GOP cut pandemic funding from the stimulus

gee ....could it be it was looked at for a cut because it was not going to stimulate the economy or create jobs which is what the stimulus was supposed to do??
"Another complicating factor: Not all Democrats are certain to vote with the White House. Sen. Ben Nelson (D., Neb.) is working with a dozen or more moderate Democrats to find ways to scale back the package. The senators have identified more than $50 billion in projects they contend don't meet the test of near-term job creation, including $122.5 million for new and renovated polar ice breakers. "
from links within your link.

Stimulus was for job creation. Budget is for this kind of funding. Cheap shot. So next we can expect you to complain about funding cuts if there is a tornado. These are people. Not politcal pawns.

http://www.pandemicflu.gov/news/allocation.html

There was no place for tax cuts in the stimulus either. The entire bill was mishandled, just not as badly as the TARP.

That said, I wanted to make sure you folks saw the Daily Kos piece.

Thank you, Gerald. It's good to know we really need to spend more money on a more over-reaching government.

skf

While I wouldn't click on a link to DailyKos if it assured me free vaccine, I do find several amusing aspects of this line of alleged reasoning put forth by the Party of American Destruction... how the political paradigm has shifted to the extreme such that it is assumed that Congress is now authorized to spend taxpayer money on flu vaccines; an economic "stimulus" package is, in a dRat mindset, also supposed to to prepare us for disasters; I am particularly amused by Conrade Nichols' frequent references to Susan Collins as a "so-called moderate" and "as bad a player as you will find in a town full of bad players"... As your chief operating vermin is prone to saying: "You don't ever want a crisis to go to waste."

Gerald-
Do you really think pandemic flu preparedness funding included in the stimulus bill would have already been put into meaningful use by now? It's BS to try to connect the swine flu issue with the stimulus funding, and you know it. If this is such a critical issue why didn't the Democrat leadership introduce a bill about it on its own?

its easy to take parts of stories and present them out of context, thats sort of lame in my opinion. I think you had a point to make and failed to provide evidence of what the point was, other than to try to paint the GOP as somehow responsible for the cuts in the stimulus therefore assigning blame to the GOP for cuts in pandemic flu preparedness...a little research is your friend....BUSH pushed several times for more pandemic flu funding....are you going to sing his praises?? are you going to go research why it was cut from the final legislation and who was responsible??

"Story of the deleted $900 million
Hamburg said the $900 million that was dropped from the stimulus package essentially represented the final installment of the $7.1 billion that President Bush proposed for pandemic preparedness back in 2005.

In his proposed 2008 budget, Bush asked for a one-time appropriation of $870 million for vaccines, antivirals, and diagnostics, Hamburg explained. But that was cut from the final budget legislation."
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/panflu/news/feb1309fu...

more here....Bush attempting to fund pandemic flu compared to him speaking about threats of terrorism....using the same language and vocabulary etc etc.
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1125104,00.html

Heck, Collins votes with the Dems more than she does the Repubs anyway so IMHO this was a Dem deal. Heck more of the welfare class will be effected by the pig sickness anyway and that will lessen the wagon riders hopefully. If it effects the wagon pullers perhaps the wagon will stop and then the revolution will start in earnest and we will get to fix this mess.

"It would set aside $1 billion for improving port and mass-transit security. It would also provide a $650 million increase in children’s health care funding. An additional $3 billion would go toward converting U.S. military bases that plan to close. “Other domestic beneficiaries include state HIV grant programs, mine safety research, youth violence prevention activities and pandemic flu protection.”

Vote type: Recorded Vote (Help)
A standard vote that requires a simple majority for approval or passage of the legislation.
Result: Passed, 280-142, with 11 not voting.
Date/time: May 24, 2007, 6:45 p.m.
Republican majority opinion: Yes (Help)
Democrat majority opinion: No
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/110/house/1/votes/425/

pandemic flu funding not agreed to by democrats because it was in war funding legislation....so does that mean that democrats didnt want to prepare for pandemic flu? or does it mean this wasnt the place to fund it- just like the stimulus bill wasnt the place to fund it. Funny how these things are a stand when democrats do them and evil when republicans do.

There was no place for tax cuts in the stimulus either.

It's by no means certain that tax cuts alone wouldn't have created the more effective stimulus.

http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2008/12/spending-and-tax-multipliers.html

Gerald your friends at Daily Kos seemed to have changed their tune:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/4/27/724859/-The-Truth-About-Susan-Co...

People are calling and writing her, and so I feel the need -- cited as I am by the top rec'd diary -- to clear these things up. In short:

(1) Susan Collins is not against the idea of pandemic prevention funding
(2) George W Bush actually pushed for this pandemic prevention money in the first place
(3) Chuck Schumer called pandemic prevention funding a "little porky thing"
(4) The money was allocated a month after the stimulus in March's omnibus bill.

Speaking of TARP....here is where the loot went

Note the totals...Congress voted $700 Billion for this scam....they then spent or are spending or propose to spend over $2 TRILLION

http://powerlineblog.com/

http://www.pandemicflu.gov/news/allocation.html

The original Kos article, and Gerald, imply that the EXISTING pandemic funding is either nonexistant, or miniscule. Looks to me like about $400 mil was spent through '07. If needed, we could divert some of the 17.7 mil we now spend (in NIH alone) on autism.
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06700.pdf

I think the GAO is more authoritative than the Kos, don't you?

http://www.gao.gov/htext/d09334.html

Moreover (big surprise) we give away a HUGE chunk of dough to many other countries, which we could retain here to "stimulate" our own economy.

Notes: More recent data reported by the UNSIC and the World Bank on the
distribution of U.S. commitments, as of April 30, 2008, show a similar
focus on certain countries, with Indonesia the largest recipient of
U.S. country-specific commitments (about $48 million), followed by
Vietnam (about $21 million), and Cambodia (about $14 million).

SP welcome to AMG. Yes, the Omnibus spending bill, which the President signed in March, includes $156 million for pandemic influenza research… this is $1.4 million MORE than FY 08 levels.

Heard on WGAN radio at 7AM Tuesday morning--the Democratic legislature cut pandemic funding in Maine last year. Quoting the newsguy--"Oops".

The Press Herald has an editorial about this today, showing again how ill-received this ludicrous DailyKos/netroots crowd is, even in the liberal stronghold of Portland:

The blogosphere has already started to buzz with recriminations aimed at Sen. Susan Collins in light of the international swine flu outbreak.
...
But the senator never said the United States didn't need a better plan for a flu pandemic. Collins' point – and it was a good one – was that the economic stimulus package wasn't the place for new federal programs that didn't have a direct impact on economic growth.

SOURCE

Hillary's Vaccine Shortage
Wall Street Journal, August 15, 2003

...America's vaccine industry’s in serious trouble, with an ever dwindling number of producers/recent severe vaccine shortages. [T]he National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine has...pinned much of the blame on the government vaccine-buying program promoted by former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton...

[A] fundamental cause of the problem: the government purchases 55 percent of the childhood vaccine market at forced discount prices. The result has been "declining financial incentives to develop/produce vaccines."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124087711048861559.html

That said, we should all thank Gerald for wanting to make sure you folks saw the Daily Kos piece.It offered valuable insight, no, make that valuable proof that the dRats are lying liars, and none to honest either. As if any was necessary.

Here is Democrat Chuck Schumer referring to pandemic flu preparedness funding as 'porky stuff':

STATEMENT FROM SENATOR COLLINS’ OFFICE ON PANDEMIC FLU

April 27, 2009

Kevin Kelley, Communications Director for Senator Susan Collins, released this statement in response to blog reports that Senator Collins does not support funding for pandemic flu research.

"As Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, Senator Collins has led hearings on pandemic flu preparedness, worked on "bioshield" legislation and funding, and helped strengthen our nation's preparedness for a pandemic flu.

"Claims that she is opposed to increased funding for pandemic flu research are blatantly false and politically motivated. In fact, in December 2008, Senator Collins joined in a letter to Senate leaders requesting a $905 million increase for the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund at the Department of Health and Human Services.

"During negotiations of the economic stimulus package, Senator Collins always maintained that, though very worthwhile, pandemic flu research funding should go through the regular appropriations process since it did not meet the test of stimulus spending. And, in fact, the Omnibus Appropriations bill that was signed into law in March, less than a month after the stimulus bill, contains $156 million for pandemic influenza research, which is $1.4 million more than the Fiscal Year 2008 level.

"Congress previously appropriated $6.1 billion for pandemic preparedness activities at the Department of Health and Human Services. This funding has been used for stockpiling antiviral drugs for the treatment of more than 50 million Americans, licensing a pre-pandemic influenza vaccine, developing rapid diagnostics and completing the sequencing of the entire genetic blueprints of 2,250 human and avian influenza viruses.

"There is no evidence that federal efforts to address the swine flu outbreak have been hampered by a lack of funds. It is, however, a problem that the Centers for Disease Control and the Department of Health and Human Services still do not have top positions filled. I hope that the Senate will move promptly to confirm Governor Sebelius for HHS Secretary."

SENATE HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE WORK ON PANDEMIC FLU

• On Wednesday, April 29th, the Senate Homeland Security Committee will hold a hearing on the response by the federal government's to the recent outbreak of swine flu in Mexico and our nation's preparedness for a pandemic flu.

• In June 2007, following the release of a GAO report, Senators Collins and Lieberman, called for the Department of Agriculture to enlist the help of the Department of Homeland Security to prevent and control an outbreak of bird flu in the U.S. The Senators' conclusion was based on the report's finding that the USDA had taken initial steps in preventing and controlling an outbreak of Avian influenza virus but was not tapping important federal resources available to it.

• In 2007, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) acknowledged that it was not able to detect a Mexican national with a highly contagious, multiple-drug-resistant form of Tuberculosis at the border, despite having his two last names, middle name, and date of birth. In fact, the man entered the United States 21 times after DHS received this information in April and May of that year.

• Senator Collins inquired about this incident at a Committee hearing held on October 24, 2007. The hearing showed serious inadequacies in the computer name-matching system used DHS to identify terrorists and those who present public health threats at the ports of entry. That system is now being modernized.

• Senator Collins led a subsequent Homeland Security Committee investigation showed that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and DHS must be better prepared to take action when they learn about individuals who present public health threats. Since then, DHS and CDC have instituted revised procedures to govern information sharing and coordination on acting on health threats from outside the U.S.

• Senator Collins also asked GAO to look into these issues and the GAO confirmed the Committee's findings that there was poor coordination between DHS and CDC. It also recommended that DHS and CDC educate state and local health officials about their procedures.

• In October 2007, Senator Collins led a hearing on the effectiveness and funding of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and Project BioShield, within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. BARDA provides an integrated, systematic approach to the development and purchase of the necessary vaccines, drugs, therapies, and diagnostic tools for public health medical emergencies. BARDA manages Project BioShield, which includes the procurement and advanced development of medical countermeasures for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear agents, as well as the advanced development and procurement of medical countermeasures for pandemic influenza.

• In June 2008, Senator Collins led a hearing on the medical surge capacity of local, state and federal medical and emergency response providers. This hearing uncovered serious gaps in this nation's capacity to provide mass care in a coordinated manner should thousands fall ill as a result of pandemic influenza or terrorist attack.

#####

Editor's Note: Guys like this are the spiritual sons of Nazi Propagandist Joseph Goebbels. If this is journalism, I’m a Volkswagen.

This guy Schultz is the laughing stock of the Leftist Media, and that is a high bar to attain with the likes of Mr. Maddow and Miss Olberman in the hunt. His inbred-pit-bull intelligence is toothless, and his gums are bleeding. His fifteen minutes are nearing completion. That said, he claims his temperature is going up in this video clip - I read that that is a sign of the swine flu. Should he be quarantined? Oh, wait - isn't having a show on MSNBC a form of quarantine?

Nelson defends removing flu money from stimulus bill
By DON WALTON / The Lincoln Journal Star
Wednesday, Apr 29, 2009 - 01:53:42 pm CDT

Sen. Ben Nelson on Wednesday defended removal of pandemic flu research funding from the economic stimulus package in February and said he’ll support a $1.5 billion emergency flu-fighting appropriation now.

“The stimulus package was not designed to deal with emergencies,” Nelson said. “It was a jobs bill.”

http://journalstar.com/articles/2009/04/29/news/local/doc49f888ba7d20598...

Gerald, Nelson is absoutely right. It is a job's and economic stimulus bill, not emergency legislation. The fact it is terrible legislation is a fact missed by way too many.

In the event emergency legislation is NEEDED, both republicans and democrats will do the right thing.