Associated Press - Monday, November 17, 2003

The amount is $400 million more than President George W. Bush proposed last February. The administration had defended Bush's request, attacked as inadequate by advocates of an aggressive global fight against AIDS, as all that could be effectively spent right now.

"We see the Congress really defying the president on this by going higher, and that is a very positive trend," said David Bryden, spokesman for the Global AIDS Alliance, a Washington-based advocacy group.

Congressional negotiators also agreed to provide $650 million for Bush's so-called Millennium Challenge Account, the president's plan to give foreign aid to countries trying to make democratic, economic and human rights reforms at home, said the congressional aides, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

That is half the sum Bush requested. The reduction underlines the budget pressures lawmakers face from mounting federal deficits, the weak economy and the cost of tax cuts as they try to complete overdue spending bills for the federal fiscal year that started Oct. 1.

Last spring, Congress enacted a five-year, $15 billion plan for fighting AIDS and other diseases worldwide that Bush had proposed in his State of the Union address in January. That legislation set up the program, but left the provision of money to future bills.

The plan called for spending $3 billion a year for preventing and treating AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in 14 African and Caribbean countries, with the bulk of the funds to be aimed at AIDS. The effort was supposed to prevent 7 million new infections, provide care for 10 million HIV-infected people and AIDS orphans, and provide therapy for 2 million others. It represents a near-tripling of previous U.S. efforts against AIDS.

Lawmakers plan to include about $1.65 billion for the global AIDS effort in a $17.2 billion foreign aid bill. House-Senate negotiators planned to shake hands on the foreign aid measure Monday night, and hoped to push it through Congress this week.

An additional $754 million for battling AIDS abroad is to be included in a separate $138 billion measure for this year's health, education and labor programs.

That health-education legislation is likely to be combined with several other unfinished spending measures into an enormous bill financing much of the government. Top lawmakers hope that measure will be passed by Congress just before it adjourns for the year, perhaps by the end of this week.

Bush proposed the Millennium Challenge Account in March 2002 as part of a long-term increase in the foreign assistance program. He called for $1.3 billion for the account for fiscal 2004, which started Oct. 1, rising to $5 billion for 2006.

Funds would go to countries meeting standards for good governance, health care, education and investment climates.

The overall bill also has:

- $731 million for combatting drugs in the Andean region of South America, matching Bush's request and about $1.5 million above last year's level.

- Nearly $2.7 billion in military and economic aid for Israel, and $1.9 billion for Egypt.

- $587 million for former Soviet republics, $11 million more than Bush sought but $168 million below last year's total.

- $325 million for the Peace Corps, $34 million below Bush's request but $30 million above the 2003 level.
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