Fund US$22.5 billion coronavirus aid, don’t cut budget, Biden aides tell Congress
- The calls came nearly two weeks after a new round of Covid-19 funding was pulled out of a US$1.5 trillion governmentwide measure after Democrats rejected cuts
- White House press secretary Jen Psaki expressed concern ‘that we are going to run out of money … to continue to battle’ the pandemic
Congress should provide the US$22.5 billion President Joe Biden wants for continuing the battle against Covid-19 without cutting other programmes to pay for it, senior administration officials said on Monday.
And if Republicans continue to insist that additional federal efforts to combat the pandemic must be paid for by culling spending elsewhere, the Republican Party should specify what it wants to cut, the officials said.
The remarks came nearly two weeks after a new round of Covid-19 funding was pulled out of a US$1.5 trillion governmentwide measure after rank-and-file Democrats rejected cuts that party leaders had negotiated with Republicans to pay for it. Though Biden signed the overall bill into law, the deletion of the Covid-19 funds was a major setback for Biden and Democrats.
“Our concern right now is that we are going to run out of money to provide the types of vaccines, boosters, treatments to the immunocompromised, and others free of charge that will help to continue to battle” the pandemic, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday.
Top House Democrats have said they believe they will have to find savings to pay for the additional spending to move legislation through Congress. The biggest hurdle would be in the Senate, where Democrats will need at least 10 Republican Party votes to reach the 60 votes needed to move most significant bills to passage.
The White House has said the government is running out of funds for vaccines, testing and treatments, even as Omicron variant BA. 2, which is fuelling a virus resurgence in Europe and Asia, is appearing increasingly in the US.
The senior administration officials said the government has bought the doses it would need to vaccinate children up to the age of five. But they said they only have enough vaccines to administer a fourth shot – which drug makers are recommending for many people – to those with compromised immune systems.
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