Senate Appropriations Committee Scheduled to Mark Up Supplemental Spending Bill Allocating $100M to Global AIDS Fund
The Senate Appropriations Committee plans to mark up today a $31 billion supplemental appropriations bill for fiscal year 2002 that would allocate $100 million to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, CongressDaily/AM reports (Ghent, CongressDaily/AM, 5/22). Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) has said that he would introduce an amendment to the Senate version of the bill that would provide $500 million for international AIDS. Sens. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) also have stated their intention to add a separate amendment to the Senate version of the bill that would increase global AIDS spending by $700 million (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 5/13). Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) said he plans to bring the bill to the Senate floor this week (Rogers, Wall Street Journal, 5/22).
Meanwhile, In The House ...
The House Appropriations Committee last week passed the House version of the bill, which would allocate $200 million to the global fund (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 5/17). House speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) said that he hopes to consider the House version of the bill today, adding that "the House would not break for the Memorial Day recess until it had passed the supplemental" (Caruso, CongressDaily/AM, 5/22).