks for their home states. He represented northeastern Oklahoma for three terms, keeping a pledge in 2000 not to seek re-election.

He returned to his medical practice in Muskogee before asking voters in 2004 to send him back to Washington, this time to the Senate, so he could fight big spenders and ensure “that our children and grandchildren have a future.”

He left the Senate in early 2015, before his second term that expired. He announced the decision just months after being diagnosed with a recurrence of prostate cancer, but said his health wasn’t the reason. He said he was convinced he could “best serve my own children and grandchildren by shifting my focus elsewhere.”

U.S. Sen. James Lankford, a Republican from Oklahoma, called Coburn “an inspiration to many.”

“He was unwavering in his conservative values, but he had deep and meaningful friendships with people from all political and personal backgrounds,” Lankford said in a statement.

FLASHBACK- TOM COBURN: HERE’S WHY PRICE TRANSPARENCY CAN REVOLUTIONIZE HEALTH CARE

In 2009, Coburn shrugged off constituent complaints after the state’s largest newspaper, The Oklahoman, ran a front-page photograph of Coburn hugging then-President Barack Obama.

“I’m not aligned with him politically. I don’t know what people back home in Oklahoma would be worried about,” Coburn told the paper. “But you need to separate the difference in political philosophy versus friendship. How better to influence somebody than love them?”

Coburn said he and Obama had become friends during orientation as freshman senators in 2004.

As a senator, Coburn released a series of reports on what he described as wasteful government spending.

A 37-page report in 2011, dubbed “Subsidies of the Rich and Famous,” detailed nearly $30 billion spent annually in government subsidies, tax breaks and federal grant programs to millionaires.

“From tax write-offs for gambling losses, vacation homes, and luxury yachts to subsidies for their ranches and estates, the government is subsidizing the lifestyles of the rich and famous,” Coburn wrote in the report.

A joint report in August 2010 by Coburn and Arizona Sen. John McCain, who died in 2018, criticized stimulus spending, including $1.9 million for international ant research and $39.7 million to upgrade the Statehouse and political offices in Topeka, Kansas.

Coburn’s stubbornness and thwarting of legislation considered worthy by Democrats frustrated then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

“You cannot negotiate with Coburn,” Reid, a Democrat, declared in 2008. “It’s just something you learn over the years is a waste of time.”

During debate over the debt ceiling in the summer of 2011, Coburn was part of a bipartisan “Gang of Six” senators who supported an alternative plan to cut the deficit by almost $4 trillion over the next decade through budget cuts and increased revenue through changes to the tax code.

COBURN’S WASTE BOOK DETAILS $19 BILLION IN EYE-OPENING GOVERNMENT EXPENSES

Coburn also released a 614-page plan that outlined how the government could slash $9 trillion from the federal deficit over the next decade. Coburn’s suggestion led to the elimination of a federal tax subsidy for ethanol later that year.

After leaving the Senate, Coburn continued to crusade against taxes, criticizing the Oklahoma Legislature when it passed a package of tax hikes in 2018 to shore up the state budget. A group led by Coburn attempted to launch a petition drive to overturn the tax hikes, but was ultimately unsuccessful.

“Our state and our nation are better because of the lessons in fiscal responsibility we’ve learned from Dr. Coburn,” Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, said in a statement Saturday.

Born in Casper, Wyoming, on March 14, 1948, Coburn grew up in Muskogee, Oklahoma. After graduating from Oklahoma State University, he went to work at his family’s business in Virginia, Ophthalmic Division of Coburn Opticals, from 1970 to 1978. He later attended medical school at the University of Oklahoma.

By the time he jumped into politics — a decision he said was based on runaway government spending and his distaste for career politicians — he was married to his wife, Carolyn, with three children and had established a successful medical practice.

While in the Senate, Coburn delivered babies for free after he was threatened with censure for violating Senate conflict-of-interest rules that prohibited him from receiving compensation for professional services.

Coburn had several health scares during his time in office. He was treated for malignant melanoma in 1975, and in 2011, he underwent surgery for prostate cancer.

But health woes didn’t seem to damper his contentious attitude.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

After revealing in 2003 that he had been diagnosed with colon cancer and underwent surgery and chemotherapy, he told a Tulsa World reporter: “You should be writing about Medicaid and Medicare instead of my health.”

Senate stimulus bill extends funding for abstinence education

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The Senate’s $2 trillion stimulus bill to fight the impact of the coronavirus includes an extension of funding for abstinence education programs.

Text of the bill released Wednesday morning, which is not yet final, would extend a program that gives grants to states that agree to promote abstinence-only sexual education. The program is set to expire in May, and would be extended through November by the coronavirus relief package.

CORONAVIRUS: WHAT TO KNOW

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, left, accompanied by White House Legislative Affairs Director Eric Ueland and acting White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, speaks with reporters as he walks to the offices of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky. on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

CORONAVIRUS BILL INCLUDES MILLIONS FOR HAWARD, GALLAUDET UNIVERSITIES

The grant program requires any “State or other entity” accepting funds from the program “to implement education exclusively on sexual risk avoidance (meaning voluntarily refraining from sexual activity).”

The extension of funding for abstinence education is reportedly seen by Democrats as a favor to Republicans’ constituents, similarly to how Republicans criticized elements in the House Democrats stimulus proposal, including funding for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, as unrelated to the coronavirus crisis.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Politico reported that a senior Democratic aide flagged that provision as one that was unrelated to the coronavirus crisis as Republicans were flinging accusations at Democrats for packing the House bill with political goodies.

The abstinence education program Republicans are extending awards slightly under $50 million per year.

It is not clear when exactly the Senate will put the final coronavirus stimulus package up for a vote but lawmakers have signaled they intend to vote some time Wednesday.

Hawley slams China for costing world ‘thousands of lives and billions of dollars’ with coronavirus response

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Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said Tuesday that China must be made to pay — literally — for economic damage to the United States caused by the coronavirus, which originated in Wuhan, Hubei Province.

Hawley told “Hannity” that the U.S. government had offered to send medical teams and scientists to China in order to aid their recovery and find out exactly what happened in the country.

WOLFGANG PUCK PAINTS DIRE PICTURE FOR FOODSERVICE INDUSTRY IF CONGRESS DOESN’T ACT: ‘WE CAN’T WAIT A MONTH’

“China said no … they have been lying about it and sitting on it for weeks and weeks and weeks and that has cost the world thousands of deaths, it’s cost us here in this country,” Hawley said.

The senator also called for an international investigation that will “hold the Chinese government to account” and fight Beijing’s state-run “propaganda machine” that he said has helped spread rumors implicating the American military in the pandemic.

“We need to make it clear — and we need an international investigation to make it clear for the world — that this started in Wuhan, China, that the Chinese government lied about it, they jailed the doctors who tried to blow the whistle on it, they cost the world thousands of lives and billions of dollars. And here’s the other thing, they ought to be on the hook to pay back some of it.”

Hawley also said America will eventually recover and return to the global community stronger than before — but reiterated that China must be held responsible.

He also slammed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., for inserting pages and pages of pork barrel spending into her caucus’ version of the coronavirus aid bill.

CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE

In the text of the House version, there are costly provisions for supporting the Kennedy Center in Washington, Gallaudet University, NASA, enforcing new Green New Deal-type standards on airlines receiving federal help, and the installation of diversity officers in the corporate structure.

“We have our economy at a point of crisis and we are in a public health crisis, we’ve got people who are losing their jobs, we’ve got people desperate for medical care. And … she’s trying to put in abortion funding into this bill, she’s trying to get funding for sanctuary cities, she’s trying to get amnesty,” Hawley fumed. “You’ve got to be kidding me — I’m not voting for any of that stuff. Let’s get this thing done.”

Sen. John Barrasso: Pelosi, Schumer ‘wasting time that we as a nation do not have’ 

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Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., told “Special Report” on Tuesday that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., are “wasting time that we as a nation do not have” as Congress continues to negotiate a coronavirus emergency relief bill.

“There is a desperate need and every day that it is delayed, those needs are not being met,” Barrasso said. “… We need to get this passed now and get rid of all these extraneous things, focus on the virus and focus on the needs of defeating the virus and the needs of the people who, through no fault of their own, are out of work as a result of what has happened in their lives by the government stepping in and saying, ‘Stay home.'”

SEN KRAMER: PELOSI STIMULUS bILL IS A ‘DISNEY WORLD WISHLIST’

“There is a desperate need and every day that it is delayed, those needs are not being met.”

— Sen. John Barrasso

Asked by host Bret Baier whether negotiations could end later Tuesday and a compromise bill immediately go up for a vote, Barrasso slammed Pelosi for her lack of urgency and House Democrats’ “liberal wish list” of issues that are unrelated to the coronavirus crisis.

“The American people need relief, and we want to get it to them tonight. Nancy says if we don’t do it today we could do it tomorrow. That sense of urgency is not felt by her in the way it is felt by the people at home who are watching and waiting for relief,” he said.

“I’m a doctor and have been talking to doctors and I know what they need,” Barrasso continued. “Immediate relief is needed by Americans who need the support that they are not getting in terms of their job, 150 million Americans, many not allowed to go to work. So we put together what was started as a bipartisan piece of legislation to address these needs.”

TRUMP BLASTS ‘NONSENSE’ IN COROANVIRUS BILL, CALLS ON CONGRESS TO APPROVE AID

“These are supposed to be targeted needs, temporary relief and answers for people,” Barrasso said, “but yet Nancy Pelosi showed up here on Sunday with a liberal wish list that has slowed down the entire process.”

Pelosi’s emergency relief bill addresses “wind turbines, solar panels, the Green New Deal for airplanes, election reform, planned parenthood and new powers for members of unions,” Barrasso complained.

“I have to tell the American people who are listening that Republicans are ready to act to provide relief in this rescue operation for our health care providers and they need it,” he reiterated.

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Shifting to President Trump’s announcement earlier Tuesday that he hopes the U.S. economy would be “opened up” by Easter, Barrasso said he “shares the president’s goals” but the situation must be further evaluated close to April 12, when Easter Sunday falls.

The senator also encouraged the public to obey the guidelines put forth by U.S. health officials, which include social distancing and careful handwashing.

“That’s an ambitious guideline… I share the president’s goals there,” he said. “You have to evaluate the situation on the ground rather than the calendar on the wall.”

“The best way to get there is by abiding by the things that they’ve recommended so far to slow and stop the spread of the disease. That’s the best way that we can get to that goal of Easter Sunday.”