Overnight Health Care — Presented by Alexion — Battle lines drawn over COVID-19 funding

by Peter Sullivan and Joseph Choi - 03/03/22 6:21 PM ET

Welcome to Thursday’s Overnight Health Care, where we’re following the latest moves on policy and news affecting your health. Subscribe here: digital-release.thehill.com/newsletter-signup.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is fundraising off a viral video of him chiding a group of students at a press conference for wearing masks. Today we’re looking at the Biden administration’s formal request for more COVID-19 funding from Congress, and the possible battle to get it passed.

For The Hill, we’re Peter Sullivan (psullivan@digital-release.thehill.com), Nathaniel Weixel (nweixel@digital-release.thehill.com) and Joseph Choi (jchoi@digital-release.thehill.com). Write to us with tips and feedback, and follow us on Twitter: @PeterSullivan4, @NateWeixel and @JosefChoi.

Let’s get started.

White House asks Congress for $22.5B

The Biden administration is requesting $22.5 billion from Congress for the COVID-19 response, setting up a tussle with Republican lawmakers who have resisted new funding.

Where the funds would go: In a letter to Congress dated Wednesday, the White House said the additional funds are crucial for efforts around vaccines, treatments and testing. In addition, $5 billion of the funding will go towards the global COVID-19 response, including vaccinating other countries, which is key to helping stop new variants from arising.

“Without additional resources, we won’t be able to secure the treatments, vaccines, and tests Americans need in coming months and fight future variants,” wrote acting Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young. “And critical COVID response efforts – such as free community testing sites and testing, treatment, and vaccination coverage for uninsured individuals – will end this spring.”

The White House is urging that the funding be included in a broader government funding bill that faces a March 11 deadline.

GOP resistance: Passing the funding could be a challenge. Republicans have pushed back on new COVID-19 funds, pointing to the billions already provided for the virus response.

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) on Wednesday led 35 other Republican senators, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), in a letter telling the administration they want a “full accounting” of money already spent “before we would consider” new COVID-19 funds.

Biden officials shift toward new virus phase

The Biden administration has made a marked shift toward a new phase where COVID-19 is no longer treated as a crisis, rolling out a series of new programs aimed at increasing access to treatment and boosting vaccine capacity for the future.

Why the change: The change comes amid major strides in recent weeks including new case counts that have plummeted from 800,000 per day in January to 60,000, according to a New York Times tracker.

President Biden sought to highlight this shift in his State of the Union address Tuesday, saying the virus “no longer need control our lives.” Mask mandates in the House chamber had been lifted just before his address to a joint session of Congress.

But the programs the administration aims to roll out require new funding from Congress, which could be held up by GOP lawmakers who don’t want to allocate more money toward fighting the virus.

There is also the possibility of a new variant that may evade the protection of vaccines that, for the third time in less than a year, again hangs as a threat over recent progress.

Read more here.

SHARING TECH

The Biden administration is planning to share government-backed COVID-19 technology with the World Health Organization (WHO) to help low- and middle-income countries access crucial medicines.

During a press briefing on Thursday, Health and Human Service Secretary Xavier Becerra and chief White House medical adviser Anthony Fauci both confirmed that the U.S. was looking into licensing COVID-19 medical technologies owned by the National Institute of Health (NIH) to the WHO’s COVID-19 Technology Access pool (C-TAP).

Becerra and Fauci were unable to provide specific details on this new policy.

According to Fauci, the details of this plan are still being “ironed out.” The technologies will be sub-licensed through the Medicines Patent Pool, a Switzerland-based international organization aimed at enhancing access to medicines for low and middle-income countries.

“We’re still in early stages,” said Becerra. “This latest announcement is an effort to try to let low and middle-income countries know that we want them to have capacities as well.”

Read more here.

A MESSAGE FROM ALEXION

NEW OPIOID SETTLEMENT

Purdue Pharma, the producer of the drug OxyContin, reached a new settlement with states and droves of local governments amid a court battle over the country’s role in the opioid crisis.

The news comes after a previous settlement was appealed by eight states and Washington, D.C., last year.

“We’re pleased with the settlement achieved in mediation, under which all of the additional settlement funds will be used for opioid abatement programs, overdose rescue medicines, and victims,” Purdue Pharma said in a statement to The Hill.

“With this mediation result, we continue on track to proceed through the appeals process on an expedited schedule, and we hope to swiftly deliver these resources.”

The settlement, filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York, was agreed upon by the right states and D.C. after the Sackler family, which owns Purdue, said they would contribute more cash, according to The Associated Press.

Read more here.

Senate GOP pushes to nix emergency status

Senate Republicans on Thursday passed a resolution to nix the coronavirus national public health emergency, their second win in as many days amid Democratic absences.

Senators voted 48-47 on the resolution, spearheaded by Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), a day after they were also able to pass a measure to nix President Biden’s vaccine requirement for health care workers.

“I would ask him to listen to the people and end this declaration of emergency,” Marshall said in an appeal to Biden ahead of the vote.

Both votes were party line, but Republicans were able to exploit Democratic absences. Three Democratic senators were absent — Sens. Mark Kelly (Ariz.), Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) and Alex Padilla (Calif.) — compared to two absences for Republicans — Sens. James Inhofe (Okla.) and Richard Burr (N.C.) — effectively giving the GOP a majority in the chamber.

But the resolution, like the vaccine mandate vote, is going nowhere in the Democratic-controlled House. The administration also vowed ahead of the vote that if it reached Biden’s desk, he would veto it.

Read more here.

GET IN THE KNOW

WHAT WE’RE READING

A group of hospitals has a plan to get around Congress’s refusal to lower the cost of insulin (Washington Post)
As Cases Skyrocket, New Zealand Finally Faces Its Covid Reckoning (New York Times)

A MESSAGE FROM ALEXION

STATE BY STATE

Des Moines Public Schools drops mask mandate following federal changes (Des Moines Register)
Florida school superintendent who defied DeSantis on COVID masks is ousted (Tampa Bay Times)
Chicago Public Schools to Lift Mask Mandate in Schools ‘in the Near Future,’ Officials Say (NBC Chicago)

THE HILL OP-EDS

This Obesity Care Week, let’s drop the stigmas and increase support

That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s health care page for the latest news and coverage. See you Friday.{mosads}