NPR

Where That $8.3 Billion In U.S. Coronavirus Funding Will And Won't Go

President Trump and Congress Friday authorized a package of emergency funding to help and treat and slow the spread of COVID-19. About $950 million is designated for state and local response.
President Trump signs an $8.3 billion emergency spending bill in the White House Friday. That's significantly more than he originally requested from Congress.

The coronavirus funding bill signed into law by the president Friday puts much more money toward treating and preventing the spread of COVID-19 than his administration requested from Congress last week.

The Trump administration's initial request — in the form of a two-page letter to Congress on Feb. 24 — was for $1.25 billion in new funds, with additional money moved from other parts of the federal budget to get to a total of $2.5 billion. The amount authorized Friday is more than three times that.

"It's a significant amount of money," says of the Kaiser Family Foundation. In comparison, Congress put $5.4 billion toward the Ebola response in 2014, and nearly $7

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