Recent news

September 2011

Senate committees consider spending bills that impact global health programs

September 23, 2011 -- This week, Senate committees considered two appropriations bills that impact key agencies and global health programs.

The Senate Labor-Health and Human Services (L-HHS) appropriations subcommittee debated and voted on its legislation for Fiscal Year 2012. The full Senate Appropriations Committee voted on legislation for both the State and Foreign Operations (SFOPs) and the L-HHS accounts. Both bills funded most global health accounts at lower levels than President Obama’s requests, which is likely to have implications for global health research and development (R&D).

The L-HHS account legislation:

Cuts the National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget by $190 million, bringing the total funding to $30.5 billion—essentially flat funding NIH.
Includes language to create the new National Center for Translational Science (NCATS)—including $20 million for the Cures Acceleration Network (CAN).

For the SFOPs account, the overall funding level is $44.64 billion, plus $8.7 billion for the Overseas Contingency Operations. The legislation includes:

$1.25 billion for operating expenses at the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
$7.905 billion for global health and child survival accounts at the State Department and USAID combined. This compares with $8.715 requested by Obama.
$595 million for maternal and child health, compared with Obama’s request of $846 million.
$5.6 billion for HIV/AIDS, compared with $5.991 requested by Obama. This is a cut of $90 million from current funding levels.
$642 million for malaria, compared with $691 million requested by Obama.
$225 million for tuberculosis (TB), compared with $236 million requested by Obama. The Senate level would flat fund TB compared with current levels.
$89 million for Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), compared with $100 million requested by Obama.

The flat-funding and cuts to these global health accounts could have severe effects on R&D efforts in many disease areas. Now, the SFOPs and L-HHS legislation must be reconciled with the House versions of the bills. The House versions make far more drastic cuts into these accounts and include policy language that conflicts with the Senate bills.

Because Congress is still considering appropriations for FY 2012, a continuing resolution (CR) will be necessary to close the gap between the end of this fiscal year and the start of the next one while Congress continues to work on these bills. In addition to these appropriations activities, the Congressional Debt Reduction Committee must provide recommendations for funding levels for the next several fiscal years. It has until November 23^rd to make its recommendations to Congress for cutting $1.2 trillion over 10 years.

MORE NEWS