<a href=”https://www.cnn.com/election/2020/candidate/trump” target=”_blank”>President Donald Trump</a> is likely to <a href=”https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/13/politics/states-coronavirus-fema/index.html” target=”_blank”>make an emergency declaration</a> on Friday afternoon that would free up tens of billions of federal dollars to combat coronavirus, according to two people familiar with the decision.

Trump, who is <a href=”http://www.cnn.com/2020/03/13/politics/trump-coronavirus-statement-markets/index.html” target=”_blank”>under pressure to take more decisive action</a> as the virus begins altering everyday life for nearly every American, announced on Friday morning he would convene a news conference to discuss coronavirus at 3 p.m. ET.

O<a href=”http://www.cnn.com/2020/03/12/politics/trump-disaster-declaration/index.html” target=”_blank”>n Thursday</a>, CNN reported that Trump had decided to make the declaration but that it was still undergoing legal review at the White House.

Aides have been weighing such a move for the past several days as a way to provide more resources for <a href=”https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-outbreak-03-12-20-intl-hnk/index.html” target=”_blank”>combating the coronavirus outbreak</a>. Trump is also <a href=”http://www.cnn.com/2020/03/13/politics/coronavirus-relief-congress/index.html” target=”_blank”>debating whether to support a legislative package</a> to combat the outbreak negotiated by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and his Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

“We have things that I can do, we have very strong emergency powers under the Stafford Act,” Trump told reporters Thursday in the Oval Office, referring to the federal law that dictates national disasters and emergencies. “I have it memorized, practically, as to the powers in that act. And if I need to do something, I’ll do it. I have the right to do a lot of things that people don’t even know about.”

But he stopped short of saying whether he planned to approve the new declaration later in the day.

“I don’t want to say that,” he said.

The declaration would free up funding and allow the Federal Emergency Management Agency to head up certain aspects of the outbreak response.

Earlier this week, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, in conjunction with Democratic Sens. Patty Murray of Washington state and Gary Peters of Michigan, sent a letter asking Trump to “immediately” consider disaster declaration requests for the coronavirus.

There are two types of declarations that a governor could request from the President — emergency declarations and major disaster declarations, both of which are authorized by the Stafford Act.

A declaration would put FEMA — the agency within the Department of Homeland Security that would be activated by a declaration — in a position to help provide additional supplies, assist with logistics like the transport of residents if needed, and put up temporary medical facilities.