This vote was on an amendment by Tom Coburn, R-Okla., that would prevent international economic development funds allocated by the bill from going to the World Bank’s anti-malaria programs. This amendment, offered to the bill that funds the State Department and foreign operations programs in fiscal 2008, was one of several Coburn offered seeking to shift funds away from the World Bank.

Coburn said the World Bank has had questionable success with some of its programs and that Congress should be wary about sending funds to the World Bank because of its lack of transparency.

“The reports from the scientific literature Lancet, the greatest medical periodical from the British, had a devastating article outlining the fact that the World Bank continues to use drugs that don’t treat, drugs that have resistance, it does not do preventive indoor spraying, does not distribute on a free basis bed netting—the three significant, consistent ways in which we treat African malaria, as well as the way we treat it throughout the rest of the world,” Coburn said.

Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., urged the Seante to defeat the amendment, saying it would “completely prohibit the World Bank from supporting programs to combat malaria.”

“Malaria kills a million children a year and infects half a billion people, 95 percent of whom are in Africa. We should do everything we can to combat malaria,” Leahy said.

By a vote of 33-60, the Senate rejected the amendment. All but five Democrats present voted against the amendment.  Of Republicans present, 28 voted for the amendment and 19 voted against it.  The end result was that the measure went forward without language that would have prevented certain funds from going to the World Bank’s anti-malaria programs.