Advocacy Update ~ December 23, 2019

On December 20, Congress approved a $1.4 trillion spending package which President Trump signed into law –  avoiding a shutdown of the federal government and funding the government through September 30, 2020. There were several wins for global health, including:

• Global health programs at the Department of State and USAID received a 2.9% increase.
• 6.7% increase for NIH, including 3.4% increase for the Fogarty International Center.
• The CDC received an 8.7% increase, including a 16.8% increase for the Center for Global Health (with the majority of the increased funds going to Global Public Health Protection and a new Global Tuberculosis line).
• The Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria received a 15.6% increase, in line with the higher U.S. pledge at the October pledging conference. 
• The appropriations bills also included the House-passed version of End Neglected Tropical Diseases Act, which instructs the USAID Neglected Tropical Diseases Program to monitor and engage in research and development of new tools and charges the USAID Administrator to prioritize investments in research and development for new tools to ensure that new discoveries become available to the individuals who need them most.

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This post was written by Kiki Kalkstein, Director of Advocacy and Engagement, and Rebecca Daedalus, Advocacy & Community Partnerships Coordinator.