In his January 2003 State of the Union address, President Bush called on Congress to draft legislation to combat the AIDS pandemic. Following House completion of a bill authorizing $15 billion over five years to treat and prevent AIDS in Africa, the measure was sent to the Senate. In a move designed to insure swift passage, Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Richard Lugar (R-IN) replaced the Senate version of the AIDS bill with the House-passed version as President Bush had requested. During Senate debate on the measure, Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) offered an amendment which would have authorized up to $1 billion for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, a Geneva-based humanitarian aid group. Progressives supported the Global Fund authorization because, in their view, the group plays a key role in gathering and directing funds for AIDS assistance worldwide. On a nearly party-line vote, the Durbin amendment was rejected 48-52.