Senate Votes to Double Funds to Combat AIDS : Includes $221 Million for Research, Treatment in Spending Bill; Conferees to Set Final Figure

WASHINGTON — The Senate voted Tuesday to more than double spending in the fight against AIDS as it approved, 83 to 15, a $105-billion spending bill that funds major federal social programs through next September.

The measure includes $221 million for research and treatment programs related to the deadly acquired immune deficiency syndrome, which destroys the body’s ability to fight infections and other illnesses. The House voted Oct. 2 to spend $190 million on AIDS programs.

Both spending plans, which now must be reconciled in a joint House-Senate conference committee, would significantly increase AIDS spending beyond the $100 million in outlays for fiscal 1985, which ended Sept. 30.

The low-key Senate debate was free of the sometimes fiery ideological polemics that accompanied AIDS funding action in the House, where a small knot of conservatives, led by Reps. William E. Dannemeyer and Robert K. Dornan, both Orange County Republicans, launched an attack on homosexual behavior.

Homosexual men so far have been the principal AIDS victims in the United States, although the disease appears to attack heterosexuals with greater frequency in some other parts of the world. The disease can be transmitted sexually and through blood transfusions or intravenous drug use.

Since doctors first isolated the AIDS virus four years ago, more than 7,000 Americans--including Hollywood star Rock Hudson--have died from AIDS, with more than 14,000 cases reported. And more than 1 million Americans may be carrying the AIDS virus, according to researchers.

Sen. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. (R-Conn.), floor manager for the overall spending measure, promised to press lawmakers to approve even more AIDS money in the coming months if doctors and scientists determine that it is needed to combat the rapidly spreading disease.

“This legislation represents a very delicate balance between human needs and fiscal responsibility,” Weicker said. “It maintains our nation’s commitment to vital health, education and job training programs.”

Overall, the measure appropriates money to run the operations of three large Cabinet agencies. It earmarks $79.6 billion for the Department of Health and Human Services, $18.3 billion for the Education Department and $6.5 billion for the Labor Department. The HHS funds include money for Medicare as well as for major welfare programs such as Medicaid and Aid to Families with Dependent Children.

The House version of the spending bill appropriated similar amounts.

Reject Proxmire Proposal

Before the final vote, the Senate rejected a proposal by Sen. William Proxmire (D-Wis.) to chop $1.65 billion from the total spending bill. Proxmire had argued that the cuts would signal the resolve of lawmakers to make a serious dent in the bulging federal budget deficit.

Senators also turned down another Proxmire plan to slash $266 million from a federal work incentive program. At the same time, however, they refused to add $122 million to beef up a program designed to aid workers whose jobs have moved overseas or to other parts of the country.

On Monday, Senate leaders averted a threatened conservative-led fight over abortion funding that might have delayed final action on the spending bill when they agreed to strip the measure of $140 million earmarked for family planning programs.

The family planning funds will be considered in separate legislation, ensuring abortion foes that they still can try to attach language to the new bill that would prohibit the family planning money to be used for abortion counseling.