Associated Press: White House drops plan to cut Ebola funding
“Seeking to revive a $15 billion plan to pare back spending that has languished on Capitol Hill, the White House on Tuesday dropped a proposal to cut $252 million in leftover funding to fight the Ebola virus in Africa. The move came as President Donald Trump took to Twitter to pitch the package of spending cuts, which still faces an uphill struggle in Congress. ‘The HISTORIC Rescissions Package we’ve proposed would cut $15,000,000,000 in Wasteful Spending! We are getting our government back on track,’ Trump tweeted. An Ebola outbreak in Congo led the administration to rethink the cuts…” (Taylor, 6/5).

The Hill: White House walks back proposal to cut Ebola funds
“…The White House initially said the cuts were justified because the outbreak had largely concluded. But health groups argued the money should remain untouched in case of another outbreak. ‘We cannot afford another situation where it takes months for the United States to respond to a global outbreak of a deadly nature,’ the American Society for Microbiology wrote in a letter last month to House leadership…” (Hellmann, 6/5).

Roll Call: Tweaked Trump Cuts Request Restores EPA, Ebola, Sandy Funds
“…The Office of Management and Budget sent a letter to Capitol Hill proposing to reduce the size of the cuts by a combined $515 million, with nearly half of that coming from restoration of $252 million in unspent funds that could potentially be used to combat a renewed Ebola virus outbreak overseas. Democrats have cited the recent Ebola resurgence in the Democratic Republic of Congo as reason to blast Republicans for considering the cuts. … ‘Today’s supplementary special message to the president’s first rescissions package includes several technical and policy updates based on continued administration analysis and discussions with Members of Congress,’ a senior administration official said in a statement…” (Shutt, 6/5).