LOS ANGELES, May 23 (Xinhua) -- In every meaningful way, those who have sought to downplay or dismiss the severity and threat of the COVID pandemic have achieved the rhetorical high ground, despite the fact that Americans are still mired in the same disease that first hit the country in February 2020, said a report of U.S. nonprofit news organization Truthout.

       "It has not gone away and returned; it never left, and swells every few months whenever we decide to let our guard down because capitalism must be fed," said the report.

       These priorities were mirrored in the U.S. Congress on Thursday, where the Senate failed to muster 60 votes for cloture on a 48 billion U.S. dollars bipartisan aid package aimed at helping restaurants, small business, gyms and music venues that are still struggling with the pandemic, said the report.

       This came on the heels of lightning-fast bipartisan approval for 40 billion U.S. dollars in military aid to Ukraine, said the report.

       "It's too bad we can't just bomb or shoot the virus; we always have enough money for war, and the 'right people' would get paid again," said the report.