U.S. House passes emergency spending bill to combat virus
A multibillion-dollar spending package to combat the growing threat of COVID-19 passed the U.S. House overwhelmingly Wednesday as local lawmakers from both parties urged swift action to contain the virus and mitigate its effects.
The appropriations bill, allocating about $8.3 billion toward fighting the novel coronavirus, garnered near-unanimous bipartisan support in the House, setting up a likely vote in the Senate on Thursday.
U.S. Sens. Bob Casey and Pat Toomey applauded the passing of the legislation and indicated they’d support the measure in the Senate, deeming it essential to responding to the virus.
The package includes more than $2.2 billion for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s support of federal, state and local public health agencies;, $3 billion for research and development on vaccines and other treatments; $1 billion in loan subsidies for small businesses; and nearly $1 billion for medical supplies, community health centers and health care preparedness, according to The Washington Post.
Mr. Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican, said the funding, if signed into law, would “provide states, local governments, and health care professionals the resources needed to respond to the virus.
Mr. Casey, a Democrat, said it will help Pennsylvania and other states respond to the crisis “swiftly and effectively.”
Earlier in the day, Mr. Casey warned the federal government was not yet taking the necessary actions to address the virus, and said that although public health experts continue to assure the general public that the risk of contracting the novel coronavirus remains low, the federal government is in the early stages of fighting its spread and must remain “vigilant.”
“We’re not there yet,” Mr. Casey said on a conference call with reporters, joined by two prominent health care officials. “The federal government is not taking the actions that are needed right now.”
Mr. Casey had hoped that a bill could pass both chambers by the end of next week, and touted a proposal by Senate Democrats calling for $8.5 billion in funding —close to the number of the eventual bipartisan agreement.
For now, President Donald Trump must do a “better job” of conveying accurate information to the public, Mr. Casey said — noting that he doesn’t believe the administration was adequately prepared to combat the virus.
Mr. Casey said he’s concerned about the availability of test kits, and hopes there will be enough available by the end of this week. Only then can the federal government begin to understand how many people are infected.
“We don’t know that yet,” Mr. Casey said. “We have numbers that don’t reflect the reality of those affected.”
Patrick J. Brennan, chief medical officer and senior vice president of the University of Pennsylvania Health System, said there have been more than 20 individuals who have come through his system’s hospitals — “for whom there was a sufficient degree of suspicion” that they could have had the virus — and were isolated.
Upon evaluation, none of those individuals went on to the official coronavirus testing stage, Dr. Brennan said.
There are currently no confirmed cases of the virus in Pennsylvania, officials said, though Mark Ross of the The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania said a “number of individuals” have been tested and “a number of tests” are awaiting return.