Katko urges president to find bipartisan pathway to end pandemic

U.S. Rep. John Katko (R-NY) called on President Joe Biden to re-engage congressional leadership on both sides of the aisle and determine a bipartisan pathway to end the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and prepare for future public health emergencies. 

“This strategy should include substantive legislation like the COVID-19 and Pandemic Response Centers of Excellence Act, emphasizing the role of innovative technologies in putting our nation on a sustainable road to recovery,” Rep. Katko wrote in a Jan. 12 letter sent to the president.

Rep. Katko in June 2021 cosponsored the bipartisan COVID-19 and Pandemic Response Centers of Excellence Act, H.R. 4292, alongside bill sponsor U.S. Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY). The bill would establish and fund the COVID-19 and Pandemic Response Centers of Excellence Program Fund to set up at least 10 centers of excellence at academic medical centers that would address issues associated with COVID-19 and future pandemic preparedness and response efforts. The bill has stalled in the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee.

In his letter, Rep. Katko urged Biden to utilize the research and technology developed by academic medical centers in central New York, like the State University of New York (SUNY) Upstate Medical University, to guide the nation’s public health response and improve testing. He highlighted the university’s efforts to develop cutting-edge COVID-19 antibody testing and asked the president to integrate this technology into the administration’s national testing strategy.

“Throughout this crisis, our academic medical centers and universities have gone above and beyond in their research capabilities, creating new tests and vaccines at a historic rate, while also actively caring for patients with COVID-19,” wrote Rep. Katko, noting that SUNY Upstate researchers have developed the best COVID-19 antibody test that uses saliva instead of a blood draw. 

“This test is incredibly sensitive and can detect even trace amounts of COVID-19 antibodies, enabling the creation of a curve estimating a patient’s COVID-19 antibody levels over time following vaccination or infection,” according to his letter. 

Rep. Katko also stressed the importance of enacting bipartisan policies like H.R. 4292 to ensure medical centers like SUNY Upstate can continue their COVID-19 research and produce additional medical breakthroughs.

“In central New York, medical centers like SUNY Upstate Medical University have been on the forefront of our COVID-19 response. SUNY Upstate has lent its expertise to guide our public health response and pioneered the best COVID-19 antibody test,” Rep. Katko said in a Jan. 19 statement. “As new COVID-19 variants emerge and cases rise, I urged President Biden to look to local medical centers like SUNY Upstate for guidance and technology that can improve our nation’s public health response and testing strategy.”

And while important steps have been taken to combat COVID-19, Rep. Katko wrote that “it is time to return to the table on bipartisan policies that will ultimately help our nation overcome this virus.”