"Of the total, the administration asked Congress to provide $2 billion in 'contingent' funding. Another $3 billion could come from the Project BioShield Special Reserve Fund, created in 2004 to field countermeasures against nuclear, biological or chemical threats; $3.1 billion from stimulus funds appropriated to spur economic recovery; and $800 million from the Department of Health and Human Services," according to the Washington Post.
"'Using BioShield funds for flu preparedness will severely diminish the nation's efforts to prepare for WMD events and will leave the nation less, not more, prepared,' the commission's chairman, former senator Bob Graham (D-Fla.), and vice chairman, former senator James M. Talent (R-Mo.), wrote," the Washington Post says. The former senators also sent a letter dated Wednesday to Obama's budget director, Peter Orszag (Hsu, Washington Post, 6/8).
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