The Departments of Veterans Affairs, Defense, and State stand to receive an influx of funds due to the coronavirus outbreak, Politico reports.
The Trump administration is seeking more than $25 billion from the Office of Management and Budget to fund the departments to replenish federal agencies battling to keep up with the spread of the outbreak.
And President Donald Trump on Wednesday invoked the Defense Production Act to help speed the process of manufacturing critical equipment in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
The requested package includes $16.6 billion earmarked to bolster VA medical system testing and treatment which serves approximately 9 million veterans.
According to congressional staffers, the VA was working on a massive supplemental funding package for the anticipated increase of sick patients at Veterans Health System facilities. VA press secretary Christina Mandreucci said the department was “planning for all contingencies but has not finalized any plans or made any requests,” Military Times reported.
Another $8.3 billion is requested for the Pentagon to “mitigate the risk of COVID-19 to United States servicemembers, their dependents, and DOD civilians; minimize the impacts of the virus on strategic mission readiness; and support national response efforts.”
Additional funds are earmarked for protective equipment for the Coast Guard and for mobilizing reservists. The proposal also provides $115 million for the State Department.
President Donald Trump confirmed on Wednesday two U.S. Navy hospital ships are being readied to deploy on both coasts “over the next week or so” to supplement civilian hospitals running out of bed space, ABC News reports. Reservists who are healthcare professionals could be called to man the hospital ships.
And, on Tuesday Trump said the Army Corps of Engineers was on standby to mobilize military field hospital units as a backup to local hospitals in case of a surge of coronavirus patients, Military.com reported.
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