In the Global Health Technologies Coalition’s (GHTC) “Breakthroughs” blog, Ashley Bennett, senior policy associate at GHTC, “provide[s] a summary of what the compromise means for the federal budget, and what might happen to global health and international development programs.” She discusses the “new ‘fiscal cliff’ date … when the new FY 2013 sequester is now scheduled to occur,” and how sequestration might affect global health research and development spending. The cuts that sequestration would entail “will ultimately damage progress in global health R&D,” she writes, concluding, “As the March debates over the federal budget begin, Congress should find a way to get the appropriations process back on track and commit to a balanced, thoughtful, long-term plan that protects smart, effective, life-saving investments in global health R&D and other humanitarian programs” (1/11).