The ATS is supporting public health coalition efforts to provide critically needed funding for CDC and state health departments in response to the COVID-19 emergency. The ATS joined over 90 public health, patient and health professional organizations in a recent letter to the U.S. Senate calling for $4.5 billion in funding for CDC and state and local public health departments for disease surveillance, epidemiology, laboratory capacity and preparedness and response. In the letter, the coalition points out that basic public health capacity has been underfunded for years and that “only 51 percent of the U.S. population is served by a comprehensive public health system.” The letter urges Congress to prevent and prepare for the next pandemic by investing in public health. Congress responded to the public health coalition effort by providing the full $4.5 billion for CDC in the COVID-19 stimulus package signed into law on March 28, 2020. The coalition continues to seek additional public health funding in the fourth COVID-19 response package that Congress has begun work on.