House Appropriations Subcommittee Gives Initial Approval to $2.2 Billion in Global AIDS Funding

The House Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee on Wednesday by voice vote approved a $19.4 billion draft foreign aid spending bill for fiscal year 2005, including $2.2 billion for global AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria programs, the AP/Spokane Spokesman-Review reports (Fram, AP/Spokane Spokesman-Review, 6/24). Although the approved funding -- most of which will go to AIDS programs -- meets President Bush's request for FY 2005, the subcommittee allocated a larger portion of the money to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria than Bush had requested (Rogers, Wall Street Journal, 6/24). Bush's proposed FY 2005 budget, which is $1.9 billion more than the total amount the subcommittee approved, includes $2.8 billion for international HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria programs, including $1.45 billion for the State Department Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator, which will administer the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, and $200 million for the Global Fund (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 5/19). Because the draft spending bill would double the requested Global Fund contribution to $400 million, less funding would go to PEPFAR programs (Wall Street Journal, 6/24). The $2.2 billion approved by the House subcommittee combined with an anticipated $600 million in funding from the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill would bring overall global AIDS, TB and malaria spending to $2.8 billion for FY 2005, according to subcommittee Chair Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) (Putrich, CQ Today, 6/23). Of the $1.9 billion in overall cuts from Bush's budget request, the largest cut was in funding for the Millennium Challenge Account, a program designed to encourage poor countries to make political and economic reforms in exchange for aid from the United States. The subcommittee budget includes $1.25 billion of the $2.5 billion Bush requested for MCA. The measure now goes to the full appropriations subcommittee (Reuters, 6/23).

The Kaiser Family Foundation on Wednesday released a new policy brief, titled "U.S. Government Funding for Global HIV/AIDS Through FY 2005," that includes charts providing detailed data on federal funding for global HIV/AIDS through fiscal year 2004, as well as the FY 2005 budget request (Kates/Summers, "U.S. Government Funding for Global HIV/AIDS Through FY 2005," 6/23). The brief, along with other reports and fact sheets on global HIV/AIDS funding, is available online.