Biden to continue FEMA virus aid for states until April 1
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is extending the federal government’s 100% reimbursement of COVID-19 emergency response costs to states, tribes and territories through April 1, 2022, the White House announced Tuesday.
On a conference call Tuesday morning, White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients informed governors that Biden is approving the extension of Federal Emergency Management Agency support to help continue FEMA-backed efforts like vaccination clinics and public education campaigns surrounding the shots.
The extension also continues 100% federal reimbursement for National Guard personnel deployed to help combat the virus, including those tasked with assisting local hospitals treating coronavirus cases.
The extension into early 2022 is an indication that after premature declarations of victory over the pandemic in July, the Biden administration is preparing for continued COVID-19 disruptions well into next year.
A White House official detailed the announcement to The Associated Press on Tuesday in conjunction with the private call to governors.
“This is an extension of the order the president signed on his second day in office and will ensure you continue to have the resources you need to get shots in arms and fight the virus,” Zients told the governors, according to the official.
On his second day in office Biden signed an order directing FEMA to cover 100% of state emergency costs related to the virus through September 2021. In August, as the more transmissible delta variant of the virus caused a spike in cases, Biden extended the coverage through the end of the year.
Over the summer, governors complained that Biden waited until mid-August to approve the first extension. The White House hopes the seven-week notice that federal support will continue will provide states with more flexibility in using FEMA resources and the National Guard to support vaccinations, particularly now that more than 100 million Americans are eligible for booster doses and 28 million 5-11 year-olds are newly approved for shots.
Singapore will no longer cover the medical costs of COVID-19 patients who are eligible to get vaccinated against the virus but choose not to, the country’s Health Ministry says.
“We will begin charging COVID-19 patients who are unvaccinated by choice,” starting Dec. 8, the ministry said in a statement Monday. Those who are not eligible for the shots will be exempt from the rule, it said, including children younger than 12 and people with certain medical conditions.
The announcement came as the number of severe cases, which have been mainly among unvaccinated people, has stabilized but remains high, the ministry said. Of about 280 intensive-care beds for COVID patients, 134 are occupied, and most are among those not vaccinated, a senior minister of state, Janil Puthucheary, said at a news conference.
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said Tuesday that he would seek a fourth term instead of running for Senate, dealing a major blow to Republicans who had hoped he could defeat Democratic incumbent Maggie Hassan and help them retake the chamber in next year’s midterm elections.
Sununu, who won reelection last year by more than 30 percentage points, said he could have a bigger and more direct impact as governor than as a senator. In a nod to the slow speed of politics in Washington, he said he didn’t want to spend the next six years “sitting around having meeting after meeting, waiting for votes to maybe happen.”
Sununu’s decision to seek a fourth two-year term in New Hampshire has a ripple effect on the larger national Senate landscape, which has begun to settle a year before Election Day 2022.
Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar was facing criticism after he tweeted a video that included altered animation showing him striking Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with a sword.
In a tweet Monday night, Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., referred to Gosar as “a creepy member I work with” and said he “shared a fantasy video of him killing me.” She added that Gosar would face no consequences because Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy “cheers him on with excuses.” She also said that institutions “don’t protect” women of color.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tweeted Tuesday that: “Threats of violence against Members of Congress and the President of the United States must not be tolerated.” She called on McCarthy to condemn “this horrific video and call on the Ethics Committee and law enforcement to investigate.”
Spokespersons for McCarthy did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Pelosi’s tweet.
Poland reinforced its border with Belarus with more riot police on Tuesday, a day after groups of migrants tried to storm through a razor-wire fence on the eastern frontier where thousands have camped on the Belarusian side in the tense standoff.
The European Union accuses Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko of using the migrants as pawns in a “hybrid attack” against the bloc in retaliation for imposing sanctions on the authoritarian government for a brutal internal crackdown on dissent.
Polish authorities said all was calm overnight on the border but they were bracing for any possibility.
The Defense Ministry said a large group of Belarusian forces was moving toward the migrant encampments.
Polish Maj. Katarzyna Zdanowicz estimated 3,0004,000 migrants were along the border, including about 800 near the makeshift camps. Belarusian security services also were there to “control, steer and direct these people,” she added.
An American who faces criminal charges from the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol is seeking asylum in Belarus, the country’s state TV reported, in a move that could further heighten tensions between the turbulent former Soviet nation and the United States.
Evan Neumann of Mill Valley, California, acknowledged in an interview with the Belarus 1 channel that he was at the Capitol that day but rejected the charges, which include assaulting police, obstruction and other offenses. The channel aired excerpts of the interview on Sunday and Monday, and promised to release the full version on Wednesday.
“I don’t think I have committed some kind of a crime,” said Neumann, 48, according to a Belarus 1 voiceover of his interview remarks. “One of the charges was very offensive; it alleges that I hit a police officer. It doesn’t have any grounds to it.” Neumann spoke in English but was dubbed in Russian.