Bush to Move AIDS Office Into White House

President Bush is planning to move the Office of National AIDS Policy into the White House rather than maintaining its separate location a block away from the White House, Scripps Howard News Service/Memphis Commercial Appeal reports. In addition, the "as-yet-unnamed" AIDS director will hold a seat on the Domestic Policy Council, "one of the administration's key advisory panels," which will allow the AIDS director to "work closely with the president's special assistant on health." Scripps Howard/Commercial Appeal reports that the move will "assure" that AIDS office staff interact with officials responsible for forming Bush's domestic policy. A fact sheet circulated by the White House describing the move states that Bush will appoint "a strong AIDS director" to "retain a visible presence in the White House on AIDS issues." Bush said earlier this week, "[T]here's going to be a person in my office who has got the responsibility of coordinating the AIDS policy throughout the federal government." But the AIDS office will consist of a smaller staff, raising concerns form AIDS advocates. Bush also plans to seek additional NIH funding for biomedical research, "including for AIDS and global infections disease research" (Straub, Scripps Howard News Service/Memphis Commercial Appeal, 2/15).