CDC cut $44 million in local health funding to pay for Zika response

Short on funding to combat a potential Zika outbreak, the Centers for Disease Control shifted $44 million from its fund for local health departments to Zika, a move that public health officials say weakness their ability to plan for and respond to other emergencies.

The CDC tapped into the Public Health Emergency Preparedness program, which provides federal money for communities to deal with health emergencies of all kinds, from hurricanes to flu pandemics.

Cutting this program to pay for Zika preparation could have a "crippling" effect on local health departments and amounts to "robbing Peter to pay Paul," said LaMar Hasbrouck, executive director of the National Association of County and City Health Officials, one of four public health groups that conducted a survey of local health staff this week.

About 86% of those surveyed said the cuts would harm their ability to respond to a public health emergency or disaster. More than 60% of those surveyed said that the cuts to general emergency planning will harm their ability to prepare and respond to Zika.

"This shift in funding may not result in an improved response to Zika, because it takes infrastructure — the very thing this reduction in funding will erode — to coordinate such a response," Hasbrouck said.

The shift in funds dealt another blow to a program in decline for years.  The program's budget fell 30% in the past 14 years, declining from $940 million in 2002 to $651 million in 2016, according to an April report from The Trust for America's Health.

The CDC decided to transfer $44 million from the program to Zika in March, after Congress balked at providing the $1.9 billion in emergency Zika funding that President Obama requested in February. If Congress approves Obama's Zika request, the CDC said it will restore the lost funding to health departments.

The Senate voted Tuesday to advance a bipartisan compromise that would provide $1.1 billion -- $800 million less than the president requested -- to help public health officials battle the Zika virus as it begins to threaten the continental United States. A House bill, which could come to a vote later this week, would provide $622 million in funding.

Senate advances compromise bill to provide $1.1 billion to combat Zika

Congressional Republicans argued that Obama should draw from unspent money earmarked for the Ebola outbreak instead. In April, Obama announced he would transfer $510 million of Ebola money to fight Zika, but insisted that this would not be enough.

In a statement, the CDC said: "We share the sentiment that the Public Health Emergency Preparedness cooperative agreements are vital. . . .  We hope Congress acts quickly to respond to this public health crisis."

Other public health funds also have been cut in recent years.

A federal program to help hospitals prepare for emergencies has been cut by more than half since the peak of its funding in fiscal year 2004, when it received $515 million. The CDC budget decreased from a high of $7.07 billion in fiscal year 2005 to $6.34 billion in 2016.