President Trump signs $8.3 billion coronavirus spending bill

First of all, we know that there is a huge demand out there for testing. There are lots of people in our in our state who are sick and they want to know whether they have Cove in 19 and they want to get tested. And I want to tell you that we're doing everything possible to quickly expand testing capacity here in our state. Um, we continue to work with the University of Washington Virology Lab and expect them to be ramping up their tests in the upcoming days. In addition, our State Public Health Laboratory director called almost all all of the large commercial labs in our state yesterday and encourage them all Thio Thio to start using a covert 19 testing essay so we can have additional testing capacity. So, um, currently, we still do have a temporary capacity issue with with testing for covert 19 here in our state. But we do not expect this to last long. I really feel like throughout, you know, the next few days, we're going to see, you know, considerable increases in the number of patients that we contest here

President Donald Trump on Friday signed the $8.3 billion congressional funding bill for coronavirus response. The Senate voted on Thursday to approve the sweeping spending package to direct billions of dollars toward the U.S. government's response to the coronavirus outbreak as lawmakers scrambled to fight the spread of the disease. The bill passed the House on Wednesday with broad, bipartisan support. The agreement provides $7.8 billion in appropriations to address the outbreak of coronavirus as well as an authorization for $500 million in mandatory spending to fund a telehealth program in an effort to expand access to health services for seniors for a total of $8.3 billion in all.Lawmakers spent days to hammering out a package to respond to the coronavirus outbreak. The total funding package that will be allocated by the deal is an amount far higher than the $2.5 billion White House request. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer proposed $8.5 billion to deal with the outbreak. Last week, however, the president opened the door to a higher spending level to combat coronavirus than what the White House initially requested, saying, "We'll spend whatever is appropriate.""I asked for two and a half and I got 8.3 and I’ll take it,” Trump said before signing the bill at the White House. Some Republican senators, though, balked at the price tag of the deal.GOP Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri said ahead of the final vote he anticipated some budget-conscious Republicans would vote against the package because of its large price tag, though he didn't indicate who might oppose it."Not everyone will vote for the bill. But they would not have voted for it at $2.2 billion either," Blunt said, referring to the much smaller original supplemental request from the White House.Republican Sen. Rand Paul, of Kentucky, offered an amendment to the coronavirus funding package that would offset costs by canceling certain foreign aid spending. But the Senate voted to table, or kill, the motion ahead of the final vote.In a show of bipartisan support, however, GOP Sen. Richard Shelby, of Alabama, the chair of the Appropriations Committee, and Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, of Vermont, the ranking member on the committee, both spoke on the floor about the legislation ahead of the final vote."Today we face a serious global crisis with the spread of the coronavirus, we all know that. The American people, I believe, expect us here in the U.S. Senate to set aside politics and set into motion a swift and sweeping response to this danger," Shelby said.Leahy said in his own remarks on the floor, "We have tried to set an example, the two of us, from two different parties, two different parts of the country, I think it's fair to say two different political philosophies. We have come together on this as we have on so many other issues in appropriations to give an example to our colleagues of what we think is best."

President Donald Trump on Friday signed the $8.3 billion congressional funding bill for coronavirus response.

The Senate voted on Thursday to approve the sweeping spending package to direct billions of dollars toward the U.S. government's response to the coronavirus outbreak as lawmakers scrambled to fight the spread of the disease. The bill passed the House on Wednesday with broad, bipartisan support.

The agreement provides $7.8 billion in appropriations to address the outbreak of coronavirus as well as an authorization for $500 million in mandatory spending to fund a telehealth program in an effort to expand access to health services for seniors for a total of $8.3 billion in all.

Lawmakers spent days to hammering out a package to respond to the coronavirus outbreak. The total funding package that will be allocated by the deal is an amount far higher than the $2.5 billion White House request. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer proposed $8.5 billion to deal with the outbreak.

Last week, however, the president opened the door to a higher spending level to combat coronavirus than what the White House initially requested, saying, "We'll spend whatever is appropriate."

"I asked for two and a half and I got 8.3 and I’ll take it,” Trump said before signing the bill at the White House.

Some Republican senators, though, balked at the price tag of the deal.

GOP Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri said ahead of the final vote he anticipated some budget-conscious Republicans would vote against the package because of its large price tag, though he didn't indicate who might oppose it.

"Not everyone will vote for the bill. But they would not have voted for it at $2.2 billion either," Blunt said, referring to the much smaller original supplemental request from the White House.

Republican Sen. Rand Paul, of Kentucky, offered an amendment to the coronavirus funding package that would offset costs by canceling certain foreign aid spending. But the Senate voted to table, or kill, the motion ahead of the final vote.

In a show of bipartisan support, however, GOP Sen. Richard Shelby, of Alabama, the chair of the Appropriations Committee, and Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, of Vermont, the ranking member on the committee, both spoke on the floor about the legislation ahead of the final vote.

"Today we face a serious global crisis with the spread of the coronavirus, we all know that. The American people, I believe, expect us here in the U.S. Senate to set aside politics and set into motion a swift and sweeping response to this danger," Shelby said.

Leahy said in his own remarks on the floor, "We have tried to set an example, the two of us, from two different parties, two different parts of the country, I think it's fair to say two different political philosophies. We have come together on this as we have on so many other issues in appropriations to give an example to our colleagues of what we think is best."

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