US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has announced the formation of a bipartisan House Select Committee to deal with the ongoing coronavirus crisis in the United States, Reuters reports.
Pelosi said that the Committee's purpose will include the prevention of waste, fraud and abuse in spending coronavirus relief funds. The speaker was quoted as saying that US legislators have to make sure that the money "gets to working families who need it most". She stressed the need for transparency and accountability in spending the $2 trln in relief funds passed by Congress.
Touching upon the latest record-breaking unemployment filings data, Pelosi said that Congress should approve more money to address the growing problem.
US Fight Againt COVID-19
Last week, US President Donald Trump signed a $2-trillion stimulus package passed by US lawmakers to provide relief from the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, but said he anticipated more funds would be needed.
The United States has 216,768 confirmed COVID-19 cases reported so far, according to Johns Hopkins University.
In addition, the Labour Department reported on Thursday that a record 6.6 million Americans filed unemployment claims last week, doubling the previous week’s all-time high.
