If Congress wants to allocate another $3.5 billion towards fighting these non-COVID diseases, that decision should be made through the regular process.
If you look towards the tail end of the 101,530-word COVID-relief bill that just passed the Senate, you will find:
.–In addition to amounts otherwise available, there is authorized and appropriated to the Secretary of State for fiscal year 2021, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, $8,675,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 2022, for necessary expenses to carry out the provisions of section 531 of chapter 4 of part II of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2346) as health programs to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus, which shall include recovery from the impacts of such virus and shall be allocated as follows . . .
$3,750,000,000 to be made available to the Department of State to support programs for the prevention, treatment, and control of HIV/AIDS in order to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus, including to mitigate the impact on such programs from coronavirus and support recovery from the impacts of the coronavirus, of which not less than $3,500,000,000 shall be for a United States contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria;
AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria are all terrible diseases, and it is a good thing for the U.S. government to support efforts to fight these diseases. But these diseases are not COVID-19, and Democrats cannot plausibly argue that this bill does a good job focusing on problems related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Biden said, “Everything in this package is designed to relieve the suffering and to meet the most urgent needs of the nation and put us in a better position to prevail, starting with beating this virus and vaccinating the country.” Sorry, no. More U.S. taxpayer money for programs to fight AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria may be worthwhile, but they are not among the most urgent needs of the nation and they have nothing to do with beating SARS-CoV-2 or vaccinations.
If Congress wants to allocate another $3.5 billion towards fighting these non-COVID diseases, that decision should be made through the regular appropriations process, instead of stuck in near the back of a gargantuan monstrosity of a bill — a bill that we know few members of Congress read, cover-to-cover.
Keep in mind, that allocation to the Department of State is separate from the $204 million that was provided to the department for “necessary expenses of the Department of State to carry out the authorities, functions, duties, and responsibilities in the conduct of the foreign affairs of the United States, to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus domestically or internationally, which shall include maintaining Department of State operations.”
Because the pandemic harmed almost every sector of society in one form or another, almost any kind of additional government spending could be justified. And thus, this bill, written by and passed entirely by Democrats, did so: an extra $30.4 billion for grants from the Federal Transit Administration, $4.5 billion for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, an extra $77 million for the Government Accountability Office, $50 million to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, an extra $3 million for the Department of Commerce’s Inspector General, and an extra $12.8 million for the White House budget.