Why I Am Potentially Very Angry with Sue Collins
My son Sam is scheduled to come to the US for a weeklong visit. I’m driving to Albany to get him this Saturday.
But thanks to Sue Collins and the GOP,who slashed 80% of funding for pandemic preparedness the US is simply not prepared if the swine flu epidemic develops into a full-blown pandemic:
The attack on pandemic preparation became so central to the GOP strategies that AP reported in February: “Republicans, meanwhile, plan to push for broader and deeper tax cuts, to trim major spending provisions that support Democrats’ longer-term policy goals, and to try to knock out what they consider questionable spending items, such as $870 million to combat the flu and $400 million to slow the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.”
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.”
Even now, Collins continues to use her official website to highlight the fact that she led the fight to strip the pandemic preparedness money out of the Senate’s version of the stimulus measure. [note: actually, it's scrubbed because Collins doesn't believe in accountability.]
The Republicans essentially succeeded. The Senate version of the stimulus plan included no money whatsoever for pandemic preparedness. In the conference committee that reconciled the House and Senate plans, Obey and his allies succeeded in securing $50 million for improving information systems at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
But state and local governments, and the emergency services that would necessarily be on the frontlines in any effort to contain a pandemic, got nothing.…
They were just playing politics, in the exceptionally narrow and irresponsible manner that characterized the Republican response to the stimulus debate – and that, because of Democratic compromises in the Senate, dumbed down the plan President Obama ultimately signed.
No serious player in Washington has been unaware of the fears with regard to a flu pandemic. They have been well-publicized and well-discussed. Even Collins admitted as she objected to the House allocation for preparedness: “I think that everybody in the room is concerned about a pandemic flu.”
So Rove, Collins and those who echoed their know-nothing appeals understood that they were wrong.
But they bet that they would be able to score their political points without any consequences.
Now that fears of a pandemic have been raised, however, it is appropriate to ask whether individuals who are so manifestly irresponsible and partisan should be taken seriously.
This is an especially important concern with regard to Collins, who portrays herself as a moderate who tries to make things work in Washington.
Senate Democratic leaders bowed to Collins in the process of crafting their chamber’s version of the stimulus. In doing so, they eliminated more than 80 percent of the modest amount of money that had been allocated for pandemic preparedness — and all of the money that would have helped emergency services.
Collins played politics with public health, and the economic recovery. That makes her about as bad a player as you will find in a town full of bad players.
But Senate Democrats bent to her demands. That makes them, at the very least, complicit in the weakening of what needed to be a muscular plan.
Already, the EU is urging citizens to avoid travel to the US, and if it gets worse over the next few days I am worried that Canada (which has confirmed at least 6 swine flu cases so far) may be next.
So if my kid can’t come down to visit, I know who to blame. And if he gets sick while he’s here, I also know who to blame.
I don’t get to see my kid too often, and Sue Collins, who puts her party ahead of the health and well-being of all Americans, will deserve a lion’s share of the blame if his trip is cancelled or his mom is turned away at the border.
April 27th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
[...] Original post by Brendan Calling [...]