Senate Approves $48B In African AIDS Funds

Vote Triples Spending For Acclaimed Program Launched By Bush In 2003

(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, 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.

[whiskyrocker]

KOMMONCENTS
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That be billions not millions.***

[whiskyrocker]

FU*K AFRICA! I''m sick of sending money for AIDS to them. They need to quit FU*King.PERIOD

[bustamcnutty]

what do you think kills the most in africa?aids,machete,starvation or the ak47.what a waste of all those resources and lives.

[libsluv2spit]

Africa really needs to get thier heads out of thier arses...ENOUGH IS ENOUGH..

SPEND MORE AID STATESIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[vastr-wcon]

.
"Senate Approves $48B In African AIDS Funds"

Party-time for the dictators and even more genocide of their people!

/

[teekaa1]

I simply cannot believe that we have no national health care in this country for our own citizens and we are sending 48B to Africa? What are our leaders thinking--AND why don''t we have a say in this fiasco?

[l00ker]

I think it''''s time for another Boston Tea Party...what do you think?? We''''ve been taxed to the hilt and now 48 billion of our money is being sent to another country while our own citizens lie in filth and pain. Time to tell the government that we aren''''t going to pay for this type of thing anymore!!!!

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Posted by SilverWitch2 at 10:58 AM : Jul 17, 2008


It''s now or never.

[l00ker]

I am sure that .01% of that is going to AIDS relief and 99.9% goes to regimes buying arms..

hey, that is what bono wants..so go after him.

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Posted by libsluv2spit at 01:27 PM : Jul 17, 2008


Right into the pockets of people like Taylor, Doe, Mugabe and Mobutu, these @sses in congress need to be sent sliding on their @sses now.

[l00ker]

HOW ABOUT 48M TO HELP OUR OWN PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!

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Posted by tootsie1963 at 12:02 PM : Jul 17, 2008


Indeed, and start with the midwest flood victims, west coast fire victims, New Orleans and our trouble school systems. These b@st@rds need to go, like right the phukk now.

[libsluv2spit]

I am sure that .01% of that is going to AIDS relief and 99.9% goes to regimes buying arms..

hey, that is what bono wants..so go after him.

[kommoncents-2009]

***?! Our country is going down the tubes and our crazy government gives millions to a country that cannot be saved! Unbelieveable!

[tootsie1963]

HOW ABOUT 48M TO HELP OUR OWN PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!

[tbweb]

I still can''t explain how it works or understand how it works but I just know it works! When you give it really does come back to you 10 fold! God loves a cheerful giver! :)

[jackobyte]

to cut to the chase
no israeli
no 9/11

ab facto absurdum

[jackobyte]

to cut to the chase
no israeli
no 9/11

ab facto absurdum

[SilverWitch48]

I think it''s time for another Boston Tea Party...what do you think?? We''ve been taxed to the hilt and now 48 billion of our money is being sent to another country while our own citizens lie in filth and pain. Time to tell the government that we aren''t going to pay for this type of thing anymore!!!!

[jackp32]

And the AIDS racket continues. The homosexual mafia squeezes our corrupt politicians for more while the people get shafted again. Pun intended.

[Netterz]

Oh wait.... they were SO genorous with federal spending that some Americans,but not all, were worthy of $300, as a so called STIMULUS....makes me want to throw up on the White House steps.

[Netterz]

"The amount per year, about $10 billion, is less than 1 percent of this year''s federal budget," I guess the American Gov''t is not in the same recession that "we the people" are in. I see my friends and neighbors losing there job and homes at a very alarming rate, are barely scraping by, cant afford any thing that isnt an absolute necesity, even tho the Gov''t hs billions to spend on anything and everything over seas. We are in a health care crisis right here!! Yet the only solution they have come up with is Socialized medicine, at the same level of care as most 3rd world countries.

[mediamomma]

this country is already far enough in the red and it''s getting worse. this country is in a recession whether or not the president agrees. this country is in a downword spiral and they are going spend our hard earned money in a different country? families take care of their own before all others. why can''t our government do the same? and when do we as people of this country start to get a say as to where our tax dollars go? there should be public forums like we have at town meetings before our federal gov''t decides to send 48 billion outside of our own country. there are plenty of people here who could use that money. the gov''t doesn''t care what happens to us as long as they look good in the press. who cares what happens to americans. and the 2 billion to american indians??? the europeans STOLE the land that we currnently live on. i think NATIVE americans deserve more than 2 billion for what they endured.