By Associated Press
Washington, DC – The head of AIDS Alabama is pleased Congress appears poised to approved a federal AIDS Funding program. Kathie Hiers said the appropriation will help deep south states. She estimates Alabama could get up to seven (m) million dollars in new money in the first year of the deal. The impasse ended when northeast lawmakers dropped their opposition Tuesday to renewal of the program. The five-year renewal of the two-point-one (b) billion dollar-annual law had sparked a funding fight between cities where the disease first made its mark and the rural communities where it is now spreading fastest. The Senate adjourned last night without passing the bill, but supporters aim to get the deal through both chambers of Congress before the end of the week, and then to President Bush for his signature. Changes in the bill include counting patients with H-I-V in addition to those who have developed AIDS. That change favors areas where the epidemic is newer.