Trump announces Canadian border closure, $46B funding request
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced on Twitter he was temporarily closing the border with Canada to nonessential traffic Wednesday morning ahead of a White House briefing.
“Trade will not be affected. Details to follow!” he wrote.
The president also sent lawmakers a $46 billion emergency funding request to help the government fight coronavirus and to reverse cuts proposed just last month to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the front-line agency in fighting the battle.
The huge request, delivered overnight, would earmark more than $20 billion for the military and for veterans health care. It would fund production of vaccines and treatments, bail out Amtrak for $500 million in revenue losses, and build 13 quarantine centers along the southern border to care for migrants in the U.S. illegally.
The funding is sure to get quick approval from Congress as part of a third emergency coronavirus bill that’s being developed on Capitol Hill.
On Twitter, Trump teased “very important news from the FDA concerning the Chinese Virus!” at Wednesday’s briefing, a label that has drawn criticism from China and the left.
Asked about his use of the term during Tuesday’s briefing by the President’s Coronavirus Task Force, Trump said, “Well, China was putting out information, which was false, that our military gave this to them. That was false. And rather than having an argument, I said I have to call it where it came from. It did come from China, so I think it’s a very accurate term.”
Contact Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7391. Follow @DebraJSaunders on Twitter. The Associated Press contributed to this report.