by Jennifer Scholtes & Caitlin Emma
The Senate rapidly cleared an $8.3 billion emergency funding bill Thursday to aid the fight against the coronavirus, as U.S. deaths from the illness reached double digits and more than 160 people tested positive across more than a dozen states.
President Donald Trump is expected to soon sign the measure, which moved through Congress with stunning speed, just over 24 hours after text was released Wednesday afternoon. Cross-party cooperation enabled that legislative hustle, resulting in a 415-2 passage vote Wednesday in the House and a 96-1 vote in the Senate. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) cast the single dissenting vote.
"This is an awfully robust start," said Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), top Republican on the House panel that funds the Department of Health and Human Services. "I'm pretty pleased that this has been accomplished in a bipartisan way in the middle of an election year, with very intense polarization. So we can still get some things done around here in the interest of the American people."
The debate over a national response continues to be tinged, however, with partisanship and criticism of the Trump administration's handling of the crisis as federal departments prepare to put the newfound billions to use in combating the outbreak.
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the top Democrat on the Senate’s spending panel, said Thursday that lawmakers from both parties have been “very clear” that Congress is “going to watch where the money goes.”
HHS will face the grandest task: Spending a total of $6.5 billion, including meting out $1 billion to states, cities and tribes over the next 30 days for local responses to the virus, with each state getting at least $4 million in assistance. Congress has also ordered the department to use $3.1 billion of its quota on medical supplies, vaccine-making and ensuring U.S. health systems are up to the task of battling the deadly bug.
While the money will first flow to federal agencies, the cash — and much of the onus to tackle the epidemic — will soon be with state and local officials, said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of one of the Senate’s spending subcommittees.
"We have our oversight responsibilities, but we have to rely on our governors and state and local public health systems," Alexander told reporters Thursday. "So we have to have confidence in them, because they’re closer to the problem.”
Under the bill, almost $1.3 billion will also go to the State Department for efforts like evacuating diplomats and boosting global health programs.
The Small Business Administration will get an infusion, too, with an extra $20 million for increasing the number of loans that go out to businesses affected by the spread of the coronavirus.
Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said congressional spending leaders circled back privately with federal agencies this week, asking, "What do you really need? Not politically."
While the chairman predicted the $8.3 billion is likely to be enough to handle the response to the coronavirus, he said lawmakers from both parties will be ready to pass a follow-on bill if the funding starts to seem insufficient.
“We think this is a good bit of money. But if they need money, we’ll provide it," Shelby said. "Money should be no problem — no object when it comes to the health of the American people, especially to prevent something this contagious.”
Conversely, if the money turns out to be far more than is needed to fight the virus, the bill's authors say it can't be squandered since the legislation includes a narrow definition of the coronavirus and requires officials to report back to Congress on how they are using the cash.
"So it can’t just be used to pad coffers, should this not turn out to be what we thought it was going to be," a top Republican Senate aide told reporters.
Under the bill, the Trump administration would have to replace the $136 million it has transferred from accounts intended for performing health research, helping people with substance abuse and subsidizing energy bills for households that can’t afford to cover utility costs. The administration would also be barred from using the new money for anything besides combating the coronavirus or other infectious diseases.
Leahy noted that Congress has "written in some very tough fences" on the funding. "None of this is going to go to a border wall," he quipped to reporters.
Far surpassing the $1.25 billion Trump requested last week in new funding for combating the outbreak, the bill follows criticism from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who raised concerns that the president lowballed the funding necessary to fight the virus and that his administration has failed to keep the public informed about how to handle the outbreak.
House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said this week that the president has “downplayed” the threat, “overstated” how close scientists are to developing a vaccine and “muzzled” administration experts who disagree with him about the path for fighting the virus.
“Even for a president who has a casual relationship with the truth,” Thompson said, it is “outrageous” and “dangerous” for Trump to have claimed over the weekend that Democrats are politicizing the crisis.
Congressional Democrats began imploring Trump more than four weeks ago to make an emergency funding request for battling the virus that has killed more than 3,000 people around the world, rather than continuing to shift millions of dollars out of other health programs.
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