Congress reaches bipartisan $8 billion spending deal to fight coronavirus

Trump visits vaccine research center.
(Image credit: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Bipartisan negotiators from the House and Senate agreed to an $8.3 billion emergency spending package to fight COVID-19 on Wednesday.

The bill includes close to $7.8 billion for the federal agencies managing the coronavirus, which is more than the White House originally proposed, The New York Times reports. Another $500 million will go to Medicare providers to offer telehealth services to elderly patients at their homes, as older people are more likely to contract the virus.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Kathryn Krawczyk

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.