Bay Area Reporter - April 10, 2008
Bob Roehr

The measure allows for spending up to $50 billion over the next five years. That is a significant increase over the $15 billion authorized for the last five years and the $30 billion that President Bush had proposed. Nonetheless, the White House signaled its support for the bill, even while pointing out remaining areas of contention.

Four amendments were allowed from the floor during debate, and were passed. They allowed funds to be used to provide safe drinking water; tightened accountability requirements; encouraged collaboration with historically black colleges and universities; and further expanded coverage to allow for work in smaller nations in Africa, joining an earlier expansion that embraced islands in the Caribbean.

Among the changes won by AIDS advocates is a modification of provisions dealing with abstinence-only education. A fixed minimum percentage of spending on abstinence programs no longer is required, but abstinence must remain a significant part of an overall prevention strategy that is tailored to the needs of individual countries.

The current program prohibits granting funds to agencies that provide abortion services or that counsel on the procedure even if they do not directly provide them. The new law eases that and allows those organizations to receive prevention funding.

"For our country to be healthy, for the eradication of these diseases to take place, we must have a global approach to them. Disease knows no borders and boundaries," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) during floor debate. "The legislation before us today will move us from the emergency phase to the sustainability phase in fighting AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria."

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has passed a similar measure, though its future on the Senate floor is a bit cloudy, due to the rules of that chamber.

Conservative Senator Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) has circulated a letter to his colleagues suggesting that he might block consideration of the bill. He said both versions of PEPFAR "contain dramatic policy reversals coupled with irresponsible spending levels." He also wants to require that 55 percent of the funds be spent on treating HIV, and mandate increased testing for the disease.

Coburn has opposed most spending increases that have come before the Senate.

Senator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) co-signed the letter. He called the tripling of spending from current levels the "height of irresponsibility in the middle of a war and surging debts."

Senate rules, including legislative holds and a filibuster during debate on the floor, give individual senators significant power in halting the progress of a bill. That is particularly true during a presidential election year when campaigning compresses the legislative calendar and time becomes more precious.

FDA blood ban

In a separate action in the House, Representative Sam Farr (D-California) used the opportunity of an Appropriations Committee hearing to press the Food and Drug Administration to review and change its policy barring gay men from donating blood.

Calling the policy discriminatory and outdated, Farr said, "The science doesn't seem to support the policy," which was adopted in the 1980s. Technology for testing blood for the presence of HIV has improved dramatically since then and the major national organizations working with blood products have urged the FDA to lift its lifetime ban on gay men donating blood.

Earlier this year San Jose State University, located north of Farr's Santa Cruz district, banned campus blood drives after President Don Kassing concluded the FDA's policy is in violation of the university's non-discrimination policy.

080410
BR080405

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2008. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 2008. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .