President Obama urged members of the GOP to put aside party politics on the economy this week. Behind the scenes, however, Obama’s party put money for STD prevention into the stimulus bill.
The House voted this week to include $335 million for STD prevention in its bill. The Senate, however, upped the ante to $400 million in STD spending on page 138 of the 438-page measure. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, tried to explain how STD prevention was vital to stimulating the economy on CBS this week, but she stumbled over her words.
News of the House funds drew criticism from Republicans who said the money did not belong in an $819 billion bill designed to help the economy.
“Senate big spenders will never be underbid in wasting tax dollars. But how in the world does STD research create jobs? Wait. ... Don’t answer that I don't want to know,” said Wesley Denton, an aide to Sen. Jim DeMint, South Carolina Republican.
The bill, which passed in the House by a 244-188 vote Wednesday evening, also allocated $75 million for smoking cessation and $870 million to prepare for a pandemic influenza outbreak.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment