Senators announce $10 billion COVID-19 deal, leave out global aid

Senators announced on Monday they had reached a deal to provide $10 billion for the fight against COVID-19, but the agreement leaves out funding for the global virus response. 

The agreement could clear the path for Congress to finally pass some new funding for the virus response, which the White House has been warning for weeks is urgently needed to allow it to purchase more vaccines, treatments and tests. 

The announcement comes after days of negotiations between a group of GOP senators and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), with negotiators signaling late last week that they were close to finalizing specifics. 

“From the beginning, Senate Republicans have insisted that any new requests from the Administration for COVID funding be paid for by repurposing existing funds. …Today’s agreement does just that by repurposing $10 billion to provide needed domestic COVID health response tools,” said Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who helped spearhead the deal. 

Schumer added that the deal will give the administration “urgently needed funding to purchase vaccines and therapeutics, maintain access to testing and accelerate the work on next generation vaccine research.” 

“This $10 billion COVID package will give the federal government – and our citizens – the tools we need to continue our economic recovery, keep schools open and keep American families safe,” Schumer added. 

The agreement will set off a scramble to try to clear the bill before lawmakers leave for a two-week recess by Friday. To get the deal through the Senate by then they will need buy in from all 100 senators, something that could be a significant lift. It would also need to pass the House, which is expected to vote on business-related coronavirusrelief this week. 

The announcement comes after three sources told The Hill earlier Monday that negotiators had reached a deal for $10 billion in aid. The deal was first reported by The Washington Post. 

The deal will be paid for by repurposing previous coronavirus funding, a red line garnering at least 10 GOP votes for the bill. Those funds include redirecting money from a shuttered venues fund, transportation aviation money, a higher education emergency relief fund and a small business administration loans program. 

However, the $10 billion deal is less than half of the $22.5 billion the White House initially requested. Even that full amount was only for short-term needs, and the White House said it would need to come back for more money later. That means another COVID-19 funding fight could soon come down the pike. 

It’s also less than the $15.6 billion that was initially included in a government funding deal last month. The coronavirus aid was dropped out of the funding bill amid pushback from House Democrats who balked at using money previously greenlit for state and local governments to pay for the new coronavirus spending. 

That $15.6 billion included $5 billion for global vaccine efforts, but that was dropped from the final Senate deal over disagreements over how to pay for it. The Hill first reported last week that negotiators were going to drop the global spending.

The removal of $5 billion in funding for the global COVID-19 response is a major blow to efforts to vaccinate the world, which experts say is key to preventing dangerous new variants from forming and threatening the United States. Advocates and some Democratic lawmakers had pushed for significantly more than that amount, and are now set to end up with nothing amid the dispute over offsets. 

“Failing to fund the global fight against COVID-19 is a choice to extend the pandemic, to accept preventable suffering and insecurity for all, and to live with the knowledge that, deep in the time of the world’s greatest need, the United States gave up,” tweeted Peter Maybarduk, an advocate at the progressive group Public Citizen. 

Democrats had made a last-ditch effort to get at least $1 billion in global funding included in the $10 billion package but that ultimately fell short. Instead, Democrats quickly vowed that they will take up another bill later this year that could pair global coronavirus spending with Ukraine aid. 

“While we were unable to reach an agreement on international aid in this new agreement, many Democrats and Republicans are committed to pursuing a second supplemental later this spring,” Schumer said. 

“t is my intention for the Senate to consider a bipartisan International appropriations package that could include additional aid for Ukraine as well as funding to address COVID-19 and food insecurity globally. I urge Senators on both sides of the aisle to continue negotiating a global vaccines funding package,” he added. 

Updated at 5:13 p.m.