WASHINGTON – Congressional negotiators Monday are slated to announce a deal for $10 billion in additional funding for the U.S. covid response, but were unable to agree on global aid and have dropped it from the agreement, according to two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the deal.
The package would enable U.S. officials to purchase more therapeutics, tests, vaccines and other supplies, after the White House repeatedly warned that it urgently needs funding to keep an adequate supply of treatments and vaccines, and to continue fighting the virus.
Senate negotiators, including Republican Sens. Mitt Romney of Utah, Roy Blunt of Missouri and Richard Burr of North Carolina, were seeking a compromise with Democrats, after lawmakers could not agree on a $15 billion package that would have included about $10 billion in domestic funding and $5 billion for the international response. The deal set to be announced Monday is expected to repurpose funding from previous stimulus packages, lawmakers said last week.
However, the agreement includes no money for the global response, which Biden officials have said is critical to protect Americans from the emergence of new, potentially dangerous variants in other parts of the world that would likely make their way to the United States. The administration had previously announced a plan overseen by the U.S. Agency for International Development to help boost administration of vaccines in developing nations, although USAID officials have said that they will be forced to pause the initiative without additional funding.
Sen. Christopher Coons, D-Del., had pushed the negotiators to fund the global response, and an earlier “agreement in principle” touted by Romney last Thursday would have included about $1 billion in global aid. But lawmakers were unable to agree on how to pay for that aid, said the people familiar with the deal. Democrats said they will seek to fund the administration’s international response through a separate legislative package later this year
Some House members warned last week that they would not support a package that failed to include funding for the global response.
“I don’t understand why we as a country would make this mistake. My constituents do not want another variant to shut down their lives,” Rep. Tom Malinowski, D-N.J., said in an interview Thursday. “My constituents are already suffering higher prices because of covid-related economic disruptions, half a world away, in countries that are not adequately vaccinated.”
Lawmakers have been racing to reach a deal to pay for continuing the pandemic response before leaving for a two-week recess on April 9, with lawmakers warning that failing to secure an agreement now could stall the U.S. response into May.
(c) 2022, The Washington Post · Dan Diamond, Rachel Roubein
