After Congress allocated tens of billions of dollars to improve access, two senior Republican senators are pressing President Joe Biden’s government to provide COVID-19 testing.

in a letter On Monday, Senators Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Richard Burr (RN.C.) sent an inquiry to the Minister of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra about how the department allocates congressional authorization to respond after people spend their holidays The $83 billion of the pandemic is scrambling for hard-to-find tests. Blunt is a senior member of the Grants Subcommittee with HHS authority, and Burr is a senior member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

The senators wrote: “Today, our country is facing a shortage of testing, requiring long lines to obtain PCR testing, but Americans seeking rapid testing are empty.”

“We don’t know why we are now facing such a severe situation. It seems that this is not because of lack of funds, but a more fundamental lack of strategy and failure to predict the government’s future testing needs.”

HHS did not respond to a request for comment.

COVID-19 relief pack Congress passed $47 billion early last year to expand COVID-19 testing. Becerra told reporters last month that there was approximately $10 billion in funds remaining. Congress provided an additional $35 billion in 2020.

COVID-19 cases have increased by more than 200% in the past 14 days as the highly-spread omicron variant spreads across the United States and the Biden government faces criticism test It should be more widely available two years after the pandemic.

Administration Announce Last month, it will purchase 500 million quick tests, which Americans can order for free online.The government also stated that it plans to issue rules before January 15 to allow people to seek to reimburse Take a COVID-19 test from their private insurance company.