>> you are welcome back anytime. [chatter] >> negotiations continue on capitol hill over emergency funding for the coronavirus response. leaderstoday, senate mitch mcconnell and chuck schumer spoke about the effort. >> the new coronavirus or covid-19, continues to capture headlines over the weekend. news of the first american deaths related to the disease confirm this is a public health challenge that is upon us. we need to support the federal, state, and local public health officials and health care professionals who are working

overtime to block, delay, and mitigate the spread of the virus. i am grateful that our theirgues, along with appropriations counterparts in the house, work through the weekend on a bipartisan, bicameral agreement to provide supplemental appropriations for the coordinated response. it goes without saying that a challenge like this leaves no time for moving goalposts or performative outrage. the american people deserve their congress to meet this subject head-on with bipartisan and collaborative approach, and i am confident that that is exactly what can and will happen. that our prospects for supplemental appropriations rests in the hands of a bipartisan group of negotiators. i would encourage my democratic colleagues in both houses to let them do their work. it will be important to pass this first benchmark and supply this within the next two weeks. >> over the weekend, cases of

coronavirus have been confirmed in new york, rhode island, florida. officials in washington state have also reported that six americans have died from coronavirus. the first fatalities from the coronavirus in the u.s. needis critical moment, we an administration that acts with persistent and unrelenting transparency, decisiveness, and liens on the expertise of our scientists and doctors. this administration unfortunately has spent years hollowing out the domestic and global health security teams in the executive branch. it has proposed cutting funding from the infectious disease rapid response fund, the emerging infectious disease account, and public health preparedness and response programs. undoubtedly, the trump administration would have been better prepared to