The House passed the $8.3 billion coronavirus response spending bill Wednesday in a nearly unanimous vote, 415-2, in line with the $8.5 billion House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democratic leader Sen. Chuck Schumer proposed last week when the White House was asking for just $1.25 billion in new spending. Proving again, if you want a government to operate, go with the Democrat.
The spending bill includes $3 billion for research and development on diagnostic tests, treatments, and vaccines, including $300 million for the government to purchase such drugs from manufacturers at "fair and reasonable" prices to distribute them to those who can't pay for them. It also provides more than $2 billion for federal, state, and local government preparation and response, including an additional $300 million for the Centers for Disease Control's rapid response fund. It adds $1.3 billion for overseas spending to combat the virus. It designates $350 million to help states like Washington that have become "hot spots" to procure medical supplies and prepare; $500 million for drugs, masks, syringes and other supplies to state and local governments and hospitals, and $100 million to community health centers. It also earmarks $500 million to Medicare for patients to have remote "telehealth" consultations and treatment, so sick people who aren't so unwell they don't have to be hospitalized don't have to visit the doctor in person.
The original provision the Democrats wanted to allow the federal government to purchase large quantities of the testing, treatment, and vaccine responses and provide them to the public without cost was rejected. But the "fair and reasonable price" standards they demanded stayed in. The bill also gives the Department of Health and Human Services authority to make sure that treatments are "affordable in the commercial market" provided that that doesn't delay product development.
The Senate seems to be ready to act, and to not try to mess around with the bill by doing something like attaching the FISA reauthorization as Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was threatening to do last week. "We worked together to craft an aggressive and comprehensive response that provides the resources the experts say they need to combat this crisis," Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby said in a statement. "I thank my colleagues for their cooperation and appreciate President Trump's eagerness to sign this legislation and get the funding out the door without delay."
