Two major Senate panels will hold a joint hearing next week on the Ebola outbreak as Congress debates how much funding to allocate to agencies involved in the response.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee and the Appropriations subcommittee on health spending will meet together next Tuesday to explore ways the U.S. can address the epidemic.
{mosads}Retiring Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), a top advocate for public health spending, leads both panels and will chair the event.
The hearing will be Congress’s first on the Ebola outbreak since it emerged in West Africa earlier this year.
A group of House Democrats called for an Energy and Commerce hearing on the topic, but so far GOP leaders in the lower chamber have not scheduled any Ebola-related events.
The White House asked Congress to appropriate $88 million as part of the next government funding bill, expected to receive a House vote on Thursday.
A source close to the negotiations said House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) is planning to spend $40 million in a blow to the administration.
Committee staff said they would release the text of the continuing resolution on Tuesday.