Sen. Coburn Sends Letter To Senate Republicans Saying He Might Block Global HIV/AIDS Bill

Main Category: HIV / AIDS
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 07 Apr 2008 - 5:00 PDT

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Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) in a letter to Senate Republicans said he might block a floor vote on global AIDS legislation, CQ Today reports. The House passed its version of the measure (HR 5501) on Wednesday while the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a similar measure (S 2731) last month. The bills would reauthorize the U.S. global HIV/AIDS program for the next five years. Coburn in the letter said the bills "contain dramatic policy reversals coupled with irresponsible spending levels," adding that the "combination prevents our support for reauthorization of the program that, until now, has been a rare model of foreign aid success." Coburn plans to send the letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and it is still circulating among senators, according to CQ Today (Graham-Silverman, CQ Today, 4/3).

The $50 billion reauthorization bill approved by the House reflects a compromise between House leaders from both parties and the White House. Although it removes a provision included in PEPFAR's original mandate that requires one-third of HIV prevention funding to be spent on abstinence-only programs, the bill includes new language requiring "balanced funding" for prevention programs to ensure that programs focus on abstinence and monogamy and are "implemented and funded in a meaningful way." Under the measure, countries that spend less than 50% of funding for the prevention of the sexual transmission of HIV on abstinence and fidelity programs will be required to explain the decision to Congress (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 4/3).

Coburn said he aims to preserve a requirement in the current PEPFAR authorization that 55% of funding be spent on HIV/AIDS treatment, drugs and the prevention of mother-to-child transmission. He has introduced a separate bill (S 2749) that would retain the requirement and expand HIV testing. Coburn spokesperson John Hart said the senator is committed to passing a reauthorization of the program. Hart added that Coburn "wants to ensure that the money is directed to people that need the assistance. The new version would take the focus off of widows and orphans and put it on consultants and program officers."

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), who signed Coburn's letter, said, "I think it's the height of irresponsibility in the middle of a war and surging debts for us to be dramatically increasing the cost and the scope of the program." He added, "The Democrats in the House forced [President Bush] to go up, to force us to stop it, which gives them something to holler about." Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee and co-sponsor of the legislation, said, "I hope that we will bring [S 2731] to the floor soon so that we can complete action on this important legislation and get it to President Bush for his signature" (CQ Today, 4/3).

Editorial

The reauthorization of PEPFAR "marks a dramatic shift in the United States' attitude toward foreign aid," but the legislation "does come with a few flaws," a Los Angeles Times editorial says. According to the Times, the House bill "scraps" the "most controversial" requirement of the program that 33% of funding for HIV/AIDS prevention go to abstinence-only programs "only to replace it with a rule that may be nearly as bad."

The requirement that a congressional report be sent if a program spends less than 50% of its sexual transmission budget on abstinence and fidelity programs could have a "chilling effect" on programs that "would rather spend the money on condoms but don't want to risk having their funds cut off by conservative lawmakers," the editorial says. The Senate should remove the reporting requirement, the editorial adds. There are other aspects of the House bill that are "attracting the ire of the fractious public health community," according to the editorial. However, "quibbles aside," the bill "gives Americans a good reason to be deeply proud of their country, a feeling many war-weary patriots haven't experienced in a while," the Times concludes (Los Angeles Times, 4/4).

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