Prevention and Public Health Fund, still a political football

We’ve blogged before about threats to the Prevention and Public Health Fund. Lest anyone think that a silly election would keep prevention funding safe from the axe, this piece, citing “GOP sources”, outlines the three most likely cuts to the Affordable Care Act that lawmakers hope to secure as part of a debt-reduction deal. You guessed it, the Prevention and Public Health Fund remains a prime target. From the article:

The Prevention And Public Health Fund
The prevention fund was designed to help local communities combat disease and promote wellness. Republicans deride it as a “slush fund.” 

Initially set at $15 billion, GOP leaders convinced the president and Democratic leaders to chop it by $6.25 billion in the payroll tax cut deal early this year. Having sensed that Democrats are willing to reduce its size, they’ll hope to continue chipping away at it.

Check out Eli’s post from earlier this year, as a reminder of how much of the CDC’s budget would be at risk if prevention funds are further slashed without a commensurate boost to the CDC's core budget. 

Addendum: I forgot to link to this list of the foolishness funded by this crazy slush fund. "Improving capacity to to detect and respond to infectious diseases threats", "enhancing the ability of state and local authorities to detect outbreaks", what kind of fool thinks these activities might be important?!

Photo from Wikipedia Commons