Lawmakers are backing bipartisan efforts to give more cash to the financially strapped Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to fight the Ebola outbreak.
Since the first case of the deadly disease was diagnosed in Dallas this week, it has been revealed that hundreds of millions of dollars have been wiped off the CDC’s budget in the past four years,
reports Politico.
Democratic Rep. Rosa DeLauro of New York, the ranking member of the appropriations subcommittee that funds the CDC and the National Institute of Health, is urging lawmakers to be prepared to come back to Capitol Hill before Election Day to give emergency funds to the CDC.
"If the CDC, or any public health system, needs more resources, Congress should immediately come back to Washington and vote to provide those funds before the November election," said DeLauro.
When Congress returns after the elections, Republican Rep. Christopher Smith of New Jersey, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations, plans to introduce a bill that will allocate more funds for the CDC to battle Ebola in Africa, and at home if necessary.
Although it was not revealed how much funding the bill supported, the package includes training and supplying medical personnel, treatment units with laboratories, and corpse disposal teams, as well as working with drug companies to develop vaccines, treatments and early diagnostic equipment, Politico said.
Democrat Reps. Henry Waxman, Frank Pallone, and Diana DeGette sent a letter Wednesday to GOP Rep. Fred Upton, chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and to the chairmen of the subcommittees on Health and Oversight and Investigations, calling for hearings on the Ebola outbreak.
"The emergence of this case of Ebola should serve as a wake-up call regarding the need to address the ongoing public health disaster in Africa and to ensure that the domestic public health system is adequately prepared for Ebola cases or for other emerging public health issues,"
they wrote.
"We look forward to working with you in a bipartisan way on this important public health issue."
Although Congress gave an emergency cash injection last month of $30 million to the CDC to deal with the Ebola crisis before taking a break for the midterms, its budget was just $5.8 billion in 2014, down from $6.3 million in 2010, Politico added.
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