The Democrats on the House Government Reform Committee, led by the irreplaceable Henry Waxman, sure do know how to put together a good report.
The “Iraq on the Record” research was impeccable, as was the work on the White House’s war on science, and unprecedented penchant for secrecy. Now, Waxman & Co. have done it again, this time with some incredibly quick research on the flu vaccine (.pdf), or in this case, the lack thereof.
If there was any doubt about the salience of Kerry’s charges that Bush has dropped the ball on the flu vaccine problem, Waxman makes a devastating case. As Mark Kleiman noted, there’s information in this report that isn’t well known, but should be.
Did you know that in 2001 the Institute of Medicine recommended the creation of a National Vaccine Authority, and that the Bush Administration took no action on that recommendation?
Did you know that in 2002 the GAO recommended that the FDA create a fast-track process for vaccine approvals, and that the Bush Administration took no action on that recommendation?
Me neither. But Congressman Henry Waxman knows, and documents, those facts, and additional ways in which the Bush Administration was asleep at the switch.
Bush was warned this was coming, but blew off experts’ concerns. Where have we heard this before? Of yeah, now I remember — with pre-9/11 warnings about bin Laden, and the uncertainty about WMD in Iraq, and the likelihood of an insurgency post-Saddam, and the effects of his environmental policies, and the effects of his tax cuts on the budget….