Miami Herald - Monday, December 1, 2003
Ashley Fantz, afantz@herald.com

"World AIDS Day is a day of reflection," the Democratic presidential contender told about 65 AIDS workers and volunteers. "This is a time to reflect on how far we've come and how far we need to go. Frankly, we've made a lot of progress."

Everyone could feel the "but," and when it came, the crowd roared with applause. "We have a president who has refused to increase funding for AIDS drug treatments," Clark said. "Under my plan, that will not happen."

Clark detailed his proposed Global AIDS Security Strategy, a $30 billion six-part plan that would double the country's financial commitment to fight AIDS. He said he planned to funnel the federal dollars to HIV prevention programs that would screen, test and counsel all Americans.

Ambitious and far-reaching, the plan -- among other things -- aims to secure universal healthcare coverage for all Americans until the age of 22 and require frank sexual education in public schools.

"Many in my generation got their sex education in the back seat of a car," Clark said. "I remember a health class in seventh grade that I took -- that's where I should have learned about it."

Unlike Bush's promise in his January State of the Union address to pledge $15 billion to fight AIDS internationally, Clark said he wanted dollars directed toward the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, which he worked closely with during his high-profile AIDS awareness campaigns in sub-Saharan Africa with singer and humanitarian Bono from the pop band U2.

Additionally, Clark said he would "fully fund" the 1990 Ryan White CARE Act. Named after a young boy who died of AIDS, the CARE Act has provided the bulk of state-funded treatments around the country in the past decade, but has been the subject of budget cuts the past few years.

He also promised to increase funding for HIV research at the National Institutes for Health. In September, two Harvard Medical School doctors were forced to slow their research on oral AIDS vaccines because the NIH didn't offer a grant large enough to cover their expenses.

The candidate spent much of his talk condemning Congress' passage last month of a $395 billion Medicare bill with a new prescription drug benefit for seniors and the disabled. Critics, including Clark, contend the benefits are marginal and the bill threatens to eliminate coverage to certain disabled recipients.

Asked how he would pay for his ambitious AIDS plan, Clark pointed to a bunch of red, white and blue balloons. "I can bring this country together," he said. "I believe we can come together on this because I believe in this country. I love those colors, I love the flag."

Even though Clark's answer was short on details, the crowd showed its approval with another round of applause.

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