After an evening meeting with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, HHS Secretary Alex Azar and Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia, President Trump has announced his support for House Resolution 6201 – The Cononavirus Response Act.

You can find the text of the House Bill HERE

President Trump is exercising statutory authorities to declare a national emergency in response to the coronavirus.  The unprecedented action the President is taking invites States, territories, and tribes to access over $42 billion in existing funding to combat the coronavirus.

♦ The Administration has taken decisive action to ensure State, local, and tribal leaders have the resources they need to provide protective measures for their communities.

• The Small Business Administration also has authority and available funding to make over $7 billion in loans to qualifying small businesses to assist economic recovery.

♦ President Trump is directing further actions across his Administration in response to the coronavirus.

• The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has announced guidance to limit medically unnecessary visits to nursing homes to protect vulnerable elderly Americans
• The Secretary of the Education will be waiving interest on all student loans held by the Federal Government.
• The President is directing the Department of Energy to purchase large quantities of crude oil for the strategic reserve.

♦ The President is urging every State to set up emergency operational centers and is asking every hospital to activate its emergency preparedness plan.

EMPOWERING HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS: The President’s emergency declaration will give healthcare providers on the front lines of this pandemic the flexibility they need to respond.

♦ President Trump continues to cut through every piece of unnecessary red tape that may hinder our response efforts and make every Federal resource available.

♦ The President will empower the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to waive provisions of certain laws and regulations and give maximum flexibility to healthcare providers to care for their patients.

♦ The declaration will provide HHS with critical authorities to waive:

• Certain laws to enable telehealth, remote doctors’ visits, and hospital check-ins
• Licensing requirements so doctors from other states can provide services in areas with the greatest need.
• Critical Access Hospital requirements to allow those hospitals to have more beds and longer lengths of stay
• The requirement of a 3-day hospital stay prior to admission to a nursing home.
• Rules hindering hospitals’ ability to bring additional physicians on board or obtain needed office space.
• Restrictions on where hospitals can care for patients.

♦ The Administration will be working to eliminate every obstacle possible to ensure healthcare providers can deliver Americans the care they need.

RAPIDLY EXPANDING TESTING: The Trump Administration is working to rapidly expand coronavirus testing across the nation and make sure Americans who need them have access.

♦ President Trump is mobilizing resources across the Federal Government to accelerate testing and expand access for more Americans.

• The President wants to make sure that those who need a test can get a test safely, quickly, and conveniently.

♦ The Administration is working with the private sector to open up drive-through testing collection sites in critical areas impacted by the coronavirus.

♦ The Administration is working with Google to develop a website Americans can go to determine whether a test is needed and, if so, facilitate testing at a nearby location.

♦ The Food and Drug Administration is issuing emergency authorization for new commercial coronavirus tests that will help significantly expand testing across the country.

• One new test produced by Roche has already been authorized and authorization is coming for another test very shortly.
• Up to 2 million additional tests are expected to be available next week thanks to these efforts.

♦ President Trump and his Administration are working to provide maximum flexibility for States to approve labs for coronavirus testing.

♦ HHS recently announced it is providing funding to help accelerate the development of two rapid diagnostic tests.

♦ The Administration has designated Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir to take the lead in coordinating testing efforts to ensure seamless access for patients, doctors, and hospitals.

♦ The Administration continues to cut red tape that restricted who qualifies for testing.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including sections 201 and 301 of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) and consistent with section 1135 of the Social Security Act (SSA), as amended (42 U.S.C. 1320b-5), do hereby find and proclaim that the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States constitutes a national emergency, beginning March 1, 2020. Pursuant to this declaration, I direct as follows:

• Section 1. Emergency Authority. The Secretary of HHS may exercise the authority under section 1135 of the SSA to temporarily waive or modify certain requirements of the Medicare, Medicaid, and State Children’s Health Insurance programs and of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Privacy Rule throughout the duration of the public health emergency declared in response to the COVID‑19 outbreak.

• Sec. 2. Certification and Notice. In exercising this authority, the Secretary of HHS shall provide certification and advance written notice to the Congress as required by section 1135(d) of the SSA (42 U.S.C. 1320b-5(d)).

• Sec. 3. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this proclamation shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

• (i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
• (ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b) This proclamation shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(c) This proclamation is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-fourth.

DONALD J. TRUMP