Celebrating Our FY24 Appropriations Wins!

We’ve officially finished our spring appropriations push! Thanks to all of your advocacy, we had some great successes on our Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) Dear Colleague letters. Each year, Congress uses the appropriations process to decide how much money should go to specific programs, including global health and education programs. The Dear Colleague letters allow Members of Congress to publicly state their funding priorities, and having broad bipartisan support is critical. This year RESULTS advocates supported 4 different letters on both the House and Senate side:

• The Global HIV/AIDS letter supporting the Global Fund and PEPFAR funding;
• The bilateral Tuberculosis letter in support of USAID funding;
• The Maternal and Child Health, Gavi, and Nutrition letter supporting USAID funding;
• And the International Basic Education letter supporting USAID funding and funding for the Global Partnership for Education.

Because of the specific political climate this year, we faced several challenges, including short deadlines, a divided Congress, and the threat of funding cuts from House leadership. But the global need is greater and more urgent than ever, and our ambitious appropriations asks reflect that need.

By meeting with your Members, emailing their offices, and submitting individual member forms, your advocacy this spring played a huge role in building support for our requests. The Dear Colleagues we work on typically have more signers and more bipartisan support than other global health letters, thanks to your efforts. This year is no exception, so let’s take a moment to celebrate the outcomes of our appropriations campaign!

House

Despite short deadlines and the noise surrounding proposed funding cuts in FY24, RESULTS advocates and our partners managed to make a strong statement in the House. The Maternal and Child Health, Gavi, and Nutrition appropriations letter calls for a $50 million increase to Gavi and almost doubling the Nutrition Account and still had over 150 Congressional signers and even 11 Republicans joining the call for increased resources. Annually this letter and our Global Fund/PEPFAR Congressional sign on letter have the most support of any global health letters – and that rang true again this year. 

Even more excitingly, the Tuberculosis letter finished with 129 signers, a new record! Our TB ask was extremely ambitious, and having 129 Members, including 9 Republicans, sign on to our $1 billion TB request is an amazing feat. As we continue our 2023 TB campaign, this strong support is a great sign that the U.S. is ready to take bold action on TB. 

Senate

On the Senate side, every letter gained more signers than last year, which is extremely exciting. And three letters reached their highest ever record for number of Senators signing on in support of funding! The Maternal and Child Health letter had 42 signers, 7 more than last year, including 4 Republicans. Basic Education had 36 signers, and Tuberculosis closed with 33 signers, 3 more than last year!

The increased support is incredible – especially as the Senate prepares to push back on potential funding cuts led by the House. As Congress continues the internal appropriations process, our Champions, especially those on the SFOPS subcommittee, can make a big impact on the final numbers.

Looking Forward

Our FY24 Dear Colleague letters send a strong signal that Congresspeople on both sides of the aisle support increased funding, not cuts, for these critical global priorities. Your advocacy, including reaching out to your Members’ offices directly and submitting individual Member forms, made an enormous difference. 

As you continue to meet with your Members this year, make sure to thank them for their support, encourage them to fight for our priorities, and emphasize the impact high funding levels will have on low-income countries and communities. I’m inspired everyday by your passion and dedication to sharing your perspectives with Congress. As we transition to focusing on other global policy priorities, including Tuberculosis (TB), I hope you take a moment to connect with other advocates and celebrate your hard work and our exciting appropriations outcomes.