The Senate Subcommittee on the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs of the Senate Committee on Appropriations on Tuesday approved a $50.6 billion FY 2014 State and Foreign Operations Appropriations bill, which includes funding for global health programs at USAID and the State Department, The Hill’s “On The Money” blog reports. The total amount “is $10 billion more than the House is proposing” in a bill approved Friday by the House State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee, the blog notes (Wasson, 7/23). “According to a summary released by the subcommittee, funding through the Senate appropriations bill for PEPFAR at the State Department, which supports bilateral programs and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, is at the same level as both the president’s request and the related House appropriations bill,” Kaiser Family Foundation’s “Policy Tracker” notes. “Funding in the bill for tuberculosis, neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), pandemic influenza, and polio are above the president’s request,” the “Policy Tracker” states, adding, “Total funding for family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH) programs in the bill, which includes $40 million for UNFPA, is above both the president’s request and the House appropriations bill” (7/23). The Center for Global Health Policy’s “Science Speaks” blog also discusses the bill’s approval (Aziz, 7/23). The Hill blog notes the bill “will come before the full Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday” (7/23).