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 May 16, the Senate approved President Bush’s initiative to triple U.S. funding for international AIDS prevention and care over the next five years. The bill authorizes $15 billion over the next five years to be set aside for AIDS prevention, care and treatment. An amendment to the bill authorizes at least 10 percent of initiative funds to children who were orphaned or made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS, a position advocated by World Vision and other faith-based groups. The House of Representatives had passed the initiative May 1 by a vote of 375-41.
“Congress is to be commended for its speed in answering the president’s call for compassion and generosity,” said Richard E. Stearns, President of World Vision, one of the agencies actively involved in lobbying Congress for quick action. “Every day action is delayed, 8,500 people die of AIDS, and 14,000 people are infected.”
Now that Congress has approved the funding, the bill will go before the appropriations committees in both the House and Senate, who will assign the authorized funds to AIDS programs over the next five years.
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