Rep. Davis calls for commission to analyze COVID-19 response

Illinois U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville, has joined a dozen colleagues in calling for the creation of a bipartisan commission to analyze the nation’s response to the new coronavirus pandemic and to make recommendations to prepare for a future pandemic.

The plan creates a 10-person commission to develop a “comprehensive national plan to respond to future global and national viral outbreaks and medical emergencies in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“While our focus now is on helping Americans through this pandemic, we are going to need to look at our response, without finger-pointing or politics, to see what we’ve learned from the first pandemic I’ve experienced in my lifetime,” Davis said in a statement.

The proposal is also sponsored by Rep. David Trone, D-Maryland, and 11 Republican House members.

The group is separate from the committee announced Thursday by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., that would have subpoena power to investigate the federal government’s handling of the trillions of dollars approved in COVID-19 stimulus packages. She told reporters she would be open to a commission investigating what happened at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

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