ASTMH continues to advocate before Congress and the Biden administration. Letters that ASTMH led or joined include:
- Letter to House and Senate Appropriations leadership urging for the highest possible funding for the CDC in fiscal year 2024 (FY24) spending bills, as well as rejecting any funding cuts or damaging policy riders that would undermine CDC programs.
- Letter to House and Senate Appropriations leadership urging increased funding for the NIAID in the FY 2024 spending bills.
- Letter to congressional leadership urging both chambers to finish the FY24 appropriations process and adopt the bipartisan Senate funding framework as a starting point for a final spending deal and warning against the possibility of steep cuts to domestic programs that could be enacted if a full-year continuing resolution (CR) were to pass.
- Letter to the White House Office of Management and Budget urging them to show support for Gavi in the FY25 President’s Budget Request (PBR) as part of the U.S. government’s multi-year pledge.
Read More:
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New Report Reveals NIH Did Not Comply with Grant Requirements
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Congress Reaches Tentative Funding Agreement to Avert Shutdown
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Senate HELP Committee Spotlights Advocacy Efforts to Reauthorize PAHPA
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Dr. Fauci Testifies on Origins of COVID-19
New Report Reveals NIH Did Not Comply with Grant Requirements
The Office of Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) found that the NIH did not take proper steps to ensure foreign awardees were in compliance with the agency’s grant recipient policy requirements. In a
draft report, OIG stated that NIH did not receive 81 of the 109 annual audit reports from foreign grant recipients. The report also stated that NIH did not engage in necessary audit-follow ups despite findings that indicated a need for increased monitoring or other corrective actions from the agency. Based on these findings, OIG issued several recommendations, including following up with the foreign grant recipients to confirm that the 81 audits were completed. NIH concurred with all recommendations.
Congress Reaches Tentative Funding Agreement to Avert Shutdown
In a surprise to many, House and Senate leadership
recently reached a tentative deal on overall budget totals – referred to as “topline numbers” – for FY24 that would keep the federal government funded through the end of the fiscal year and avoid a partial shutdown later this month. The deal establishes an overall spending level of $1.59 trillion for FY24, which reflects spending promises previously made under the debt limit law by then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and President Biden last June. Further, the agreement sets topline spending levels at roughly $836 billion for defense spending and $773 billion for non-defense spending for FY24. As a reminder, Congress passed a short-term CR prior to Thanksgiving to keep the government open. The two-step temporary spending bill funded certain parts of the government—including the Agriculture, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Veterans Affairs departments—through January 19 and funded the Defense Department and other remaining parts of the government, including Health and Human Services and USAID, through February 2. Under the current agreement, agencies are funded at FY23 enacted levels.
Despite the new funding framework, congressional leadership still needs to finalize the text of the deal and both chambers will ultimately need to pass the funding bills before January 19, the first government funding deadline. In response to the agreement, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) received immediate backlash from the far-right flank of his caucus, who strongly
criticized the bill for not going far enough to curtail spending and further
called the agreement a “total failure.” House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) also
expressed concerns over the deal, including the significant claw back of COVID relief funds. However, despite these difference, congressional leadership and President Biden have
maintained that the funding framework is necessary to avoid a shutdown and complete the appropriations process. Notably, as of this writing, the new deal does not include an agreement on policy riders, a legislative vehicle to infuse policy mandates into the budget, which could further hamstring the negotiations process. Speaker Johnson has told his conference that there would be plenty of room for Republicans to “fight for important policy riders” in the FY24 spending bills, whereas Democratic leadership has
indicated that it will not allow full-year appropriations bills to include “poison pill policy changes.” The short turnaround time to write funding bills for the first tranche of bills that expire on January 19 is very tight, which could mean a short-term extension of funding or a partial government shutdown.
Senate HELP Committee Spotlights Advocacy Efforts to Reauthorize PAHPA
Prior to the new year, Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Ranking Member Bill Cassidy (R-LA) released a statement highlighting more than 115 organizations that have called on Congress to reauthorize the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA). “The HELP Committee passed bipartisan legislation to reauthorize and improve PAHPA. We need to finish the job and pass it into law,” said Sen. Cassidy in the
statement. Despite the fact that both chambers’ committees have passed their versions of PAHPA, there has been no new activity on reauthorizing the bill. Uncertainty around the appropriations process only continues to add haze to the reauthorization timeline. As a reminder, funding for PAHPA lapsed on September 30. The short-term spending bill passed in late September to keep the government open temporarily extended certain programs under PAHPA through January 19. As of this writing, it is unclear whether the new spending deal will extend these same programs—and for how long.
Dr. Fauci Testifies on Origins of COVID-19
Former NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci returned to Capitol Hill on January 8-9 for a closed-door transcribed interview with members of the House Oversight Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. In a
statement initially announcing the interviews, Select Subcommittee Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) said Dr. Fauci would also appear at a public hearing later this year. The hearing date has not yet been announced.