
The Health 202: Coronavirus relief proposal on Capitol Hill would put billions toward vaccine distribution
Of the $908 billion proposal, $16 billion would go toward vaccines, testing and contact tracing.
The package has a growing number of Democratic and Republican backers, after a bipartisan group led by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) rolled out the compromise measure earlier this week.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) have both said it should be used as the basis for negotiations, renewing hopes for fresh aid for small businesses, state and local government, unemployment benefits, and dozens of other priorities. A number of Senate Republicans also signaled openness to the package yesterday.
But it’s far from final: “Although there has been a sudden burst of bipartisan momentum for the package since Tuesday, it remains an incomplete legislative proposal that has not been drafted as a formal piece of legislation yet,” Jeff Stein, Mike DeBonis and Seung Min Kim report. “Still, the rapid mobilization