All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

Updated 1:04 p.m. ET

President Obama said today that he is lifting a longstanding ban on travel to the United States or immigration to the country by HIV-Positive individuals.

The president made the announcement at the signing of an extension of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS bill at the White House. He said the policy was "rooted in fear rather than fact." (At left, A large AIDS ribbon hangs from the North Portico of the White House in Washington, Friday, Nov. 30, 2007, in honor of World AIDS Day.)

"We talk about reducing the stigma of this disease -- yet we've treated a visitor living with it as a threat," he said. "We lead the world when it comes to helping stem the AIDS pandemic -- yet we are one of only a dozen countries that still bar people from HIV from entering our own country."

Mr. Obama said Congress and President Bush began the process to end the ban last year and ought to be commended for it.

"We are finishing the job," he said.

The president said the lifting of the ban will go into effect just after the new year.

The reauthorization of the separate Ryan White HIV/AIDS bill, Mr. Obama said, had been contentious in the past, though not this year. (It was originally called the Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act, and first passed in 1990.)

"We often speak about AIDS as if it's going on somewhere else," he said. "And for good reason -- this is a virus that has touched lives and decimated communities around the world, particularly in Africa. But often overlooked is the fact that we face a serious HIV/AIDS epidemic of our own -- right here in Washington, D.C., and right here in the United States of America."

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Vice President Joe Biden may represent a bigger threat to the transportation industry than a double billing of "Alive," a 1993 movie about a plane crash that forces Uruguayan Rugby players to resort to cannibalism, and "Speed," the 1994 flick that had Keanu Reeves racing to diffuse a bomb on a Los Angeles bus.

Transportation officials around the country found themselves scrambling this week to reassure worried commuters in the wake of Biden's controversial comments Thursday on NBC's "Today Show" that he has told loved ones to avoid subways and planes. Appearing on the morning program, Biden said, "I would tell members of my family - and I have - that I wouldn't go anywhere in confined places now."

The airplane industry and the people responsible for running the country's network of buses and trains were not, to say the least, amused by Biden's impolitic advice.

"Of course, people should practice good personal hygiene habits and stay at home if they are sick as [President Obama] advised, but life must go on," Paul Flaningan, spokesman for Southwest Airlines Co. said, according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle. "Air travel has a vital role in our economy, which could use all the help it can get."

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The $410 billion omnibus spending bill passed by Congress last night, which is expected to be signed by President Obama, includes language easing restrictions on travel to Cuba.

Once the president signs the bill, Cuban-Americans will be able to visit the country every year for an extended trip. They are presently only allowed to visit every three years, and their time on the island is limited to two weeks.

It will "also expand the definition of 'close relative' to allow Cuban-Americans to visit cousins, nieces, nephews, aunts, and uncles, in addition to parents, grandparents, children and siblings," according to AFP, and "would allow Cuban-Americans to spend up to 179 dollars per day while in Cuba."

The bill will also ease limits on the importation of food and medicine to Cuba and on travel to the country to sell such goods, effectively easing – though not lifting – the U.S. trade embargo on the communist country, which was stiffened during the Bush administration.

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