Today, President Trump released his Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 budget proposal and its supplements, which can be found here. This proposal contains several mentions of STDs, including acknowledgement that cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis are “the highest number ever recorded.”

This proposal also contains a possibility for a slight increase for federal STD prevention funding. This compares to a proposed $22 million cut to federal STD funding in the previous year’s proposal. We are optimistic that our message–funding for STD prevention is requisite to address the growing STD epidemics in this country– is making an impact.

We are awaiting the release of further documentation for clarification on what this proposal suggests for an FY 2019 funding level for STDs.

It is important to note that the President’s budget is just a proposal, and while important as a starting point for funding negotiations, it does not carry the force of law. Additionally, the FY 2018 budget deal was just passed last Friday, so final numbers for this year’s allocations are not set. Therefore, the President’s budget document is not working off of final FY 2018 numbers when discussing FY 2019 funding.

We will be sure to keep our membership up-to-date as more is known about the President’s budget proposal.