LOUISVILLE, KY. (WDRB) -- Kentucky will receive at least $7 million to help fight the novel coronavirus, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Friday before Kentucky had announced its first case.
McConnell said in a news release that the money for Kentucky was part of the nearly $8.3 billion appropriations bill that President Donald Trump signed into law Friday. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the bill Wednesday by a 415-2 vote. The U.S. Senate had passed it Thursday with a vote of 96-1. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., cast the sole “no” vote.
McConnell said most of the money is targeted “for a serious national fight” against the new coronavirus and will go to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, including billions of dollars in funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its Infectious Diseases Rapid Response Fund.
“COVID-19 is a new challenge that Americans will have to confront together,” McConnell said. “Fortunately, we are positioned to meet that challenge and are growing more ready every day. This bipartisan funding package was an important step, and I am proud President Trump, his Administration, and Congress came together across party lines to deliver it so quickly.”
The legislation also provides resources to the Food and Drug Administration, National Institutes of Health, community health centers and the Small Business Administration “the help soften the blow on workers.”
McConnell said the measure also will make available billions of dollars “to replenish medical supply stockpiles (and) to ensure incentives remain for the development of future vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics.”
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