Current Events > Trump admin moves $260M from cancer/HIV/AIDs research to cover detention centres

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/20/politics/hhs-shifting-money-cancer-aids-immigrant-children/index.html

The Trump administration is planning to shift more than $260 million to cover the rising cost and strain of housing thousands of undocumented immigrant children in their custody -- including millions of dollars from programs like cancer research and HIV/AIDS prevention.

The request comes as the program has been strained by record-high levels of children in custody, driven in large part by new policies that are holding kids longer and making it more difficult for them to be released to adults, such as family members.

It also comes amid news that the Department of Health and Human Services once again could not locate 1,500 children it had released over a three-month period.

There are more than 13,000 children currently in HHS custody, spokeswoman Evelyn Stauffer told CNN. The number fluctuates daily, but that is higher than the record-setting 12,800 in custody last week.

The program request is detailed in a letter to Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, and other lawmakers from HHS Secretary Alex Azar dated September 5, which was obtained by CNN.

In the letter, Azar said his agency is reallocating up to $186 million from other pots of HHS money and up to $80 million from refugee programs that are being little used as the administration slashes the yearly number of refugees admitted to the country.

The Department of Homeland Security similarly reprogrammed more than $200 million to cover immigrant detention this month, including $10 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The letter was first reported by Yahoo News.

The documents show a plan to take money from a variety of places, including $16.7 million from the child benefits program Head Start, $3.8 million from HIV programs as part of a bigger $16.7 million from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, $9.8 million from Medicare and Medicaid program operations, $2.2 million from maternal and child health programs, $5.8 million from the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program, $13.3 million from the National Cancer Institute and $87.3 million overall from the National Institutes of Health.

The program that houses immigrant children who came to the US alone or were separated from an adult at the border has regularly needed additional funding in past years, requiring that it be allocated from other parts of the department's budget.

In a statement, HHS said these types of reprogramming requests are routine and have occurred for the the immigrant children program in previous years going back to 2012. Similar transfers of money are also used in times of need, like with the Zika concerns in 2016.

"HHS is utilizing the Secretary's transfer and reprogramming authorities to provide additional funds for the care of unaccompanied alien children," said HHS Deputy Secretary Eric Hargan. "The funding will now likewise be used for increases in caseloads and unexpected surges in children needing care from our program. Unfortunately, the need for additional funds has grown since FY 2011, due to the continual increase of unaccompanied alien children at the border. These transfers are only a temporary solution to the sad consequence of a broken immigration system."

HHS said that so far, the only reallocation that has happened in 2018 was $17 million in the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program that supports HIV/AIDS treatment for those who struggle to afford it.

Federal agencies are allowed to shift funds as long as they are not taking more than 1% from a given pot of money or increasing another pot of money more than 3%. Those types of requests must be sent to the relevant congressional subcommittees and approved by those committees' chairmen.

With Republicans in control of both chambers of Congress, those chairmen are Republicans. Democrats do not need to sign off.

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that's one expensive summer camp
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@Womp_Womp
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did they need more cages?
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If everyone dies, then America can be rebuilt into greatness.

45,000-D Gin rummy
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Funding the things that really matter. MAGA!
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Why do we need to fund these immigration centers? Just kick them out.

take that cancer patients
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People dying of cancer are much less important than Hispanic children not being seperated from their parents!

Can you crazy libs understand this!?
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the winning doesn't stop here, folks
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People will still defend this. Of course sacrifices are necessary to make America Great Again. Even putting separating kids from parents and putting them in camps. BRILLIANT!
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????

We already have a cure thats being blocked by big pharma
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I already made this topic, but mine didn't have the negative spin.
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This is why we need a more moderate Democrat candidate in 2020.

You can go on all you like about how "Republicans won't go to the middle, why should we?" but in the end, swing voters (and moderate Republicans who might vote left if Republicans go too far right) are the people who are going to make the difference in elections, not your core voter base.

The alternative is four more years of this shit. Unless a 3rd party win can be achieved, which would tbh be the best outcome of all - even if it's some weirdos like the Greens, the message it sends will make both big guys rethink how far they're going.
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DarkTransient posted...

This is why we need a more moderate Democrat candidate in 2020.

Every Democrat nominee in history?
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Cornmuffins posted...

Don't like it? [...]

Careful...I've been modded for similar posts before.
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refmon posted...

????

We already have a cure thats being blocked by big pharma

Do tell
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hockeybub89 posted...

DarkTransient posted...

This is why we need a more moderate Democrat candidate in 2020.

Every Democrat nominee in history?

Historically, yes, Democrats have done a good job of putting forward moderate (yet still leaning to their side somewhat - and I am not calling that a bad thing, just noting that it's the case) candidates most of the time.

However, recently they've... kinda been moving a bit too far left for many people's liking. Bernie Sanders would've been an extreme example had he been the nominee in 2016, and considering Clinton pretty much bought the nomination, with him being the most likely candidate otherwise...

Were I in the US, in all honesty I'd probably be voting them more often than not (although 2016 would've been an exception, fuck Clinton - had Sanders been the nominee, I would've considered it at least, though only for the same reason I'd've voted Trump over Clinton - lesser of two evils), but at this point I'd be starting to get a bit worried about the direction they're heading.
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Oh noes! 1% of democrats want separate transgendered bathrooms! Better vote for Trump
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well yeah, the logical step after centers is letting people die.

I mean, we lose out due to all the criminals in this country.
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2008 Obama is the only Democratic candidate of the past 40 years who you can say wasn't a moderate candidate.

Also he's the only one to crack 50 percent of the vote on his first try.
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Antifar posted...

2008 Obama is the only Democratic candidate of the past 40 years who you can say wasn't a moderate candidate.

Also he's the only one to crack 50 percent of the vote on his first try.

He was a moderate candidate.

didn't prosecute bankers

continued droning brown children

signed NDAA

continued perpetuation of he surveillance state

deported more people than any other president

jjam74 posted...

Antifar posted...

2008 Obama is the only Democratic candidate of the past 40 years who you can say wasn't a moderate candidate.

Also he's the only one to crack 50 percent of the vote on his first try.

He was a moderate candidate.

didn't prosecute bankers

continued droning brown children

signed NDAA

continued perpetuation of he surveillance state

deported more people than any other president

He was a moderate president. But he didn't campaign on that stuff.
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ZMythos posted...

@Womp_Womp

Womp womp

VipaGTS posted...

did they need more cages?

And showers :/

Yes the word showers works in so many levels here