Funding for CDC slashed by $750-million in February 2018:

[Leghorn21]

As the new coronavirus arrives in our shores, a reminder that
DT stripped CDC of funding to fight such diseases and diverted
that funding for more facilities to separate families at the border.

Link to tweet

From Feb. 2018:

Reductions from the budget passed today and a $750-million shift of funds to the Children’s Health Insurance Program add pressure to public health initiatives, including immunizations and outbreak responses.....

....The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is facing dark days. Not only has the agency been marred by the resignation of Director Brenda Fitzgerald last month, but Congress has also been slowly chipping away at funding for the agency’s public health programs.

When the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was signed into law on December 22, it cut $750 million from the Prevention and Public Health Fund (PPHF), diverting the money to cover costs of CHIP, the Children’s Health Insurance Program. CDC relies on PPHF for 12 percent of its budget, with much of that money going toward state and community programs.....

[OAITW r.2.0]

1. Gonna be a reckoning for stupid policies. This could be one of them. nt