In America’s latest display of stunning dissonance, House Republicans are planning to provide less than half of what White House requested to fight Ebola.
According to a source familiar with the negotiations, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) agreed as of Tuesday morning to spend a total of $40 million to fight the epidemic in the 2015 spending bill.
This would include $25 million for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and $15 million for the Biological Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to ramp up production of an experimental anti-Ebola drug, the source said.
The White House made a request for $88 million in funding to begin fighting Ebola and prepare for it here at home.
Various Republicans, including Louie Gohmert, Phil Gingrey and Todd Rokita, have publicly speculated in recent weeks that immigrant children might be carrying Ebola.
Maybe the situation isn’t as dire as they led us to believe. Why else would they approve less than half of what the White House is asking for?