It's the Republicans' fault. Even though Democrats have been in charge of spending for the last two years and they currently run the entire federal government.
When House Appropriations Committee chairman David Obey, the Wisconsin Democrat who has long championed investment in pandemic preparation, included roughly $900 million for that purpose in this year's emergency stimulus bill, he was ridiculed by conservative operatives and congressional Republicans.
Obey and other advocates for the spending argued, correctly, that a pandemic hitting in the midst of an economic downturn could turn a recession into something far worse -- with workers ordered to remain in their homes, workplaces shuttered to avoid the spread of disease, transportation systems grinding to a halt and demand for emergency services and public health interventions skyrocketing. Indeed, they suggested, pandemic preparation was essential to any responsible plan for renewing the U.S. economy.
But former White House political czar Karl Rove and key congressional Republicans -- led by Maine Senator Susan Collins -- aggressively attacked the notion that there was a connection between pandemic preparation and economic recovery.
Of course, the reality is different from propaganda like this piece. If pandemic preparation were so important to Democrats, they could have cut $900 million in pork projects to cover the costs. Maybe even a project or two that benefit Obey's son.
On top of this, there's little evidence money from the stimulus bill would have been spent soon enough to prevent the dozen deaths in the U.S. reported so far (btw, that would be $75,000,000 per life saved). And, as Don Surber notes, Democrats could put through an emergency appropriation to cover the swine flu emergencie.
An emergency appropriation could be made after the fact — as we do every disaster be it hurricanes, tornadoes or blizzards. Is he saying by not appropriating money for these certain disasters that Democrats favor hurricanes, tornadoes and blizzards?
Of course not.
This is just the plan of the Democrats running every branch of the federal government to shirk their responsibility and blame Republicans. Every problem, national emergency, natural disaster or downturn is going to be blamed on Republicans, even though they aren't in charge of anything. This White House has already proven that, when faced with difficulties, it is unwilling to solve problems. The main goal is to score political points.
UPDATE: Maybe if Obama had a Secretary of Health and Human Services, he wouldn't need to blame people who aren't in power.
UPDATE: Chuck Schumer opposed flu pandemic funding, too. And one person at Daily KOS is sane. Miracles abound!
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