Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich criticized Republicans in Congress who are challenging additional COVID-19 funding requested by President Joe Biden.
“I’m disappointed, but not at all surprised, that Republicans in Congress are trying to cut $7 billion in funding from President Biden’s $22 billion request for additional COVID[-19] funds,” Elrich said during a weekly briefing Wednesday.
Senate Republicans have expressed opposition to new pandemic spending. Biden’s requested $22.5 billion was cut by Congress down to $15.6 billion and was ultimately removed from a larger spending bill. According to The White House, lack of funding will have consequences including inability to get sufficient vaccine doses and ending purchases of monoclonal antibody treatments while scaling back state allocations.
“It’s one thing to not believe in science, efficacy of the vaccine and masking, or that this virus is not a risk to anyone’s health,” Elrich said. “But to cut funding at this point when we’re not clearly out of the woods yet is ridiculous. Congress has a job to do. You ought to be helping keep people safe.”
