Biden aides to Congress: Fund COVID aid, don’t cut budget

By ALAN FRAM
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senior administration officials say Congress should provide the $22.5 billion President Joe Biden wants for continuing the battle against COVID-19 without cutting other programs to pay for it. The officials told reporters Monday that if Republicans continue insisting that additional federal efforts to combat the pandemic must be paid for by culling spending elsewhere, the GOP should specify what they want to cut. The remarks came nearly two weeks after a new round of COVID-19 funding was pulled out of a $1.5 trillion government-wide measure after rank-and-file Democrats rejected cuts that party leaders had negotiated to pay for it.