The US Senate yesterday passed a budget resolution which included an amendment for funding of $800 million for the Global Fund in the next fiscal year (as opposed to $300 million requested by the White House). The amendment, sponsored by Senators Rick Santorum and Dick Durbin, would raise the US contribution to levels necessary to sustain current Global Fund commitments (adding new commitments would require approximately $1.5 billion in US funding). In their "Dear Colleague" letter, Senators Santorum and Durbin emphasize that US contributions would continue to not exceed 33% of total contributions to the Global Fund, as stipulated by US law. While it certainly is aggrevating for Global Fund officials to try to plan in the face of enormous funding uncertainty, at least there are signs of sufficient support to meet current commitments.