WASHINGTON — Two new pools of federal money will flow to New Jersey to help the state cope with the coronavirus.
President Donald Trump’s national emergency will free up $50 billion in federal funds for New Jersey and other states to tap to help cover their costs of responding to the virus. The president called it “a large amount of money for states and territories and localities in our shared fight against this disease.”
And bipartisan legislation that passed the House early Saturday could mean $810 million in new Medicaid funding for the state, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
The Senate, which went home for the weekend, planned to return to Washington Monday to take up the bill, approved in the House by a vote of 363 to 40. All 12 New Jersey House members voted yes.
“This national public health emergency requires a coordinated, whole-of-government response to help slow the virus’ spread and keep Americans safe," said Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-6th Dist., who helped write the legislation as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
This is in addition to the $13.8 million on its way to New Jersey, courtesy of the $8.3 billion spending bill that passed Congress earlier and was signed into law earlier by Trump. That was the first measure to become law in response to the coronavirus.
Earlier, the state received $1.75 million from the Department of Health and Human Services.
The latest developments came as the number of “presumptive positive” covid-19 cases in New Jersey grew to 50, with another 80 being evaluated for symptoms.
As part of Trump’s emergency declaration, New Jersey and other states will be asked to set up emergency operation centers. Health and Human Services will waive rules and regulations that current prevent hospitals from bringing in outside doctors and from adding beds in certain areas of the building.
“We’ll remove or eliminate every obstacle necessary to deliver our people the care that they need and that they’re entitled to," the president said Friday at the White House. “No resource will be spared. Nothing whatsoever.”
State officials plan to ask for a share of that money and have been in touch with both the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Small Business Administration about how to request federal funding, according to Alyana Alfaro, a spokeswoman for Gov. Phil Murphy.
In addition, the governor spoke with Vice President Mike Pence on Friday, Alfaro said.
Testing would be free, including for those without insurance, and there will be many more sites, including so-called drive-through tests in parking lots of businesses such as CVS, Target, Walgreens and Walmart.
One company expanding its ability to read the tests is Becton Dickinson and Co. of Franklin Lakes.
“We’re ramping up our manufacturing capacity to ensure that the right collection devices and testing equipment are ready to address this issue,” president and chief executive Tom Polen said at the press conference with Trump.
Who will pay for those tests? The legislation passed Saturday provide free coronavirus testing for everyone, with the federal government helping the states pick up the tab. The bill contains $1 billion to cover the costs.
“People — especially the most vulnerable and those closest to them — will know with certainty whether they’ve contracted the disease," said Rep. Chris Smith, R-4th Dist.
New Jersey also can expect more money from Washington to help pay for increased unemployment insurance benefits, expanded aid under the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program, and money to assist food banks.
The legislation also would provide 14 days of paid sick leave and up to three months of paid family and medical leave.
Many workers can’t afford to stay home if they’re sick or have to take care of a family member who’s ill, and if they go to work, that could help spread the virus, said U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.
“To not have paid family leave means that this problem will compound, it will spread further and it will last longer,” said Booker, who joined two other former Democratic presidential candidates, U.S. Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Kamala Harris of California, at the Capitol on Thursday to insist that family leave be part of any final deal.
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Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.
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2020-03-14 10:48:39Z
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