[size=4]Senate Passes Global AIDS Funding Bill[/size=4]

[size=1]Fri Jul 12, 1:52 PM ET[/size=1]

[b]WASHINGTON[/b] (Reuters) - As scientists and activists from around the world wrapped up an international AIDS ( news - web sites) conference in Barcelona, the U.S. Senate on Friday approved a bill that allocates $4.5 billion over two years to treat and prevent AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria at home and abroad.

The bipartisan legislation would create a U.S. plan for a multi-pronged global fight against AIDS. It must be reconciled with a one-year $1.3 billion bill approved by the House last December.

"With AIDS already claiming more than 20 million victims, we must develop a coordinated response that provides greater investment in prevention, treatment and vaccine development as well as financial support," said Tennessee Republican Bill Frist, one of the lead sponsors along with Massachusetts Democrats John Kerry and Edward Kennedy.

House and Senate lawmakers this year both added $200 million toward a new global AIDS fund to a roughly $30 billion emergency counterterrorism spending bill. At the Barcelona conference this week, protesters demanding greater U.S. assistance interrupted a speech by U.S. Health and Human Services ( news - web sites) Secretary Tommy Thompson.

The AIDS legislation requires the government to develop a long-term plan to significantly reduce the spread of AIDS around the world, authorizes new spending for treatment, vaccines and education and steps up efforts to protect women and children from the disease. It also authorizes funds for tuberculosis, malaria and vaccine programs.

It would also create a new program for U.S. health care professionals to travel overseas to treat patients and provide training to medical personnel in Africa and other AIDS-afflicted areas.

"This legislation recognizes that governments can make the difference in fighting this epidemic and that we must carry the fight against AIDS to every corner of the globe, because this disease knows no boundaries," Kennedy said.

Senate Majority leader Tom Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat, urged the House to match the higher funding level called for in the Senate bill, and for Congress to appropriate the money in budget bills it will pass later.

"Unless we work in a bipartisan fashion to see that money is appropriated, this bill offers little more than false hope," Daschle said.

[url]story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=570&ncid=753&e=5&u=/nm/20020712/sc_nm/aids_usa_congress_dc_1[/url]

Oh yeah, like this is something we can afford. Inner city hospitals are going broke treating illegal aliens, thousands of our own people have no health coverage at all, and the Senate pledges $4.5 billion to treat AIDS patients in Africa. Sure, some of those people contracted HIV through no fault of their own, but is it our responsibility to bankroll their treatment? I hope the House has better sense.

Shit, I'm ashamed to say Frist is one of mine.

Why do I have to pay to treat some diseased African when I cant afford Health Insurance????[>:/]

[size=6]GLOBAL?[/size=6]
nnnnnnnnnrrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhhh...
[i]*sigh*[/i]

Because you are a citizen of the global world and it's your duty to support global causes. The nation state is a dated ideal.

Yup, my two Senators voted for it as well.  Not surprised.  Now if they bitch and moan about money being wasted they better remember that they just gave $5 billion to another country.

In fact, Feinstein said it'd be immoral not to give them the money...


Honestly, can anyone tell me how this is supposed to help Africa?  How is throwing money at a problem going to fix it, the locals are still going to screw little girls thinking raping a virgin is a cure for AIDS.

Anyone have a link so I can find out how my senators voted.