Schumer to Feds: "Don't Burn New York Twice" Senator Reveals Initial CDC Proposal Slashes NYC's Bioterror Funding

SCHUMER TO FEDS: "DON'T BURN NEW YORK TWICE" - SENATOR REVEALS INITIAL CDC PROPOSAL SLASHES NYC'S BIOTERROR FUNDING

As just last week New Yorkers found out that Homeland Security funding for New York was slashed by 40%, today Senator Charles E. Schumer revealed that funding for bioterrorism preparedness could also be cut dramatically. Schumer today called on CDC to provide an accounting for this cut and demanded that funding be restored before the figures become permanent.

"Just this week we heard the administration was slashing our homeland security funding, which abjectly defies reason, but these proposed cuts in bioterror preparedness is like rubbing salt in a gaping wound," Schumer said. "This Administration allocates funding like children play pin the tail on the donkey: blindfolded."

Schumer learned that the Centers for Disease Control, in their initial proposal for funding for bioterror preparedness is getting ready to severely shortchange New York. Under the current preliminary CDC public health and bioterrorism preparedness grant funding formula, the most populous cities and states in the United States will confront significant losses in grant money. Less populous cities and states, which have a lower risk of bioterrorism attack, will face disproportionately smaller decreases in funding. If the grant distribution for FY 2006 is not altered and CDC's initial grant estimates hold true, New York State stands to lose 17% of its FY 2005 base funding level and New York City will lose 15% . These dramatic decreases in funding will significantly undermine the bioterrorism and public health preparedness infrastructure and workforce capacity that has advanced in New York State in part because of the CDC grants.

At the same time that the CDC funds dedicated to New York State's public health and bioterrorism preparedness are slated for a significant decrease, the CDC is also urging New York State to expand its preparedness activities by adding three to five public health laboratory facilities capable of analyzing chemical agents. The addition of three to five labs without supplemental funding would undercut the work of already well-established labs, such as New York State Department of Health's Wadsworth Center.

New York City has leveraged these CDC funds to improve detection of and response potential bioterrorism threat. For example, the City has deployed BioWatch air samplers to detect the presence of an airborne threat in densely-populated areas. According to the Congressional Research Service, it costs a city approximately $1 million to install these samplers and $1 million in annual operation costs. The City has also invested in its public health workforce, hiring almost 200 new staff using emergency preparedness dollars, and creating a Medical Reserve Corps of 4600 public health responders. New York has also established efficient communication systems to keep information flowing to staff, responders, and the public, as well as an Emergency Operations Center to coordinate the response to an attack.

In his letter to Julie Gerberding, director of the CDC, Schumer wrote: "The FY 2006 grant allocation removes funding from established state and city bioterrorism and public health preparedness programs, leaving higher risk states and cities with unmanageable holes in funding. These holes, if left unplugged, will diminish any progress in preparedness these cities and states have accomplished over the previous years of CDC's public health preparedness and bioterrorism response. I urge you to take immediate action and reconsider CDC's proposed distribution of public health preparedness and response to bioterrorism grants to appropriately reflect the risk factors of more populous states."

Earlier this week, the Department of Homeland Security released funding allocations for its major state and local grant programs, including the State Homeland Security Grant Program (SHSP), and the High Threat Urban Areas Program (UASI) that gives money only to high threat urban areas. Funding for New York State and New York City was cut significantly from FY2005 to FY2006.

Specifically for the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI), the high threat money actually given out by the program was cut from $829.7 million in FY2005 to $710.6 million for FY2006, or a 14 percent drop. However, New York City's allocation was slashed by 40 percent, from $207.6 million in FY2005 to only $124.5 million. In FY2005, New York City received 25 percent of the high threat funding, but for FY2006, New York City will only recieve18 percent of the funding.

http://schumer.senate.gov/SchumerWebsite/pressroom/press_releases/2006/PR167.Bioterror.060406.html