In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress has already approved more than $2.4 trillion in new deficit-increasing measures, from new spending to tax relief.
Now, Congress is considering a new slush fund to exempt certain spending from budgetary restraints in the name of combating future health crises.
Instead, lawmakers should review agency missions and projects to better prioritize spending, reduce missions creep, and focus public health agencies’ activities on core initiatives.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers from the House Appropriations Committee is reportedly contemplating a so-called health defense operations fund aimed at fighting COVID-19 and future pandemics.
Any money appropriated to the new fund would not be subject to the fiscal 2021 Budget Control Act spending caps, nor future spending caps.
On its face, that may sound like a reasonable idea. The federal government was caught unprepared for an emergency on the scale of COVID-19. Surely, unrestrained spending will leave the country better prepared for the next pandemic, right?
The answer is a resounding no.
There is no evidence that more spending on public health-oriented agencies and programs would lead to better public health outcomes.
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