The White House asked Congress to approve US$1.5 billion on Tuesday in a response to the fast spreading swine flu outbreak that has sickened over 60 in the United States.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told a press conference that President Barack Obama raised the request to Congress in a letter "out of an abundance of caution" in order to "enhance our nation's capability to respond to the potential spread of this outbreak."

Obama said in the letter that the funds could be used to build up antiviral stockpiles, develop a vaccine, support the US public health response to the outbreak and help international organizations stem its spread.

It could also go to supplementing the international response to the outbreak, with cases detected as far a field as Europe, Israel, and New Zealand, he added.

The United States has geared up its response after the swine flu outbreak beginning in Mexico more than two weeks ago spread to several American states including Texas, California and New York and has left at least 65 sick.

The US government has declared a Public Health Emergency as a precautionary tool to ensure that it has the necessary resources to respond quickly and effectively.

(Xinhua News Agency April 29, 2009)