Fear of an Ebola outbreak is growing now that the first case of human-to-human transmission has happened in the United States. It is unknown how the Texas nurse contracted the disease, but USA Today reports the federal government has no single standard for dealing with Ebola patients.
The failure of the federal government to understand and contain Ebola in Texas is not shocking, it is a highly contagious disease, even under hospital conditions. Aid workers in Africa, despite strict protocols and protective gear, are being infected and dying at a higher rate than their patients.
That’s why the Texas case is so disturbing. The nurse followed those protocols and wore the protective gear, and was infected anyway. No one knows how.
That hasn’t stopped the blame game, especially in an election year.
The head of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins, claimed budget cuts were to blame for a lack of vaccine. He told the Huffington Post, “were on a slower track than would’ve been ideal, or that would have happened if we had been on a stable research support trajectory.”
But National Review’s Jim Geraghty reports, “The NIH budget has doubled since 2000, allocations to the U.S. National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases rose to $4.3 billion in 2004 from $1.8 billion in 2000…”
Still, that hasn’t stopped progressives from pointing blame where you’d expect them to — at Republicans.
The progressive tax-exempt charity group Agenda Project Action Fund produced a new Web ad directly blaming Republicans for “cutting” funding to fight the disease.
WATCH:
Its press release reads:
Today the Agenda Project Action Fund launched “Republican Cuts Kill,” a multi-pronged blitzkrieg attack that lays blame for the Ebola crisis exactly where it belongs– at the feet of the Republican lawmakers. Like rabid dogs in a butcher shop, Republicans have indiscriminately shredded everything in their path, including critical programs that could have dealt with the Ebola crisis before it reached our country. Yesterday, a health worker tested positive for the virus — now, the effects of the GOP’s fanatical hatred for our government may finally be exposed.
…In launching this effort, we will be the first major progressive group to directly blame GOP budget cuts for the nearly 4,000 deaths caused by the Ebola crisis.
Our plan is to place a paid buy in Kentucky the week of October 18 with North Carolina, Kansas, and South Dakota to follow provided we complete the financing we need.
HealthCare.gov cost upwards of $1 billion, Solyndra wasted $500 million, $1.3 million was spent on signs announcing road crews were spending stimulus money, $600,000 was spent planting trees in rich neighborhoods and on and on.
The $1 trillion stimulus bill was passed and implemented when Democrats controlled Congress and we spent according to their will. Moreover, that trillion dollars was added to the federal budget baseline, which means it became a permanent part of spending.
When it comes to spending priorities, either on Ebola or any other disease research, those were set by congressional Democrats and President Barack Obama.