Perfect. The tax-exempt “Agenda Project” is airing an ad declaring “Republican cuts kill,” directly blaming congressional Republicans for the Ebola outbreak:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=c3D0DxjgPB0%3Frel%3D0
From their even-tempered, fair-minded release:
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.
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, and as Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal notes:
Consider the Prevention and Public Health Fund, a new series of annual mandatory appropriations created by Obamacare. Over the past five years, the CDC has received just under $3 billion in transfers from the fund. Yet only 6 percent — $180 million — of that $3 billion went toward building epidemiology and laboratory capacity.
Hey, could any of that $1 billion spent on HealthCare.gov been spent on vaccine research?