Washington Post: The next pandemic will come sooner or later. The CDC needs money to prepare.
Editorial Board

“…At the time of the Ebola crisis, Congress approved a one-time, five-year emergency supplemental spending package … Anticipating that that money will run out in October 2019, the CDC has begun notifying country directors to begin planning withdrawal from 39 of 49 countries. This is not a pullout of all CDC programs — activity abroad will go on in such areas as fighting polio, malaria, HIV, and tuberculosis — but it does mean retreating from frontline outposts for preventing, detecting, and responding to outbreaks. … A retreat will be counterproductive. The money is a small fraction of what pandemics can cost later on. … Congress should not let the CDC effort lapse. … [I]f the resources are available, this program merits a claim on them. The next pandemic will come along sooner or later. The United States should not wait for the winds and waters to carry it here; far better to be prepared and vigilant abroad, and to fully underwrite the CDC’s ability to do so” (2/11).