Lawmakers reach $8 billion dollar deal to fight coronavirus as outbreak hits US

Reuters

• Bipartisan lawmakers reached a roughly $8 billion emergency funding deal to address the coronavirus on Wednesday.
• The House is scheduled to vote on the bill around 4 p.m.
• The Senate is expected to take it up shortly after, underscoring a sense of urgency in Washington as policymakers scramble to respond to the respiratory illness COVID-19.
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Bipartisan lawmakers reached a roughly $8 billion emergency funding deal to address the coronavirus on Wednesday, the latest step in a race to contain the outbreak that has killed nearly a dozen in the US. 

The House is scheduled to vote on the bill around 4 p.m. The Senate is expected to take it up shortly after, underscoring a sense of urgency in Washington as policymakers scramble to respond to the respiratory illness COVID-19. The Centers for Disease Control warned last week the outbreak would almost certainly spread throughout communities in the US.

“Americans urgently need a coordinated, fully-funded, whole-of-government response to keep us safe from the widening coronavirus epidemic,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said. 

Early Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he hoped the funding would take effect this week. 

The deal came after several days of negotiations and partisan spats over vaccine pricing, telehealth provisions and other issues. It included more than $3 billion for the research and development of vaccines and diagnostics, roughly $2.2 billion to fund public health programs, and $1 billion for medical supplies and other preparedness measures.

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The bill included low-interest Small Business Administration loans for companies who have struggled in the face of the coronavirus, according to House Democrats. The State Department would also receive $1.25 billion toward efforts to contain the outbreak abroad. 

“This should not be about politics; this is about doing our job to protect the American people from a potential pandemic,” said Senator Richard Shelby, the chairman of the Appropriations Committee. “We worked together to craft an aggressive and comprehensive response that provides the resources the experts say they need to combat this crisis.”

The so-called supplemental was more than triple the size of the one requested by the White House last week, which sparked criticism from both Democrats and Republicans. President Donald Trump quickly signaled he would accept far more than the $2.5 billion package his administration requested, which would have diverted about $1.25 billion from other federal programs.