Morning Briefing

"On Thursday, the House Appropriations Committee will vote on a State and Foreign Operations (SFOPS) appropriations bill for fiscal year (FY) 2013, which will include funding levels for global health and other programs at the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)," Ashley Bennett, senior policy associate at the Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC) writes in the coalition's "Breakthroughs" blog. "Overall, the subcommittee's bill had mixed results for global health and other programs at USAID: while some programs were sustained at FY 2012 levels, others saw significant budget cuts that will affect the agency's efforts worldwide," Bennett says, concluding, "As the House Appropriations Committee votes on the SFOPS bill on Thursday and the budget process continues, Congress will have to decide whether it should boldly support USAID's goal of developing new health tools -- tools that are projected to save millions of lives -- or withdraw this support and risk halting scientific advancement in its tracks" (5/16).