‘We can’t wait:’ Biden pushes US Congress for $1.9 trillion in COVID-19 relief

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The Biden administration and Democratic and Republican lawmakers discussing a new $1.9 trillion in coronavirus relief agreed on Sunday that the most important priority should be producing and efficiently distributing a vaccine.

An aide to a Democrat who was on the call with Brian Deese, one of President Joe Biden’s top economic aides, said the discussion had been “robust” and that the two sides would continue to work together, reports Reuters.

Deese, director of the National Economic Council, had said he would have a call with the senators as part of a push by the Biden administration to make the case for a large rescue plan.

“We can’t wait,” White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters before the call. “Just because Washington has been gridlocked before doesn’t mean it needs to continue to be gridlocked.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has killed more than 417,000 Americans, thrown millions out of work and is infecting more than 175,000 Americans a day, posing an immediate crisis to the Biden administration.

Biden, who took office on Wednesday, campaigned on a promise to take aggressive action on the pandemic, which his predecessor, President Donald Trump, often downplayed.

The Trump administration lagged far behind its target of 20 million Americans inoculated by the end of 2020. There was no plan in place for how to distribute the vaccine to millions of Americans when Biden took over, White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain said on Sunday.

While Congress has already authorized $4 trillion to respond, the White House says an additional $1.9 trillion is needed to cover the costs of responding to the virus and provide enhanced jobless benefits and payments to households.

The Democratic aide said “everyone agreed” on the call, which included some House of Representatives members as well as senators, that the No. 1 need was quickly producing and efficiently distributing the vaccine nationally.