With a bipartisan voice vote earlier today, The House Foreign Affairs Committee today passed House Resolution 5501 (the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Reauthorization Act), a bill to reauthorize the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the US global AIDS program.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation(AHF)( www.aidshealth.org) commended the Committee for removing a controversial and counterproductive ‘ abstinence-only ' funding component in the bill. However, AHF sharply criticized the Committee and Congress for removing a current requirement that 55% of all PEPFAR funds be spent on AIDS treatment, a change which AHF believes will undermine the success the global AIDS treatment plan has had to date.
“ We are extremely disappointed that the House Foreign Affairs Committee approved this version of the bill to reauthorize PEPFAR, legislation which unfortunately now removes the requirement of a 55% floor for funding for AIDS treatment, a change which threatens the very focus and success of this worthy program, ” said Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which operates free AIDS treatment clinics in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean and Asia. “ And while we applaud the Committee ' s commitment of $50 billion to the program and the removal of abstinence-only requirements in the bill that have ham-strung PEPFAR in its lifesaving efforts, we strongly urge Congress to revisit and amend this bill to restore the 55% treatment funding floor in order to keep PEPFAR ' s funding and focus on providing lifesaving medical treatment — including the delivery of antiretroviral treatment — to the HIV/AIDS patients served by this landmark US humanitarian effort. ”
“ By seeking to do so many worthy things — nutrition aid, legal empowerment of women, care for orphans and vulnerable children — this bill virtually guarantees that none of it will be done right, and none of these problems will be significantly alleviated, much less solved, ” said Tom Myers, General Counsel for AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “ The new $50 billion proposal approved by the House Foreign Affairs Committee today does everything but care for those with HIV/AIDS. Without access to HIV care, people living with HIV/AIDS will die. We are asking Congress to restore the 55% floor for the funding of lifesaving medical treatment. ”
AIDS Healthcare Foundation believes that a successful global AIDS bill must include: