Congress Blows $50 Billion On AIDS Bill
SFGate.com - Senate negotiators said Wednesday they had reached a tentative agreement on a key obstacle to one of the most ambitious federal health initiatives ever, a $50 billion act to combat AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in Africa and other countries hard-hit by those diseases. The agreement sets the stage for the Senate to vote in the near future on the five-year bill that would more than triple the size of the $15 billion global AIDS bill that Congress, at the urging of President Bush, passed in 2003. The current act expires at the end of September.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said they had an “agreement in principle” with several Republican senators, led by Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, who had voiced opposition to aspects of the bill. With that agreement, Reid said, “we should be able to do this quickly and easily and it should be done before President Bush goes to the G-8 Summit next week. That would send an important message to the world that our country’s commitment to fight HIV/AIDS has not wavered.” read more









