Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo will testify before Congress on Sept. 10 about “potentially fatal” nursing home policies that he dictated in 2020 before thousands of seniors died of COVID-19 in facilities across the state, House Republicans said Tuesday.

Rep. Brad Wenstrup, Ohio Republican, said Mr. Cuomo would appear before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic to detail his decisions.

Mr. Cuomo rose to fame with daily coronavirus briefings but faced scrutiny over his nursing home policies and discrepancies in the official count of nursing home deaths during the height of the crisis. Previously, he gave a closed-door interview with lawmakers.

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“During closed-door testimony, Mr. Cuomo was shockingly callous when pressed to explain discrepancies in nursing home death counts, repeatedly deflected responsibility for the nursing home directive and, most egregiously, showed little remorse for the thousands of lives lost,” Mr. Wenstrup said. “A true leader owns up to his mistakes and takes responsibility for wrongdoing.”

Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat who led New York for a decade, resigned as governor in 2021 because of sexual harassment allegations, and questions about his COVID-19 decision followed him.

Mr. Cuomo faced widespread denunciation over a directive that said nursing homes should accept residents who had or were suspected of having COVID-19, so long as they were medically stable. The region was clamoring for hospital space at the time.

“No resident shall be denied readmission or admission to the NH [nursing home] solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19,” said the March 25, 2010, order. “NHs are prohibited from requiring a hospitalized resident who is determined medically stable to be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission.”

Many facilities took it as a mandate and weren’t prepared, even as the virus tore through nursing homes, prompting withering criticism of the governor and an inquiry by the Trump Justice Department.

Mr. Cuomo changed his March order two months later, prohibiting hospitals from discharging patients to nursing homes unless they tested negative for COVID-19.

New York Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli released an audit in 2022 that found the state of New York undercounted the number of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes by more than 4,000, largely because it didn’t count deaths that occurred off facility grounds.

The Cuomo administration defended its counting of nursing home deaths, saying its tabulation didn’t change overall deaths because those who died outside the facility weren’t counted as nursing home deaths.

Critics said it was odd not to count them simply because they died at a hospital since their infections were likely due to the spread of the virus within the nursing facilities.

The House created a subcommittee on the pandemic in 2020 to oversee the government’s response and economic stimulus efforts. Its mandate changed when Republicans retook the chamber in 2023, pivoting its focus to missteps by Democratic governors, the origins of the virus and vaccine mandates.

While many Americans have moved on from the COVID-19 crisis, the committee says Mr. Cuomo deserves an explanation to thousands of New Yorkers who lost relatives during the crisis.

“We hope that during his public hearing next week, Mr. Cuomo will stop dodging accountability and honestly answer the American people,” Mr. Wenstrup said.

Mr. Cuomo, 66, is the son of former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo.

He’s fallen out of the spotlight since giving way to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, though he’s made some public appearances and opined on public issues, fueling speculation he would try to make a political comeback.

Mr. Cuomo, in a statement, said his state and others followed federal guidance and New York ultimately had a lower rate of deaths per population than many states.

“New York has been a prime political target, but despite this master class in gaslighting, the facts speak for themselves,” he said. “Remember, New York was hit first and worst by COVID, and the other states had months to prepare and learn from our state’s experience.”

Mr. Cuomo said Republicans on the committee “refuse to look in the mirror at their own anti-science policies that caused hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths or call the one witness who is most relevant and was supposed to lead the entire effort: Donald Trump.”

For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.