Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
White House Offensive Details Cuts In Spending Without More Covid Funds
ABC News: White House Says 1st Cuts To COVID Efforts Will Hit Americans Next Week As Funding Stalls In Congress
Americans will feel the impact of cuts to the U.S. COVID response as early as next week, the White House said Tuesday in a letter to congressional leaders, as efforts to get more funding sit stalled. This letter is the latest push on behalf of the White House to try to persuade Congress that the U.S. desperately needs more COVID-relief money. So far, those pleas have not had much success. (Haslett and Gittleson, 3/15)
Axios: Feds Say They'll Ration COVID Treatments Amid Funding Standoff
Amid a congressional standoff over COVID funding, the federal government will delay buying "hundreds of thousands" of monoclonal antibody treatments and instead cut state allocations of the drug by 30% starting next week to stretch supplies, senior Biden administration officials said Tuesday. This is the first time administration officials are threatening pain in the form of cutbacks to the states if Congress doesn't approve new COVID spending. (Reed, 3/15)
Stat: White House Begs For Covid Funds Amid Concerns Of Omicron Sister Variant
The Biden administration on Tuesday laid out a roadmap of the cutbacks and shortages that could happen if no more funding is provided. Specifically, senior administration officials said they would need to wind down some Covid-19 surveillance investments, and that testing capacity could crater after June. (Cohrs and Joseph, 3/15)
Roll Call: WH Sees Immediate Cuts To COVID-19 Response Without More Funds
As parts of Europe and Asia experience virus spikes and scientists monitor for a similar surge in the U.S., senior administration officials said Tuesday the Health and Human Services Department and the National Institutes of Health won't be able to research and develop next-generation vaccines that protect against multiple variants without more funds. The officials also said the government needs more money to conduct genomic surveillance of potential new variants and to purchase enough doses for all Americans if a fourth COVID-19 shot is needed. (Cohen, 3/15)
Modern Healthcare: White House Warns Uninsured Fund May End Without More COVID-19 Relief
Congress's failure to authorize further coronavirus response spending will have serious consequences, including the depletion of a fund to reimburse providers caring for uninsured COVID-19 patients, a senior administration official said Tuesday. The Health and Human Services Department will begin scaling back that program next week, and it's due to end completely in early April without additional money, the official said during a call with reporters. That would leave providers unpaid when they test, treat or vaccinate uninsured people. (Goldman, 3/15)
Politico: ‘We Need This Money’: Covid Funding Stalls As Congress, White House Point Fingers
Even as the administration warns it may need to cancel new orders of Covid-19 drugs as soon as next week and wind down access to testing soon after that, there appears to be no clear strategy from either the White House or Capitol Hill to secure the funds. “We will leave to Congress the details of how they get this over the finish line,” a senior Biden administration official told reporters on a call Tuesday. ... Top appropriators on Capitol Hill point the finger back at the administration, saying the White House did not make a convincing enough case for the money to win over Republicans who recently voted to declare the pandemic over and are loath to spend billions more fighting the virus. (Ollstein and Cancryn, 3/15))
The Washington Post: Republicans Reluctant On $15 Billion In Virus Aid, As White House Warns About Pandemic Readiness
GOP lawmakers demanded that Democrats devise a way to pay for any new coronavirus spending in full, largely through redirecting money from other programs. Barring that, Sen. John Thune (S.D.), the top Republican vote counter, predicted there is “probably not” a way to secure the party’s must-have votes in the narrowly divided chamber, potentially dooming its prospects. The uncertainty only further added to the doubts that Congress could slip in its once-ambitious attempts to approve the spending this week, a looming potential setback that has unnerved lawmakers and public health advocates. (Romm, Roubein and Diamond, 3/15)
In related news about covid funding —
AP: US Funeral Assistance For COVID Tops $2B, More Eligible
The federal government has provided more than $2 billion to help cover funeral costs for more than 300,000 families of people who died from COVID-19, the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced Tuesday as it launches a new campaign to raise awareness about the aid to eligible families. More than 965,000 people have died in the U.S. from the virus. The COVID-19 Funeral Assistance program provides up to $9,000 per funeral and covers COVID-19 related deaths since Jan. 20, 2020. The average amount awarded per death is $6,500, according to FEMA. (Miller, 3/15)
