House Passes AIDS Bill
Here is a recap
of the legislative activity for the week:
H.R.
1298,
United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act. The
bill passed by a vote of 375-41. I voted yes.
H.R. 1298 authorizes the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief announced in
the State of the Union Address by providing $3 billion per year for the next
five years for HIV/AIDS care, treatment and prevention in those countries
already facing crisis of unprecedented proportions because of this terrible
disease. The bill also requires a more responsive, coordinated and effective
approach among the various agencies of the U.S. Government involved in the
global fight against HIV/AIDS.
The bill promotes a wide-reaching approach that: 1) Supports efforts to find
vaccines for HIV/AIDS and malaria; 2) Emphasizes the need to keep families
together, with particular focus on the assistance needs of children and young
people with HIV; 3) Contributes to multilateral initiatives that leverage the
funds of others; 4) Endorses wider application of the successful "ABC" approach
that has reduced HIV prevalence in certain countries by stressing the importance
of behavior change (including the promotion of abstinence, faithfulness and when
appropriate, the use of condoms) as the foundation of efforts to fight AIDS.