US Might Have 5th COVID-19 Relief Bill, Agrees to $25 Bln for Testing - Mnuchin

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd July, 2020) The White House might pursue a fifth trillion-dollar coronavirus relief bill, US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said on Thursday, adding that negotiations for the fourth package underway now include $25 billion for testing of the virus.

"We're focused on putting another trillion in quickly, that'll be CARES 4.0 If we've got to come back for CARES 5.0, for more money, the president will consider (it at) that time," Mnuchin told CNBC, referring to the bills under Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES). "There's actually $25 for total testing that we've agreed on."

Three previous phases of CARES have rolled out a total of $3.3 trillion as loans and grants to businesses, paycheck protection for workers and personal aid to qualifying US citizens.

The fourth phase under negotiation under negotiation now roughly involves another $1 trillion.

US media reported earlier this week that the Trump administration was trying to block billions of Dollars of funding from the Cares 4.0 for states to conduct testing and contact tracing for the COVID-19, in an attempt to tamp down exploding infection numbers for the virus in the United States.

The novel strain of the coronavirus has so infected nearly 4.0 million Americans since the first case was reported locally in January and more than 143,000 people in the country have been killed by the outbreak, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. At least 16 million Americans continue to file jobless claims every week after losing employment to business slowdown or lockdowns forced by the pandemic.