Devex examines how aid advocates are working behind-the-scenes to attempt to secure foreign aid, writing, “With less than two weeks until the end of the recess, the Washington, D.C., aid lobby is gearing up to ensure they can prevent the worst cuts to assistance programs, while laying the groundwork for food aid reform and other priorities as the fall negotiations begin to take shape.” According to the news service, “Negotiators from the House, Senate and the Obama administration may find common ground more abundant when it comes to health spending.” Devex notes that “PEPFAR … continues to enjoy broad bipartisan support,” as do “humanitarian accounts — bolstered by a united concern over Syria’s deteriorating refugee crisis, which just saw its one millionth child refugee.” However, “the fate of poverty-focused funding remains less certain, and one program in particular, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, is a surprising potential victim of the depleted assistance funding pool,” the news service notes (Igoe, 8/28).