UPDATE: Congress Shuts Down CDC Ombuds Office

In response to long-running issues of poor morale and mistrust among employees, the Centers for Disease Control opened an ombuds office in October 2006. Just a year later, and before the CDC even had time to hire a permanent ombuds, Sen. Tom Coburn began efforts to defund the program. "My colleagues in Congress agreed with me that CDC doesn't need a morale-boosting CDC ombudsman that costs over $1,000 a day and over $2,500 per employee visit," Coburn said. "This money can be better spent."

Congressional scrutiny was the latest of problems for the CDC ombuds office. According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

The CDC ombudsman's office has been controversial from the start. That's because of the agency's decision to initially hire two contractors from Carter Consulting to serve as temporary ombudsmen on a one-year, $259,000 contract.

The contracting firm drew immediate distrust from some CDC staff who questioned the contractors' independence because the Tucker firm is owned by Joseph Carter, who retired in 2004 after being a top management official in the CDC director's office.

According to the most recent available data, the CDC ombuds office received 169 visits in its first nine months of operation. (Atlanta Journal Constitution.)

So it seems that Dr. Coburn's message to his disgruntled colleagues (who are charged with protecting the nation's health and safety) is: Suck it up, we need every penny for war spending.

Prior post: Coburn Amendment Would Defund CDC Ombuds.