House passes $8.3 billion emergency coronavirus spending plan
Published Wed, Mar 4 20204:51 PM EST
Kevin Breuninger
Key Points
- The House passed a bill Wednesday allocating more than $8 billion in emergency funds to combat the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
- The funding package, which provides more than $3 billion in vaccine research and $2.2 billion in prevention and preparedness efforts, was unveiled hours earlier following days of negotiations on Capitol Hill.
- The proposal provides a total of $8.3 billion to combat the coronavirus outbreak. That is much more than President Donald Trump’s administration originally proposed.
Medics transport a person on a stretcher into an ambulance at the Life Care Center of Kirkland, a long-term care facility linked to several confirmed coronavirus cases, in Kirkland, Washington, March 3, 2020.
David Ryder | Reuters
The House passed a sweeping bill Wednesday allocating more than $8 billion in emergency funds to combat the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
The vote was 415-2.
The funding package, which provides more than $3 billion in vaccine research and $2.2 billion in prevention and preparedness efforts,
was unveiled hours earlier following days of negotiations on Capitol Hill.
The emergency coronavirus bill will head to the Senate, where leaders there hope they can quickly bring it to a vote. If the bill passes that chamber, it will move to the Oval Office desk of President Donald Trump, who is expected to sign it.
The $8.3 billion congressional spending proposal is more than three times
the $2.5 billion the White House proposed last week devoting to the coronavirus effort.
Senate Appropriations Committee Leader Richard Shelby, R-Ala., revealed the plan as the death toll
from the outbreak in the U.S. rose to 11 people. California on Wednesday reported the first death in that state from the virus. The other 10 deaths occurred in Washington state.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
reported that at least 138 cases of coronavirus had been identified in the U.S.
The fast-spreading disease, which is believed to have originated in Wuhan in China’s Hubei province, has killed more than 3,100 people and infected tens of thousands more around the world, prompting fears that a pandemic is imminent.
cnbc.com/2020/03/04/house-passes-8point3-billion-emergency-coronavirus-spending-plan.html
Coronavirus Deaths Reported In California, Washington State; LA Declares Emergency
March 4, 202012:26 PM ET
Bill Chappell
Fears of the virus have prompted shoppers to stock up on sanitizing options, leaving shelves of disinfectant wipes nearly empty at a Target store in Novato, Calif.
Updated at 4:20 p.m. ET
The U.S. death toll from COVID-19 has risen to 11 people, after officials reported fatalities in California and Washington state on Wednesday. The most recent death is connected to a cruise ship that traveled from the U.S. to Mexico.
Officials in Placer County, Calif., announced that an elderly resident has become the first person to die from the illness in California. The patient, who was not identified, had underlying health conditions, according to the county.
The patient tested positive for the coronavirus illness on Tuesday and "was likely exposed during international travel from Feb. 11-21 on a Princess cruise ship that departed from San Francisco to Mexico,"
according to a statement published on Placer County's website.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health...ergency-and-u-s-reports-80-cases-in-13-states
Some conflicting Reports:
Trump: Administration 'very strongly' considering closing southern border
Trump: U.S. Won’t Close Border With Mexico as Coronavirus Spreads
The president gave his assessment during a roundtable event at the National Institutes of Health on Tuesday.
By Paul D. Shinkman, Senior Writer, National Security
March 3, 2020, at 3:58 p.m.
President Donald Trump speaks during a briefing on the coronavirus at the National Institutes of Health Vaccine Research Center, March 3, 2020, in Bethesda, Md.(Evan Vucci/AP)
President Donald Trump on Tuesday said his administration likely would not try to close the southern U.S. border in a bid to contain the spread of the coronavirus, days after indicating that could be a possibility.
"
We're not looking at that very strongly," Trump told reporters during a roundtable event at the National Institutes of Health Vaccine Research Center regarding the spread of the virus, which causes a disease known as COVID-19. "We haven't seen any great evidence of that area as a problem."
[ READ:
9 Dead in Washington from Coronavirus ]
The possibility that the U.S. would shutter its border with Mexico – halting transit that accounts for hundreds of billions of dollars worth of trade and hundreds of millions of legal crossings every year – followed reports over the weekend that the Trump administration would impose travel restrictions on Italy and South Korea. Those two countries currently have the greatest number of confirmed cases of coronavirus outside of China, where health officials believe the epidemic originated.
usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2020-03-03/trump-us-wont-close-border-with-mexico-as-coronavirus-spreads
Related
Why pandemics activate xenophobia
The coronavirus is much more than a public health problem.
By Sean Illing Mar 4, 2020, 8:50am EST
Shanghai Ballet dancers take safety precautions while in a training session at a dance studio amid the coronavirus outbreak in Shanghai, China, on March 2, 2020. vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/3/4/21157825/coronavirus-pandemic-xenophobia-racism
Quarantine Mike Pence
Begala: Trump will 'dump Pence' for Haley
Longtime CNN political analyst Paul Begala predicted on Monday that President Trump is "gonna dump [Vice President] Mike Pence in favor of former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley" on July 16 when the Democratic nominee is slated to give his or her acceptance speech.
The former "Crossfire" co-host "guaranteed" Trump will throw Pence "under the bus" because of his handling of the coronavirus, which the president tapped Pence to lead a task force on last week.
“This is not a prediction. It’s a certainty.
So yea, fk me, Im going to hell, I already know that, I'm not losing sleep.
