Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and two other Democratic senators are prepping a letter to President Trump in which they’ll ask him to issue a national emergency declaration over COVID-19, according to a new report.
Schumer of New York and Sens. Patty Murray of Washington and Gary Peters of Michigan are in the process of preparing the letter, Politico reports, although it is unclear when they plan to send it.
A national emergency declaration would grant FEMA access to $40 billion in the Disaster Relief Fund, providing them funds to assist state and local governments as they fight the outbreak.
Trump signed an $8.3 billion spending bill to combat the virus on Friday.
The package includes more than $3 billion for research and development of vaccines, test kits and medical treatments; $2.2 billion to help public health activities on prevention, preparedness and response; and $1.25 billion to aid international efforts aimed at stemming the spread of the virus.
It also authorizes an additional $500 million in waivers for Medicare “telehealth” restrictions to allow sick people to get treatment without visiting physicians.
The amount in the bill is a substantial increase from the $2.5 billion in emergency funding the White House had originally proposed.
Over 1,000 people in the US have been diagnosed with the deadly virus as of Tuesday night.



