Senate Subcommittee Approves Foreign Aid Spending Bill With More Than Bush Requested for HIV/AIDS, Less for MCA

The Senate Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Relations and Related Programs on Wednesday approved a $31.8 billion foreign aid appropriations bill for fiscal year 2006 that includes more money to fight global HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria than President Bush requested but less funding than he proposed for the Millennium Challenge Account, which is meant to encourage economic and political reform in developing countries, Reuters reports. The measure includes $2.9 billion in foreign spending to fight the three diseases, which is about $300 million more than Bush requested and $200 million more than the House approved on Tuesday (Reuters, 6/29). That amount includes up to $400 million for the Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, as does the House version (Putrich, CQ Today, 6/29). Bush's total FY 2006 budget request for all departments includes $3.2 billion for the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, including $300 million for the Global Fund (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 6/29). The Senate bill would provide $1.8 billion in FY 2006 for the Millennium Challenge Corporation, which is charged with administering MCA. That amount is more than the $1.75 billion provided in the House version but less than the $3 billion Bush requested (Hess, CongressDaily, 6/29). Bush originally planned to give $5 billion to MCC for FY 2006 when he created it in 2002. However, MCC over the last two years has approved agreements with only four countries for projects totaling $610 million, even though Congress has appropriated $2.5 billion during that time (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 6/29).