A motion to strike down an amendment offered by Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) to the 2003 federal budget is the subject of this vote. The purpose of Kennedy's amendment is to improve health services for minorities who, as a group, are disproportionately affected by both the prohibitive cost of HIV/AIDS treatments and discrimination by health care providers relative to non-minorities. To help alleviate such disparities, Kennedy's amendment allocates $540 million to improve HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programs and expand the civil rights office of the health and human services department (the agency responsible for protecting minority patients against discrimination by health care providers). Progressives voted in favor of Kennedy's amendment as a way to improve the quality of health care for minorities. The motion to strike down Kennedy's amendment passed by a 51-46 vote.