Trump administration asks for emergency funding to respond to coronavirus

Trump administration asks for emergency funding to respond to coronavirus

Trump administration asks for emergency funding to respond to coronavirus

By the Associated Press:

President Donald Trump is invoking his emergency authority to marshal industry to fight the coronavirus,  a move that could ease shortages of face masks, ventilators and other supplies.

The economic fallout from the crisis, meanwhile, is mounting, with word that Detroit’s Big Three automakers are shutting down their factories across North America.

On Wall Street, stocks slumped again. The Dow lost more than 1,300 points, or more than 6 percent. Nearly all of the big gains on Wall Street since Trump’s inauguration have now been wiped out.

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The White House has sent Congress an emergency $46 billion spending request for coronavirus-related funding this year. That’s separate from President Donald Trump’s proposed economic package to rescue the economy from the effects of the virus, a package that could hit $1 trillion.

The emergency spending request, which the administration sent Congress overnight Wednesday, is to fund production of vaccines and medicines, build quarantine centers at the southern border for migrants and reimburse Amtrak for $500 million in anticipated revenue losses. It also reverses cuts to the Centers for Disease Control and National Institutes of Health that Trump proposed in his February budget for next year.


Some lawmakers want Congress to allow remote voting in the House and the Senate as the coronavirus spreads around the country. But congressional leaders are resisting the idea.

The dispute pits the scourge of the infection against two centuries of tradition. It underscores Washington’s struggle to adapt to recommendations about how to handle the pandemic. Advocates of the voting change cite the health perils of traveling to the U.S. Capitol – especially by air – when health experts want people to avoid crowds.

Congresswoman Katie Porter says “we cannot stand on tradition” if it puts lives at risk. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell oppose the change.

 

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