The Biden administration privately gave Congress an estimate this month on how much it would take to combat the monkeypox outbreak in the U.S., to match "the scope and urgency of the current situation."
As the Washington Post reported, that estimate was reportedly set at nearly $7 billion.
The estimate was detailed in a memo addressed to President Biden and obtained by the Post, according to a report.
While not a formal request for Congressional aid, it was presented by White House aides at the request of Democratic leaders on a Senate health committee. A Democratic aide confirmed details in the memo.
On Saturday, the World Health Organization's Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared monkeypox a global emergency, the Associated Press reported.
“We have an outbreak that has spread around the world rapidly through new modes of transmission, about which we understand too little,” Tedros said. “I know this has not been an easy or straightforward process and that there are divergent views."