FY19 Appropriations:

The Senate was supposed to be considering a Military Construction, Veterans Affairs/Legislative Branch/Energy and Water spending package, or “minibus”, this week, during which Senator Leahy, Appropriations Committee Ranking Member, was going to propose raising the non-defense discretionary (NDD) spending caps to help pay for increases in the VA’s health care spending. However, that was stalled when the White House sent a letter to the Committee strongly objecting to raising the caps. Updates to come on if NDD spending caps are raised. If NDD caps are raised this will free up more money for health funding, and could possibly create an easier pathway for NCSD to fight for more STD funding in FY19.

HIV funds transferred:

It was made public this week that in 2017, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) notified Congress of its intent to transfer unused money from the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program to the Office of Refugee and Resettlement. This transfer authority is granted to the Secretary to move a limited amount of funding, particularly if it is unspent in a given year, within programs at HHS. HHS transferred unused fund from the 2016 grant period to help pay for programs within the Office of Refugee and Resettlement. While it is unclear of how much money was transferred, there was no impact on current funding.