Clinton Approves Foreign Operations Bill, Touts Debt Relief, HIV/AIDS Provisions
President Clinton yesterday signed the FY 2001 Foreign Operations appropriations bill, praising debt relief and HIV/AIDS provisions as a "highlight of his presidency," CongressDaily reports. "I believe this is one of the most important moments in the last eight years in the United States of America," Clinton said (Koffler, CongressDaily, 11/6). The bill will provide $435 million of international debt relief in developing nations and $300 million to fight HIV/AIDS worldwide (Washington Post, 11/7). "The United States has greatly increased funding to combat diseases like HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in developing countries, which combine to claim one in four of the lives lost on the planet every year," Clinton said, adding, "With the bill I just signed, we will have more than doubled our support for HIV/AIDS prevention treatment and care" (White House release, 11/7). In addition, Clinton called on Congress to "build on the bipartisanship" of the legislation by adding more resources to the World Bank's AIDS Trust Fund and passing a vaccine tax credit to boost world immunization rates (CongressDaily, 11/6). "By lifting the weakest and poorest among us, we lift the rest of us as well," he concluded (Washington Post, 11/7).
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