House approves Senate version of PEPFAR
By Jen Colletta
PGN Staff Writer
© 2008 Philadelphia Gay News

In a 303-115 vote July 24, the House of Representatives approved the Senate version of the reauthorization of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which includes a provision to lift the ban on HIV-positive travelers.

The bill now awaits the signature of President Bush, who has indicated that he will approve the legislation.

The House originally passed the reauthorization bill — named the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United State Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008 — in April, but has now adopted the slightly altered Senate version, which passed July 16 in an 80-16 vote.

Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) led the fight in the Senate to include a PEPFAR amendment that would repeal the long-standing HIV travel ban.

HIV was added to the list of communicable diseases that bar entrance to the United States in 1993; currently, it is the only disease that prohibits entry to the country.

The Kerry/Smith amendment would place regulatory control over HIV travel in the hands of the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees travel guidelines for individuals with all other communicable diseases.

Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese hailed the bicameral support of the lifting of the travel ban as a much-needed and long-awaited move.

“The HIV travel and immigration ban performs no public health service, is unnecessary and ineffective,” Solmonese said. “Congressional backing for the repeal of this unjust and sweeping policy that deems HIV-positive individuals inadmissible to the United States is a huge step forward for equality.”

Before HIV-positive travelers can be permitted to enter the U.S., however, Bush and HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt must authorize the repeal of the 1987 HHS policy that banned such travel; neither has indicated when and if this will happen.

Lambda Legal, a national LGBT law organization, sent Bush a letter July 25 urging him to sign the 2008 PEPFAR as well as direct Leavitt to lift the HHS ban on HIV travel.

“The ban against HIV-positive travelers and visitors is a violation of basic human rights, and the reversal of this discriminatory policy is long overdue,” the letter stated. “The HIV ban is based on prejudice and unwarranted fears, not on medical knowledge and sound public health principles. Continuing the ban fosters misunderstanding by the American public about HIV transmission; fuels bias, stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV in this country; and alienates people across the globe — including medical professionals, scientific experts and various others who are among those leading the fight against this pandemic. At long last, Congress has done its part to get rid of this ban.”

In addition to lifting the HIV-travel ban, the PEPFAR reauthorization would more than triple funding to fight global HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

The original PEPFAR was implemented in 2003 and allocated $15 billion over five years to fight these diseases overseas.

The act expires at the end of September, and the reauthorization would contribute $50 billion to fight global health issues, with $2 billion of the funding being spent on American-Indian water, health and law-enforcement projects in the U.S.

The 2008 PEPFAR also would include different regulations for implementing abstinence-only education programs in PEFPAR-funded countries.

The 2003 legislation required that one-third of all HIV-prevention funding be spent on abstinence-only education; the new measure, however, would only require countries to submit a detailed spending report to Congress if they spend less than half of their allocated HIV-prevention funding on abstinence and fidelity programs.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said the joint bill will allow PEPFAR, which has been hailed as Bush’s most successful overseas program, to continue to meet the needs of those afflicted with life-threatening illnesses and provide a framework to stem the spread of the diseases.

“The legislation Congress has passed will move us from the emergency phase to the sustainability phase in fighting AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria,” Pelosi said. “It will authorize $48 billion over five years to provide life-saving HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention for men, women and children in the poorest countries of the world.”

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