The US Congress was to vote Wednesday on a foreign operations aid bill for 2001, following an agreement between the Republican leadership of Congress and the White House, a legislative source said Wednesday.
The 14.9 billion dollar budget includes a compromise position on debt alleviation for some 30 impoverished nations, and an agreement on financing international family planning, a hot issue at budget negotiations each year.
The bill includes 100 million dollars for Serbia. That aid follows the fall of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, but is conditioned on Yugoslavia's new leaders cooperating with the international criminal court.
The bill allocates 435 million dollars in debt relief for heavily indebted countries, on a total debt worth more than 100 billion dollars. It also authorizes the International Monetary Fund to sell 800 million dollars in gold reserves to fund the program.
Parallel votes on the bill are expected Wednesday in the House of Representatives and the Senate, the source said.
Congress has already postponed its adjournment several times, as it works to pass spending bills that comprise the federal budget for fiscal year 2001, which began on October 1 -- WASHINGTON (AFP)
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