[twobuy]

How is this attack on the GOP a rational response to the article?

From the article:

> But about 100 million masks in the stockpile were deployed in 2009 in the fight against the H1N1 flu pandemic, and the government never bothered to replace them.

Would that not make this a bipartisan issue?

[watertom]

My point was that the GOP have been working really hard to make every part of the government as inefficient as possible so that everything can be turned over to private business.

The GOP has put the government and every possible group they can brand as "negative" on one side and the white, Christian, pro-life, straight people on the other side and has forced them to choose. It's not an attack, it's a fact and it's plain to see every day.

The Post office is just one example. In the early 1970s, Congress passed legislation that create a half-public half-corporate governing structure forcing it to operate as a business

In 2006, Congress required that the Postal Service pre-fund its health benefit obligations at least fifty years into the future, this rule has created over 90% of the Post Office's losses.

The GOP have been behind all the changes, you can argue that the Postal Service is wasteful and needs to be privatized unless it's losing money hand over first, so the GOP set it up so that's the case.

The only saving grace for the Post Office is that no private business would deliver any mail to the rural areas of the country, because a business could never justify the cost vs the pay back.

It's the same with Internet Service. My sister lives less than 90 miles from NYC and can't get anything other than satellite or dial up service.

[kevin_thibedeau]

Who's been in control of Congress since 2009? One side has perfected the art of obstruction to win votes from their deluded base.

[jsperson]

I realize that your question is rhetorical, but I'm not sure the facts supports your point. Democrats controlled both the House and Senate from 2009-2011 and controlled the Senate all the way up through 2015. All the while controlling the Presidency as well.

[metabagel]

Practically speaking, you need 60 votes to control the Senate. Barring that, the opposition party has great power to block legislation.

[gurumeditations]

And yet Republicans controlled the White House, Senate, House, and the Courts from 2016-2018 and only managed to pass a $1 trillion taxpayer-funded giveaway to the largest corporations and a few rule changes to make it easier to dump toxic waste into drinking water.

[twobuy]

I don't think the facts agree with your statement here. The left wing of the Senate blocked the confirmation of Secretary Azar until January 29, 2018. That leaves the Department in control of the DNC.

I do not think it is fair for you to call one base deluded. And I consider it highly ironic that you would use the phrase "art of obstruction" in this circumstance.

[lucretian]

some clarifying questions worth asking:

- was there an attempt to replenish or was it forgotten?

- if there was, was funding made available or blocked?

i don't know the answers to these questions, but they are important to determine who should be held accountable.

[twobuy]

The cache is overseen by the Department of Heath and Human Services. The Senate was not able to confirm a new secretary until January 29, 2018. By all accounts, this was in the wheelhouse of the DNC, and they chose to kick the can down the road.

You can read more about the Department's increasing budget here: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R45820.pdf

[lucretian]

It took two weeks but I found an answer. It seems to trace to budget cuts forced by the tea party:

https://www.propublica.org/article/us-emergency-medical-stoc...