Foster: We're paying the price for scientific ignorance, Trump's incompetence

U.S. Rep. Bill Foster again decried the response of the Trump Administration in bungling the COVID-19 pandemic as the country's death toll reached 250,000 this week.

Foster, D-Naperville, has repeatedly criticized the response from President Donald Trump who has frequently downplayed the danger of the novel virus and flouted public health guidance.

"The devastating loss of life over the past eight months is heartbreaking and could have been largely avoided if President Trump had acted in the best interests of the American people and followed the advice of scientists and public health experts," Foster said in a statement.

The congressman added that instead of listening to experts, the president chose to "mislead" the country.

"We've paid a heavy price for the scientific ignorance, embrace of fringe conspiracies, and overall incompetence that has defined the President's response to this pandemic from the very beginning," Foster said in the statement.

He also attributed the potential of at least two highly effective vaccines coming on line later this year to decades of federally funded research and the work of scientists in the U.S. and around the world.

Foster added that until those vaccines are available for the public and the pandemic ends, "we must continue to do what we can to slow the spread of COVID-19 in our communities."

"There is a light at the end of the tunnel, but we should do all that we can to save as many lives as we can before we get there," the congressman said.