[Athos]

In honor of Tomder's devotion to heavily-detailed posts on topics of interest.



The Obama administration left a robust pandemic response team in place, but all accounts are that Trump was completely disinterested in understanding the threat posed by a potential viral outbreak, and instead immediately started dismantling the team.

In 2017, Trump's budget request called for massive cuts in spending on scientific research, medical research, and disease prevention, cutting $1.2 billion from the CDC, $82 million from the center that works on vaccine-preventable and respiratory diseases, making a 17% cut to CDC’s global health programs that monitor and respond to disease outbreaks around the world, and cutting 10% from the CDC’s office of public health preparedness and response.

Former CDC director Tom Frieden described the administration's CDC request as “unsafe at any level of enactment. Would increase illness, death, risks to Americans, and health care costs.”

[tomder55]

Tim Morrison stated that he inherited a strong and skilled staff from the emperor. They had come out with a 2018 report (the National Biodefense Strategy of 2018 ) which was published after poor responses by the emperor's team to SARS and Ebola.

He also said that the reorganization of the NSC was necessary after the "bloat that occurred" under Obama, when the staff quadrupled to nearly 400 Even the emperor's team admitted it was too large .Streamlining the agency did nothing to impeded the covid response. Many of the members left with the change in administration ,or were reassigned to other units like bio-weapons . The charge that Trump dismantled the team is grossly false .

Yes Trump's budget called for cuts in various things . Does it matter that Congress did not enact those cuts ? The Dem charge is that he TRIED to make cuts . But the cuts did not happen. Trump proposed cuts in every year in office and every year Congress ignored his budget .

Congress Rejects Trump Proposals to Cut Health Research Funds - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Further the 17% cut proposal is misleading itself . Yes that cut was the proposal .But it was a cut in spending increases . The final cut that Congress enacted was a 2.3% reduction . The CDC easily made up for that . The CDC’s operating budgets, not adjusted for inflation, showed the CDC funding had gone up . If indeed public health was underfunded then the underfunding began during the emperor's reign.

When the covid crisis emerged Trump asked for $2.5 billion more . Congress wanted more . So Trump said :
"

We started out by looking at certain things," Trump said. "We've been working with the Hill very carefully, very strongly, and I think we have good bipartisan spirit for money. We were asking for $2.5 billion and we think that's a lot."
"But the Democrats and I guess Senator [Chuck] Schumer wants us to have much more than that and normally in life, I'd say 'We'll take it, we'll take it.' If they want to give more, we'll do more. We're going to spend whatever's appropriate. Hopefully, we're not going to have to spend so much we really think we've done a great job in keeping it down to a minimum."

Trump Taps Pence to Lead Coronavirus Response, Says Infection Spread Seems to Have 'Gotten Smaller' in China (newsweek.com)

[jlisenbe]

Does it matter that Congress did not enact those cuts ? The Dem charge is that he TRIED to make cuts . But the cuts did not happen. Trump proposed cuts in every year in office and every year Congress ignored his budget.

Exactly correct. And it just goes to show that everyone claims to want a balanced budget, but no one wants to cut spending. There is no realistic level of taxation that would balance this present budget, so we'll just keep overspending until we reach a Venezuela-type of economy where reality begins to make itself apparent.

Further the 17% cut proposal is misleading itself . Yes that cut was the proposal .But it was a cut in spending increases . The final cut that Congress enacted was a 2.3% reduction .

We have to wonder what Athos is complaining about. Surely no serious person believes a 2% cut in spending for CDC resulted in the Covid pandemic, so I really do wonder what the complaint is about.