Homeland Security Today: Panel Finds Biodefense Budgeting Needs Major Overhaul Now
“A committee studying the funding process for America’s defenses against naturally spreading and weaponized pathogens warned that as ‘disease outbreaks, other emergencies, and disasters continue to affect public health security, the nation must take a more businesslike approach to biodefense budgeting.’ … Congress should establish a temporary bicameral and bipartisan Biodefense Working Group to make policy recommendations to House and Senate leaders, the [Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense] report adds. And while foreign aid has become anathema to some on Capitol Hill and in the administration, the strategy calls for ‘sustained U.S. contributions to international programs, including the Global Health Security Agenda’…” (Johnson, 2/27).