Recent Events
On September 23, the Senate passed legislation to provide relief for the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ebola outbreak. The bill now moves to the House for consideration before it can be signed into law. As previously mentioned, S. 1340 would require USAID to provide foreign aid to the DRC and others at risk and would include “multi-sectoral, non-humanitarian, and non-trade related” support. In addition, the bill would authorize amounts necessary to effectively respond to the outbreak. Any activities to improve access to affected communities would have to be prioritized. It is important to note that the CR signed into law to extend funding for agencies through November 21 included a separate provision allowing up to $20 million of unobligated funds from the Infectious Diseases Rapid Response Reserve Fund to be transferred to the CDC for Ebola preparedness and response activities carried out through November 21.
On September 24, ASTMH hosted a Congressional briefing, in conjunction with the Senate Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases Caucus and with the support of the Caucus Co-chairs, Senators Chris Coons (D-DE) and Roger Wicker (R-MS), in honor of the late Alan J. Magill to highlight the role of the Department of Defense (DoD) in the fight against malaria. The all DoD panel featured an opening presentation by Colonel Deydre S. Teyhen, Commander, WRAIR.
On September 18, 2019, the Neglected Tropical Diseases Roundtable, co-chaired by ASTMH and RTI, held a Congressional reception celebrating U.S. leadership in eliminating NTDs. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) who introduced a Senate version of the End the Neglected Tropical Diseases Act just a day prior to the event, attended and gave remarks highlighting the need for continued U.S. commitment to address NTDs. Senator Brown’s bill serves as a type of authorization for the USAID NTD program. In addition, Irene Koek, USAID Acting Administration of the Global Health Bureau was on hand to give remarks about the success of the program and need to continue U.S. efforts to eliminate NTDs.
Update on FY 2020 Appropriations
After returning from the August recess, Senators quickly hit a roadblock in their negotiations for FY 2020 spending bills. As a result, Congress passed and the President signed a continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government open and operating at FY 2019 levels through November 21, giving lawmakers additional time to reach an agreement on several annual appropriations bills. At present, the Senate Appropriations Committee has completed work on 10 of the 12 appropriations bills, including the bill to fund the State Department and USAID, though they have not received full consideration on the Senate floor.
As approved by Committee, the Senate’s State and Foreign Operations bill includes a slight increase in funding for a broad array of global health programs run by the State Department and USAID. The Senate bill allocates $9.111 billion overall for FY 2020 ($3.231 billion for USAID and $5.880 billion for State Department) an increase of $274 million over FY 2019, but $185 million short of the House passed FY 2020 bill (prior to reaching the two-year budget agreement). Specifically included in the Senate bill is $847 million for Maternal and Child Health, of which $290 million is for the GAVI Alliance; $100 million for Global Health Security at USAID, the same as the House, but down from $140 million last year; $789 million for Malaria programs; $310 million for tuberculosis; and $102.5 million for NTDs.
While the Senate Appropriations Committee has not taken up consideration of the FY 2020 Labor, Health and Human Services appropriations bill, text was released earlier this month. For FY 2020, the Senate proposed to boost funding for CDC global health activities to $595.8 million, $107 million increase above FY 2019 and $72.2 million above the House passed bill for FY 2020. The Senate bill expresses stronger support for prevention, detection, and response efforts to infectious disease outbreaks than in the House. Additionally, the Senate proposed $26 million for parasitic disease and malaria programs; $5.938 billion for NIAID, a $370 million increase over FY 2019; $82 million for Fogarty International Center, a $4 million increase over FY 2019; and an overall $3 billion increase for NIH funding to $42.084 billion. However, NCEZID would see a $5 million cut from FY 2019 under the Senate bill.
Despite the progress in the House and Senate on FY 2020 appropriations, both the House and Senate may face another Continuing Resolution if they cannot come to an agreement on funding for the border wall and the broader issue of border security.