White House warns of 'severe consequences' if Congress doesn't pass supplemental Covid funding
CNN
White House Covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients on Monday renewed the Biden administration's urgent call for Congress to pass pandemic supplemental funding or face "severe consequences."
His remarks came amid uncertainty for the legislative path forward for additional money for the federal government's pandemic response.
The Biden administration requested $22.5 billion in supplemental Covid-19 relief funding in the massive government funding package, known as the omnibus. Negotiators had proposed a scaled-back $15.6 billion for Covid relief, but -- following pushback on both sides of the aisle -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that Covid provisions would be stripped from the funding bill, which passed Congress late last week.
Crews in Atlanta completed repairs Wednesday morning to a key water main whose break, among others, contributed to a huge swath of the city spending days without safe drinking water – though a boil advisory remains in effect for many homes and businesses “out of an abundance of caution,” the city said.
Two families have filed a federal lawsuit against Tennessee Governor Bill Lee and the Williamson County School District, claiming their middle school kids were arrested, strip-searched, placed in solitary confinement, forced to undergo evaluations and placed on house arrest after officials misinterpreted a Tennessee statute and claimed that conversations between peers were “threats of mass violence.”