The White House on Wednesday defended spending over $1 billion in taxpayer funds to purchase coronavirus tests made in China and sending them to the American people.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during the daily briefing that demand for tests was too great to prevent setting up government contracts with China to acquire tests.
“We also needed to meet a need that we had in this country for more tests and a shortage in tests, and the understandable demand from people across this country to get tests and make them free and accessible which required us purchasing some of those tests from China in order to meet that demand,” Psaki said.
China’s Andon Health Co., Ltd. signed a $1.28 billion contract with the United States Army Contracting Command to acquire over 250 million coronavirus self-test kits to send to Americans.
China’s state-run Global Times celebrated China’s contribution to the United States as a propaganda victory, as shares of Andon Health stocks spiked after Biden’s announcement.
Psaki said the Biden administration would continue to support American-made tests but that the volume was not enough.
Biden’s decision to purchase over a billion coronavirus tests to send to Americans drew criticism from some governors, who noted the federal government was making it more difficult for states to acquire their own testing.
The Biden administration’s decision to purchase tests from China also angered Republicans, including Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL).
“Senator Scott thinks it is unacceptable that the Biden administration would spend American taxpayer dollars on COVID tests from Communist China, which just goes directly to supporting General Secretary Xi and his genocidal regime, instead of supporting American manufacturers and jobs,” a statement from Scott’s office to Fox News read.
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