Archives: Morning Breakouts

"By voting to ban any U.S. contribution to UNFPA" in the FY 2013 State and Foreign Operations appropriations bill, the House Appropriations Committee on Thursday "made a judgment call that saving the lives of women and girls around the world is simply not a U.S. priority," Valerie DeFillipo, president of Friends of UNFPA, writes in a Huffington Post "Global Motherhood" opinion piece. She notes that "[c]ommittee members voted against amendments that would permit funding to UNFPA for preventing and treating obstetric fistula, ending female genital mutilation, and providing family planning services and contraceptive supplies in nine sub-Saharan African countries with high rates of poverty and maternal mortality where USAID does not provide family planning assistance."

Criticism about Health and Human Services Sec. Kathleen Sebelius' appearance at the Jesuit institution has mounted this week because of her role in the Obama administration's rule on contraception requirements in the health care law.

The Food and Drug Administration's go-ahead will give patients who have to take blood thinners more options.

If the law is upheld, Republicans plan to take to the floor to "tear out" the law's most controversial provisions, Politico reports. Meanwhile, in related news, Reuters reports on the questionable fate of lesser known, but still controversial, aspects of the health law -- billions of dollars in new taxes.

The House Appropriations Committee is scheduled to mark up the FY 2013 State and Foreign Operations appropriations bill on Thursday, The Hill's "Global Affairs" blog reports (Pecquet, 5/17). On Wednesday, the committee released the State and Foreign Operations Draft Committee Report (.pdf), which provides additional information on funding through the appropriations bill for U.S. global health programs at USAID and the State Department, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation's Policy Tracker. "This funding comprises a significant portion of the Global Health Initiative budget (total funding for the GHI is not currently available as some funding provided through USAID, HHS, and DoD are not yet available)," the website writes. The House Appropriations State and Foreign Affairs subcommittee released the draft bill on May 8 and approved it on May 9, according to the website.

News outlets report on the details of the ad campaign, which is being paid for by Crossroads GPS, and also provide fact checking regarding some of its assertions.