The administration of US President Donald Trump is attempting to block billions of dollars of federal funds for US states to carry out additional COVID-19 testing and contact tracing in Congress’s next coronavirus relief package, The Washington Post reported on Saturday, citing officials familiar with the matter.
Sources told the outlet that the White House is also making efforts to block billions in aid that would potentially be allocated for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), along with other billions calculated to go to the departments of Defence and State to slow the spread of the pandemic domestically and overseas.
According to the officials, GOP Senators, reportedly angered with current White House posturing, want to keep the money in the relief bill, but the Trump administration is making progress in its talks although the numbers are constantly changing.
The relief bill, the subject of ongoing sessions between the Democratic-controlled House and the Republican-controlled Senate, is reportedly expected to be the last major COVID-19 relief bill prior to the US presidential election in November.
According to the Post, one of the sources said that GOP Senators were seeking to allocate $25 billion in federal assistance to states for COVID-19 testing and contact tracing, but the Trump administration wanted that money to be blocked because states had not yet spent all the funding approved in previous relief packages.
The administration is seeking to minimize the federal government’s role in addressing the pandemic, pushing for states to take the responsibility for testing, according to the newspaper.
The Trump administration reportedly wants to redirect money cut from testing and the CDC to fund other projects purportedly not related to addressing the pandemic — including a new FBI building, according to The Washington Post, citing people involved.
As of Saturday, coronavirus infections in the United States had increased by nearly 71,000 new cases, while there were over 76,000 new cases registered on Friday alone, a record tally since the start of the pandemic. Overall, there are at least 3.7 million infected in the US, and an estimated 140,000 deaths.
