Tillis Continues To Deliver For North Carolina In Fight Against COVID-19
July 23rd, 2020
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Senator Tillis today released a new plan for continuing North Carolina’s physical and economic recovery in the wake of COVID-19. Here’s a round-up of his main accomplishments for the people of North Carolina.
Senator Tillis’ Response Highlights:
North Carolina Funding
- Tillis worked across the aisle to expand the Paycheck Protection portion of the CARES Act which has yielded more than $12.4 billion for nearly 122,000 North Carolina small businesses in need and helped save over one million jobs.
- Tillis secured more than $4 billion in direct funding to the state of N.C. through the CARES Act.
- The CARES Act also included over $1.3 billion to North Carolina health care providers, $378 million to North Carolina higher education institutions and students, over $430 million for North Carolina public schools, and $238 million for North Carolina airports.
- The Phase I relief package allocated an additional $13 million in North Carolina specific funding for medical supplies, research and development; and hospital and health system preparedness.
Leadership on Testing
- Tillis called for the Trump administration to ramp up testing in February.
- When North Carolina was experiencing testing shortages in early March, Tillis wrote to Vice President Pence urging the administration to send additional resources to increase testing capacity for COVID-19 in North Carolina.
- Tillis then worked to get the FDA to expedite the approval process of a new COVID-19 test from UNC Health, drastically increasing North Carolina’s testing capabilities.
- Through the CARES Act, Tillis helped secure an additional $12 million to expand testing at healthcare facilities all across the state.
Holding China Accountable
- Tillis has said China was not forthcoming about COVID-19 and it cost us valuable time.
- That is why he released an 18-point plan to hold China accountable by ending economic dependency on China, formally investigating Chinese communist leaders, sanctioning the Chinese government and expanding the United States military presence in Asia.
- Tillis also joined other lawmakers in introducing a bill that allows Americans who have been harmed by COVID-19 to sue the Chinese government for their role in spreading the virus.
Connecting With North Carolinians
- Tillis has held over 50 telephone town halls to keep the people of North Carolina informed of the federal response to COVID-19.
- Nearly 500,000 North Carolinians have participated in Tillis’ telephone town halls and he has answered over 600 constituent questions.
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