Guess Poor & Working People Will Have To Save Up For The Next Pandemic Spike...

 Now that COVID-19 is no longer politically expedient (Thanks Russia-Ukraine conflict!), America can refocus all that money they once allocated to "help" people:

Republican and Democratic congressional negotiators on Monday are reportedly set to announce a $10 billion coronavirus funding package that contains no money to fight the pandemic globally, prompting outrage from public health experts who say the decision will prolong the Covid-19 crisis.

"Failing to fund the global fight against Covid-19 is a choice to extend the pandemic, to accept preventable suffering and insecurity for all, and to live with the knowledge that, deep in the time of the world's greatest need, the United States gave up," tweeted Peter Maybarduk, Access to Medicines director at Public Citizen.

Lawmakers were initially considering a package that included $1 billion in funds for the global pandemic response, money that would go toward worldwide vaccination initiatives and other key programs that are languishing due to cash shortfalls. The Biden administration is already facing mounting backlash for falling well short of its modest vaccine donation pledges.

But The Washington Post reported Monday that lawmakers "were unable to agree on how to pay for" the $1 billion in Covid-19 aid, even though it amounted to a fraction of the $5 billion the White House asked for last month.

The reported agreement to strip global Covid-19 money from the spending deal comes weeks after Congress approved a $782 billion military budget, $29 billion more than President Joe Biden originally requested last year.

[SNIP]

"Congress is about to announce $10 billion in Covid funding. That money is needed for domestic purposes and is good," Robert Weissman, the president of Public Citizen, said Monday. "But zero for global Covid equals many needless deaths in poor countries—and heightened risk of new variants."

If there's another spike around mid-terms, don't expect this little nugget to come up.