email article Members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee played the blame game for false steps during the pandemic. At a hearing on Tuesday, HELP committee chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said the nation was ill-equipped to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic because of a weak and underfunded public health infrastructure. She called for an end to the pattern of "crisis and complacency" in public health funding. But ranking member Richard Burr (R-N.C.) called out the CDC for the country's pandemic response missteps. Beyond the finger-pointing, the HELP committee heard about caregiver support, next-generation face masks, and interoperability.