Senate spending bill includes $180 million for global AIDS efforts

The Senate on Thursday passed by a 69-29 vote a fiscal year 2003 omnibus spending bill that includes $180 million for international AIDS efforts. The amendment providing the AIDS funding was cosponsored by senators Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). The appropriation includes $100 million for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria and $80 million for international programs run by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The bill now will go to a conference committee, as the House passed a different spending measure that did not include the AIDS funding. A final compromise is not expected until early February.