OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
4:06 PM – Monday, August 12, 2024
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told The Associated Press (AP) on Sunday that he will try to stop a GOP-backed plan that would reduce the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) budget, claiming that doing so “could put public health at risk.”
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A 22% cut to the department’s budget, roughly $1.8 billion, is included in the House version of the 2025 budget for the CDC and other agencies. According to AP, Schumer will push to have that cut taken out of the Senate budget.
Schumer claimed that the cuts “would wreak havoc and chaos on food safety funding mechanisms and tracking operations at a core level… A slash of 22 percent to the CDC at a time when there’s a listeria outbreak should churn all our stomachs.”
Schumer was referencing a listeria outbreak that began this past month. It was found that the reason why so many individuals were falling ill was Boar’s Head deli meats.
Three individuals have died so far, many have been hospitalized, and millions of pounds of merchandise have been affected by the outbreak.
The Senate leader claimed that the “overall food safety apparatus of the federal government could be risked” if the House version of the budget is approved.
“It’s devastating,” Schumer stated. “The Senate will not stand for them.”
Last month, the GOP-controlled Appropriations Committee approved the House funding plan on a party-line vote.
Schumer: “By advancing this bill through the full Committee, Republicans show that we are united on bolstering our national security, reining in Executive Branch overreach, and supporting American values and principles,” committee Republicans said in a statement last month.
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