On the eve of the Fourth of July holiday, the administration quietly issued a joint message on the Global Health Initiative’s “next steps,” effectively sounding a death knell for the GHI. CGD's Amanda Glassman breaks down what this means for the GHI experiment and for U.S. global health agencies seeking to integrate and coordinate their efforts.
Yesterday the House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) approved the FY2013 Foreign Relations Authorization Act that it hopes will be the first authorizing bill to pass Congress in a decade. The bill aims to provide direction and guidance to appropriators and the administration as they fund and execute U.S. foreign affairs. But before you pop your confetti canisters and congratulate HFAC on a bipartisan job well done, check the fine print. The bill excludes foreign assistance—all of it.