{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://web.archive.org/web/20141024000002/http://www.burr.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressOffice.Articles&Type=Article&ContentRecord_id=d8f2a8b3-0374-6871-ca8f-79c55bfb8efa", "BURR: Making Ebola preparedness a priority", "2014-10-20", "2014", "2014-10", "Republican", "House", "NC", "Richard Burr", "B001135", "web.archive.org", null, null, "legacy", "October 20, 2014 - 4:39 PM \n BURR: Making Ebola preparedness a priority \n Tax dollars needed for vaccines has been squandered on frivolous projects \n[Share This]\n\nBURR: Making Ebola preparedness a priority\nWashington Times\nOctober 20, 2014\n\n\nIt is unsettling that in discussing shortfalls in the federal government\u2019s response to the Ebola crisis, some Beltway observers have resorted to the traditional Washington shell game: blame the budget. The director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), for example, has lamented the lack of an Ebola vaccine and therapeutics due to insufficient resources. It is not, however, all that surprising.\n\n\nThe blame-the-budget game diverts the conversation away from focusing on\u00a0NIH\u00a0accountability for past priorities and spending. Those grumbling about the lack of resources should not neglect the resources poured into low-priority and perhaps unnecessary projects at\u00a0NIH\u00a0during the last decade. For example, Senate reports looking at\u00a0NIH\u00a0waste have identified at least $8.6 million in grants that were used in part to research how much study-abroad students drink when they\u2019re away, if there is a connection between cocaine and risky sex habits of quail, whether TV reruns help people feel better, the impact of TV in rural Vietnamese villages, or why golfers need to envision a bigger hole, among other \u201cpressing\u201d topics.\n\n\nIn the midst of supporting these questionable projects, the\u00a0NIH\u00a0has had more than ample opportunity to fund valuable research on Ebola. The National Institute of Allergy and\u00a0Infectious Diseases\u00a0(NIAID), the institute within the\u00a0NIH\u00a0responsible for research on infectious diseases like Ebola, has had an average funding of $4.5 billion a year going back to fiscal 2004 \u2014 in other words, well over $40 billion over the past decade. During the same period the\u00a0NIAID, at its discretion, spent about 1 percent of this amount on Ebola-related research. As a point of comparison, last fiscal year, the\u00a0NIH\u00a0spent more than $5 billion on administrative costs. If additional funding for the\u00a0NIH\u00a0was needed for Ebola, why has the organization never asked Congress for it? The fact that, to date, the administration has not requested additional funding for the\u00a0NIH\u00a0as part of their Ebola response suggests more could still be done right now without a plus-up.\n\n\nUltimately, the\u00a0NIAID\u00a0chooses how to spend the billions of taxpayer resources it has at its disposal. Ebola needed to be higher on the list all along. In 2006, the Department of Homeland Security identified the Ebola virus as posing a material threat to our national security. If scientists at the\u00a0NIH\u00a0believe that we would have had an Ebola vaccine and therapeutics in hand today if things had gone differently, then they need to ask if the\u00a0NIH\u00a0has done all that it could do with its resources.\n\n\nWe completed a five-year doubling of the\u00a0NIH\u00a0budget in 2003, but there will never be enough resources to fund everything everyone wants to support. It\u2019s about the choices we make with the resources we have and using all of the tools at our disposal \u2014 just like how families across America every day make difficult choices about their household budgets.\n\n\nThe past few weeks have been difficult for the American people and the administration. The threat of Ebola hit home hard with the death of the first Ebola patient, confirmed transmission of the Ebola virus in the United States, and increased entry screening at American airports. The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is scrambling to ensure that the procedures our health care workers are using work, and our overall preparedness and capacity to safely and effectively treat Ebola patients has been called into question.\n\n\nMore than 8,000 people overseas have been infected \u2014 almost half of whom have died \u2014 and despite promises, our actions to date are falling short: We are failing to turn the tide in this devastating epidemic.\n\n\nWe agree with the\u00a0NIH\u00a0director regarding the urgent need for Ebola vaccines and therapeutics. Let\u2019s stay focused on getting the medical countermeasures we need to protect the American people off the bench, through the pipeline and to the patients who need them. In doing so, we\u2019ll protect the American people from Ebola and the other serious threats we may face. This is what we should be focused on, whether we are in the midst of a crisis like we find ourselves in today, or in the calm between these storms. What we choose to prioritize determines whether we will be prepared for the threats we face.\n\n\nRichard Burr, a Republican member of the U.S. Senate from North Carolina, authored the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act. Tom Coburn, a Republican member of the U.S. Senate from Oklahoma and a physician, serves as the ranking member on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.\n\n\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t10/20/14 \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBURR: Making Ebola preparedness a priority", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://web.archive.org/web/20141024000002/http://www.burr.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressOffice.Articles&Type=Article&ContentRecord_id=d8f2a8b3-0374-6871-ca8f-79c55bfb8efa"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8767633698880672, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}