Washington, DC Update

Posted 13 June 2019

The House of Representatives is moving quickly through the FY 2020 appropriations (funding) process, giving floor consideration to a package that combines the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (LHHS) bill with bills to fund the Department of Defense, the Department of State and USAID. While Congressional members had time to debate and consider amendments to the package, a final vote on the bill is expected this week. 

The packaged funding for the Department of State and USAID contains $9.3 billion for global health programs, which is $459 million over FY19 funding. Included in this is $3.37 billion for global health programs at USAID. Programs for Malaria and NTDs received level funding relative to FY 2019. As previously mentioned, the House LHHS bill includes a $2 billion increase for NIH and a more than 11 percent increase in funding for CDC. Broad global health accounts within NIH and CDC all saw boosts of around 4 percent - 5 percent, up to 8 percent. 

Meanwhile, the Senate appropriations process has been delayed significantly as members hold off on considering appropriations bills while budget negotiations are ongoing. Senate leaders have been in active negotiations with the Trump Administration and House leaders in order to reach an agreement on a new budget deal that would avoid automatic spending cuts across all defense and non-defense discretionary programs. As negotiations continue, Senators are beginning to weigh moving forward with the funding process by setting temporary top line spending numbers and acknowledging that once a deal is reached, the funding levels set in both the House and Senate spending bills are likely to change.

On June 4, the House passed the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act of 2019 (PAHPAI), clearing the Senate-passed legislation for the President’s signature. This legislation, supported by ASTMH, reauthorizes programs primarily situated within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including the Biomedical Advanced Research Development Authority (BARDA). It works   to ensure the country’s preparedness and response capabilities to emerging biosecurity threats, including naturally occurring threats such as emerging infectious diseases and anti-microbial resistance. Although no funds were directly dedicated to BARDA’s work on emerging infectious diseases, the legislation highlights this as a priority for BARDA’s work and authorizes increased funding for BARDA over the next five years. 

The House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Human Rights, and International Organizations held a hearing on May 28 to learn more about the Ebola outbreak. Witnesses for the hearing included Admiral Tim Ziemer, Acting Assistant Administrator of USAID, and Robert Redfield, MD, Director of CDC. View the hearing here.
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