Bera, Murphy, Dem Members Applaud Biden Admin's Global Health Initiatives, Urge Regular Funding of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations

Press Release

Representative Ami Bera (CA-07), a member of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, and U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on Friday led four Democratic Members of Congress in applauding the Biden administration for their global health initiatives since taking office, and urged the administration to include regular funding for multilateral COVID-19 initiatives in the FY2022 budget request. In a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Acting Administrator Gloria Steele, the members specifically highlighted the Biden administration's commitment to strengthening multilateral COVID-19 coalitions like the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), and asked for regular funding for CEPI in the FY2022 budget request as we continue to fight COVID-19.

"We are particularly glad to see, in a recent National Security Directive released by the White House, a provision directing the Secretary of State and the Secretary of HHS to develop a plan to engage with and strengthen multilateral COVID-19 initiatives "such as the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations,' or CEPI. We were also pleased to see President Biden sign the American Rescue Plan into law on March 11th, which includes funding for "a contribution to a multilateral vaccine development partnership to support epidemic preparedness,'" the members wrote. "In addition to this important emergency funding, we urge you to request regular funding for CEPI in your Fiscal Year 2022 Budget Request to Congress."

The members continued: "Including a request for funding for CEPI in your administration's budget would enable Congress to appropriate funds specifically to CEPI, as it does for other international organizations like Gavi and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Such an action is supported by a wide variety of global health experts and is a key recommendation of the CSIS Commission on Strengthening America's Health Security, a report authored by many of the senior global health officials now working in the Biden administration."

"Requesting funds for CEPI will enable the U.S. to fund and contribute to the ever-shifting fight against COVID-19 and to invest in solutions to respond to or even prevent the next pandemic," the members concluded.

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