Senate Appropriations Committee Proposes Amendment to FY 2003 Interior Spending Bill Allocating $200 Million to International HIV/AIDS Efforts
Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) and ranking committee member Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) have proposed an amendment to a fiscal year 2003 Interior Department appropriations bill (HR 5093) that would provide funding for some of the items, including international HIV/AIDS programs, that were contained in a contingency spending package that was recently rejected by the Bush administration, CongressDaily/AM reports. The amendment would provide $937 million in funding, including $200 million for international HIV/AIDS efforts, to be spent as supplemental appropriations in fiscal year 2002 (Ghent, CongressDaily/AM, 9/13). Bush last month rejected $5.1 billion in contingency spending contained in the fiscal year 2002 supplemental spending bill (HR 4775). On Sept. 4 the president asked Congress to allocate nearly $1 billion in additional funding, including $200 million for international HIV/AIDS programs, in fiscal year 2003 appropriations bills. Bush's new spending request was sent as amendments to his spending proposal for FY 2003, and a spokesperson for the Office of Management and Budget said that the Bush administration wants the additional funding contained in the FY 2003 discretionary spending section of the House-adopted budget resolution (H Con Res 353) (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 9/5). A recent report estimated that Congress has the budget authority to allocate an additional $940 million in FY 2002. The White House did not comment on the proposed amendment to the Interior Department appropriations bill, CongressDaily/AM reports (CongressDaily/AM, 9/13).
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