STD, no-smoking cash still in bill

UPDATED:

Senate Democrats, mocked over trying to stimulate the economy with $475 million to fight smoking and sexually transmitted diseases, removed the programs from the economic recovery package on Tuesday. But the money remains.

And, yes, it can still be tapped to help smokers quit and to prevent the spread of STDs.

Under the revised legislation, the secretary of health and human services can dole out the nearly half-billion dollars on prevention of any disease, including STDs, and on a wide array of smoking-related ailments from cancer to hypertension.

“It’s a shell game,” said Sen. John Ensign of Nevada, chairman of the Republican Policy Committee. “That’s why this bill needs to be stopped. That’s just one of the reasons.”

Sen. Tom Harkin, chairman of the Senate Appropriations health subcommittee and a chief supporter of the programs, acknowledged that the funds still could end up paying for his pet projects.

“Whatever works,” the Iowa Democrat said. “It would be up to the secretary.”

Mr. Harkin said the anti-smoking and STD programs were lightning rods for criticism and should never have been listed in the bill. “Just put everything in and let the secretary decide what works. It makes sense to me,” he said.

The flap is just one battle front on the stimulus plan as Republicans push for a major rewrite of President Obama’s $885 billion bill.

Republicans say it is too expensive and doles out money on a “Democratic wish list” that does little to boost the economy.

Mr. Obama said Tuesday that Congress needs to “improve” the bill — acknowledging problems that he and congressional Democrats had earlier disregarded.

Fighting back against reports of wasteful spending, Mr. Obama gave interviews to the television and cable news networks, saying the projects that Republicans and some conservative Democrats are challenging actually amount to “less than 1 percent of the overall package.”

He defended spending on the arts and items such as weatherizing homes, arguing that the latter creates jobs and saves energy, which he said would reduce dependence on foreign oil.

Senators on both sides of the aisle said the extra disease-prevention spending could be targeted for elimination as they take up scores of amendments, a process that was expected to last late into the night Tuesday.

“There will be amendments to take out provisions that don’t pass the smell test,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, Montana Democrat, said when he learned of the lingering dollars for the Health and Human Services Department.

Story Continues →