WASHINGTON  – California lawmakers are leading the charge to investigate the Trump’s administration’s handling of the coronavirus. Senators Kamala Harris and Diane Feinstein vowed to introduce a bill to create a commission, much like the one created after 9/11.

It’s a companion bill introduced by CA Representative Adam Schiff. 

In the aftermath of 9/11, there was a bipartisan commission created to prepare a full account of the September 11 attack including the preparedness against the attack, or lack of, and how to prevent something similar from happening again. 

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The Burbank Democrat, Schiff, said the purpose of the commission is to break down intelligence and how health officials warned the administration about the deadly disease, and examine how the administration responded. 

He calls it, "real-time oversight” as the commission would not only look into the government’s past preparedness but also be able to provide a recommendation to respond and recover from future pandemics. 

Schiff said it’s clear a comprehensive review needs to happen for the coronavirus outbreak, but not as a political game to cast blame, but rather as a way to learn from mistakes and prevent tragic history from repeating itself. 

“The recommendations that came out of the 9/11 commission were enormously important and helpful for the country to avoid another terrorist attack like that one,” Schiff said. “We’re going to need the same kind of very objective analysis when this is over to determine how to protect the country from going through this again.”

 

 

The commission would be made up of nonpartisan officials from various but relevant backgrounds like scientists or intelligence officers.

“So it would be really a fact-based inquiry designed to make recommendations,” Schiff said. “We use the exact same appointment model as the 9/11 commission so the commissioners are chosen the same way and it’s the same balance in terms of people appointed by one party or the other. It’s really designed to take out the politics and put it firmly in the policy realm.”

Schiff’s bill though is already getting criticism from Republicans, like Rep. Doug Collins, R-GA, who say it’s too early to look at what went wrong and say it’s just another effort from Schiff to harm the president. 

There are several similar House bills circulating right now for this commission, including two introduced by Republicans.