Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Available On Air Stations
Watch Live

Report: Federal Government shortchanged public health programs

The American Public Health Association has released its annual report on how members of Congress voted on key issues. The report gives San Diego's representatives mixed grades. KPBS Reporter Kenny Gol

The American Public Health Association has released its annual report on how members of Congress voted on key issues. The report gives San Diego's representatives mixed grades. KPBS Reporter Kenny Goldberg has the story.

The APHA report looks at how members of the House voted last year on eight specific pieces of public health legislation. San Diego's Republican congressmen all scored 17 or less on a rating scale of 100 while San Diego's Democratic representatives got a perfect score.

Dr. Georges Benjamin is APHA's executive director. He says in general, lawmakers failed to support public health in 2005.

Advertisement

And unfortunately we think public health, at least based on what we're seeing from the president's budget, may not do very well next year. And we're very, very concerned about that.

Dr. Benjamin says for example, the proposed budget cuts funding to the Centers for Disease Control and Rural Health programs. Kenny Goldberg, KPBS News.