Capitol Hill Update: July 2008

Over the last month, PAI’s U.S. Government Relations department has been working to ensure that U.S. funding for international family planning programs increases despite a difficult appropriations environment, while promoting family planning as a supported element of U.S HIV/AIDS prevention assistance overseas. On Capitol Hill, PAI and international family planning advocates are spearheading efforts to significantly boost funding for international family planning programs, while working to thwart the addition of anti-family provisions to the reauthorization of the President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

The annual appropriations process for the federal government has gotten off to a late start this year, despite looming legislative obstacles such as the August recess and a shortened legislative session due to the November elections. The House and Senate Appropriation Subcommittees for State-Foreign Operations, chaired by Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) and Senator Pat Leahy (D-VT), are scheduled to approve their respective versions of the foreign assistance appropriations bills on July 16th and 17th. (The FY 2009 State-Foreign Operations bill is the annual legislation which funds U.S. development and humanitarian assistance programs, including international Family Planning and Reproductive Health (FP/RH) programs.)

Despite declining U.S. funding trends for international FP/RH programs, and more than 200 million women in the developing world citing an unmet need for family planning, President Bush has requested another major cut of $134 million (or 29%) in these programs. To reverse these funding trends and begin to address the unmet need, PAI and a coalition of international family planning advocates have been building support among members and staff of the House and Senate to greatly increase U.S. funding. The coalition is asking for roughly a doubling of funding to $1 billion, which represents the U.S. fair share of the funding required to tackle the unmet need of 201 million women in poor nations. The funding environment for such significant increases in the foreign assistance budget is difficult, however. The House and Senate Appropriations Committees have released their Subcommittee budget allocations for FY 2009, and, disappointingly, both allocated $1.6 billion less than the President’s $38 billion request for the foreign assistance budget.

What will the $1.6 billion difference between the President’s request and Congressional allocation for the foreign assistance budget mean for international family planning programs? Thanks to our Congressional champions, family planning programs will likely avoid the deep budget cuts the President has proposed, but securing significant increases in funding will be all the more challenging. In addition, final action on the foreign assistance and all appropriations bills is not expected until early next year. The delays in the appropriations process, coupled with the shortened congressional calendar and the November election, mean that Congress will pass a continuing resolution lasting into early 2009. A continuing resolution essentially places the federal government’s budget on “auto pilot” at current (FY 2008) funding levels until the FY 2009 appropriations bills are finalized. This likely decision to delay decisions on funding until next year will hopefully enhance the chances that Congress will not only restore President Bush’s proposed cuts but also provide much-needed increases in international family planning assistance.

The reauthorization of PEPFAR presents another opportunity to provide U.S. leadership in improving the lives of millions of people, especially women, in the developing world. PEPFAR, which was first signed into law in 2003, authorizes $15 billion over five years for HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care. In April, in an effort to garner Republican support for a significant increase in assistance for HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria -- $50 billion over the next five years -- the House dropped strong language it was planning to include on the role of family planning in preventing HIV; instead it added language stipulating that only those family planning organizations compliant with the Global Gag Rule would be eligible for PEPFAR funding. While these changes were aggressively fought by the family planning community, politics trumped policy and weak and onerous FP language was included in the House-passed PEPFAR reauthorization bill.

Since passing the House, the bill has stalled in the Senate due to opposition from a small group of conservative Republican Senators. While their opposition has centered around concerns over the bill’s $50 billion price tag, PAI and others have been working to highlight and correct a glaring omission from the bill: family planning services as critical to HIV prevention. The Senate version of PEPFAR is silent on the role of family planning in preventing HIV infection, largely in an effort to avoid the controversy experienced in the House. This “silence” does not advance the sound public health practice of preventing HIV by integrating family planning and HIV/AIDS services. However, it is unlikely this omission will be remedied in the final bill due to strong opposition from some conservative Republican Senators.

We will keep you updated on these and other legislative developments in the next edition of PAI Insider.