The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention pushed back on claims from Democratic lawmakers that President Trump slashed funding to the department’s anti-pandemic efforts.
Amid nationwide concern regarding the federal government’s ability to contain the spread of the coronavirus, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer blasted Trump late last month for “drastic cuts to the global health division at CDC,” likely referring to a five-year, nearly $600 million supplemental package that ran out in September 2019.
“All of the warning lights are flashing bright red. We are staring down a potential pandemic, and the administration has no plan,” the New York Democrat said. “We have a crisis of coronavirus, and President Trump has no plan, no urgency, no understanding of the facts, or how to coordinate a response.”
Similarly, Sen. Chris Murphy claimed, “President Obama set up anti-pandemic programs in 47 vulnerable countries, as a way to protect against something just like coronavirus breaking out across the world.”
“Experts begged Trump to keep them open,” the Connecticut Democrat added. “He closed 37 of them.”
The CDC, however, told independent, nonprofit website FactCheck.org last week that claims such as those from Schumer and Murphy are not true, insisting that the hypothetical cuts were not made because Congress later provided more funding for the global health programs before the one-time funding package dwindled.
“CDC did not have to cut back its work from 49 to 10 countries,” said Maureen Bartee, CDC’s associate director for Global Health Security. “In the FY18-FY20 annual appropriations, CDC received base appropriations for global health security from Congress. This was used to continue the essential public health capacity development in the four core areas that was started in 2014 with the one-time supplemental funds.”
The CDC is establishing platforms with regional offices to advance global health security and maintain a sustainable global presence, Bartee said.
“With this regional approach, CDC intends to implement a sustainable, long-term overseas operational structure, expand the reach of its technical assistance and programs, and strengthen disease outbreak response,” she said. “All told, CDC is currently working in more than 60 countries.”
Trump has requested that in fiscal year 2021, the CDC be given $175 million for global health security.
