This week, the House State-Foreign Operations subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Rogers (R-KY), followed by the full Appropriations Committee, approved a record $41 million or 15.7 percent funding increase over the current funding of $261 million for fiscal year (FY) 2019 for the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) global tuberculosis program. The Committee action puts proposed FY2019 funding for USAID’s TB program at $302 million as part of the State Department and Foreign Operations spending bill. The Senate State-Foreign Operations subcommittee, chaired by Sen. Graham (R-SC) acted the same week, approving a lesser $14 million increase for the global TB program, for a proposed FY2019 funding level in the Senate’s FY2019 State and Foreign Operations spending bill of $175 million.

The ATS will work with partners in the Tuberculosis Roundtable, a coalition of 20 public health and provider organizations supporting global and domestic TB, to support the higher House level for the global TB program. USAID’s global TB program supports the identification, treatment and prevention of TB, including drug resistant TB, in 23 of the most highly burdened countries.