Matthew Yglesias » Susan Collins and Pandemic Flu

Apr 26th, 2009 at 11:55 pm

Susan Collins and Pandemic Flu

Boy, it sure is great that Susan Collins made sure we didn’t waste any money on pandemic flu preparations in the Recovery Act. That’s moderation I can believe in!

Update And then there's Chuck Schumer: " 'All those little porky things that the House put in, the money for the [National] Mall or the sexually transmitted diseases or the flu pandemic, they're all out,' Schumer said." Nice Work!

Comments
40

Filed under: Stimulus, Susan Collins,

40 Responses to “Susan Collins and Pandemic Flu”

24AheadDotCom Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 12:13 am
Good to know that MattY reads a blog even more disreputable than ThinkProgress. Good job. Excellent work.

However, it might be helpful to note that Collins wasn’t opposing flu funds. She was just opposing putting it in the stimulus bill.

Since that didn’t sink in, maybe MattY will understand it this way: the stimulus bill was for “stimulus”. It wasn’t a “Giant Whatever Makes MattY and CAP Happy Giant Mega Spending Bill With Everything Under the Sun” bill.

In other words, flu funds could be put in a separate bill.

OK. Since that didn’t sink in, let me try it again…

[3832 tries later] OK. Since that didn’t sink in, let me try it again…
The CAP Cleaning Staff Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 12:25 am
Since that didn’t sink in, maybe MattY will understand it this way: the stimulus bill was for “stimulus”.
Where “stimulus” is apparently defined as whatever is convenient for making your argument. Here’s the linked article from February:

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.

So to sum up, we have agencies pulling back on critical, lifesaving spending because there’s no money in the pipeline. Restoring that funding would have put money into the economy immediately, and made us all safer. Too bad we had to eat shit and die.
Kolohe Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 12:32 am
1) Based on the recovery.gov site and links, I’m not sure if any stimulus money has actually been spent yet. For most agencies the block grants just got released to the states.

2) The pandemic flu preparation ‘cuts’ represent the last bit of some 6 billion already spent over the last 4 years.

3) If I’m reading the links correctly, it mostly cut just the state and local funding but maintained the federal funding. If you assume the current administration is competent at handling a crisis, the fact that only the feds have the money and resources shouldn’t be a problem.

4) Most of the money that was ‘cut’ was done so because it was going to be included in the regular budget process. Which it was. HR 1105 (the 2009 omnibus appropriations act) signed a month and a half ago includes the 507 billion that was originally planed a year ago when the FY 09 budget process started. So that money is available now, and really the way federal budgeting actually works never actually went away.
(page 256 of this (large) pdf

True the money for state and local preparations never came back. But considering the nature of this ‘pandemic’ so far, I am much more comfortable with the money being in federal hands.
Kolohe Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 12:37 am
” Too bad we had to eat shit and die.”

Also mentioned in the Feb article:

“Overall it looks like there will be over $1 billion available,” Pestronk [executive director of the National Association of County and City Health Officials] said [of the stimulus bill]. “I think that while the amounts initially talked about in the Senate committee and in the full House were greater, this is still a success for the public health community.”
Who bankrolls Lonewacko? Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 1:02 am
Since that didn’t sink in, let me try it again…

It’d be funny if it wasn’t sad: no one cares about your shitty blog, Lonewacko, no matter who underwrites your hateful nativist obsessions. Eventually, you might work that out.
pete from baltimore Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 1:51 am
I agree with 24aheaddotcom in comment 1 . It was more about where the funding belonged .The bill was good in many ways ,but it was hastily created.

Secondly ,there would not have been a stimulus bill without Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe , both senators from maine.

Some of you democrates should remember they were the reason Bill Clinton did NOT get impeached by the senate back in the 90’s.

They both are not perfect. But they both have a record of being fair and voting on principle.

Just because they do not vote with the democrats all of the time, does not make them evil.
pete from baltimore Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 1:59 am
By the way i do not consider Senators Snowe and Collins “moderate” [ a meaningless word that can mean anything].

I think that they are the last of the old fashioned conservatives.Somebody please bring back Warren Rudman as well. And get rid of the phoney “conservatives” that are organiseing “tea parties” while Snowe and Collins are acting as responsible legislatures !
Warren Terra Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 2:42 am
Um, Pete, Lonewacko, you seem to be unaware of this but the idea of the stimulus bill was to throw money at the American economy in the hopes of increasing demand.

Rather than do this by dropping cash onto crowds from helicopters (or the Heritage-inspired plan the Republicans voted for in both chambers, which was permanent tax cuts mostly on the wealthy), there were some attempts to target at least some of the stimulus money to entities that would not only get it into circulation but also might manage to purchase something useful with the money they were spending. The most-often cited examples are roads and other infrastructure projects, but another such intended way to spend the money was to use it to buy some preparedness for increased epidemic flu outbreaks.

Silly, I know.
Micheline Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 6:15 am
Just to add to what Warren Terra said another reason David Obey included this:

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.

Emphasis Added.

h/t: The Nation

Greg Dworkin of FluWiki and Daily Kos wrote about this in February.
Mathis Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 7:38 am
Hey, Yglesias, if you do a little digging, you’ll realize that another opponent of stimulus money for pandemic flu was that bastard right-wing conservative Chuck Schumer!! So, really, maybe a retraction? Amendment? Something a little less knee-jerky than this?
Mathis Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 7:42 am
[Schumer] said the compromise hammered out between Senate Democrats and moderate Republicans – which has enough support to get it past any threat of a filibuster – was far better than that passed by the House on Jan. 29. “All those little porky things that the House put in, the money for the [National] Mall or the sexually transmitted diseases or the flu pandemic, they’re all out,” Schumer said.

Stupid lefty-pinko cosmopolitan New York Democrats!

Seriously, I’m a fan of the stimulus, think it was necessary and could have been bigger, but to put the blame squarely on Collins and not also on the many Democrats who wished to cut the stimulus down is just disingenuous.
Don Williams Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 8:10 am
Re Mathis at 10: “Hey, Yglesias, if you do a little digging, you’ll realize that another opponent of stimulus money for pandemic flu was that bastard right-wing conservative Chuck Schumer!! So, really, maybe a retraction?”
————-
Er.. Mathis, your attempt at sarcasm FAILS. Because you fail to realize that some progressives like myself DO consider Chuck Schumer to be a “bastard right-wing conservative”.

Consider, for example, Chuckie serving on the Board of Advisors of the Neocon “Foundation for Defense of Democracies” –and being in bed with such fellow Advisors as Richard Perle, Charles, Krauthammer, William Kristol, Gary Bauer,etc.
The CAP Cleaning Staff Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 8:14 am
This kind of emergency public health spending should never be allowed to lapse. If Susan Collins was concerned about which bill the spending belonged in, she should have proposed an emergency appropriation for it. Otherwise the Stimulus bill was a good place. It’s good to be consistent, but little minds and all that.

This is all aside from the fact that the money would have been (b) reasonably good “shovel ready” stimulus spending, and (b) a great way to protect the economy from the nasty effects of a pandemic scare.
joe from Lowell Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 8:40 am
However, it might be helpful to note that Collins wasn’t opposing flu funds. She was just opposing putting it in the stimulus bill.

So, where is it, Whack Job? Since it’s so easy to just put that funding into another bill – so incredibly easy to put that funding into another bill that only a “disreputable” hack would say that funding had been denied – where is it? Where’s the bill where the funding was included?

What’s that? Speak up, son, we can’t hear you.

Oh, I see. The funding really was cut. That’s what I thought.
joe from Lowell Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 8:42 am
If you assume the current administration is competent at handling a crisis, the fact that only the feds have the money and resources shouldn’t be a problem.

No, no, no! Virtually all of the pandemic preparedness infrastructure put in place over the past decade has revolved around the local response – local Boards of Health and Health Agents. I’ll bet everyone reading this can remember skipping over a boring story in their local newspaper about a regional preparedness drill, carried out by a collection of local agencies.
joe from Lowell Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 8:56 am
Hey, Yglesias, if you do a little digging, you’ll realize that another opponent of stimulus money for pandemic flu was that bastard right-wing conservative Chuck Schumer!! So, really, maybe a retraction? Amendment? Something a little less knee-jerky than this?

Why, exactly, would he have anything to retract?

Do you think the observation that the country gets screwed when “moderate” Democrats go along with the Republicans somehow undermines Matt’s point? Perhaps you missed the SECOND SENTENCE of this TWO-SENTENCE POST: That’s moderation I can believe in!
Don Williams Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 8:59 am
Re Kolohe at 3: “True the money for state and local preparations never came back. But considering the nature of this ‘pandemic’ so far, I am much more comfortable with the money being in federal hands.”
————–
Because that approach worked so well in protecting the people of New Orleans, hein?
Jeffrey Davis Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 9:02 am
As Keynes said, you could have men just digging holes and burying money. The point was to get money into the hands of people who’ll spend it.
John Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 9:08 am
A couple of points here -

Firstly, Chuck Schumer is a giant asshole, and I’m happy to see he’s made an ass of himself.

Secondly, for all Chuck Schumer’s praise of stuff that turned out to make him look like an ass, it’s not as though Chuck Schumer would have voted against the bill if it had contained the “little porky things” like flu preparedness. Collins apparently would have.

Thirdly, yes, there wouldn’t have been a stimulus without Collins. Given that she had so much leverage over it, it’s sad that she used it to do stupid, counter-productive things for no reason. Her entire position was based not on the actual content, but on looking like a good responsible “centrist.” This is not any way to govern, even if it’s slightly less irresponsible than the rest of her party’s position.
low-tech cyclist Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 9:09 am
Schumer’s comment is a perfect illustration of why this isn’t strictly partisan, but is rather all about Versailles on the Potomac.

Sure, the GOP gets most of our fire because they’re wrong about practically everything, and they totally screwed up this country (and Iraq too) over the past eight years. But the Dems who have enabled them at every turn aren’t exactly off our shit-list.
joe from Lowell Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 9:13 am
Firstly, Chuck Schumer is a giant asshole, and I’m happy to see he’s made an ass of himself.

Seriously, where in the world do these Republican trolls get the idea that “You’d better stop saying that, because this story will make Chuck Schumer look bad, too!” is an effective way to threaten liberals?

News flash, digital brownshirts: we’re not you! We don’t value loyalty to party leaders above all over virtues! In fact, most of us don’t like Chuck Schumer very much, and that’s largely a consequence of him folding to Republican demands in an effort to position himself as a moderate.

Congratulations, you’ve made the point that Democrats who don’t take a hard line against Republican dumbassery, in the pursuit of moderate credentials, can be complicit in the harm the Republicans do to the nation. Good job, I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Don Williams Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 9:13 am
Re Kolohe, we all saw how well Bush’s FEMA worked at handling a disaster at a single point — with access to the full resources of the rest of the country.

Now imagine how well FEMA would work if disaster struck everywhere at once — as occurs with a flu pandemic.

But as ole Rumsfeld noted, you go to war with the government you have — not the best government or the government you would like to have.

Obama is sailing a ship of state that has been subjected to 8 years of Republican ideological dry rot — and which still has a lot of Republican congressional barnacles clinging to her underside and retarding her progress.
Mathis Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 9:24 am
joe from lowell: I guess you missed it where I said that I supported the stimulus and wished it were larger? Support for more federal funding makes me a digital brownshirt!! Yippee!!
S.P. Gass Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 9:25 am
The best way to prepare for a flu pandemic is to wash your hands frequently.
Mathis Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 9:25 am
Er, on second reading, maybe you weren’t directing your comment at me? I can’t tell. Your anger seems a bit misdirected. I’m not sure there are a lot of “digital brownshirts” commenting on Yglesias’ blog.
joe from Lowell Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 9:39 am
I didn’t miss anything, Mathis. Your statement of feelings about the overall stimulus – however much good faith they represent – are wholly irrelevant to your argument, my counter-argument, and the point Matt raises in his post.

I’m not sure there are a lot of “digital brownshirts” commenting on Yglesias’ blog. Either you’re kidding, or you’ve never read his comment threads before.
Don Williams Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 9:42 am
Senator Collins and Senator Schumer’s actions seem particularly STUPID given the massive economic damage a flu pandemic could inflict if it managed to evade public health containment measures.

But then Chuck Schumer has a history of enabling national disasters — his gun control advocacy dragged the Democratic Party over a cliff in 1994 and gave the Republicans control of Congress from 1994-2006. His whoring for Wall Street helped bring on the current financial disaster. A flu pandemic would just be icing on the cake.
rickhavoc Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 10:03 am
Easy there, S.P. Gass. Next you’ll have folks inflating their tires to conserve fuel.
Tyro Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 10:10 am
Republicans complained about Volcano Monitoring, and a volcano erupted. Then they complained about funds for pandemic flu, and we have a swine flu outbreak. Circumstances are conspiring to prove Republicans wrong.
Don Williams Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 10:21 am
RE Tyro at 29 “Republicans complained about Volcano Monitoring, and a volcano erupted. Then they complained about funds for pandemic flu, and we have a swine flu outbreak. Circumstances are conspiring to prove Republicans wrong.”
———
That’s because -as Stephen Colbert has noted — Reality has a well known Liberal bias.

I myself would add “financial deregulation” to the list.
Jeffrey Davis Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 10:24 am
I myself would add “financial deregulation” to the list.

And AGW.
Cyrus Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 10:25 am
Circumstances are conspiring to prove Republicans wrong.

It’s well known, facts have a liberal bias.
Those Silly Republicans « Truelogic’s Weblog Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 11:15 am
[...] the conservative wing of their party by standing up against extremely important funding priorities looks extremely shortsighted. Ironically, those ultra conservatives in office who led the fight against the stimulus, like Gov. [...]
ET Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 11:32 am
Aren’t the residents of Queens part of Schumer’s constituency? And aren’t there cases of the swine flu in Queens?

Wonder if that still looks “porky” now?
S.P. Gass Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 11:53 am
Easy there, S.P. Gass. Next you’ll have folks inflating their tires to conserve fuel.

Absolutely
mike Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
The best way to prepare for a flu pandemic is to wash your hands frequently.

No, it’s to spend $6 Billion. See, we didn’t spend money on the flu, and now people are getting the flu. These are truly the worst of times.
Kolohe Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
@Don Williams-
Some people say that there is no difference between George Bush and Barack Obama. I am not one of those people.

@joe #14
Most of the funds were ‘restored’ in the link #3. (the ominbus bill signed a month and a half ago)
TheTradingReport » Blog Archive » Government Spending We Don’t Need: Susan Collins Edition Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
[...] Susan Collins and Pandemic Flu: Boy, it sure is great that Susan Collins made sure we didn’t waste any money on pandemic flu preparations in the Recovery Act. That’s moderation I can believe in! [...]
joe from Lowell Says:
April 27th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
@joe #14
Most of the funds were ‘restored’ in the link #3. (the ominbus bill signed a month and a half ago)

Except for the most important funds – the funding for local response.
Weekend link dump for May 3 « Off the Kuff Says:
May 3rd, 2009 at 4:00 pm
[...] and via Yglesias, how sweet it is that Sen. Susan Collins of Maine made sure we didn’t waste any money on [...]

Matt Yglesias

Susan Collins and Pandemic Flu

40 Responses to “Susan Collins and Pandemic Flu”

Blogroll