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The Trump administration is seeking $1.4 billion from Congress to address the worsening Ebola outbreak in Africa, including $800 million for the construction of a controversial quarantine facility in Kenya, according to a White House funding request released late Wednesday.
The Ebola funding is part of a much larger $87.6 billion request to pay for the Iran war and other priorities.
White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought made the request in a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).
“These funds would be used to limit the spread of Ebola beyond the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda to other vulnerable nations and ensure the virus does not reach U.S. shores,” Vought wrote in the letter.
The Trump administration has been reluctant to bring back any American citizen who was infected or exposed to Ebola, so it was building a quarantine facility to hold Americans who were infected or even potentially exposed.
In past outbreaks, U.S. citizens who were infected or exposed were brought home to the U.S. for treatment and monitoring at a network of specialized facilities.
However, construction of the facility was halted by a Kenyan court. The country’s health minister initially ignored the ruling but earlier this week ordered an immediate halt to the construction after being held in contempt of court. It’s not clear how the supplemental funding would be used if Kenya won’t allow the facility to be built.
The supplemental includes $90 million for diplomatic efforts and “unanticipated needs” related to Ebola, including the medical evacuation of U.S. citizens.
The outbreak is being driven by the rare Bundibugyo virus, which has no vaccine or treatment, though a clinical trial testing two drugs is set to begin next week.
The virus has infected more than 1,000 people and killed 267 and is spreading at an alarming rate in Congo. There are more than 1,100 confirmed cases, and the outbreak is already the third-largest on record.
The U.S. has pledged hundreds of millions of dollars toward the Ebola response, including $107 million in emergency funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s infectious disease rapid response reserve fund to strengthen both international response and domestic readiness.
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