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Category: Appropriations

Senator Murray Unveils Bill to Help Schools Address COVID-19

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US Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) unveiled today a $2.7 Billion package aimed to assist schools and colleges with providing for student needs amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Senator Murray is the Ranking Member on both the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, as well as the Appropriations subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education.

The Supporting Students in Response to Coronavirus Act would provide over $1 Billion to ensure college students have access to food, housing, child care, and other basic needs, as well as help institutions prepare for closures and pay cleaning fees. The bill would also ensure students do not have to pay back financial aid if they are forced to withdraw, and gives the Department of Education more flexibility regarding financial aid. Additionally, the proposal would help staff childcare centers and increase funds for the National Child Traumatic Stress Network. The bill is cosponsored by Democratic Leader Senator Schumer (D-NY) and Senator Gillibrand (D-NY).

Read the full story at Forbes.

House Passes Supplemental, Senate to Pass Soon

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Last night, the House passed, 415-2, the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2020 (H.R. 6074) to provide emergency supplemental funding in response to the novel coronavirus. The Senate is expected to pass today.

The package is $8.3 billion, which lawmakers released hours before the vote, and it has $7.8 billion in new funding for programs and agencies within the HHS, Small Business Administration, and State Department. Additionally, the legislation includes a $500 million provision related to telehealth.

The Senate is expected to consider the legislation today.

The President has said he will sign the measure.

The bill has:

  • $2.2 billion, available through September 2022, for the CDC, including:
    • $950 million in grants and cooperative agreements for state/local surveillance, epidemiology, laboratory capacity, infection control, mitigation, communications, and other preparedness and response ($475 million that would be available/allocated within 30 days of enactment).
    • At least $300 million for global disease detection and emergency response.
    • $300 million for the Infectious Diseases Rapid Response Reserve Fund.
    • The ability for CDC to use such funds to support grants for construction, alteration, or renovation of non-Federally owned facilities to improve state/local preparedness and response capability.
    • Additional funding for existing public health preparedness grants (that should be funded at not less than 90% of previous funding levels).
  • $836 million, available through September 2024, for the NIH, including:
    • $826 million for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus domestically or internationally.
    • $10 million transferred from NIAID to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences for worker-based training to prevent and reduce exposure of hospital employees and other first responders.
  • $3.1 billion, available through September 2024,  for the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund to support, among other activities:
    • Development and purchase of necessary countermeasures and vaccines.
    • Purchase of vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics, and necessary medical supplies, including for potential deposit in the Strategic National Stockpile (with an additional $300 million in contingency funding to purchase additional products if needed).
    • Grants for construction, alteration, or renovation of non-Federally owned facilities to improve state/local preparedness and response capability.
  • $61 million, available until expended, for the Food and Drug Administration to support:
    • Development of medical countermeasures and vaccines.
    • Advanced manufacturing for medical products.
    • Monitoring of medical supply chains.
  • Authority for the Secretary of Health and Human Services to waive, under the public health emergency declaration for the novel coronavirus, certain current telehealth requirements by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
  • ~$2.5 billion (distributed around) for State, CDC and USAID for international support and response to COVID-19.

 

Upcoming: House Appropriations Hearing on NIH FY21 Budget Proposal

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The House Appropriations Committee’s Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and related agencies Subcommittee will convene a hearing on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Budget Request for FY 2021.

Witnesses:

Dr. Francis Collins, Director, National Institutes of Health
Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Dr. Nora Volkow, Director, National Institute on Drug Abuse
Dr. Ned Sharpless, Director, National Cancer Institute
Dr. Diana Bianchi, Director, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Dr. Gary Gibbons, Director, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Date: Wednesday, March 4th, 2020

Time: 10:00am EST

Place: 2358-C Rayburn House Office Building

To watch the hearing, please visit the committee website.