What you read may not be what you get

Source: "So Who's Counting?" by Peter Baker, The Washington Post, February 18, 2008.

At a briefing in Dar es Salaam yesterday about the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Mark Dybul, the president's global AIDS coordinator, said:

"The president is requesting an increase for our contribution to the Global Fund, an increase above his last year request from $300 million to $500 million."

"A casual listener might think the United States is increasing its contribution to the Global Fund. Not really: As is often the case with Washington budget claims, it's important to look at exactly what is being asserted. Bush did request$300 million for the Global Fund for the current fiscal year, but Congress decided to go further and approved $841 million. So even though Bush's request for $500 million for the next fiscal year is higher than he requested the year before, in reality it would cut the contribution back from the $841 million it is getting in cold hard cash this year."