BEFORE GOP MEDDLING! This thread compliments this one:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=8372367&mesg_id=8372367House-passed stimulus bill includes pandemic fundingLisa Schnirring and Robert Roos * Staff Writers
Jan 29, 2009 (CIDRAP News) – Yesterday the US House of Representatives passed an $819 billion economic stimulus bill that included funding for pandemic influenza and bioterrorism countermeasures, and now the Senate will debate its version of the measure, which also includes spending on some of the same items.
President Barack Obama and several Democratic legislators have hailed the public health spending provisions as a way to create jobs and boost the productivity of the American workforce. However, some lawmakers oppose spending provisions, particularly those aimed at government departments.
The House bill includes $900 million for biomedical advanced research and development, pandemic flu, and cyber security to help the nation better prevent or respond to a natural or man-made biological threat, according to a Jan 15 statement from Trust for America's Health (TFAH), a nonprofit health advocacy group in Washington, DC.
The House plan also includes $3 billion for disease prevention, including funding for state and local health departments and immunization programs, and $20 billion for health information technology.
Jeff Levi, PhD, executive director of TFAH, said in the statement, "This is an unprecedented one-time investment in public health." In 2008, a TFAH expert panel reported that the country faces annual $20 billion shortfalls in critical public health program funding across state, local, and federal levels.
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/panflu/news/jan2909stimulus-jw.html AFTER GOP MEDDLING!Stimulus bill headed for passage minus pandemic fundsRobert Roos News Editor
Feb 13, 2009 (CIDRAP News) – With money for pandemic influenza preparedness stripped from a huge economic stimulus bill that appears headed for final congressional approval, public health advocates say they have to look to the regular budgeting process for the next chance to get some pandemic funding.
The House of Representatives had included $900 million in pandemic preparedness funds in its version of the massive stimulus package, but it appeared that all but $50 million was removed by the conference committee that ironed out differences between the House and Senate versions, said Richard Hamburg, government relations director for the nonpartisan, nonprofit group Trust for America's Health (TFAH).
The House passed the $787 billion compromise bill this afternoon by a vote of 246-183, with no Republican support, the New York Times reported. The story said the Senate was expected to approve the measure this evening.
The $50 million left in the bill, listed as a Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund, is for improving information technology security at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Hamburg said. The sums removed included $420 million for pandemic flu and $430 million for biomedical advanced research and development, he reported.
Now it's back to the regular budget process for those seeking pandemic and other public health preparedness funds, leaders of public health groups say.
"Hopefully in the president's budget for 2010 there will again be funding and decisions about funding for preparedness," said Robert (Bobby) Pestronk, executive director of the National Association of County and City Health Officials. The Obama administration is expected to propose its 2010 budget soon.
Nothing left in pipeline
Hamburg said there is no more pandemic preparedness money in the pipeline for state and local public health. "The $600 million that was made available in December 2005, in the fiscal year 2006 emergency supplemental bill, the last of those dollars went out the door this past August," he said.
In addition to the cutoff of pandemic flu funding, public health agencies have seen their "all hazards" preparedness funding drop about 25% since 2005, Hamburg said.
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/panflu/news/feb1309funding.html February 7, 2009
WASHINGTON (CNN) --
Boehner's criticisms echoed those of the House-passed bill; he said the plan was focused on slow-moving and wasteful spending rather than immediate relief.
"This is not what the American people want; nor is it what the president called for at the start of the process," he said. "Both of these massively flawed proposals should be scrapped in favor of a truly bipartisan plan that will help our economy preserve and create jobs. The American people want and deserve nothing less."
Sen. Ben Nelson, a Democrat from Nebraska and one of the chief negotiators of the plan, said senators had trimmed the plan to $827 billion in tax cuts and spending on infrastructure, housing and other programs that would create or save jobs.
"We trimmed the fat, fried the bacon and milked the sacred cows," Nelson said as debate began. Watch CNN analysts discuss what they think the stimulus deal means »
According to a senior Democratic aide, items fully eliminated from the plan include $55 million for historic preservation and $122 million for new Coast Guard polar icebreaker/cutters
According to several senators, the revised version of the plan also axed money for school construction and nearly $90 million for fighting pandemic flu.
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/06/stimulus/index.html
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