By a 308 to 116 vote, the House of Representatives yesterday passed a five-year, $50 billion reauthorization of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a global initiative that has been running since 2003. In approving the program, lawmakers added $20 billion above the president's request of $30 billion. A motion to send the bill back to committee, offered by those unhappy with its cost, failed on a 248 to 175 vote.
Though it contained controversial features, such as a strong emphasis on abstinence-based prevention strategies, PEPFAR has enjoyed bipartisan support. The original program has spent $15 billion over five years. The reauthorized version would be larger and more expansive.
Approximately $9 billion would go to combat tuberculosis and malaria, which are often major burdens in countries where AIDS is endemic. Funds would also provide food for HIV/AIDS patients and their families; train health care workers; and dispense "micro-credit" loans to women widowed by the disease or ostracized due to infection.
Unlike the original program, the reauthorized version would not mandate that a percentage of prevention spending be used to promote abstinence. However, abstinence and sexual fidelity would remain important components of PEPFAR.
The House version of the reauthorization "strengthens our national security" since HIV/AIDS is "destabilizing governments and societies" in regions worldwide, said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Fla.), the ranking Republican on the committee. The Senate version has passed through committee and awaits floor action.
04/03/08
House Votes to Continue and Expand President’s Global Effort Against AIDS
Source: Washington Post:: David Brown; Courtesy of the CDC National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention