Trump administration trying to block new funds for testing, tracing in upcoming coronavirus relief bill

The resistance to a funding proposal drafted by Senate Republicans has angered several members of the president’s party on Capitol Hill. The F.D.A. has issued emergency approval for pooled testing, a method that allows for much faster tracking of new infections.

The Trump administration has balked at providing billions of dollars to fund coronavirus testing and shore up federal health agencies as the virus surges across the country, complicating efforts to reach agreement on the next round of pandemic aid.

Senate Republicans had drafted a proposal that would allocate $25 billion in grants to states for conducting testing and contact tracing, as well as about $10 billion for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and about $15 billion for the National Institutes of Health, according to a person familiar with the tentative plans, who cautioned that the final dollar figures remained in flux. They had also proposed providing $5.5 billion to the State Department and $20 billion to the Pentagon to help counter the virus outbreak and potentially distribute a vaccine at home and abroad