‘Shark Tank’ Needed to Solve Virus Testing Woes: Top Senators (2)

The NIH would set up a $1 billion “shark tank” fund to fulfill a shortage in Covid-19 tests needed to reopen the nation, under a bill championed by two key Republican senators.

Sens. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) released their plan Tuesday, the same day the Senate passed an emergency stimulus package of up to $500 billion.

Blunt, chairman of the Senate’s health spending panel, said hours before the vote that he expected to provide the National Institutes of Health with $1.8 billion and that $1 billion of it should support the testing program.

The Senate bill provides ...