Washington, D.C. – Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet today released the following statement after the Senate passed the bipartisan, bicameral emergency supplemental funding bill to respond to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-2019). The package includes a $9.3 million emergency grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for Colorado. The bill, which passed the House yesterday, will now head to the president’s desk for approval.

“With strong bipartisan support, Congress has allocated the needed resources to ensure states, communities, and federal agencies can provide the robust, coordinated response this outbreak demands. It was critical that Congress move swiftly to enact this emergency funding bill, and I urge the president to sign it as quickly as possible so Colorado can have the resources it needs to address this urgent public health threat.” 

The Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act is a $8.3 billion package to ensure that the federal government, states, and people on the front lines have the resources they need to prepare, prevent, and respond to the COVID-19 crisis. It includes: 

• $2.2 billion to help federal, state, local, and tribal governments prevent, prepare, and respond to the crisis, including at least $9 million for Colorado through an Emergency CDC Grant;
• $3.1 billion for the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund, including funding for the Biomedical Advance Research and Development Authority to develop COVID-19 countermeasures and vaccines and to purchase vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics, and necessary medical supplies;
• $836 million for the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Disease to support research of vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics, including $10 million for worker-based training to prevent and reduce exposure of frontline workers;
• $61 million for the Food and Drug Administration to review and approve vaccines, enhance emergency use authorizations, and advance continuous manufacturing;
• $300 million in contingency funding for procurement of vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics, requiring that they be available for purchase by the federal government at a fair and reasonable price; and
• $1.25 billion to combat this public health threat overseas to prevent and respond to wider spread of the virus through United States Agency for International Development, International Disaster Assistance, and the Economic Support Fund.