Frist Warns Against Delaying Flu Funds
NST, 12 Dec 2005

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Failure by Congress to immediately approve the president's request for $7.1 billion in emergency funds would hamper efforts to prepare for a possible outbreak of bird flu, Senate Majority 

Leader Bill Frist said Sunday.

"It had better pass" before Congress adjourns for the year, said Frist, R-Tenn. "We need to be prepared. I'm very hopeful that we will invest $7.1 billion to look at prevention, to look at care, to look at treatment."

Federal officials spent four hours on Saturday in a drill to see how well the government was ready to handle an outbreak. They said saving lives will require more planning in local communities and increased vaccine production.

The prospects for the $7.1 billion are not clear. Conservatives in the House oppose rubber-stamping the request without finding spending cuts elsewhere in the budget.

Fears of a pandemic have increased as a virus infecting millions of birds has spread throughout Asia and parts of Europe. Bird flu has not yet appeared in the United States or spread from person to person. But officials worry it could mutate and, because humans have no immunity to it, become as contagious globally as the annual flu.

Citing a new report on the potential economic fallout of a pandemic, Frist noted that the request is just a fraction of the $675 billion hit that the economy would take, killing an estimated 2 million Americans and sickening 90 million others.

"I don't think it's going to happen right now or tomorrow. But if it does happen, it's devastating," Frist said on "Fox News Sunday."