EDUCATE POLICY MAKERS
Even as the pandemic shut down in-person meetings, it bolstered APHL’s presence on Capitol Hill. The year was marked by a higher level of involvement on the Hill than ever before.
Educate Policy Makers
APHL’s advocacy efforts to build support on Capitol Hill for a major public health data modernization initiative came to fruition in 2020, garnering full support for the Data: Elemental to Health strategy. Of the $1 billion requested to modernize public health surveillance data systems, $50 million was included in the fiscal year 2020 appropriations bill and another $450 million in the fiscal year 2021 appropriations bill to support data infrastructure and scientists. The CARES Act included an additional $500 million designated for public health data modernization.
Even as the pandemic shut down in-person meetings, it bolstered APHL’s presence on Capitol Hill. The year was marked by a higher level of involvement on the Hill than ever before. APHL communicated with more than 45 committee and member offices in both the House and Senate and representing both sides of the aisle, roughly a four-fold increase over a typical year.
The year was marked by a higher level of involvement on the Hill than ever before.
The interactions, which centered around the COVID-19 response, took on a different tenor as well, with APHL serving as a resource more than an advocate. Legislative staff approached APHL with repeated requests for subject matter expertise and input on proposed legislation. APHL staff and members briefed staff from multiple House and Senate committees on COVID-19 testing, public health infrastructure and data management.
For the first time, federal funds designated for public health in each of the pandemic response bills can be used to construct, modify or renovate non-federal properties such as state and local public health laboratories, setting the stage for stronger public health systems for years to come.
APHL also deepened its engagement with federal agencies, with frequent and regular interactions via calls and meetings on both scientific and policy aspects of the pandemic response. Upon request, APHL staff provided comprehensive summaries of pandemic response status to the Government Accountability Organization four times in 2020 and twice to the Office of the Inspector General at the US Department of Health and Human Services. The association also consulted with members of the Biden Transition Team on COVID-19 testing strategies, as well as on additional funding for public health laboratories.
Congressional testimony
Members also provided testimony in two committee hearings. Denise Toney, PhD, HCLD, director of the Virginia Division of Consolidated Laboratory Services, testified in April on COVID-19 testing issues before the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology’s Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight. Jennifer Rakeman, PhD, director of the New York City Public Health Laboratory, testified in June on COVID-19 serology testing before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform’s Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy.
Global health on the Hill
APHL member and staff advocacy efforts support continuous funding of global health security programs, which are critical for detecting and responding to health threats such as SARS-CoV-2. At APHL’s first Global Health Hill Day on Sept. 10, 2019, Global Health Committee members discussed the importance of sustained funding with staff for two members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and two members of the House Appropriations Committee.
