United States: Republicans block a package of 10,000 million against COVID-19

The Republicans of United States They blocked this Tuesday the approval of a package of 10,000 million dollars in funds to fight the COVID-19.

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Republicans refused to debate the initiative during a key vote and have conditioned their support on reviving “Title 42,” which allowed for the expedited removal of asylum seekers due to the pandemic.

The government of US President Joe Biden announced last week the suspension of that measure after receiving pressure from his own party in Congress, which argued that it could not continue to rely on the pandemic to deny asylum to those who arrived in border.

After weeks of negotiations, Democrats and Republicans reached an agreement last night to allocate new funds to subsidize vaccines against COVID-19, its treatments and diagnostic tests, as well as research on the disease.

The agreement was negotiated by the leader of the Senate Democrats, Chuck Schumer, and Republican Senator Mitt Romney, who represents the moderate wing of the conservatives.

However, by surprise, the leader of the Republicans in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, announced on Tuesday that his party was going to propose several amendments to the COVID-19 package, including one to reactivate “Title 42″.

Schumer responded in statements to the press saying that the COVID-19 package should not be “hostage” to an immigration issue that has nothing to do with the pandemic.

Part of the problem with allowing Republicans to vote on “Title 42” is that it could go ahead, as some conservative Democrats like Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona have criticized Biden’s decision to suspend it.

With the vote failing on Tuesday, the COVID-19 plan will most likely remain stalled in Congress until at least the end of the month, since lawmakers will leave Washington on Friday for a two-week recess, a woman explained to Efe. legislative source.

This is the second time the COVID-19 package has been stalled after disagreements within House Democrats prevented COVID-19 funds from being incorporated into a budget bill a month ago that included aid for Ukraine.

The agreement of 10,000 million dollars reached last night by Democrats and Republicans is far from the 22,000 million that Biden requested at the beginning of the negotiations.

Source: Elcomercio

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