House Appropriations Subcommittee Passes Foreign Operations Spending Bill With $786M for Global HIV/AIDS Programs

The House Appropriations Foreign Operations subcommittee on Thursday passed a $16.55 billion fiscal year 2003 foreign operations appropriations bill that includes $786 million for international HIV/AIDS programs, Reuters/Yahoo! News reports. That amount is $150 million more than President Bush requested for global HIV/AIDS in his budget proposal (Allen, Reuters/Yahoo! News, 9/5). Of the funding set aside for international HIV/AIDS programs, the bill earmarks $250 million for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria -- $150 million more than Bush had requested. The bill also includes $100 million for a mother-to-child HIV transmission prevention program that the Bush administration announced in June (House Appropriations Committee release, 9/5). The bulk of the HIV/AIDS funding, including the global fund grant, contained in the bill is distributed through the U.S. Agency for International Development's Child Survival and Health Programs Fund (S 2779 text, 9/9). The Senate Appropriations Committee in July passed its version of the FY 2003 foreign operations spending bill (Reuters/Yahoo! News, 9/5). That bill (S 2779) includes $750 million for international HIV/AIDS programs, including $200 million for the global fund (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 7/19). Although the House bill would boost spending for HIV/AIDS programs, several lawmakers said that the allocations "still fell short" (Reuters/Yahoo! News, 9/5).