Senate Reaches Deal On Global AIDS Bill

Tentative Deal Said Reached On Key Obstacle To Ambitious $50B Initiative

(AP)  Senate negotiators said Wednesday they had reached a tentative agreement on a key obstacle to one of the most ambitious federal health initiatives ever, a $50 billion act to combat AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in Africa and other countries hard-hit by those diseases.

The agreement sets the stage for the Senate to vote in the near future on the five-year bill that would more than triple the size of the $15 billion global AIDS bill that Congress, at the urging of President Bush, passed in 2003. The current act expires at the end of September.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said they had an "agreement in principle" with several Republican senators, led by Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, who had voiced opposition to aspects of the bill.

With that agreement, Reid said, "we should be able to do this quickly and easily and it should be done before President Bush goes to the G-8 Summit next week. That would send an important message to the world that our country's commitment to fight HIV/AIDS has not wavered."

Reid said his preference was to pass the bill this week, but others involved in the negotiations said it was more likely the Senate would take it up after returning from the July 4 recess.

Coburn, a medical doctor who has treated AIDS patients, held up the bill over his demands that a fixed percentage of funding go to treatment programs. The 2003 bill stipulated that 55 percent of funds go to treatment, but that figure was taken out of the bill that overwhelmingly passed the House last April.

Writers of the new bill argued that caregivers on the ground would be better able to determine how to allocate money on prevention and treatment programs, but Coburn said there was a danger of money being diverted into unrelated development and poverty programs.

Under the tentative agreement, "more than half" of bilateral AIDS funding would be spent on treatment.

"I'm encouraged the Bush administration and congressional leaders decided to restore much of this key provision that has been so integral to PEPFAR's success," Coburn said, referring to the acronym for the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

The tentative deal also requires that drugs procured by PEPFAR be approved by the Food and Drug Administration or a stringent regulator authority and prevents funding for more wealthy countries such as Russia and China.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joe Biden, D-Del., who negotiated the deal with ranking Republican Richard Lugar of Indiana and the top Republican on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Michael Enzi of Wyoming, welcomed the deal, saying HIV/AIDS alone claimed 2 million lives last year and "it is our moral obligation to lead the effort to fight these diseases."

David Bryden, spokesman for the Global AIDS Alliance, said they were carefully reviewing the compromise but were concerned that amounts set aside for treatment could limit funding for other programs such as those helping children orphaned by AIDS. "We will be forced to oppose this bill if it compromises the effectiveness of the AIDS program," he said.

The current PEPFAR act, operating mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, has been one of the major successes of the Bush administration's foreign policy, supporting anti-retroviral treatment for about 1.5 million. It is on target to prevent 7 million new infections and provide care for 10 million, including orphans and vulnerable children.

The new and expanded bill has been promoted by the White House, which actively engaged in the negotiations, and supported by presumed presidential nominees Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and John McCain, R-Ariz.

Negotiators cautioned that several conservative Republicans still have issues with the bill, including the $50 billion price tag.

But they said it was important to achieve progress before the July 7-9 G-8 summit in Japan, when Bush will be urging other industrialized nations to contribute more to the global effort to combat AIDS.

[cyberus-2009]

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50 billion dollars; 40 million uninsured; that $1250 per person. My employer pays ~ $15,000 p.a. for my family''''s insurance so 50 billion could insure 3 million families for one year.
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Thats a very good plan I''m sure .. but since you can get decent insurance for under $200 a month and that many more policies would most likely reduce that rates there is a good chance that that $50 billion could provide at least major medical for most of the uninsured. (Previous post was to get people thinking)

[sjbj2322]

Banks nationwide are refusing to back college student loan funding and countless numbers of students are at risk of not having the financial aid needed to start or return to school in the fall. Yes, we should address matters that are in the international best interest of all people; however, how are we going to make sure that there are all these supposed intelligent conscientous members of society if Congress doesn''t do something immediately. GET OFF YOUR TAIL ENDS and get something done for the folks here at home and you might see support for all these other little projects increase. If ever there was an election year when the voice of young people should be heeded, it would seem that wise politicians would recognize its this year.

[king_quest]

You people are so dumb this is a global economy, and we need to lead the way, nations want to be like us, we want nations to be like us!

We need our ally countries, the UN, & NATO to see that we walk the walk, not just talk the talk.

Typical repubs only care about themselves.

[skyblue222]

I''m disgusted by most of the comments that have been posted so far. Better healthcare in our own country would be ideal, yes. Hopefully that will come with the new administration. But it would also be ideal NOT to see 2 million people die in just one year from HIV/AIDS. We''ve put up 15 billion towards the effort and now we''re looking at 50 billion. That''s a ton of money, but so is the at least 359 billion that has been spent on the war in Iraq. A new book by political experts Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes estimate that 3 trillion has been spent on the war. It is extremely unfortunate that so many lives have been lost during the war-on all sides. But so many more are dying each year from preventable diseases and we have the responsibility to act. Please consider these things.

[usbrit-2009]

It''''s the 535 members of the United States Congress. The same group of Idiots that crank out hundreds of new laws each year designed to keep the rest of us in line.

Posted by maxify55

I first saw that list at lesat 10 years ago; the numbers haven''t even changed!!

50 billion dollars; 40 million uninsured; that $1250 per person. My employer pays ~ $15,000 p.a. for my family''s insurance so 50 billion could insure 3 million families for one year.

50 billion dollars to fight AIDS etc. 0 dollars to fight overpopulation by anything but abstinence. Abstinence does NOT work. *** education doesn''t lower the level of ***, but it is proven to raise the level of safe ***. 50 billion could better be used in the long run for proper *** ed. in Africa. Conservatives think this is bad.

I can not help thinking of HIV/AIDS and Ronald Reagan at the same time.

Posted by flagShip-usa

You are so right. More money spent back then when there weren''t all these different varieties of AIDS virus (evolution anyone?) could have eraased the problem at it''s source.

[zerato-2009]

Didn''t bush veto and the republicans supported the veto of a bill to provied 36 million dollars to our children to get healthcare. It seems taht the bill was to expensive for bush and the republicans.

[harpoot]

Why can''t these idiots do something for the US??? The country''s in the toilet if they haven''t noticed. Congress is a useless waste of space.

[brianbwb-2009]

"Although i agree this is a fine idea, i am wondeering why we are putting up 50 billion and where do we get the money since we are virtually broke ? How much are other countries contributing ? I think congress needs to address the problems facing the American people." Posted by patriot12436

You know the game already, they will "borrow" it from social security, and give it to Big Pharma, marked up, of course to 10,000% of real market price, then ship a couple of measly cases to the stricken areas, where local mafias will sell it, and also kick back some to those who brought it over.

Big Pharma will in turn kick back some of it to the pockets of those who voted for it.

I am sure you have seen this already with aid to Thailand.

[cyberus-2009]

I wonder how far that $50 billion would go towards getting the 40 million AMERICANS here in the USA insured???

[abbe91]

"Once again, we''''re off giving out a load of borrowed cash again to a country that has been proven to be completely unable to take care of itself through the years and disregards birth control and/or safe s''''e''''x.
Posted by olebd at 05:36 AM : Jun 26, 2008"

True, but partly because "prevention programs" are pushing "abstinence" as the solution.

[olebd]

Once again, we''re off giving out a load of borrowed cash again to a country that has been proven to be completely unable to take care of itself through the years and disregards birth control and/or safe s''e''x. I wonder who else is contributing? Where''s the UN? Can''t their member nations cough up some cash?

[flagship-usa]

I can not help thinking of HIV/AIDS and Ronald Reagan at the same time.

[terrorislami]

AND YET NOTHING TO FIGHT GLOBAL OVERPOPULATION/INFESTATION,,,

Infestation

To inhabit or overrun in numbers or quantities large enough to be harmful, threatening, or obnoxious
http://www.answers.com/topic/infest?cat=health

World POPClock Projection

According to the International Programs Center, U.S. Census Bureau, the total population of the World, projected to 06/26/08 at 07:59 GMT (EST+5) is

6,705,979,867

[patriot12436]

Although i agree this is a fine idea, i am wondeering why we are putting up 50 billion and where do we get the money since we are virtually broke ? How much are other countries contributing ? I think congress needs to address the problems facing the American people.