Republicans stripped $900 million in flu pandemic preparedness funds from the stimulus bill and refashioned the budget so that state and local emergency services get nothing.
Positioning for deeper tax cuts, Karl Rove complained that “$462 million for the Centers for Disease Control and $900 million for pandemic flu preparations” is wasteful spending. Tax cuts are not.
House and Senate Republicans bet that they would be able to score their political points without any life or death consequences… but how do so-called free markets manage flu pandemics?