Senate Reaches Deal on Global HIV/AIDS Bill

by Walter Alarkon - 06/25/08 9:15 PM ET

The Senate has reached a deal to reauthorize a federal program to fight HIV and AIDS worldwide.

The extension of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which had called for $15 billion in funding when it was created five years ago, calls for $50 billion more to combat HIV and AIDS. It had been stalled by a group of seven Republican senators, led by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), due to their concerns over the spending increase.

“I would certainly hope that my colleagues on the other side would not block this bipartisan agreement — especially with the G-8 Conference coming soon,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) in a statement announcing the deal. “If the other side does choose to block us from moving forward, I am determined to move forward and plan on offering a consent agreement so that we can complete this legislation early in the next work period.”

Reid thanked Sens. Joe Biden (D-Del.) and Richard Lugar (R-Neb.) for leading negotiations over the reauthorization. He also acknowledged Coburn, a spending hawk who has also been a supporter of the program, for his work on the bill.

See Reid’s full statement after the jump.