Collins, Schumer opposed pandemic flu funding in stimulus

Whoops.

Seems that in her effort to pare down President Obama’s stimulus plan, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) specifically called out pandemic flu preparedness as unnecessary.

“I think everybody in the room is concerned about a pandemic flu,” Collins said on MSNBC. “But does it belong in this bill? Should we have $870 million in this bill? No. We should not.”

Collins wasn’t the only one. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) also bragged of removing the funding:

“All those little porky things that the House put in, the money for the [National] Mall or the sexually transmitted diseases or the flu pandemic, they’re all out,” Schumer said, according to the NY Post.