The Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 appropriations process (funding bills) continues to progress. The President signed a compromise bill (conference report) funding federal government health care and defense programs into law September 28. NIH funding increased by $2 billion, NIAID funding increased by $250 million and Fogarty Center Funding increased by nearly $3 million. Overall CDC funding increased slightly when adjusting for some one-time funding in FY 2018, while global health programs under the CDC were level funded and emerging and zoonotic disease funding increased by $6 million. The compromise bill also included a continuing resolution (short-term funding) for government programs not yet funded, including global health programs under the Department of State and USAID. The short-term continuing resolution funds the government through December 7. House Speaker Paul Ryan, taking a page out of President Trump’s book, is threatening to shut down the government if the President’s U.S.-Mexico southern border wall is not fully funded at the President’s $25 billion request.
On September 26, the House passed a version of the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act, which re-authorizes funding for biomedical countermeasures and other preparedness activities. It is unclear when the Senate expects to take up the House bill, but the reauthorization process in the Senate has been bipartisan throughout and it is expected to pass without much fanfare.
Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) introduced House Resolution 1062 in the House of Representatives on September 12, 2018. The resolution supports the goals to protect U.S. military personnel from malaria by supporting research on new interventions for prevention and treatment, encouraging continued U.S. leadership in research programs through the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) and supporting sustained or enhanced efforts to eliminate the disease and prevent its return.
The midterm elections are fast approaching, with under a month until elections are held for the 116th Congress. As a reminder, all 435 seats in the House of Representatives are up for re-election, while only one-third of the 100 Senators (plus two special elections) will seek re-election at the ballot box on Tuesday, November 6. As of this writing, Democrats appeared poised to re-take the House while Republicans appear likely to retain control of the Senate. Midterm elections typically see the President’s party lose on average 30 seats in the House; 39 Republicans are retiring and pollsters rate about 60 currently held Republican seats as potential or likely pick-ups for Democrats, who need just 25 seats to take control of the House. Republicans currently hold 51 seats to Democrats’ 49 (including two Independents that caucus with Democrats). Democrats need to gain a net two seats in order to re-take the upper chamber. Of the 35 Senate seats up for election, Democrats are defending 25, including 10 in states that the President took in the 2016 election.