House passes 1-year Africa AIDS relief extension with safeguard GOP Rep says stops Biden abortion 'hijacking'

House Republicans passed a 1-year extension for a Bush era program combatting AIDS in Africa but included safeguards that pro-life supporters are calling a major victory.

"The learning curve has accelerated with so many members realizing that Biden has hijacked PEPFAR," New Jersey Republican Rep. Chris Smith, the prime sponsor of a 2018 bill enacted into law to reauthorize PEPFAR for five more years, told Fox News Digital on Friday. "Last night was, I think, a major victory." Andrew Mark Miller is a reporter at Fox News. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email tips to AndrewMark.Miller@Fox.com.

PEPFAR, the United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, was launched in 2003 under President George W. Bush and has invested over $100 billion fighting AIDS across the world while saving 25 million lives and preventing millions of infections, the State Department says.