A provision in President Barack Obama’s massive economic stimulus bill to allocate $400 million to HIV and STI prevention and screening was cut from the most recent draft of the bill on February 2, The Associated Press reports. The bill is expected to be under review in the Senate until next week.
According to the article, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell saw housing, additional mortgage relief and tax cuts as top priorities; as a result, the funds for STI and HIV prevention as well as $75 million for smoking cessation programs were removed from the stimulus package.
The Senate’s version of the bill—which is expected to approach $900 billion during Senate debate—contains nearly $350 billion in tax cuts, $87 billion to assist states with Medicaid bills and additional funding for schools and infrastructure projects.
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