Biden moves to fully reimburse states for National Guard, supplies in COVID-19 fight
President Joe Biden will take action Thursday to ensure states are fully reimbursed for the cost of National Guard personnel and emergency supplies deployed for the pandemic, a relief for states across the country facing budget crises.
Biden administration officials said that the president, on his second day in the White House, plans on signing the memorandum directing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to fully reimburse state costs.
“In addition to making sure that critical supplies are available, we can help states, local governments and tribes acquire and use this equipment to respond,” Tim Manning, the Biden administration’s COVID-19 supply coordinator, told reporters.
“The president will issue a memorandum directing FEMA to increase the federal reimbursement to states from 75% to 100% of the costs for both National Guard personnel and emergency supplies, including those needed for safely reopening schools,” he said.
“This is a win-win – it’s good for states, and it’s also good for the national pandemic response,” Manning said. “Increasing funds helps the governors plan and respond.”
Biden officials said they were still reviewing the previous administration’s strategy of allocating vaccines to states, and that they could not determine yet whether a change in strategy would be necessary. But “we are not looking to pit one state against another,” said Jeff Zients, coordinator of the president’s new coronavirus task force that will also be officially established on Thursday.
The new administration has set a goal of vaccinating 100 million Americans in its first 100 days.
Biden also plans to invoke the Defense Production Act on Thursday to ramp up production of key equipment in the fight against COVID-19 that have been in short supply throughout the pandemic, including N95 masks, isolation gowns, gloves, swabs, test reagents, pipette tips and analysis machines for diagnostic coronavirus tests.
The administration also intends to begin creating “as many places as possible for people to be vaccinated,” said Bechara Choucair, the Biden administration’s vaccine coordinator.
“In partnership with states and local governments, we will create community vaccination centers in places like stadiums, gymnasiums and conference centers,” Bechara said, noting the administration plans to mobilize clinicians, first responders and military medical personnel to staff the new centers.
This story was originally published January 21, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
