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Congress began to answer our call. Further funding for DMI came through COVID-19 relief and annual appropriations, beginning
with $500 million through the CARES Act in March of 2020. In December 2020, Congress included another $50 million in annual
appropriations for DMI. The American Rescue Plan Act allocated another $500 million in March 2021 for DMI and epidemic forecasting.

We are grateful for these critical injections of funding, much of which is helping to transform CDC’s internal data infrastructure.
However, we will not be able to modernize the system with periodic injections. To transform our nation’s public health data
infrastructure, we need robust, sustainable investment at the state and local level. That’s why we and our partners at DEH are calling on
Congress to invest at least $7.84 billion over five years in public health data modernization at the state, local, tribal, and territorial (STLT)
levels.

In addition to the DEH campaign, CSTE has continued our annual advocacy priorities for critical CDC programs. In FY 2021, Congress
provided $7.87 billion in annual appropriations for CDC,
including important increases for Emerging Zoonotic and
Infectious Disease (EZID) and Public Health Scientific
Services. Respectively, these critical public health
programs were funded at $648.27 million (an increase
of nearly $26 million) and $592 million (an increase of
$36.5 million.) We also continued to advocate for CDC
resources to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and were
pleased that Congress provided $1.75 billion for genomic
sequencing through the American Rescue Plan Act.

Over the last two years, our work has increased and
evolved considerably as we advocated for public health in
a world that was rewritten by a global pandemic. As we
continue to respond to COVID-19, we cannot fully predict
the impact it will have on our future. One thing is for certain,
however—the voice of the of epidemiologist will continue to play
the most important role in that dialogue. Ongoing advocacy is
necessary to ensure that lawmakers prioritize public health. CSTE
will continue to advocate on your behalf on all fronts.