White House asks for $58M for Ebola drugs, flexibility at southern border
WASHINGTON – The White House is asking Congress for $58 million above current levels to speed the production of promising drugs to fight Ebola and additional flexibility for the Department of Homeland Security to cope with the thousands of unaccompanied Central American children still arriving at the southern border.
The administration also tells lawmakers that it wants to include extending the charter of the Export-Import Bank in a must-do temporary spending bill that’s required to prevent a government shutdown at the end of the month. The bank helps foreign buyers purchase U.S. exports.
The requests are contained in a White House budget office document, World Health Organization said Friday it would accelerate the use of experimental treatments and vaccines to contain the expanding epidemic in West Africa. WHO said survivor’s blood could be used immediately as an experimental treatment, tapping into the thousands of people who have survived the virus which has about a 50% death rate and no licensed treatments.