A House select subcommittee is scheduled to conduct a transcribed interview with former New York Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday to ask about the state's high number of nursing home deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic subpoenaed Cuomo in March.
"Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo implemented nursing home policies that had deadly consequences for New York's most vulnerable population," Chair Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, said in a statement. "Not only did the former Governor put the elderly in harm's way, but he also attempted to cover-up his failures by hiding the true nursing home death rate. It appears that politics, not medicine, was responsible for these decisions."
In the midst of the country's COVID plight, Cuomo issued an executive order requiring nursing homes to take back patients who had been hospitalized for COVID-19 and were recovering. More than 15,800 New York nursing home residents died during the pandemic.
"Former Governor Cuomo owes answers to the 15,000 families who lost loved ones in New York nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic," Wenstrup said. "His testimony is crucial to uncover the circumstances that led to his misguided policies and for ensuring that fatal mistakes never happen again.
"It is well past time for Cuomo to stop dodging accountability to Congress and start answering honestly to the American people."
Cuomo has argued that his executive order followed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services guidance at the time, the Washington Examiner reported.
Cuomo resigned from office in August 2021 after he was accused of sexually harassing female employees. Evidence obtained during his impeachment inquiry found that the number of nursing home deaths from the New York State Department of Health report had been edited by the governor's office.
Wenstrup's committee already has conducted transcribed interviews with Cuomo administration members including Dr. Howard Zucker, former commissioner of the New York State Department of Health.
The committee said it was forced to subpoena Cuomo after the former governor spent nine months not responding to requests, ignoring attempts to negotiate interview dates and times, and providing unreasonable availability.