House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on Saturday that she hopes to bring an emergency funding supplemental package to the House floor next week.
In a letter to House members, Pelosi offered condolences to the man who has been confirmed as the first person to die from the novel coronavirus in the United States. She vowed a congressional response.
Sadly and prayerfully, today, we learned of the first death from the #coronavirus in the United States. The American people expect a well-coordinated, fully-funded response that appropriately addresses this public health crisis.
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) February 29, 2020
“An important step that Congress must take is to ensure the government has the resources needed to combat this deadly virus and keep Americans safe,” she said. “To that end, House appropriators are working to advance a strong emergency funding supplemental package that fully addresses the scale and seriousness of this public health crisis, which we hope to bring to the Floor next week.”
Pelosi indicated that the Houses funding proposal will seek “entirely new” funding—not funding reallocated from other accounts.
While the details are not yet clear, Pelosi has emphasized that congress needs to make sure that vaccines are affordable and available to all those in need, and that Small Business Administration (SBA) loans are readily available for small businesses impacted by the outbreak. She added that any bill should ensure that state and local governments are reimbursed for the costs they incur when assisting the federal response to the outbreak.
The White House sent a request for $2.5 billion emergency coronavirus supplemental funding to the Congress on Feb. 24. The Trump admin asked for about $1.25 billion in new funding, and for the remaining funds to be quickly reallocated from funds already budgeted by Congress, like yose for Ebola preparedness, The Epoch Times reported.
Pelosi made the statement after Washington state announced the countrys first fatality from the virus—a man in his late 50s with underlying health conditions.
Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), during a White House press conference on Saturday confirmed that the person had no history of travel to other affected countries and no known contacts with infected individuals.
The death came after patients in Washington, Oregon, and California tested positive for the new disease without a history of exposure to known sources of infection, officials in those states said.
“This is a case of community spread of the disease, much like the case from California earlier this week,” Pat Allen, director of the Oregon Health Authority, told reporters on Friday about the first case in Oregon.
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Dr. Anthony FauciRead More – Source
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The Epoch Times
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