This is no time to drop the ball on Covid-19

The failure to include a $15.6 billion pandemic aid package in the omnibus spending bill the House passed on Wednesday is a collective mistake that could come back to haunt us.

While the spending package includes funding for pandemic-related programs like a $140 million increase for the Strategic National Stockpile, these sums are not nearly enough. The White House warned that without adequate funding, the production of at-home rapid tests could slow, while monoclonal antibody drugs would run out by May. And in a letter notifying fellow Democrats that the package would be dropped on Wednesday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the move "heartbreaking."