Obama anti-obesity slush fund paid for pet spaying
Monday, April 30, 2012
Obama anti-obesity slush fund paid for pet
spaying
By: Paul Bedard, Washington Examiner, April 30,
2012
A controversial anti-obesity "slush fund" under Obamacare was
used in Nashville, Tennessee to spay dogs and cats. The reasoning:
stray dogs scare people from exercising outdoors.
The Nashville health department issued a
press release last year that told residents in one neighborhood
that they could get free
pet spaying, neutering, rabies shots and other services as part
of $7.5 million grant from the Communities Putting Prevention to
Work, which is part of the Public Health and Prevention Fund that
will soar to $2 billion in 2015 under Obamacare. The program was
initially funded by the Obama stimulus initiative.
In the release, the city said, "This targeted effort aims to
address residents' concerns that identify stray dogs as a barrier
to outdoor physical activity." It concluded, "the Nashville Public
Health Department Communities Putting Prevention To Work campaign
is funded fully by the Department of Health and Human Services, as
part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009."
A recent Nashville Tennessean story said that the funding might not
be continued, but that the city's Humane Association would fund the
vet services. A Humane Association official said the funding has
been cut off.
Explaining the federally-funded program, the paper said, "it wasn't
fair to ask residents to get outside and walk for fitness when they
had to worry about stray dogs nipping at their heels."
The fund has been threatened by the GOP. Last week, the House
Energy and Commerce Committee's health subcommittee voted to repeal
the program. The Republican House budget would also kill the
program. And Speaker John Boehner wants to use some of the money
from the program to pay for lowering student loan interest rates, a
plan President Obama has threatened with a veto.
Democrats have praised the fund for covering expenses such as
cancer screenings for women. But Republicans say the money is being
used as a slush fund to prop up support for Obamacare.
Congressional investigators and outside groups are scouring the
grant program for embarrassing uses, and the Nashville spay and
neuter program is just the latest. The
federal website touting the Nashville program adds that it is
also spending cash on bike sharing programs and to provide corner
markets with fresh veggies. It doesn't directly mention the spaying
and neutering program but does state: "Increase the safety of
Nashville's outdoor environment for community members to engage in
physical activity."