Panel Approves Global AIDS Spending Hike

CAPITOL HILL (AP) — A House committee has voted to more than triple spending for a global AIDS program.

The bill extends the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which has proven to be one of the Bush administration’s most successful and popular foreign policy initiatives.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee approved spending of an average 10 billion dollars annually over the next five years. The vote came after lawmakers and the White House reached a compromise on some policy issues that had held up action.

The White House and many Republicans had objected to the original draft because it removed a provision requiring that a certain amount be spent on abstinence programs.

The compromise directs the administration to promote a “balanced” prevention program in target countries.