House Appropriations Subcommittee Approves Funding for Millennium Challenge Corporation, President’s International AIDS Program, Global Fund
A House appropriations subcommittee on Friday voted to approve a fiscal year 2007 foreign aid budget, the New York Times reports. According to the Times, the bill includes $3.4 billion to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, $2 billion for the Millennium Challenge Corporation -- President Bush's foreign aid agency -- and $445 million in funding for the Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The bill passed by the subcommittee "fully financed" the administration's international AIDS program request, which increased by $752 million funding from this year; doubled the amount requested by Bush for the Global Fund from the foreign operations accounts; and reduced by $1 billion the amount requested for MCC, according to the Times (Dugger, New York Times, 5/20). MCC was created to administer funds for the Millennium Challenge Account, a program aimed at encouraging economic and political reforms in developing countries. Twenty-three countries currently are eligible to apply for MCC funding. Bush's February proposal included $3 billion for MCC, which would have provided enough funding to sign agreements with eight additional countries (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 2/7).
This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.