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GOP Stripped Flu Pandemic Preparedness From Stimulus [UPDATED]



Remember way back in the day, President Obama delivered his Not Really The State Of The Union address, and the GOP trotted out Future Of The Republican Party Supra-Genius Bobbly Jindal to provide a rebuttal? Well, we all had some laughs, didn't we? Mainly because Jindal was all: "They want to spend stimulus money on volcano monitoring? Why everyone knows that the Hill Witch keeps tabs on our volcanoes by floating chicken bones in her own intestinal ichor!" And then Alaska's Mount Redoubt erupted, suggesting there might be something to this "let's monitor volcanoes with government-funded science" idea.

Well, as it turns out, volcano monitoring wasn't the only worthwhile public safety program that was deemed extravagant in the stimulus package, funding for pandemic preparation was axed as well. And playing a critical role was Susan Collins -- for whom the necessity of obtaining her vote is in inverse proportion to the intelligence she shows in policy making.

Via The Nation:

Famously, Maine Senator Collins, the supposedly moderate Republican who demanded cuts in health care spending in exchange for her support of a watered-down version of the stimulus, fumed about the pandemic funding: "Does it belong in this bill? Should we have $870 million in this bill No, we should not."
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Trust for America’s Health Applauds U.S. Response to Swine Flu
Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) today commended the Administration for its fast and effective response to the swine flu outbreak.

In order to continue to respond to this swine flu outbreak and to continue and improve preparations and the capacity to respond to other potential pandemic outbreaks, such as the H5N1 “bird flu,” TFAH recommends:

Completing the funding to implement the National Strategy for Pandemic
Influenza. Former President Bush originally requested $7.1 billion to
carry out research and development for vaccinations, pharmaceuticals,
and medical devices needed to respond to a pandemic. $870 million of
this has never been funded. This funding was originally included in
both the FY 2008 budget and proposed 2009 stimulus bill, but was
removed each time before the bills’ final passage.

— With more than $1 billion of HHS funding, six companies are in various
stages of implementing commercial-scale production of cell-based
methods and/or expanding their vaccine capacity using eggs. By 2011,
U.S. based vaccine production capacity is expected to be at a point in
which it can generate enough pandemic influenza vaccine for every
American within six months of the time that the pandemic virus is
identified, according to the most recent Pandemic Planning Update from
HHS. However, the U.S. will not reach that capacity without completion
of the initial investment.


$870 million left of $7.1 billion that BUSH requested. Changes the whole point of view doesn't it?

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