CDC Foundation: What is it and Why Does it Exist?
The Centers for Disease Control is a major component of the US Department of Health and Human Services, a public agency funded by public dollars. Like every part of a monetarily sovereign federal government it ought to, and can be fully funded to the level required to accomplish its mission. There is no fiscal reason for any part of its budget to be cut, yet that has repeatedly happened to this and other agencies throughout government.
Our self-funding federal government creates new dollars as needed to cover all of its obligations. "Need" however, is determined by Congress, which writes the funding bills. It is crucial for Americans to understand that the real limits on federal spending have nothing to do with income from tax collections, or from borrowing. Neither are used to cover spending. The real limits on federal spending are labor, goods and resources available for purchase with US dollars. In other words, the US government cannot overspend and risk inflation unless everyone who wants a full time job has one and/or production of goods such as food and energy has ground to a halt.
Congress' decisions about what to spend money on are determined by where it’s allegiances lie. This should be quite clear cut. As part of the US government, elected to office by the American people, there should be no question who Congress works for. However, some 45 years ago the oligarchs of the day reasserted themselves, and in the ensuing years captured in total the US government and the American economy. Frankly, it’s been many decades since Congress saw the 99% as its constituency. Hence, Congress’ spending decisions have long been informed by what is good for the oligarchs, and for themselves. Since it helps the oligarch’s interest in privatization for Congress to cut, or not increase, funding for social programs, that is what they do. Over and over we see Congress failing to meet the needs of the people or the nation (environment, infrastructure, national parks), while increasing funding for military contractors, bailing out banks and corporations and providing huge tax cuts for the rich. None of this has to do with limited dollars or robbing Peter to pay Paul. It has only to do with policy favorable to the 1%.
Coming back to the CDC and the notion that there is no justification for an agency of the US government to struggle with less funding than it needs to do its complete job well, you may be surprised as I was to learn about the CDC Foundation. Now, it is unacceptable though understandable, that local school districts, for example, often need to run fund-raisers to supplement inadequate neighborhood school budgets. Unlike the federal government, state and local governments are users of the currency, not its issuer. They DO rely on taxes for income, thus are at the mercy of economic cycles. But here we have the CDCF, created specifically to raise PRIVATE money for a public organization that, but for Congress' unwillingness to fund it appropriately, would need no such help with "conflict of interest" written all over it.
"Established by Congress as an independent, nonprofit organization, the CDC Foundation is the sole entity authorized by Congress to mobilize philanthropic partners and private-sector resources to support CDC’s critical health protection mission" (from its website). Among the many supporters are drug companies, health insurers, hospital corporations, medical device companies, and all manner of other medical-related businesses.
In the context of an oligarch-run government the superfluous existence of the CDCF stands as an open invitation to the corporate sector to buy influence in a critical health-protecting agency. This scam stands out in special relief when we recall that private funding is neither needed nor actually USEABLE by the agency. As with federal tax receipts, there is no mechanism within government by which donated funds can be spent. Since donations (over $60 million in 2018) to the non-profit are tax deductible, corporate donors win big. Not only are they given access to the agency, they get a sweet tax deduction as well.
So if you have been puzzled recently by the policy inconsistencies and reversals coming out of the CDC, you might now have an explanation.
