Finding a way to beat cancer is critical. President Biden launched the “Cancer Moonshot” program in 2016 and followed up with his commitment earlier this week. A key component of the plan is spending billions of dollars on research. When Biden prepared his remarks for his big “moonshot” speech, he seems to have forgotten that just a few weeks ago, he signed a law that will take the country backward in the fight against cancer. The Inflation Reduction Act’s regressive drug pricing measures will inevitably weaken the nation’s position as a leader in medical research and increase costs for many patients and taxpayers across the country. Specifically, the flawed spending package allows the federal government to harm America’s innovative healthcare sector by effectively imposing price controls on prescription drugs. Price controls will ultimately destroy private sector incentives for research and development (R&D), meaning fewer new cures—like those for cancer—will come to market. America’s taxpayers will continue to pay the price. R&D can’t be disincentivized while claiming cancer will be cured. In fact, the newly imposed price controls “cut the amount spent on cancer research by more than nine times as much as Biden’s ‘Cancer Moonshot’ initiative raises it,” according to Tomas J. Philipson, in his recent Newsweek op-ed.  Kicking cancer in the butt will mean less government and more innovation.
 
Taxpayer-Funded Animal Abuse
 
I am a taxpayer advocate and an animal lover.  When I found out that $20 billion worth of taxpayer money was being used for animal testing in Russia and China, it made me sick to my stomach. I was so excited when White Coat Waste reached out to the Taxpayers Protection Alliance to join forces to stop taxpayer dollars from being used to do research on animals. Last month, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) and the Senate Homeland Security Committee held their first hearing on gain-of-function research. The matter on hand was National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding of dangerous animal experiments at the Chinese Communist Party-run Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).  The research was meant to supercharge bat coronaviruses and make them deadlier and more contagious to people via “humanized mice” — all part of a $3.7 million grant first exposed by White Coat Waste (WCW), but paid for by the American taxpayer.  Scientists around the world, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and a majority of Americans now believe this taxpayer-funded animal lab to be “ground zero” for COVID-19.
 
The world, however, may never conclusively know the origins of COVID-19. The WIV and the CCP have refused to cooperate with investigators and have not turned over important records and data related to the U.S. government’s animal experiments. Yet, as of today, WIV and 28 other animal labs in China are still eligible to receive American taxpayer money from the NIH for animal testing, even though the Department of Commerce has listed China as a “foreign adversary.” It has also listed Russia as a foreign adversary, but despite that designation and a White House directive to end federal support for Russian research, three Kremlin-run animal labs still remain eligible for taxpayer-funded NIH grants. Earlier this year, WCW also discovered that the Pavlov Institute of Physiology received nearly $550,000 from the NIH in 2021. Americans’ hard-earned money was spent torturing cats in a Kremlin-run lab. In one particularly horrifying experiment, 18 healthy cats had their brains damaged, electrodes implanted into their spines and were then forced to walk on a treadmill before being killed. The same cat-abusing Russian lab received another $221,000 from NIH in 2018.

This doesn’t sound like “follow the science.” It’s more about follow the money. What’s worse is that the NIH — seemingly in violation of the law — exempts these and all other rogue foreign animal labs from critical oversight that is legally mandated in taxpayer-funded U.S. labs to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse.
 
Congress has begun to recognize the dangers (and the waste) of NIH’s international adventurism. Earlier this year, when House Democrats and Republicans urged the Appropriations Committee to defund Russian labs, lawmakers also introduced the Accountability in Foreign Animal Research Act to permanently defund all adversarial nations’ animal experimentation labs. Thankfully, in a moment of clarity, the House Appropriations Committee voted unanimously to defund all labs in China, Russia, and all other countries deemed “foreign adversaries.” The proposal is deeply popular with the public with 66% supportive of such action. In Washington, wasting your tax dollars is an art form (mostly a comedic tragedy). But it shouldn’t take another pandemic or a war for Congress to crack down on NIH’s worldwide waste in our foreign enemies’ animal experimentation labs. It should just be common sense. It’s time to stop the money and stop the madness.
 
The Money Flows While the Water Doesn’t
 
As the U.S. continues to experience a quiet hurricane season, the country is reminded of storms that have not yet been weathered: water infrastructure problems. Reminiscent of Flint, Michigan, residents in Jackson, Mississippi still lack access to one of life’s most crucial unitalities – clean water.  Unfortunately, Jackson’s recent struggles are not new nor unique. In 2021, residents in Jackson went without water for a month following a winter storm. Even when the quantity returned, the quality continued to suffer. Now, flooding has knocked out the treatment plant, leaving residents waiting in line for bottled water to use for everything from drinking to cooking and bathing.
 
Jackson’s problems have been caused by a lack of leadership, not lack of money. Over the last two fiscal years, Congress has authorized more than $120 billion in improved water infrastructure funding through various streams. The American Rescue Plan allocated $65.1 billion to the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds, which can be used for water infrastructure modernization. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act provided an additional $23.4 billion for the Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act of 2021, $15 billion for lead service line replacement and $10 billion to remove harmful Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substance. The Environmental Protection Agency was appropriated $1.1 billion annually in FY21 and FY22 for its Drinking Water State Revolving Funds and a combined $123 million for its Water Infrastructure Finance & Innovation Act program in those fiscal years. While it likely does not provide solace to the citizens of Jackson, they are not alone. In 2021, millions of Texas residents were left without drinkable water following rolling blackouts from a severe February winter storm. And do not forget Flint, Michigan, where the city’s 100,000 residents were drinking poorly treated water from the Flint River because of a cost-cutting move by city and state officials.

Despite Congress investing billions, the residents of Michigan and Mississippi have seen little improvement. In Flint, $450 million in state and federal investments have netted just a 2 parts per billion (PPB) decrease in lead and copper pollutants since July 2016.
 
The core of the issue falls on preparedness and accountability. States and localities must bear responsibility for preparing for extreme weather events by identifying critical infrastructure and insulating it from the impact. While providing states with flexibility in the use of funds is a valuable asset, it is clear that residents do not always reap the benefits. Congress must put more stringent guidelines on how funds can be used to match the intent of the authorization. States’ ability to use Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds on everything from filling deficits to paying essential workers to improving water infrastructure is a prime example of a bipolar program that forces a choice between short-term fiscal policy and long-term tangible investment.

By now, it should be clear that throwing money at a problem does not fix it. The path to aid communities, especially with projects like water infrastructure that can cost even a small city billions of dollars, starts with responsible and targeted policymaking by federal and state leaders.

BLOGS:

Monday: Unravelling the SEC’s Latest Demonstration of Overreach: SEC Mission Creep

Tuesday: Democrats Shoot for the Moon and Miss

Wednesday: TPAF’s App Security Project Hosts Malware Bytes Food Truck Event

Wednesday: TPA Sends Letter to Ranking Member Webster on FEMA Recovery Efforts in Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands

Thursday: Three Ways the FDA can Fight Cancer

Friday: How to Respond Sensibly to an Increase in Youth Vaping
 

MEDIA:

September 9, 2022: The Center Square ran TPA’s op-ed, “Misinformation is deadly for people trying to quit smoking.”
 

September 9, 2022: The Livingston Parish ran TPA’s op-ed, “The FDA’s problem with misinformation.”
 

September 10, 2022:  Townhall.com ran TPA’s op-ed, “Vape Company to Spend More Money Preventing Youth Vaping Than States.”

September 10, 2022: Dan Savickas joined ‘The Count’ on Newsmax to discuss the IRS’ power grab

September 11, 2022: The Courier (Cedar Falls, Iowa) quoted TPA in their story, “$20 million bond issue on ballot Tuesday to fund fiber network for municipal broadband.”

September 11, 2022:  Inside Sources ran TPA’s op-ed, “United Kingdom Data Show the U.S. Public Is Badly Served by the FDA.”

September 12, 2022: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) interviewed me about housing issues in Baltimore.

September 12, 2022: City Journal ran TPA’s op-ed, “Defying Markets to Promote Organics.”

September 12, 2022: I joined WJLA (Washington, D.C.) to discuss the IRS and rising costs for consumers across the country.

September 12, 2022: Just the News mentioned TPA in their story, “Ranking GOP member on House Ways & Means Committee says middle class will be affected by IRS audits.”

September 12, 2022: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) interviewed me about the continuing problems at Baltimore’s Department of Public Works.”

September 12, 2022: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) quoted TPA in their story, “Some question decision to spend $33,000 to send Baltimore Rec and Park staff to convention.”

September 12, 2022:  The Daily Caller ran TPA’s op-ed, “Rein In Reckless Spending That Funds Foreign Animal Abuse."

September 13, 2022: Patrick Hedger joined ‘Just the News Not Noise’ on Real America’s Voice to discuss the IRS. 

September 13, 2022: Business Insider India mentioned TPA in their article, “A dozen wildly different advocacy groups urge Congress to quickly pass a stock-trading ban bill and avoid sliding deeper into a 'downward spiral of declining public trust'.”

September 13, 2022: The Nashua Telegraph (Nashua, N.H.) ran TPA’s op-ed, “United Kingdom vaping data show the U.S. public is badly served by the FDA.”

September 13, 2022: The Livingston Parish News (Denham Springs, La.) ran TPA’s op-ed, “Bureaucrats need to listen to patients.”

September 14, 2022: Dan Savickas joined ‘The Barrett Brief’ (New Orleans, La.) to talk about TPAF’s ASP food truck event.

September 14, 2022:  Issues & Insights ran TPA’s op-ed, “NASA’s Looney Mission.”

September 15, 2022: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) interviewed me about the latest inflation numbers. 

September 15, 2022:  I appeared on WBOB 600 AM (Jacksonville, Fla.) to talk about social media regulation. 

September 15, 2022:  Filter ran TPA’s op-ed, “How to Respond Sensibly to an Increase in Youth Vaping.”