TB Hill Day - An Advocate's Experience
As told by Pragnya Gudipati, Undergraduate Student, Paul Drain Lab
On March 3rd of this year, I had the opportunity to attend a Hill Day along with over 250 attendees, advocating for progress toward eliminating tuberculosis in the United States and internationally with members of the US Congress. Together, we scheduled over 200 meetings, with all 50 states represented. I attended specifically alongside 13 StopTBUSA members, a TB advocacy organization I work closely with as their Government Relations Work Group Co-Chair.
I had the privilege of helping lead a meeting with 2 congressional staffers from Rep. Suzan DelBene’s office, joined by a TB survivor and a professional lobbyist. I was able to share my personal connections to TB and leverage my academic understanding of TB from research and coursework to add value and credibility to our conversations. As a group of 3, we advocated for $225 million to eliminate TB in the U.S. and $1 billion towards fighting TB globally from the Department of State. Additionally, we requested $225 million to be directed towards the CDC’s Division of TB Elimination, $21 million towards the CDC’s Global TB Program, $51.303 billion towards the NIH, and $7.15 billion towards NIAID.
Later that day, as a group of 12 WA State constituents, we were able to meet with the congressional offices of both US Senators for WA State, not only asking for what we asked Representatives, but also to include TB as an eligible disease in the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program’s (CDMRP) Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program. We proposed TB as a national security and military readiness issue, showcasing a clear return on investment for TB research.
Overall, our requests were well received in WA State offices, and follow-ups with the offices have been relatively effective. Since early March, our group of attendees has made strides toward securing Congressional leaders' signatures on Dear Colleague Letters, a form of communication used to rally support for specific legislation. One such bill I have advocated for is the Fiscal Year 27 House Tuberculosis Dear Colleague Letter to advocate for $225 million to eliminate TB in the U.S. and $1 billion towards fighting TB globally, as part of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 Appropriations process. By the end of March, our group was able to get over 100 House representatives, both Democratic and Republican, to sign on to the letter. This includes 2 of WA State’s representatives, Pramila Jayapal and Suzan DelBene, as well. On April 9th, we initiated our advocacy efforts to have Senators sign a Dear Colleague Letter to increase funding for bilateral TB control in the Fiscal Year 2027 State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs (SFOPS) Appropriations bill, furthering our efforts from the past month and a half.
Our advocacy for TB didn’t just end after one day in DC. It has been and will be an ongoing effort to eradicate TB both domestically and globally.
Pragnya Gudipati
Pragnya Gudipati
