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To that end, the White House announced Thursday morning that COVID response coordinator Jeff Zients will be replaced in April by Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, who has taken on a prominent role on television networks communing the pandemic to Americans.

Jha signaled that the role will be less about vaccine distribution and more about preparing for a future of living with the virus -- but he takes on the position with little political experience, at a time when the White House desperately needs Congressional funding to be prepared, and faces the prospect of dealing with a potential new surge from the BA.2 variant.

On Thursday, Pelosi expressed her anger and disappointment over Congress’ inability to pass additional COVID relief funding after House Democrats were forced to strip $15.6 billion from the spending bill last week over concerns about how the bill would be paid for. Republicans don’t think there is a need for additional funding, and Democrats don’t want that funding to be offset by cutting into other programs.

\"PHOTO:
Andrew Harnik/AP
PHOTO: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi smiles during her weekly news conference on Capitol Hill, March 17, 2022.
>

“With all the protections of the Taoiseach of Ireland, he gets a positive diagnosis. Barack Obama, the former president of the United States, has a positive indication. What chance does a poor person with a big family, living in a small apartment working in a situation that may or may not be safe…?” Pelosi said Thursday, following a meeting with Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Pelosi has been fuming that members of her own party held up passage of the COVID funding last week, sources familiar told ABC News.

\"I think we need all the money we can get, to have the resources that we need to fight COVID,\" she added. \"The last thing we need is another variant.\"

Just this week, second gentleman Doug Emhoff tested positive for COVID, marking the first time a member of the first or second families shared a positive test result. Former President Barack Obama, who also shares an Irish heritage with Biden, also announced he tested positive for COVID one day prior.

ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett, Oren Oppenheim, Chad Murray and Mariam Khan contributed to this report.

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