June 2015
This week, the House State-Foreign Operations Appropriations subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX), passed the FY2016 State-Foreign Operations bill which provides funding for the State Department and USAID. The bill provides flat-funding for USAID's global TB program at $236 million. This is a success, given the Administration's proposed 19% cut to the program (for the third year in a row) and continued tight budget caps. USAID's global TB program provides technical and programmatic assistance, including multi-drug resistant (MDR) TB response, to 23 of the world's most highly burdened countries. The full House Appropriations committee is expected to vote on the bill on June 10. The final outcome for the bill is unclear as the Senate subcommittee has a lower overall funding allocation.
