WASHINGTON (AP) - Congress is sending President Bush legislation that triples funds for a global AIDS relief program credited with saving millions of lives in Africa and elsewhere in the world.

The House vote was overwhelmingly in favor of the bill, which approves spending $48 billion over the next five years to fight AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

Bush has won high marks around the world for proposing the existing AIDS act, which has provided $15 billion over the last five years and brought lifesaving drugs to some 1.7 million people suffering from HIV and AIDS.