Congressional News COVID-19 emergency funds progressing through budget reconciliation After passing a budget resolution for fiscal year (FY) 2021, Congress has continued to progress toward passing President Biden’s $1.9 trillion relief proposal. Authorizing committees in the House have been marking up their individual bills. The House Committee on the Budget plans to mark up the…

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Congressional News The Honorable Barbara Lee to serve as House Appropriations Committee Subcommittee Chair for State and Foreign Operations Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA) was announced as House Appropriations Committee Subcommittee Chair for State and Foreign Operations. Chairwoman Lee has a long history of engaging on global health issues, particularly HIV/AIDS, promoting the Sustainable Development Goals,…

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Administration News Executive Order on Ensuring Access to USG COVID-19 Vaccines On December 8, President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) that ensures Americans have priority access to COVID-19 vaccines developed in the United States or procured by the United States government. The EO does not go into detail about the U.S. government’s vaccine distribution…

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Congressional News Appropriations negotiations continue House and Senate appropriators have spent recent days negotiating topline spending levels for all twelve FY21 spending bills and will likely push for an omnibus to pass them as a larger package. COVID-19 emergency supplemental negotiations are also still crawling along, albeit barely. Recently Senator Portman said he is working…

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Administration News HHS released National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria, 2020-2025 The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released the National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria, 2020-2025, based on the 2014 strategy and the first National Action Plan that was released in 2015. The latest plan was led by the Assistant Secretary…

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Administration News USG released Strengthening Health Security Across the Globe report On September 30, the United States government (USG) released its whole-of-government report demonstrating the determination of the U.S. to continue to advance health security at home and abroad. This annual report highlights the USG’s contributions to the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) and to…

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Administration News Administration proposes rule to extend Mexico City Policy to global health contracts On September 14, the Trump administration published a new proposed rule to extend the Mexico City Policy, also known as the global gag rule, to global health contracts. This is the first time the policy would ever apply to contracts, as…

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Administration News Trump Administration continues WHO withdrawal with reprogramming of funds The Trump Administration announced it would reprogram the remaining Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 and 2020 assessed contributions to the World Health Organization (WHO). The decision to reprogram $80 million in assessed contributions will impede the WHO’s ability to respond to COVID-19 and other long-term…

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Administration News Trump Administration reaffirms withdrawal plan from WHO In a statement released by the Department of State, the Trump Administration announced steps to complete the process of withdrawal from the World Health Organization. They announced the remaining portion of the 2020 assessment, upwards of $62 million USD, will be reprogrammed to the UN to…

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Administration News State Department updates U.S. global response to COVID-19 On July 29, the State Department provided an update on the U.S. funding commitments  for the global response to COVID-19. The update highlights and breaks down the allocated $20.5 billion that has gone towards the international response. Secretary Azar: Any vaccine would be shared once…

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