The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved on Wednesday an $8.3 billion bill to combat the spread of the new coronavirus and develop vaccines for the highly contagious disease, sending it to the Senate for final passage, Reuters informed.
Reflecting the urgency among lawmakers to address the growing coronavirus crisis, the House voted 415-2 on the bill just hours after negotiators unveiled its contents.
It includes money to expand testing for the virus, which has infected at least 129 people in the United States. Two more deaths were reported on Wednesday, taking the U.S. toll to 11.
With the White House backing the effort, congressional leaders worked to win fast passage so that President Donald Trump could potentially sign it into law this week.
“We must quickly enact this legislation. Lives are at stake,” House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, a Democrat, said in a statement.
The measure would provide far more money than the $2.5 billion initially sought by the Trump administration, Reuters added.
Shortly before the vote, the top four Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress received a classified briefing about contingency plans for Congress if there was a coronavirus outbreak in Washington.
An estimated 3 million people come through the Capitol Visitor Center each year.
Following the meeting, the lawmakers brushed off reporters’ questions on whether plans were needed for Congress to meet somewhere else or whether public access to the Capitol might eventually be curtailed.
Representative Matt Gaetz, after a separate closed briefing for Republican lawmakers with Vice President Mike Pence about coronavirus preparations nationwide, compared the House chamber to a “petri dish” for incubating germs.
“We all fly in these dirty airports, we touch and selfie everyone we meet and then we congregate together,” the Florida congressman said.
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