Covid Aid in Congress Counts on Bipartisan Support for Research

The White House’s last-ditch effort to secure Covid money this year relies heavily on Congress’s fondness for funding medical research, but research advocates expressed skepticism that support will translate into new dollars.

The Biden administration submitted a supplemental funding request to Congress this week that includes $9.25 billion in additional Covid-19 response money—less than half of the $22.4 billion it requested a few months ago.

But just $2.5 billion would pay for continued access to vaccines, treatments for the uninsured, and maintaining the national stockpile.

More than half the request—$5 billion—would fund research to support the next generation of ...