Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he’d consider new federal spending to help the nation deal with the omicron COVID variant.
“I think it would be foolish for us not to try and address this in a timely way,” Schumer said Tuesday.
The Biden administration is considering a request for $16 billion to fund updated vaccinations and treatments, such as monoclonal antibodies, that may be needed to deal with the variant, according to media reports.
Schumer told reporters the Biden administration hasn’t asked Congress for new funding yet.
“The administrator administration is not asking me for anything at this point,” Schumer said. “But if they do, I would hope we would follow their lead. Look at it carefully, but follow their lead and get something done.”
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Congress has passed five COVID aid bills costing several trillion dollars, including a $1.9 trillion COVID spending bill President Joe Biden signed in March. The last measure included more than $70 billion for vaccines, treatments, and other public health programs related to the coronavirus. Republicans did not support the last round of COVID spending, arguing enough had been allocated in previous bills and hundreds of billions remained unspent.
Health officials have warned the omicron variant is highly transmissible but could cause milder symptoms than other COVID variants.
