I fervently agree that the degree of inaction here is embarrassing and indefensible.
Here’s one proposed explanation, though definitely not a justification, of why the Biden admin didn’t do more. To be clear, I’m not saying they’re the only ones who should have done/do more:
The shrinking anti-pandemic agenda
After coming up with a $65 billion moonshot plan, Biden asked for about half of that as part of his initial Build Back Better proposal. But as the entirety of BBB shrank in an effort to secure the support of Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, the pandemic prevention shrank to about $2.7 billion, of which roughly half is to modernize the CDC’s labs.
And it’s far from clear that even this relatively small amount will pass.
The extreme shrinkage of the pandemic prevention agenda in part reflects a partisan calculation. To Democrats who agree that this should be a priority, it doesn’t feel like it’s a distinctively progressive priority that should squeeze out ideas like free preschool or Medicaid expansion, which everyone understands Republicans oppose. They feel like this bill is supposed to be dessert, and pandemic prevention is vegetables.
And the good news is that it’s true — pandemic prevention is not a super partisan topic, and there are prospects for bipartisan cooperation.
The problem is that once you get into the regular appropriations process, the logic of base rates starts to dominate everything. To secure a 30% increase in pandemic preparedness funding would be a big step for appropriators since obviously most programs can’t score increases nearly that large. But we are currently spending peanuts on a problem that has both massive economic consequences and carries genuine existential risk. We don’t need a large increase in pandemic preparedness funding; we need to go from “not seriously investing in preventing pandemics” to “genuinely trying to prevent pandemics” with a gargantuan investment in funds.
What’s particularly galling is that even as the need exceeds the demand of standard appropriations, it’s still relatively modest compared to the $725 billion defense budget for fiscal year 2020. And due to base rate issues, the Biden administration’s 2021 requested increase — though modest in percentage terms — still amounts to $12 billion for one year in a world where asking for a $7 billion per year increase in defending ourselves against pandemics is considered outrageous.
It comes back to the wider problem that there is little demand and interest from voters in preventative measures, vs. things that have a more immediate visible impact. This is so sticky its remained even in the aftermath of a very visible pandemic.
So the natural selection effect of politics is always going to push against it. You need a way to change public opinion, or at least elite discussion, on the topic to make it more politically viable, otherwise you are relying on politicians and political parties to act against their self interest.
I fervently agree that the degree of inaction here is embarrassing and indefensible.
Here’s one proposed explanation, though definitely not a justification, of why the Biden admin didn’t do more. To be clear, I’m not saying they’re the only ones who should have done/do more:
It comes back to the wider problem that there is little demand and interest from voters in preventative measures, vs. things that have a more immediate visible impact. This is so sticky its remained even in the aftermath of a very visible pandemic.
So the natural selection effect of politics is always going to push against it. You need a way to change public opinion, or at least elite discussion, on the topic to make it more politically viable, otherwise you are relying on politicians and political parties to act against their self interest.