Senate OKs PEPFAR, moves to life HIV travel ban

By Jen Colletta
PGN Staff Writer
© 2008 Philadelphia Gay News

On July 16, the U.S. Senate approved a global plan to fight AIDS that would more than triple the amount of previous funding and lift a travel ban on HIV travelers coming into the United States.

In a 80-16 vote, the Senate approved the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008.

The House passed a similar bill in April and, following a conference committee, a joint bill is expected to make its way to the president’s desk in the next few weeks.

The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief was implemented in 2003 and allocated $15 billion to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria overseas. The act expires at the end of September, and the PEPFAR reauthorization would infuse $50 billion to fight global health issues.

U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee and a staunch supporter of PEPFAR, hailed the program as “the single most significant thing the president has done.”

Biden said PEPFAR has the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives over the next five years and that President Bush “deserves our recognition for that.”

The Senate version of the PEPFAR reauthorization would pledge $2 billion of the total $50 billion for American-Indian water, health and law-enforcement projects as per demands by numerous senators that the bill also focus attention on domestic issues. The majority of the rest of the money would fund HIV/AIDS causes, such as anti-retroviral medications and treatment and prevention programs, in 100 countries, the largest number of which are in Africa.

One of the major points of contention in both the House and Senate was the revision of current abstinence-only funding stipulations. The 2003 PEPFAR required that one-third of all HIV-prevention funding be spent on abstinence-only education; both the latest House and Senate measures, however, only require countries to submit a detailed spending report to Congress if it spends less than half of its allocated HIV-prevention funding on abstinence and fidelity programs.

The Senate debated 10 amendments last week before it voted on the final version. Several Republican senators stalled the bill in the past few months and proposed amendments to cut the price tag on the bill — attempts that were eventually unsuccessful.

The bipartisan Senate amendment to repeal the long-standing HIV travel ban was sponsored by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Gordon Smith (R-Ore.). The new bill would give discretion over HIV travel to the Department of Health and Human Services; today, HIV is the only disease that Congress includes in the Immigration and Nationality Act, as DHS has regulatory power over travel restrictions for all other communicable diseases.

Congress approved the travel ban, which prevents any non-citizens who are HIV-positive from entering the United States without a special waiver, in 1993.

Kerry asserted that the law is outdated and discriminatory against the HIV/AIDS community.

“There’s no excuse for a law that stigmatizes a particular disease,” Kerry said. “Someone seeking to come into the United States with avian flu or with ebola virus actually gets judged on a better standard than someone [who is] HIV-positive. There was no reason for this policy to still be on the books, and I am proud to have been part of eliminating this draconian ban. I sincerely hope we can get this to the president as quickly as possible to finally end this misguided policy.”

Smith said the travel ban was born of ignorance of the disease and should no longer be applicable.

“While we have come a long way from the stigma, fear-mongering and intolerance of the ’80s against those living with HIV/AIDS, discrimination continues,” Smith said. “Under current policy, our government still treats individuals with HIV/AIDS as modern-day lepers, categorically banning these individuals from entering into the U.S. To fully embrace our global leadership on HIV/AIDS, we must remove our unwelcome mat and overturn this ridiculous ban.”

Bush indicated his approval for the Senate version of the bill, including the lifting of the travel ban, and urged Congress members to craft joint legislation that he indicated he would sign into law.

“With the passage of today’s bill, we are one step closer to ensuring that this excellent program continues to help those in need. I encourage the full Congress to move quickly to send me final legislation that I can sign,” Bush said.

Jen Colletta can be reached at jen@epgn.com.