Senate agrees to triple anti-AIDS funding
WASHINGTON (AP) - July 16, 2008 The 80-16 vote committed the United States to spending up to $48
billion over the next five years for the most ambitious foreign
public health program ever launched by the United States.
The legislation would replace and expand the current $15 billion
act that President Bush championed in a State of the Union address
and Congress passed in 2003. That act expires at the end of
September.
In a statement, Bush said that when the program was launched in
2003, about 50,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa were receiving
anti-retroviral treatment for HIV/AIDS. Today, the program supports
lifesaving anti-retroviral treatment for more than 1.7 million
people around the world, he said. It also has supported treatment
and prevention programs that have helped HIV-positive women give
birth to nearly 200,000 infants who are HIV-free.
"Traveling in Africa earlier this year, Laura and I had our
most recent opportunity to witness the effectiveness of this
program," he said. "We were honored to see the doctors, nurses
and caregivers of all faiths working to save the lives of their
fellow citizens. And we met the patients, including many children,
who understand and appreciate America's generosity."
The Democratic-led Senate, rarely in agreement with the White
House, gave Bush credit for initiating the program. Sen. Joseph
Biden, D-Del., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
and a chief negotiator in crafting the bill, said the President's
Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known as PEPFAR, is "the single
most significant thing the president has done."
The global AIDS program will save tens of thousands, if not
hundreds of thousands, of lives, Biden said, "and the president
deserves our recognition for that."
Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., top Republican on the Foreign
Relations Committee, and co-negotiator with Biden, said the program
"has helped to prevent instability and societal collapse in a
number of at-risk countries." He added that it has "facilitated
deep partnerships with a new generation of African leaders, and it
has improved attitudes toward the United States in Africa and other
regions."
Biden said he had been coordinating with House leaders and was
confident they could come up with a final version "within a matter
of days."
The bill passed by the House in April approved $50 billion,
including $5 billion for malaria, $4 billion for tuberculosis and
$41 billion for AIDS. Of the AIDS money, a proportion - $2 billion
next year - would go to the international Global Fund to Fight
AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Actual spending levels still have
to be approved in annual appropriations bills.
Earlier Wednesday, the Senate, acceding to arguments that
Congress must also address humanitarian issues closer to home,
agreed to set aside $2 billion of the $50 billion for American
Indian water, health and law enforcement projects.
"We don't have to go off of our shore to find third world
conditions," said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., sponsor of the
amendment with Sens. John Thune, R-S.D., Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and
others. Biden said House negotiators had indicated they would
accept the change.
The Senate vote came after months of negotiations with Senate
conservatives wanting assurances that the new AIDS bill would
continue to include programs promoting abstinence and fidelity and
would not discriminate against religious groups in allotting
funding.
Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., saying he wanted to prevent money from
being diverted to irrelevant development programs, secured language
that more than half the money would go to treating AIDS victims.
He said he was still concerned about how to pay for the $50
billion program. But Coburn, a medical doctor, said he believed
that "this is our most successful foreign policy initiative in my
lifetime. This is the most effective thing we have done to build
America's prestige, esteem and respect."
Senate changes will have to be worked out with the House. Those
include a measure added to the Senate bill by Sens. John Kerry,
D-Mass., and Gordon Smith, R-Ore., that would reverse a policy that
has made it difficult for HIV-positive foreigners to visit or seek
residency in the United States.
"For 20 years the United States has barred HIV-positive
travelers from entering the country even for one day," said Rachel
B. Tiven, executive director of Immigration Equality. "Today the
Senate said loud and clear that AIDS exceptionalism must come to an
end."
The Senate was able to reject several proposed amendments
offered by Republicans to cut the spending level in the bill.
Supporters of tripling current spending said that 33 million are
infected by HIV/AIDS around the world and that 13,000 people die
every day from AIDS, TB and malaria.
"The amount per year, about $10 billion, is less than 1 percent
of this year's federal budget, and this is a small price to pay for
a program that will save millions of lives and foster good will
around the world," said Dr. Paul Zeitz, executive director of the
Global AIDS Alliance.
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The bill is S. 2731.
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