Congressional efforts to fund state and local distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine continued to remain in balance Monday, even while the first doses of Pfizer’s pioneering inoculation were being administered.
Lawmakers have not yet accepted a funding package to help health departments with the unprecedented vaccination campaign, despite the bipartisan deal that needs billions of dollars.
Negotiations on funding have been linked to stalled talks on possible bills that would provide economic relief to millions of Americans who have suffered as a result of the coronavirus-related financial crisis.
These talks, which seemed to be advancing in recent weeks, have taken on a new urgency as the Christmas holidays approach and the reality of viable vaccines against Covid-19 begins.
But it was still unclear, earlier in the week, whether Congress would make substantial progress toward approving its first major Covid-19 relief package since the $ 2.2 trillion CARES bill was passed in the United States. March.
The latest plan, which is part of a $ 908 billion bailout bill tabled by a list of bipartisan lawmakers, would allocate $ 6 billion to distribution. Lawmakers were expected to publish the text of the legislation on Monday.
The $ 6 billion price tag is in line with the Trump administration’s requests, though it is much lower than what groups representing health departments say is needed.
For months, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials and the Association of Immunization Managers have been demanding that Congress allocate at least $ 8.4 billion.
“These funds are urgently needed to expand and strengthen federal, state, local, territorial and tribal capacity for a timely, comprehensive and equitable vaccine distribution campaign,” the groups wrote in October.
The groups said the $ 200 million already provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was a “down payment.”
CDC Director Robert Redfield told the Senate in September it would take “between $ 5.5 and $ 5. [billion] to $ 6 billion ”to distribute a Covid-19 vaccine and said the matter was“ urgent ”.
The Department of Health and Human Services, which hosts CDC, did not send any requests for comment on the state of Congress negotiations.
To date, the nature of the most recent proposal to fund state and local distribution of vaccines has only been published in summary format.
According to the summaries of the legislation, the $ 908 billion package would include $ 3.422 billion for direct grants to states and localities, $ 2.58 million to fund the “distribution and infrastructure of vaccines” of the CDC, and $ 129 million for to tribes and tribal organizations.
AIM Executive Director Claire Hannan said her group was still learning the details of the $ 6 billion proposal, but promised that lawmakers would separate the funds for the vaccine distribution from the funds for the tracking and testing contacts.
But, he warned, allocating less funding than required “severely disabled programs do not enroll more providers and increase vaccination efforts.”
“Summary: If Congress does not reach an agreement, we fear that these programs will not be able to expand their capacity to enroll more providers, which means there would be fewer places and opportunities to get vaccinated and a longer time frame to get out of this pandemic, ”he said.
The bipartisan plan currently under discussion was drafted by a group of moderate senators from the two major political parties and has been championed by the Caucus Solvers Problem House.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have provisionally adopted the plan, considering it a starting point for negotiations.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who would be instrumental in passing any legislation, has not yet entered the board. On Monday, however, McConnell considered vaccine distribution funds to be “incredibly urgent.”
“This is the support that state and local governments need most urgently,” McConnell said, saying the money “would vaccinate citizens right now to end the fight.”
The stakes in the ongoing negotiations extend beyond funding for vaccine distribution.
Unemployment benefits that expanded as a result of the coronavirus pandemic will run out the day after Christmas, reducing payments to 12 million people. Any new agreement is also expected to provide more funding for small businesses affected by the public health crisis.
Despite widespread recognition that some kind of relief needs to be granted, the obstacles to reaching an agreement have remained largely unchanged for months.
Democrats have pushed for more spending and assistance to state and local governments, which are facing budget crises as a result of the pandemic. Republicans are generally opposed to state and local aid and have insisted that any agreement includes protecting businesses from liability claims arising from the crisis.
In addition to these remaining points, Independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a progressive, and Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, a Conservative, have suggested they would maintain a bill that does not include a direct payment to Americans of checks. $ 1,200 stimulus shipped earlier this year. The $ 908 billion plan does not include direct payments.
So far, participation in the White House has been limited, although Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has continued to negotiate with Pelosi.
President Donald Trump has shown little interest in correcting an agreement on Capitol Hill, focusing on his failed legal efforts to cancel the 2020 election. If no agreement is reached in the coming weeks, the problem will soon be could appear to President-elect Joe Biden.
Biden, who has already appointed several top doctors to his administration, noted that distributing the Covid-19 vaccine will be the top priority of his administration in its early days and pledged to administer 100 million doses in the its first 100 days.
But Biden, who will be sworn in Jan. 20, has suggested his plan could be thwarted if Congress fails to reach an agreement.
During a speech in Wilmington, Delaware, on Tuesday, the former vice president urged Congress to swiftly fund distribution efforts, warning that if they do not “there is a real possibility that, after a first round of vaccinations, the ‘effort slows down and they stop. “
“Let me repeat: we need Congress to finish the bipartisan work underway now or millions of Americans can wait months more (months more) than they should do to get vaccinated,” Biden said.
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