WASHINGTON — Vice President Joe Biden says he’s advising his own family to avoid “confined places” — to stay off commercial airlines and even subways — because of the new swine flu.
Biden said Thursday if one person sneezes on a confined aircraft, “it goes all the way through the aircraft.” Going beyond official advice from the federal government, Biden said of his family’s personal precautions: “That’s me.”
Asked on NBC’s “Today” show whether the government should close the border with Mexico to try to slow the spread of the flu, Biden says health authorities advise that would be impractical because the swine flu has already spread to the U.S. and several other nations. Instead, he says people should focus on confined places where the flu could spread quickly, such as airplanes, malls and classrooms.
Biden spokesperson Elizabeth Alexander released a statement shortly after the appearance, clarifying his remarks:
“On the Today Show this morning the Vice President was asked what he would tell a family member who was considering air travel to Mexico this week. The advice he is giving family members is the same advice the Administration is giving to all Americans: that they should avoid unnecessary air travel to and from Mexico. If they are sick, they should avoid airplanes and other confined public spaces, such as subways. This is the advice the Vice President has given family members who are traveling by commercial airline this week. As the President said just last night, every American should take the same steps you would take to prevent any other flu: keep your hands washed; cover your mouth when you cough; stay home from work if you’re sick; and keep your children home from school if they’re sick.”
NEW YORK — Fox became the first broadcast network to turn down a request by President Barack Obama for time, opting to show its drama “Lie to Me” on Wednesday instead of the president’s prime-time news conference.
Fox will direct viewers interested in the news conference to Fox News Channel and the Fox Business Network, which will both carry it. ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC and CNBC are all carrying the 8 p.m. EDT event, on Obama’s 100th day in office.
This will be Obama’s third prime-time news conference as president, a schedule that has caused some private grumbling among network executives. Carrying a news conference costs the four broadcast networks an estimated $10 million-plus in lost advertising revenue.
Yet with an economy in distress, two wars and now a swine flu outbreak, the pressure on networks to agree to Obama’s request as a public service is enormous.
Executives at Fox, owned by News Corp., would not comment on the decision Monday. It’s not without precedent for the network; Fox didn’t carry a prime-time speech by President George W. Bush in November 2001 despite a request from the White House.
“I can’t imagine it was politically motivated,” said Shelly Palmer, industry analyst and host of “MediaBytes,” a daily show about technology and the media. “I’m assuming it was financially motivated.”
The news conference comes at the start of a ratings “sweeps” months, where viewership is watched closely to set local advertising rates. Not only will Fox keep its advertising for the hour, it will offer the only broadcast entertainment program, potentially giving a boost to the new series “Lie to Me,” about a crime-fighting expert who can spot liars. “American Idol” follows “Lie to Me” on the schedule.
The Fox broadcast network was the most likely to have made this decision. Unlike ABC, CBS and NBC, Fox does not have its own news division to analyze the event. Even though the broadcast network is in more homes, cable’s Fox News Channel traditionally gets more viewers for its coverage of these events than the Fox network.
An executive at one of the three other broadcasters, who asked for anonymity because the conversations were private, said that network’s executives had expressed concern to the White House about the frequency of prime-time news conferences and the financial sacrifice they were making in carrying the event. The executive said it was hoped the administration would show more flexibility in working with networks to find the best times to schedule the events.
WASHINGTON — Two Obama administration officials say Chrysler will file for bankruptcy protection after talks broke down with a small group of the company’s creditors.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the filing plan has not been formally announced.
The government had long hoped to stave off bankruptcy for Chrysler, but negotiations with hedge funds that hold its outstanding debt crumbled overnight.
Bankruptcy doesn’t mean the nation’s third largest automaker will shut down. And Chrysler is expected to sign a partnership with the Italian company Fiat as early as today as part of its restructuring plan.
President Barack Obama is expected to discuss the nation’s auto sector at noon.
Remember when we had those really great laughs at Bobby Jindal’s expense? When Jindal talked to us like we were three years old and told us that “oh we don’t need volcano monitoring, that’s why we have Jesus. We’ll just preform an exorcism in a dorm room and scarifice a virgin and it’ll be fine.” It was funny huh? Of course right afterward the Alaska’s Mount Redoubt erupted, suggesting there might be something to this “lets use science to actually help us instead of religion” idea.
We come to find out now, that volcano monitoring program wasn’t the only public safety program that was opposed in the stimulus package by the GOP.
Famously, Maine Senator Collins, the supposedly moderate Republican who demanded cuts in health care spending in exchange for her support of a watered-down version of the stimulus, fumed about the pandemic funding: “Does it belong in this bill? Should we have $870 million in this bill No, we should not.”
Even now, Collins continues to use her official website to highlight the fact that she led the fight to strip the pandemic preparedness money out of the Senate’s version of the stimulus measure.
Someone should tell the GOP that it’s hard to continue working when there is a pandemic looming overhead. People are losing jobs as it is, it’s far worst when they’re sick and trying to go to work in fear of losing that job for being sick:
On Monday, the question began to be answered, as Associated Press reported — under the headline: “World Markets Struck By Swine Flu Fears” — that: “World stock markets fell Monday as investors worried that a deadly outbreak of swine flu in Mexico could go global and derail any global economic recovery.”
Before U.S. markets opened, the Wall Street Journal reported: “U.S. stock futures fell sharply Monday as the outbreak of deadly swine flu stoked fears that a possible recovery in the global economy could be derailed.”
Of course no GOP foul up would be complete without Karl Rove being involved. Rove stated in the Wall Street Journal that he opposed the inclusion of “$462 million for the Centers for Disease Control, and $900 million for pandemic flu preparations,” on the grounds that “health care also added jobs” in the previous year. Such expenditures were, to Rove, “disturbing” and an example of President Obama’s “lack of engagement and leadership.” Yes, because we all know how great a “leader” Rove is, reminiscent of the kid in the back of the class who makes fun of everyone else for doing well in school.
UPDATE from Huff Post: Ryan Grim has been chasing down comments today, in an attempt to measure the effect the swine flu outbreak is having on everyone’s hindsight:
“We had $870 million in the committee-reported stimulus bill for buying anti-virals, vaccines, planning, etc. It was dropped in Collins-Nelson because it was ‘not stimulative,’” said a Senate leadership aide.
“We did put over $500 million in the omnibus, and HHS/DHS are fairly well-supplied, but it was an opportunity lost for being appropriately prepared.”
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) was among those who had pushed for the pandemic money after pressing the Bush administration to take bird flu seriously.
“The Senator was disappointed that the money was taken out of the economic recovery package because that money was to develop the capacity to produce pandemic vaccines quickly in the U.S. in response to any pandemic,” said his spokeswoman Kate Cyrul. “This capacity is not there yet and would not be if we had appropriated the money, but the current outbreak reminds us that we need to be prepared.”
As Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, Senator Collins has led hearings on pandemic flu preparedness, worked on “bioshield” legislation and funding, and helped strengthen our nation’s preparedness for a pandemic flu.
Claims that she is opposed to increased funding for pandemic flu research are blatantly false and politically motivated. In fact, in December 2008, Senator Collins joined in a letter to Senate leaders requesting a $905 million increase for the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund at the Department of Health and Human Services.
There is no evidence that federal efforts to address the swine flu outbreak have been hampered by a lack of funds. Senator Collins does, however, believe that it is a problem that the Centers for Disease Control and the Department of Health and Human Services still do not have top positions filled. She hopes the Senate will move promptly to confirm Governor Sebelius for HHS Secretary.
Dave Obey (D-Wisc.), who backed the pandemic preparedness funding in the stimulus package, also released a statement today:
“We have been trying to get adequate funding to prepare the nation for a pandemic outbreak since 2005. We tried again as recently as January in the economic recovery package. Whether or not this influenza strain turns out to have pandemic potential, sooner or later some strain will.”
“We are not prepared today. Let’s hope we don’t need to be. Because we need to become prepared as soon as possible, I intend to again request additional funds in the upcoming supplemental.”
Here’s what Obey said about pandemic funding in the report that accompanied the House version of the recovery package:
Pandemic influenza poses a major threat to the nation’s public health, security, and economy. CBO has estimated that an influenza pandemic might cause a decline in U.S. gross domestic product of between 1 and 4.25 percent depending on the severity of the pandemic. Providing additional funding to prepare for and respond to a pandemic will ameliorate the morbidity and mortality associated with worst case scenarios of an influenza pandemic thereby reducing the potential economic burden. Another program funded in this recovery package is BARDA, which supports advanced development and procurement of medical countermeasures, such as vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear agents, as well as other emerging infectious diseases. According to a recent independent economic analysis of BARDA, in order to develop countermeasures for all biodefense requirements identified in HHS’s Public Health Emergency Countermeasures Enterprise Implementation Plan, significant increased investment in advanced development is required. BARDA also provides for the expansion of the domestic manufacturing infrastructure to support new vaccines and other countermeasures, where an expansion of domestic manufacturing is desired to provide sufficient quantities of products in a timely manner.
WASHINGTON — Vice President Joe Biden says he’s advising his own family to avoid “confined places” — to stay off commercial airlines and even subways — because of the new swine flu.
