U.S. Representative Pete Aguilar of California was among the 415 members of Congress who voted yes on an $8.3 billion emergency package to address the coronavirus outbreak.
The bipartisan bill came after the Trump administration requested just $2.5 billion in aid.
"Quite frankly, we didn't feel that the administration's dollar amount was up to the task," Aguilar (D-Calif. 31st District) told Cheddar.
The representative also took issue with the White House's plan to raid other federal health programs to offset costs. The administration eyed $136 million in cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services, including funding for mental health and substance abuse treatment, Ebola treatment and prevention, and heating assistance for low-income households.
"We're not going to sacrifice prevention for treatment for Ebola or other items in order to deal with coronavirus," Aguilar said.
In addition to increased funding, Aguilar called for more information and transparency from government officials. He responded specifically to Trump's comments on the Fox News show Hannity on Wednesday night that the 3.4 percent global mortality rate agreed upon by the World Health Organization earlier this week "is really a false number."
Aguilar said the president stopped just short of calling the number "fake news," and that speculation of this kind impedes efforts to keep people informed.
"The public health world and the World Health Organization don't care what the president's hunch is about these numbers," he said. "We need more folks in white lab coats briefing the public rather than the president going on the partisan Hannity show."
The vast majority of the new funding ($7.8 million) will go to agencies working to fight the outbreak, with $500 million set aside for Medicare providers to use telehealth options for elderly patients so they can avoid potentially exposing themselves by visiting a doctor's office.
The aid package is now headed to the Senate, which is expected to approve the funding, and then onto Trump's desk.
"We'll spend whatever is appropriate," the president said last week.
Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama says his new Cabinet will include an artificial intelligence “minister” in charge of fighting corruption. The AI, named Diella, will oversee public funding projects and combat corruption in public tenders. Diella was launched earlier this year as a virtual assistant on the government's public service platform. Corruption has been a persistent issue in Albania since 1990. Rama's Socialist Party won a fourth consecutive term in May. It aims to deliver EU membership for Albania in five years, but the opposition Democratic Party remains skeptical.
The Trump administration has asked an appeals court to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve’s board of governors by Monday, before the central bank’s next vote on interest rates. Trump sought to fire Cook Aug. 25, but a federal judge ruled late Tuesday that the removal was illegal and reinstated her to the Fed’s board.
President Donald Trump's administration is appealing a ruling blocking him from immediately firing Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook as he seeks more control over the traditionally independent board. The notice of appeal was filed Wednesday, hours after U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb handed down the ruling. The White House insists the Republican president had the right to fire Cook over mortgage fraud allegations involving properties in Michigan and Georgia from before she joined the Fed. Cook's lawsuit denies the allegations and says the firing was unlawful. The case could soon reach the Supreme Court, which has allowed Trump to fire members of other independent agencies but suggested that power has limitations at the Fed.
Chief Justice John Roberts has let President Donald Trump remove a member of the Federal Trade Commission, the latest in a string of high-profile firings allowed for now by the Supreme Court.
President Donald Trump has fired one of two Democratic members of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to break a 2-2 tie ahead of the board considering the largest railroad merger ever proposed.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
