Fox News can’t stop complaining about the CDC response to Ebola but that doesn’t mean they want the agency to have any more money. Nor does the “we like America” network seem interested in doing anything except tearing down the CDC further. Even if that means lying about its funding.
A slew of Fox talking heads have attacked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in its response to the three Ebola cases in the U.S. (yet steadfastly ignored issues at the local level in Republican Texas).
But yesterday’s Your World show did its best to make you think there’s no reason to give the CDC a penny more. Host Eric Bolling sneered about a slew of federal health projects he decided are a waste of money and about Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi’s criticisms of Republican budget cuts even before bringing out his guest. When Stephen Moore, the Heritage Foundation’s Chief Economist, came on, he seemed more interested in promoting the Fox message than in the actual facts:
MOORE: There have been no cuts to the CDC budget. There have been no cuts to the National Institute of Health budgets. We’re spending billions of dollars on these programs, and Nancy Pelosi says the reason we screwed up is we didn’t have enough money? I mean, this is the reason, quite frankly, Eric, people are so angry at Washington – that they don’t spend efficiently the money they have.
A simple Google search should make anyone question Moore's assertion. From CNN, via WMUR:
The CDC saw its discretionary funding cut by $585 million from 2010 to 2014, while the NIH’s budget was slashed by $446 million over the last four years.
… The CDC also cited the budget cuts in a report earlier this year, saying that annual funding for its public health preparedness and response efforts were $1 billion lower in the 2013 fiscal year than in 2002.
“CDC continues to work with reduced financial resources, which similarly affects state, local, and insular public health departments,” the report said. “These losses make it difficult for state and local health departments to continue to expand their preparedness capabilities, instead forcing them to focus on maintaining their current capabilities.”
Eric Bolling didn’t challenge Moore, of course.