Appropriations Subcommittee Has Power To ‘Open Spigot’ on Funding for HIV/AIDS Initiative, Editorial Says

The Senate Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee, which is chaired by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), is "empowered to open the spigot" to fully fund the levels authorized in the five-year, $15 billion AIDS initiative (HR 1298), which President Bush signed into law last month, according to a Louisville Courier-Journal editorial (Louisville Courier-Journal, 6/21). While the bill calls for $3 billion a year for five years to fight AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean, the Bush administration in its fiscal year 2004 budget proposal only recommended $1.7 billion for the initiative (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 6/16). The law's package is "far more than a grand gesture of compassion; it's a sensible response to a pandemic that threatens the security and economic stability of the whole world," the Courier-Journal says. The editorial concludes that McConnell "has it within his power to touch and to save many lives. We hope that he'll do it, promptly and gladly" (Louisville Courier-Journal, 6/21).