Update on FY 2020 Appropriations
In an increasingly common pattern, the government is currently operating on a continuing resolution (CR) that expires November 21. As the deadline approaches, Congressional leaders have been working closely with the White House to pass appropriations bills for FY 2020. Both the House and Senate have acknowledged that another CR will likely be needed to keep the government open until Congress completes its work on funding for FY 2020. Unless a deal is suddenly reached, Congress is expected to pass another CR next week that will extend funding for government programs at FY 2019 levels until December 20. The President has said he will sign the CR as long as it does not restrain his ability to spend money on the border wall.
Ultimately, budget negotiations have hinged on whether lawmakers and the Administration can reach a deal on funding for the border wall. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and President Donald Trump have yet to hammer out a deal and will need to do so prior to the December 20 deadline to avoid an end-of-year shutdown of the government. Meanwhile, appropriators are optimistic that the impeachment proceedings will not impact negotiations between President Trump and Speaker Pelosi for FY 2020, but that could be overly optimistic.
Recent Events
On October 23 Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) introduced the Global Health Coordination and Development Act to create a coordination framework for all U.S. global health activities.
“Global health investments are a critical component of strengthening national security and achieving U.S. global development goals,” said Sen. Markey, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “The Global Health Coordination and Development Act builds upon decades of lessons learned from U.S. foreign assistance history and confirms to the world that the United States is ready, willing, and able to support the health and well-being of people around the world. Rather than lurch from crisis to crisis, this legislation establishes a framework that will ensure coordination, integration, planning, and implementation of programs and activities across U.S. government agencies and with stakeholders. I thank Chairman Sherman for his partnership on this critical legislation.”
“Besides security assistance, America spends more on foreign health assistance than any other type of aid,” said Congressman Sherman, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “Right now, this assistance is delivered by a number of different agencies with insufficient coordination and no overall strategy. This legislation would ensure that the U.S. government has a health assistance strategy and that all agencies are working from the same page. This will ensure the American people’s tax dollars are not wasted, while improving outcomes for aid recipients.”
At the end of October, it was reported that a long running program at the U.S. Agency for International Development called Predict is shutting down. Predict was established in 2005 after the H5N1 bird flu scare to track and research zoonotic diseases at the intersection of wildlife and humanity. Since its creation, the program has collected more than 100,000 samples and found nearly 1,000 novel viruses, including a new Ebola virus. It’s thought that some aspects of the program will be continued throughout other areas of the U.S. government, but its core activities will be discontinued.