Statement on the Administration’s Fiscal Year 2023 Budget Request
The following is a statement from Heather Ignatius, PATH’s Managing Director for Policy and Advocacy, on the release of the Biden Administration’s Fiscal Year 2023 Budget Request.
Washington, D.C., March 29, 2022 — Yesterday, President Biden released his Budget Request for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023, which includes a much needed and historic request for whole-of-government funding for pandemic preparedness and robust support for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria but falls short in proposed funding for other global health programs, which have been particularly hard-hit as a result of COVID.
We applaud the Biden administration for providing a clear vision for a whole-of-government response to pandemic preparedness, including through a proposed $6.5 billion in mandatory funds for the Department of State and USAID to spend over 5 years to strengthen the health workforce, support research, and development of vaccines through CEPI, and invest in a new multilateral pandemic preparedness fund. These funds will help break the cycle of panic and neglect that we have seen in the last decade in response to Ebola, Zika, and COVID, and ensure the world is better prepared for future health threats.
In addition, we congratulate the Administration for its leadership ahead of the upcoming Global Fund replenishment. The requested $2 billion in annual funding for The Global Fund will be particularly critical to ensuring the world makes up for progress stalled in efforts to end AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria as a result of COVID-19.
However, the President’s budget fails to propose the needed resources to ensure that many other essential global health services--which have been disrupted during COVID--are set back on track. Of particular concern are the proposed decreases in requested funding for programs at USAID and CDC which support essential services to women and children around the world and support lifesaving vaccine campaigns. We must be able to prepare for future health threats without ignoring the everyday health needs of communities around the world.
We look forward to working with Congress to advance historic investments in global health security and the Global Fund, while also ensuring that other global health needs are met.