Bush to Seek $16 Billion for Epidemic of AIDS in U.S.
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
www.nytimes.com/2003/02/01/politics/01AIDS.html
ASHINGTON, Jan. 31 — Just days after announcing a major initiative to fight global AIDS, President Bush turned his attention today to the domestic epidemic, saying he will request $16 billion for AIDS prevention, care and treatment when he submits his 2004 budget to Congress on Monday.
At the same time, Mr. Bush announced that federal health officials had cleared the way for doctors and public health workers to have easy access to a new test that can detect infection with H.I.V., the AIDS virus, in as little as 20 minutes.
The test was approved in November on the condition that it be offered only in hospitals, clinics and doctors' offices that met certain federal laboratory standards. Today the Department of Health and Human Services waived those restrictions.
"A major initiative in Africa doesn't mean we're going to forget the 900,000 people living in America today who carry the H.I.V. virus," the president said in a morning ceremony at the Old Executive Office Building.
The president's African AIDS initiative would triple spending on global AIDS, providing $15 billion over the next five years to fight the epidemic in Africa and the Caribbean.