Congress throwing lotsa money at pandemic flu response

Robert Roos News Editor

Jun 22, 2009 (CIDRAP News) – Responding to lobbying by the Obama administration and public health advocates, Congress last week approved $7.65 billion for battling pandemic influenza, more than three times what the House and Senate had earlier proposed.

The money was included in a $106 billion supplemental appropriation bill dedicated mostly to funding the military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Senate passed the bill Jun 18, following House passage 2 days earlier.

Most of the pandemic money is for activities by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), but the bill includes $350 million to boost state and local capacity for responding to the novel H1N1 flu pandemic.

According to a House Appropriations Committee summary of the legislation, it provides $1.5 billion in fiscal year 2009 money and $5.8 billion in "contingent emergency appropriations" for HHS and the CDC.

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