House Trims $4B From President’s FY 2005 Budget Request for International Aid; Advocates Fear Cuts Will Hurt AIDS Funding
The House on Thursday approved 215-212 a $2.4 trillion fiscal year 2005 budget, which includes $4 billion less than President Bush requested for international affairs, the Los Angeles Times reports. Advocates have said they fear the cuts will be taken out of the five-year, $15 billion President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and the Millennium Challenge Account (Curtius, Los Angeles Times, 3/26). Bush's proposed FY 2005 budget includes $2.8 billion for international HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria programs, including $1.45 billion for the new State Department Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator and $200 million for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The Senate FY 2005 budget resolution, which was approved on March 12, would increase Bush's foreign aid request by $300 million. The Senate during debate on the measure approved an amendment sponsored by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) that would add $300 million to fight global AIDS (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 3/18). The House and Senate must now reconcile the budget differences, the Times reports (Los Angeles Times, 3/26).
A new issue brief and chartpack from the Kaiser Family Foundation present data and trends in the major categories of AIDS funding -- care, cash and housing assistance, research, prevention and international -- from FY 1981 through FY 2004. The resources are available online.
