On Wednesday, Senate negotiators reached an "agreement in principle" that removed a key barrier to passage of a five-year, $50 billion initiative to fight AIDS, TB and malaria in Africa and hard-hit countries elsewhere. The tentative agreement was made with several Republican senators, led by Sen. Tom Coburn (Okla.), who opposed aspects of the bill to reauthorize the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
With the agreement, "we should be able to do this quickly and easily and it should be done before President Bush goes to the G-8 Summit next week," said Sen. Harry Reid, the majority leader.
A major sticking point for Coburn was retaining PEPFAR's original requirement that 55 percent of funding go to treatment. To allow more local flexibility, that provision was stripped from the measure the House passed in April. The tentative agreement would channel "more than half" of the AIDS funding for treatment.
"I'm encouraged the Bush administration and congressional leaders decided to restore much of this key provision that has been so integral to PEPFAR's success," Coburn said.
The agreement was struck by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairperson Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), the committee's ranking member Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), and Sen. Michael Enzi (R-Wyo.), the top Republican in the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Negotiators noted that several conservative Republicans still had reservations about the bill, S. 2731, including its cost.
06/26/08
UNITED STATES: Senate Reaches an Agreement on Global AIDS Bill
Source: Associated Press:: Jim Abrams; Courtesy of the CDC National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention