Needed: co-sponsors for two Senate bills
Guns-for-butter move bodes well
Last month on Capitol Hill, in one of the quirks that characterize the workings of the legislative machinery, the Colombian military’s loss came close to being TB’s gain.
An amendment offered by Sen. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) would have taken a $100 million chunk of foreign aid bound for the Colombian army and placed it into a USAID fund, where 70% of the dollars would have gone to fighting international TB.
Never mind that the amendment failed to pass, because lots more of the same is coming up, says Jeff Glassroth, MD, past president of the American Thoracic Society in New York City.
As TB Monitor went to press, a House version of the Pelosi bill was being planned. If that one fails, two more versions will be offered, one boosting TB funding overseas by $20 million and the other by $10 million.
"This really shows how the two TB bills before Congress both act principally as place-markers," Glassroth says. That is, they exist mostly to remind Congress that TB is a good cause in need of more money, meaning it doesn’t really matter if the bills pass. "The legislative intent of the bills, we trust, will be included in larger health bills," he adds.
The House version of both the foreign and domestic TB bills has plenty of sponsors. The Senate version has a bipartisan slate of notables, but still needs co-sponsors. "Any co-sponsor is a good co-sponsor," Glassroth notes. "We need for people to get out and push this right now."
You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
- Award-winning Medical Content
- Latest Advances & Development in Medicine
- Unbiased Content