Some people call it “sausage making” — the laborious process of getting issues and legislation to appeal to both Republicans and Democrats at the federal level. However, the process I am witnessing regarding the U.S. support for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria is groundbreaking. Washington Rep. Derek Kilmer has educated his fellow members of Congress from Washington about this public/private fund that is on track to save 30 million lives by 2019. Kilmer drafted a letter to the president encouraging that the U.S. support one-third of the funding needed for the Global Fund.
In 2015, TB killed 1.5 million people; AIDS killed 1.1 million; and malaria took the lives of 438,000 people. Because of the leadership of Rep. Kilmer, this letter is now on it’s way to the president signed by Reps. Rick Larsen and Suzan DelBene, along with the entire Washington state Republican and Democrat delegation. Our Snohomish County RESULTS group has never before seen all Washington state members of Congress in support of the Global Fund at this level and we are hopeful that when it comes to global health issues that impact the entire world, the U.S. responds from the heart not by party affiliation.
Teresa Rugg
Snohomish County RESULTS Co-Group Leader
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