Associated Press: The Latest: Hospital groups protest cuts in Trump budget
“President Donald Trump’s proposed government spending plan would cut funding for diplomacy and development by about 24 percent. But Congress has twice rejected the Trump administration’s attempts to slash the foreign affairs budget and is likely to do so again. … Anti-AIDS activists are condemning proposed cuts for worldwide efforts to fight the disease in President Donald Trump’s new budget request. Activists say the global cuts are at cross-purposes with the $291 million in additional spending that Trump has requested for an effort to virtually eliminate new HIV infections in the United States…” (3/11).

Devex: U.S. budget slashes global development funding, stresses burden sharing
“…In addition to the proposed cuts, the budget repeatedly mentions the need for other countries to share the burden for funding various global health and development priorities and pointed to aid being seen as a foreign policy tool: ‘The budget supports America’s reliable allies, but reflects a new approach toward countries that have taken unfair advantage of the United States’ generosity,’ the 150-page budget document reads…” (Saldinger, 3/12).

Foreign Policy: Despite Pompeo’s Call for ‘Swagger,’ Trump Slashes Diplomatic Budget
“…President Donald Trump’s fiscal year 2020 budget proposal, released on Monday, calls for a [24] percent cut for the international affairs budget. The budget proposal would hit international organizations hardest, imposing up to $1 billion in cuts for United Nations activities and slashing more than 30 percent in humanitarian assistance. It also appears to dismantle the State Department’s chief refugee protection bureau. … The proposal drew fierce backlash from Democratic lawmakers and some foreign policy experts, as well as a cadre of former top military commanders who argue continued cuts to diplomacy and foreign aid harm U.S. national security…” (Gramer/Lynch, 3/11).

Kaiser Health News: Trump’s Budget Offers $291M To Fight HIV In U.S. But Trims Overseas Efforts
“…[W]ithin the budget, the administration also proposed actions that could undermine efforts to control the virus’s spread, HIV experts and advocates said, including carving out funds from programs that aim to eradicate HIV in other parts of the world. Among those moves was a $1.35 billion cut in [bilateral HIV funding through] the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), according to an analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation. [Kaiser Health News is an editorially independent program of the (Kaiser Family Foundation).] … The budget proposal is for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. Congress is not obligated to fulfill any of the requests in the budget proposal. The administration has asked for similar cuts to global HIV initiatives in the past without success…” (Rodriguez, 3/12).

Science: Trump once again requests deep cuts in U.S. science spending
“For the third year in a row, President Donald Trump’s administration has unveiled a budget request to Congress that calls for deep spending cuts at many federal science agencies, including a … cut for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and a … cut for the National Science Foundation (NSF), while providing hefty increases for the military…” (3/11).

TIME: Trump’s Budget Asks for Nearly $300 Million to End the U.S. HIV Epidemic Within 10 Years
“President Donald Trump’s proposed 2020 budget includes nearly $300 million meant to ‘defeat the HIV/AIDS epidemic’ in the U.S. — even as it calls for a 12% reduction in total funding to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). During his February State of the Union address, Trump announced an ambitious plan to ‘eliminate the HIV epidemic in the United States within 10 years’…” (Ducharme, 3/11).

Wall Street Journal: Budget Proposal Adds Funding for Fighting HIV/AIDS in U.S., Cuts Contribution to Global Effort
“…HIV advocates had hoped that President Trump’s pledge in his State of the Union address to ‘defeat AIDS in America and beyond’ would translate into more money for U.S. programs that provide HIV prevention, testing, and treatment in developing countries. But his budget called for a 29% cut to the U.S.’s signature program, to $3.4 billion, for the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. It also proposed a 29% cut to its fiscal 2020 contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, a Geneva-based, international financing organization, and a $1 billion decrease in U.S. funding for the Global Fund over the next three years…” (McKay, 3/11).

Washington Post: Budget calls for deep cuts to foreign aid, especially for refugees and in humanitarian crises
“The Trump administration is proposing slashing the budget for the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) by almost 24 percent, with particularly steep cuts to humanitarian aid, refugee assistance, and global health programs. The proposed 2020 budget would take three funds that collectively are funded by more than $9 billion and consolidate them into an International Humanitarian Assistance fund that would be allotted about $6 billion, a one-third drop. In addition, the administration proposes cutting global health programs from [$8.8 billion] this year to $6.3 billion next year, a cut of … 28 percent. … State Department officials defended the budget, saying the United States remains the world’s largest contributor to global health and humanitarian efforts. They said the State Department’s proposed budget reflects the desire to reward U.S. allies with similar goals and get other donors to be more generous…” (Morello, 3/11).