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Senate
Agrees to Triple Anti-AIDS Funding
 (AP) - The Senate voted Wednesday to
triple spending for a much-acclaimed program that has treated and
protected millions in Africa and elsewhere from the scourges of AIDS,
malaria and tuberculosis. 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, ' 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.
___
The bill is S. 2731.
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