New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) is under fire, even from some Democrats, for more damning evidence of his negligence on the state’s COVID response. A new bombshell report published by the New York Post shows that Cuomo’s top aide apologized privately to fellow Democrats for the scandal involving COVID-relataed nursing home deaths in New York. It turns out that the governor’s office purposely kept data quiet in order to avoid scrutiny from the federal government for unreported deaths.
Republican lawmakers have pushed for independent investigations into states with harmful nursing home policies on account of coronavirus; multiple governors, predominantly Cuomo, forced COVID-positive patients into nursing homes, causing an influx of preventable deaths. During last week’s budget resolution debate, a few Republican Senators offered an amendment that would have reduced funding for states that have botched nursing home COVID policies, including if an investigation is underway. The measure was introduced by Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) who said that politicians who “neglect their responsibility to protect our elderly populations” during the pandemic must be held to account.
Senate Democrats, including vulnerable incumbents up for reelection in 2022, would not agree to the “common-sense” amendment, as the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) reminded on Friday.
“Cuomo and his administration care more about selling books and winning awards than the concerns of grieving New York families. As more information comes out detailing Cuomo’s nursing home coverup, Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats’ vote last week against holding Cuomo accountable looks even worse,” NRSC spokeswoman Lizzie Litzow said. “Schumer has done everything in his power to block accountability for his political crony and forced vulnerable Senate Democrats like Raphael Warnock, Mark Kelly, Catherine Cortez Masto, Michael Bennet and Maggie Hassan to be complicit in the coverup.”
Cuomo is receiving bipartisan criticism, and some lawmakers are calling on President Biden to launch an independent investigation into the governor’s coverup.