The White House is trying to block $25 billion meant for coronavirus testing and contact tracing from an upcoming stimulus bill, amid the surge in coronavirus cases nationwide, according to a report from the Washington Post.
Officials are also trying to block funds from going toward bolstering the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Pentagon, and the State Department to effectively fight the pandemic. They are instead trying to use the bill to fund priorities unrelated to the pandemic such as new FBI building, The Post reports.
But the move is not being well received by some GOP lawmakers and they are pushing back, trying to keep the funds for coronavirus testing and tracing in the bill.
Trump and other Republican state and local leaders have blame the surge in new cases on an increase in testing. Trump himself even suggested at a rally Tulsa, Oklahoma that officials should slow down testing. The White House later claimed he was joking.
The US reported 71,558 new coronavirus cases on Saturday according to data from John Hopkins University. This is the second day in a row that the number of new infections has surpassed 70,000.
Overall, the U.S. has more than 3.6 million cases and over 139,000 deaths.
Read the full Washington Post story here.
