男友太凶猛1v1高h,大地资源在线资源免费观看 ,人妻少妇精品视频二区,极度sm残忍bdsm变态

Global EditionASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
World
Home / World / Americas

Axe falling on US virus-fighting funds

China Daily | Updated: 2022-03-11 09:29
Share
Share - WeChat
A man wearing a face mask walks past the US Capitol building in Washington, DC, the United States, Jan 24, 2021. [Photo/Xinhua]

WASHINGTON-This could be the end of the line for US congressional funding to fight COVID-19.

What started a month ago as a $30 billion request from the White House to prepare for the next phase of the pandemic has been progressively slashed on Capitol Hill.

The end result on Wednesday was a $15.6 billion package prepared by Democrats in the House of Representatives that has almost no chance of passing in the evenly divided Senate, where Republicans have indicated they are unwilling to provide more money without cuts elsewhere or a full accounting from President Joe Biden's administration of already approved virus funding.

That means it is highly likely that no new federal money will be readily approved to fight COVID-19 as the pandemic moves to what many officials are now calling the endemic stage.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the turn of events "heartbreaking".

The idea had been to add Biden's request for new virus aid to the massive $1.5 trillion spending bill, a must-pass measure needed by the end of the week to keep the federal government operating through the end of the fiscal year.

Biden's initial $30 billion request was reduced to $22 billion when the administration submitted it to Congress, as the White House warned the United States will soon begin to run out of money to bolster COVID-19 testing supplies and to guarantee that uninsured US citizens will continue to receive free treatment for the virus.

Dire situation

But as Democrats and Republicans negotiated on Capitol Hill, the final COVID-19 funding package was slashed further to $15.6 billion as part of the broader budget deal. Most of the money would have gone to increasing US supplies of vaccines, treatments and tests and battling the disease around the world.

A White House official said on Wednesday that without COVID-19 resources, the situation will be "dire" for people in the US. The official was granted anonymity to discuss the situation.

As part of the deal, Republicans insisted that the $15.6 billion COVID-19 aid package be fully paid for, offset by repurposing untapped virus aid that has been promised to the states. Dozens of Democrats counting on that money indicated their opposition to what was seen as an unfair swap.

Pelosi had no choice but to abandon the plan. Instead, the Democratic leader pushed forward a standalone COVID-19 bill that does not rely on the offsetting funds, a strategy that ensures more party support but is certain to lose Republican backing. A planned Wednesday vote was postponed until next week.

Pelosi's compromise backfired as rank-and-file Democrats revolted on Wednesday over the final product.

If approved, the package would face an uncertain outcome in the Senate, where Republicans have made it clear they are unlikely to back any new pandemic aid unless the previously approved funds are spent.

Agencies Via Xinhua

Most Viewed in 24 Hours
Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
主站蜘蛛池模板: 海城市| 哈巴河县| 福贡县| 雅安市| 中宁县| 铁岭县| 桃江县| 济宁市| 尚志市| 都江堰市| 清丰县| 屯昌县| 进贤县| 南陵县| 高陵县| 宽城| 博客| 望都县| 依安县| 河曲县| 调兵山市| 沧源| 彭阳县| 拉萨市| 东阿县| 淮北市| 昌吉市| 石渠县| 崇信县| 汉源县| 合肥市| 安远县| 启东市| 霍州市| 南丹县| 宁阳县| 武义县| 杭锦后旗| 永济市| 威信县| 化德县|