U.S. President Bush Signs $555B Spending Bill

U.S. President Bush last week signed a $555 billion fiscal year 2008 omnibus spending bill (HR 2764), the New York Times reports (Urbina, New York Times, 12/27/07).


The omnibus bill signed by Bush, which combined 11 unfinished spending measures, will fund the Department of State, USAID, and other global health and international aid programs. It also affects the Millennium Challenge Corporation, which aims to encourage economic and political reforms in developing countries. The measure provides $6.5 billion for U.S. and global health activities, including emergency spending, which is $1.4 billion more than was allocated in 2007 and $796 million more than Bush's request, according to the House Appropriations Committee.

Five billion dollars in foreign operations spending will go to the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief -- at least $1.2 billion more than the program received last year. The measure also includes a provision that would allow overseas HIV/AIDS programs relief from abstinence-education mandates. By law, at least one-third of HIV prevention funds that focus countries receive through PEPFAR must be used for abstinence-until-marriage programs.

Under the bill, the Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria will receive about $841 million. The amount includes $546 million in the State-Foreign Operations section and $295 million in the Labor-HHS-Education section of the bill. Bush had requested $300 million for the Global Fund, all of which was allocated in the Labor-HHS bill.

In addition, the measure provides $1.8 billion for global health and child survival programs, including $347 million for HIV/AIDS programs. Funding for maternal and child health programs will increase by $101 million, and malaria and TB funding will increase by $101 million and $72 million, respectively. The measure will reduce funding for MCC to $1.54 billion -- about half of Bush's requested $3 billion. A proposal to change the way MCC funding is dispersed was dropped (GlobalHealthReporting.org, 12/20/07).