President Trump on Friday signed into law an $8.3 billion emergency funding package to combat the coronavirus outbreak — providing funds for state and local authorities to combat the spread of the illness, which has killed at least 14 people across 21 states in the US.
“So we’re signing the 8.3 billion. I asked for two and a half and I got 8.3 and I’ll take it,” Trump said at the Diplomatic Room in the White House, where he was accompanied by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar.
The package includes more than $3 billion for research and development of vaccines, test kits and medical treatments; $2.2 billion to help public-health activities on prevention, preparedness and response; and $1.25 billion to aid international efforts aimed at stemming the spread of the virus.
It also authorizes an additional $500 million in waivers for Medicare “telehealth” restrictions to allow sick people to get treatment without visiting physicians.
The amount in the bill substantially exceeds the $2.5 billion in emergency funding the White House earlier proposed.
Only three lawmakers voted against the bill: Reps. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) and Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)
Meanwhile, the president also said he may still visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta, where he had originally planned to sign the bill before the White House called it off, saying Trump did not want to interfere with the agency’s coronavirus efforts.
At the White House, Trump said his planned visit had been canceled because someone at the CDC was suspected of being infected.
“They’ve tested the person very fully and it was a negative test,” he said. “I may be going. They’re going to see if they can turn it around with Secret Service.”
In its earlier statement, a White House official said: “The President is no longer traveling to Atlanta today. The CDC has been proactive and prepared since the very beginning and the President does not want to interfere with the CDC’s mission to protect the health and welfare of their people and the agency.”
The White House announced the CDC visit in the wake of strong criticism over the agency’s slow diagnostic testing rollout and for defects in its test kits.
On Tuesday, Trump visited the National Institutes of Health Vaccine Research Center in Bethesda, Maryland, for a roundtable briefing about the efforts against the coronavirus.
The president plans to visit tornado-stricken areas of Nashville on Friday before heading to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, where he is expected to speak at a fundraiser.
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