June 2014

This week, both the House and Senate State-Foreign Operations Appropriations subcommittees, chaired by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX), met to approve fiscal year (FY) 2015 spending bills for foreign assistance and global health programs through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

The House FY2015 Foreign Operations bill proposes to flat-fund USAID's global tuberculosis program at the FY2014 level of $236 million. The Senate bill proposes a funding cut of $11 million, or just under 5%, to the program, for a proposed FY2015 funding level of $225 million. Although we are disappointed that the Senate proposed a cut to the program, both proposals are considerably better than the President's FY2015 budget for the program, which is a $45 million, or 19% funding cut, which would reduce the program's funding down to $191 million.

The Senate Foreign Ops bill is expected to be approved by the full Appropriations committee on June 19. A date has not yet been scheduled for a full Appropriations Committee vote on the House side. The ultimate outcome of the State-Foreign Operations bill is unclear since the November election will disrupt the appropriations process. If Congress fails to pass the bill before the start of FY2015 on October 1, then a temporary spending measure extending current funding into fiscal year 2015 could protect USAID's TB program from the Senate's proposed cut.