Bipartisan negotiators on Capitol Hill are closing in on a $7.5 billion emergency spending bill to fight the coronavirus, two people familiar with the negotiations said Monday.
The legislation is likely to be made public on Tuesday and pass the House later this week, before moving to the Senate. The people spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of its public release.
Negotiators worked through the weekend to try to finalize the spending bill, working with a sense of urgency as the deadly new virus spreads inside the U.S. and worldwide. On Monday, health officials in Washington State reported six deaths from the virus.
The figure being negotiated on Capitol Hill dwarfs the $1.25 billion request the White House sent Congress last week asking for new funds. The White House proposed redirecting an additional $1.25 billion from other programs and using it for the coronavirus response.
The new congressional spending bill will contain all new money, whereas the administration’s proposal was split between new money and spending taken from other accounts, including a fund to address Ebola.
Negotiators are basing the figure on needs assessments from federal agencies and health experts. The bulk of the package will consist of bulked up funding for the Department of Health and Human Services, which houses the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health.
Included will be money for vaccine development, procuring protective and medical equipment, and aid to state and local governments that have contended with the virus.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., both spoke on the Senate floor Monday calling for swift action on the package before lawmakers depart for a one-week recess the week of March 16.
“It will be important to past the first benchmark and supply these important funds within the next two weeks,” McConnell said.
Schumer criticized the Trump administration’s response to the virus, accusing the president of proposing insufficient resources and of downplaying the threat the new disease poses.
“Skimping doesn’t make any sense at all,” Schumer said.
(c) 2020, The Washington Post · Erica Werner
{Matzav.com}
The story is told on other sites that the planned legislature had a planned clawback clause for money not actual spent.
In any case, the panic induced by the Democrat/media frenzy has produced a self-fulfilling prophecy. Thanks to the panic, there are now shortages of medical supplies required by real medical professionals. Doctors on other sites have even told of seeing hospital visitors snatching and taking entire boxes of (for example) medical masks out of the hospital with them. And lest one think that at least such things as medical masks will aid the non-professional (and panicked) wearer, one should be told that it is just the opposite. It necessary to choose the correct mask for the correct job (not all masks are for the same thing). Aside from that, even the correct mask must be handled professionally in order to be effective. In fact, improper handling of the mask actually increases risk. It is true. These masks “trap” the virus, and unless the mask is placed on the face, taken off the face, and disposed of in a proper medical manner, these “trapped” virus in the mask actually spread the disease when the mask is not properly handled.