Republican senators seek to block funds to combat Ebola

[unhappycamper]

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Republican-senators-seek-t-by-Daily-kos-Ebola_Funding_Money_Republican-Budget-141009-644.html

Republican senators seek to block funds to combat Ebola
By Daily kos
by Hunter
OpEdNews Op Eds 10/9/2014 at 22:56:59

Ebola is an existential threat that will kill us all unless Obama does a number of things right now, and we are all outraged that the government is not doing more to protect us, and even as we speak Ebola could be sneaking across our southern border headed for Arkansas (because all foreign threats gravitate toward Arkansas), and by the middle of next week Fox News will have devolved into a Lord of the Flies-esque free-for-all in which the Fox & Friends have run amok and are now biting the other hosts because they've gotten Ebola and zombieism mixed up and are convinced they've come down with both. It's that serious.

But never mind all that, because some Republican noticed that responding to Ebola would cost money.

"Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, has withheld approval of the funds in the Senate, saying that it would add demands on a defense budget already stretched thin.

~snip~

Yes, where Inhofe piffles that the biggest perceived Fox Newsian threat to America other than ISIS would cost money to fight so why bother, Vitter more directly objects to that money going Africa, aka the place Ebola actually is. Which of those you find the most craven is entirely up to you -- as far as I'm concerned, they're both winners.

So on one hand we've got an existential threat that has conservative pundits in a frothing tizzy over how Obama isn't leading and how the government isn't responding and we're all going to die, and on the other hand those conservatives vow to block the government from spending money on responding to it if it means we'll have to shave down next month's grenade launcher budget or if the money will be going to, you know, those people.

[Scuba]

1. This is the same issue as sick days for food service workers. We either care ....

... about our collective health or we care about maximizing profits for insurance, drug and other medical industry corporations while keeping taxes low on the wealthy. These are the choices we make.


I think the national Democratic Party is remiss for not making our collective health a major plank in the Party's platform. It should start with Medicare for All, including dental, optical, hearing aids and mental health services. Add to that paid sick time, better oversight of the healthcare industry, better preparedness for disasters (including epidemics), and better training for our healthcare professionals.

And yes, we can afford it.