乔·拜登总统在最近一次采访中的观点“疫情结束了”这使得参议院民主党人争取共和党人支持新冠肺炎救援资金的努力变得更加复杂，拜登政府已经要求共和党人提供援助。
周一，当被问及拜登在前一天播出的《60分钟》(60 Minutes)节目中的言论时，弗吉尼亚州民主党参议员蒂姆·凯恩说，“乔维德没有结束”。“我不知道他是什么意思——有些人使用‘疫情’或‘流行病’或其他短语。他说COVID还没有结束，疫情已经结束了。但在我看来，COVID还没有结束。”
参议院多数党党鞭迪克·德宾表示同意。
“变种仍然存在。我们都希望它已经结束，但没有人能够肯定地预测它已经结束。我不是，”德宾·维-伊尔。，周一告诉美国广播公司新闻。
当被问及总统两次坚决声明他认为疫情已经结束的事实时，德宾耸耸肩:“也许他知道一些我不知道的事情。”
“总统过去不仅要求疫情为新冠肺炎提供资金，还要求为接下来可能发生的事情做准备。我认为这样做总是显而易见和公平的，”德宾说。"也许这是他的做法，我得问问他。"
拜登周日告诉哥伦比亚广播公司(CBS)“60分钟”，疫情已经结束，并补充说，“我们仍然有一个与乔维德的问题。我们还在做大量的工作。但是疫情已经结束了。”
他的评论很快成为共和党人的口实，他们已经反对白宫寻求的用于测试和疫苗开发的额外220亿美元的COVID资金。
政府试图让国会议员批准更多资金的努力一再遭到共和党人的阻挠。目前，白宫希望将这220亿美元包括在一项必须通过的政府拨款法案中。
但至少需要10名共和党人支持这一举措。
Sen. Tim Kaine attends a hearing at the Capitol in Washington, April 26, 2022.
Pool/Getty Images，文件
共和党少数党党鞭约翰·图恩(John Thune)周一表示:“这显然让事情变得更加困难。”。
参议院健康委员会的最高共和党人、来自北卡罗来纳州的理查德·伯尔在周一给总统的信中写道，他“怀着极大的兴趣观看了”拜登的“60分钟”采访。
在信中，伯尔要求提供更多信息，说明拜登关于“疫情已经结束”的观点可能会影响政府的一些政策，包括其要求更多新冠肺炎资金。
伯尔在信中写道:“尽管美国人在很大程度上已经恢复了正常生活，你注意到底特律汽车展的与会者没有戴口罩时也承认了这一点，但你的政府继续要求国会提供不可抵消的紧急资金，执行疫苗授权，并维持耗费纳税人数十亿美元的联邦紧急声明。”
参议员比尔·卡西迪。称拜登要求追加资金是“疯狂的”，因为他现在已经表示疫情已经结束。
“总统说疫情已经结束了...有点难以置信，”卡西迪说，他以前是一名医生。“他想要几百亿给COVID，他说疫情已经结束了?”
当被问及拜登的评论是否意味着不需要进一步的资助时，卡西迪简短地说:“在我看来是这样，”他说。
但是一些民主党人为总统辩护。康涅狄格州民主党参议员克里斯·墨菲(Chris Murphy)周一表示，拜登的言论符合应对新冠肺炎不断变化的需求。
“他所说的反映了现实。墨菲说:“人们没有表现出我们正处于两年前的那种危机中。“如果拜登总统在那里暗示我们今天正在经历的事情与我们两年前正在经历的事情是一样的，那将与现实不符。”
COVID-19 'is not over': Democrats buck Biden in case for pandemic aid
President Joe Biden's contention in a recent interviewthat the "pandemic is over"is complicating Senate Democrats' efforts to secure needed Republican support for COVID-19 relief funding that had been requested by Biden's administration.
"COVID is not over," Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said Monday when asked about Biden's remarks, made during a "60 Minutes" appearance that aired the previous day. "I don't know what he meant -- some people use 'pandemic' or 'epidemic' or other phrases. And he said that COVID isn't over, the pandemic is over. But the way I look at it, COVID isn't over."
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin agreed.
"The variants are still out there. We are all hoping that it's over [but] nobody is going to predict with certainty that it is. I'm not," Durbin, D-Ill., told ABC News on Monday.
When pressed on the fact that the president twice resolutely stated that he believed the pandemic had ended, Durbin shrugged: "Maybe he knows something I don't."
"The president has asked in the past not just for pandemic funds for COVID-19 but to prepare for what might be next. And I think that's always obvious and fair to do that," Durbin said. "Maybe that's his approach to it, I'd have to ask him."
Biden on Sunday told CBS' "60 Minutes" that "the pandemic is over," adding that "we still have a problem with COVID. We're still doing a lot of work on it. But the pandemic is over."
His comments soon became fodder for Republicans who already opposed the additional $22 billion COVID funding for testing and vaccine development that the White House sought.
The administration's efforts to get lawmakers on Capitol Hill to approve more money have been repeatedly blocked by Republicans. Currently, the White House hopes to have the $22 billion included in a must-pass government funding bill.
But at least 10 Republicans would need to support that move.
"It makes it eminently harder for sure," Republican Minority Whip John Thune said Monday.
The top Republican on the Senate's health committee, North Carolina's Richard Burr, wrote in a Monday letter to the president that he "watched with great interest" Biden's "60 Minutes" interview.
In the letter, Burr asked for more information about how Biden's view that the "pandemic is over" might influence some of the administration's policies, including its request for more COVID-19 funding.
"Despite Americans having largely returned to normal life, which you acknowledged when you noted that attendees at the Detroit Auto Show were not wearing masks, your Administration continues to request un-offset emergency funding from Congress, enforce vaccine mandates, and maintain federal emergency declarations that cost taxpayers billions of dollars," Burr wrote in the letter.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., called Biden's request for additional money "crazy" since he has now said the pandemic is ended.
"The president saying the pandemic is over is ... just kind of mind-boggling," said Cassidy, who previously worked as a doctor. "He wants tens of billions for COVID and he says the pandemic is over?"
When asked if Biden's comments meant there was no need for further funding, Cassidy was brief: "Sounds like it to me," he said.
But some Democrats defended the president. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said Monday that Biden's comments were consistent with the changing needs of addressing COVID-19.
"What he's saying reflects reality. People are not acting like we are in the same kind of crisis we were two years ago," Murphy said. "It would not be consistent with reality if President Biden was out there suggesting what we're living through today is the same thing as what we're living through two years ago."
