{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.blunt.senate.gov/news/press-releases/latest-round-of-covid-19-relief-includes-blunt-backed-funding-for-critical-health-and-education-programs", "Latest Round of COVID-19 Relief Includes Blunt-Backed Funding for Critical Health and Education Programs", "2020-12-21", "2020", "2020-12", "Republican", "House", "MO", "Roy Blunt", "B000575", "www.blunt.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON  U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.), Chairman\r\nof the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services,\r\nEducation, and Related Agencies (Labor/HHS), today announced that the COVID\r\nrelief package includes several investments in key health and education\r\nprograms. The agreement is the product of bipartisan, bicameral negotiations and is expected to be considered by the House and Senate shortly. This year has been one of the most difficult years for our\r\nnation in a generation, said Blunt.\r\nAs I have said many times in the past several months, I believe it is\r\ncritical to pass a bill with additional resources for COVID-19-related\r\nprograms. It is unfortunate that our Democrat colleagues spent months standing\r\nin the way of a relief package, but I'm glad we have reached a bipartisan\r\nagreement that reflects our most urgent COVID-response priorities. This bill provides funding to continue the development, production, purchase, and\r\ndistribution of vaccines; funding to reopen schools and child care facilities\r\nand keep them safe; and resources targeted to those whose mental health and\r\nsubstance use disorders have been exacerbated by the pandemic. This package\r\ndeserves the support of the full Senate and I look forward to quickly getting it\r\nto the president's desk. Following Are Some of the Key Health and Education\r\nPriorities Included in the Latest Round of COVID-19 Relief: \r\nVaccine and Therapeutic Development,\r\nProduction, and Purchase: $19.695 billion to continue supporting critical\r\nefforts to ensure Americans receive vaccines and therapeutics in record time.\r\nBlunt recently highlighted\r\nthe success Operation Warp Speed has had in accelerating the development of\r\nsafe and effective vaccines. \r\nVaccine Distribution: $8.75 billion\r\nprovided to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to promote,\r\ndistribute, administer, monitor, and track coronavirus vaccines to ensure\r\nbroad-based distribution, access, and vaccine coverage to all Americans. Blunt held\r\na Labor/HHS hearing in September where he pressed top HHS officials on\r\npreparations for vaccine distribution. \r\nTesting and Contact Tracing: $22.4\r\nbillion is provided to states, localities, territories, and tribes for testing, contact\r\ntracing, containment, and mitigation to monitor and suppress the\r\ncoronavirus. This funding will help ensure Americans can continue to get tests\r\nwhen and where they need them, and that test results are made available as\r\nquickly as possible. \r\nStrategic National Stockpile: $3.25\r\nbillion is provided to secure PPE and other supplies to support availability of\r\nthese critical supplies during the pandemic. \r\nProvider Relief Fund: $3 billion is\r\nprovided. Language is included directing 85% of unobligated balances or funds\r\nrecovered to be for future distributions based on applications that consider\r\nfinancial losses and changes in operating expenses occurring in the third or\r\nfourth quarter of calendar year 2020, or the first quarter of calendar year\r\n2021. Language is also included clarifying the definition of lost revenue for\r\nhospitals and allowing hospital systems to transfer COVID funds among hospitals\r\nin their system. \r\nNational Institutes of Health Research:\r\n$1.25 billion, with $1.15 billion for research into the long-term effects of\r\nCOVID-19 and $100 million to support the Rapid\r\nAcceleration of Diagnostics program that Blunt started with U.S. Senator\r\nLamar Alexander (Tenn.) to speed the development and commercialization of\r\nCOVID-19 diagnostic tests. Last week, the Food and Drug Administration approved\r\nthe first in-home COVID-19 test, which was supported by the RADx program. Blunt\r\npreviously announced\r\nthat RADx-UP funding was awarded to the University of Missouri-Kansas City and\r\nWashington University in St. Louis to improve testing among underserved and\r\nvulnerable communities. \r\nSubstance Abuse and Mental Health\r\nAdministration: $4.25 billion for substance abuse and mental health\r\ntreatment and prevention. This includes robust investments in the Mental Health\r\nand Substance Abuse Treatment and Prevention block grants. The bill also\r\ninvests in suicide prevention, Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics,\r\nand targets funding to individual behavioral health providers.   \r\nChild Care: $10 billion to provide\r\nadditional assistance to working families, and support child care providers\r\nexperiencing increased operating expenses and decreased revenue related to\r\nCOVID-19.   \r\nHead Start: $250 million to help Head\r\nStart programs with additional costs related to COVID-19 so they can continue\r\nto provide high-quality early childhood education to children and families. \r\nEducation: $82 billion to support students, teachers, schools, and families with additional education needs\r\nrelated to COVID, including: o\r\nElementary and Secondary Education: $54.3\r\nbillion to help elementary and secondary schools safely re-open or remain open,\r\nand help begin to address the effects this school year has had on student\r\nlearning, including $2.75 billion in dedicated funding for private schools and\r\ntheir students; o\r\nHigher Education: $22.7 billion to\r\nsupport both students and institutions of higher education to address\r\nadditional needs and costs related to COVID-19; and   o\r\nGovernors Fund: $4.1 billion in flexible\r\nfunding for states to address the educational needs of students, from early\r\nchildhood through college and career.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.blunt.senate.gov/news/press-releases/latest-round-of-covid-19-relief-includes-blunt-backed-funding-for-critical-health-and-education-programs"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.1908581256866455, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}