Congress began August with quite a bit of bluster. The Senate spent the final weeks negotiating an ultimately unsuccessful replacement for the Affordable Care Act, or ACA. ASTMH has been closely monitoring the Prevention and Public Health Fund, which was created under the ACA, and was slotted for elimination in the repeal and replace scenarios. Why? The repeal of the Fund would have a serious impact on CDC funding since it accounts for 12 percent of the agency’s budget. While the Senate was busy at work on the ACA repeal, the House of Representatives was able to pass four funding bills, one of which was a spending bill for the Department of Defense.
After Congress returns from the August recess in the first week or two of September, the Senate Appropriations Committee is expected to work on and release their versions of the Labor, Health and Human Services (LHHS) and State and Foreign Operations (SFOPs) Appropriations bills. Both bills were passed by the House Appropriations Committee on July 19 and await a floor vote. Funding for the CDC and NIH is included in the LHHS bill, while USAID operations are funded through the SFOPs bill. However, as we’ve noted before, there are a multitude of major bills that must be passed prior to the September 30 Fiscal Year 2017 deadline. Appropriators appear intent on working to pass their bills before the September 30 deadline. However, if history is an indicator, it is unlikely that the appropriations bill will pass on time. Since 2002, every fiscal year has been accompanied by at least one continuing resolution (CR) that maintained the previous year’s funding for at least a short-term CR period. This will likely be the case this year too.
On August 7, former Ambassador Mark Green was confirmed for the post of Administrator for USAID. Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald was appointed as Director for the CDC last month; ASTMH sent a letter to Dr. Fitzgerald congratulating her on her appointment and offering to work with her in her new capacity. Similarly, ASTMH congratulated Dr. Tedros Adhanom on his election to Director-General of the WHO and offered ASTMH as a resource.