Funding stays at FY2010 levels

Dec 22nd, 2010 4:30 PM UTC
By Kim Zimmerman

Yesterday, the Senate and House passed a continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government running at current levels until March 4, 2011. We are disappointed that our key priorities –- such as the Global fund, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), and agriculture programs — will continue to be funded at FY2010 levels instead of receiving the increases that the House and Senate Appropriations Committees had endorsed.

The new Congress that convenes in January will need to once again address the funding levels before the CR expires. Although it is unclear how they will proceed, it is possible that the funding levels will be simply extended until the end of the fiscal year. Congress could also decide to revisit the funding levels, and given the budget climate, even propose cuts to existing levels. At the same time, Congress will have begun working on the FY12 funding. The bottom line is that this limited three month CR is the worst-case scenario for us.

While we are disappointed in the final result, with your great help our work this year contributed to fairly good increases in all appropriations drafts until now. The final omnibus bill –- a grouping of all appropriations bills — developed by in the Senate was very positive. We would have received substantial increases in many of our priority programs. For example, as you will recall from our recent campaign, we advocated for $1.3 billion in funding for agriculture programs. The omnibus would have provided even more with $1.4 billion allocated. For GAVI, the omnibus proposed $105 million instead of the $78 million it received in the CR, and the Global Fund was funded at $1.05 billion instead of the $1.125 billion included in the omnibus. Unfortunately, the deal on the omnibus fell apart at the last minute and it was not brought to the floor for a vote.

As this congressional session concludes, we wish everyone happy holidays. We will continue to work with Congress when they return in 2011, and we will continue to advocate on behalf of the world’s poor.

TAGS: From ONE Members, Policy News