The House passed a roughly $8.3 billion emergency spending package for combating the coronavirus outbreak, sending the legislation to the Senate as lawmakers raced to respond to the quickly spreading outbreak.
The bill provides more than $3 billion for developing treatments for the virus and allocates $2.2 billion for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to contain the outbreak, among other measures.
The legislation, crafted by top Republicans and Democrats, caps less than two weeks of negotiations that began when the White House said it planned to spend roughly $2.5 billion on fighting the virus, an amount lawmakers said was too low.
In comments earlier Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said there was broad agreement that the potential treatments, tests or vaccines that come out of the new coronavirus funding must be affordable for all Americans.
The spread of the virus has increased the urgency for Congress and the White House to formulate a response, with Vice President Pence and health officials coming to Capitol Hill Tuesday and Wednesday to brief lawmakers on the administration's plans.
Some lawmakers said that Congress may take up additional coronavirus legislation geared at easing the financial burden for people who contract the virus.
"This is just a down payment. Think of it as just a down payment," said Rep. Donna Shalala, a former secretary of HHS. The leaders of the House and Senate met Wednesday to discuss contingency plans for Congress if there are coronavirus cases in the nation's capital, but didn't disclose any details.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/congress-reaches-8-billion-deal-to-combat-coronavirus-11583343193
The bill provides more than $3 billion for developing treatments for the virus and allocates $2.2 billion for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to contain the outbreak, among other measures.
The legislation, crafted by top Republicans and Democrats, caps less than two weeks of negotiations that began when the White House said it planned to spend roughly $2.5 billion on fighting the virus, an amount lawmakers said was too low.
In comments earlier Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said there was broad agreement that the potential treatments, tests or vaccines that come out of the new coronavirus funding must be affordable for all Americans.
The spread of the virus has increased the urgency for Congress and the White House to formulate a response, with Vice President Pence and health officials coming to Capitol Hill Tuesday and Wednesday to brief lawmakers on the administration's plans.
Some lawmakers said that Congress may take up additional coronavirus legislation geared at easing the financial burden for people who contract the virus.
"This is just a down payment. Think of it as just a down payment," said Rep. Donna Shalala, a former secretary of HHS. The leaders of the House and Senate met Wednesday to discuss contingency plans for Congress if there are coronavirus cases in the nation's capital, but didn't disclose any details.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/congress-reaches-8-billion-deal-to-combat-coronavirus-11583343193
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