Congress Must Immediately Restore Global COVID Funding to Omnibus
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressional leaders on Wednesday announced that emergency COVID funding requested by the White House would be struck from the critical legislation to fund the federal government and support Ukraine. Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, issued the following statement:
“Ending the pandemic is a choice. Failing to fund the global fight against COVID-19 is a choice to extend the pandemic. Political pressures have caused Congress to make a catastrophic error that puts the lives of people around the world at risk and makes Americans far less safe.
“We should not have to make a choice between moving the essential funding for the American public found in the government spending bill and stopping the spread of COVID-19. But there is a solution.
“At a minimum, Congress must immediately restore the $5 billion in global COVID funding requested by the White House to the omnibus spending package. That money is the minimum needed to fund global vaccination, testing, and emergency relief to stop the spread of COVID-19.
“The alternative to funding the fight today is to accept the pandemic extending into the future, with 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.”