GAA Calls on President Bush to Support AIDS Funding Request
Daschle Requests Defense Supplemental Include AIDS Programs
Washington, DC, February 28, 2002—The Global AIDS Alliance, a broad consortium of civic groups, humanitarian agencies and religious groups, today welcomed an appeal for emergency funds to help stop global AIDS made this week by Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. Daschle's request came in a letter to President Bush, who is currently preparing a defense supplemental budget request to provide additional immediate funding for the Pentagon and US allies.
Senator Daschle cites his recent trip to Central Asia, where he and other members of Congress visited countries heavily impacted by AIDS and tuberculosis. "If we fail to contain the threat posed by HIV/AIDS in these critical countries, they will be less stable and have a much more difficult time finding the resources to stand with us in the war on terrorism," Daschle states. "Decisive American leadership and action now, not only to strengthen local military and economic capability but also to address this emerging public health crisis, will enhance their ability to play this role…"
"We call on President Bush to agree to the Senator's request," stated Dr. Paul Zeitz, Executive Director of the Global AIDS Alliance. "A proposal by President Bush for $700 million for the Global Fund on AIDS, TB and Malaria would deserve full, bipartisan support, and it would be fully within the spirit of the authorization of $700 million for the Fund approved by the Republican-controlled House last December."
The defense supplemental budget proposal being prepared by the President is expected to be in the range of $10 to $30 billion. "Global AIDS is a true emergency," stated Zeitz. "There are high-quality proposals to address it that will go unfunded without an emergency supplemental."
The French government recently criticized the US for taking a simplistic approach to global instability by failing to pay enough attention to poverty. "We need a response to global instability that takes issues like AIDS, poverty, and indebtedness seriously," stated Zeitz.
The Daschle request comes as prominent US religious leaders made an appeal to the House and Senate Budget Committees for $2.5 billion for global HIV/AIDS programs for FY 2003. A number of Christian Evangelical leaders joined in the appeal, along with leaders of major Protestant, Catholic, Jewish and Muslim organizations.