Addressing "the greatest humanitarian crisis of the 21st century," the US Senate on Thursday was poised to pass a $15 billion bill aimed at slowing the AIDS pandemic ravaging the world's poorest countries.
At a time when AIDS claims one life every 10 seconds, the bill would make anti-viral treatment available to some of the millions of HIV-infected people in Africa and the Caribbean, who cannot afford the costly cocktail of drugs that can prolong and improve their lives.
It will also provide hospice care for the dying, assist some of the 13 million children who have lost parents to the disease, and intensify prevention programs through strategies like sexual abstinence education and promotion of condom use.
Democrats are expected to offer a half-dozen or so amendments on abstinence, drug prices and African debt relief, but Republicans will oppose most or all changes. The bill is expected to pass with a wide margin early on Friday.
The first Democratic amendment, offered by Sen. Dick Durbin of Illlinois, sought to guarantee that the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria would get at least $500 million a year. Another $500 million would be available as a matching fund to encourage other countries to contribute. Republicans defeated that amendment and the bill allows "up to" $1 billion to go to that fund, but doesn't guarantee that any of it will.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican who has made AIDS a signature issue, called HIV-AIDS "the greatest humanitarian crisis in the 21st century" and said, "This bill opens up hope."
The bill is known as an "authorizing" bill - meaning it sets a spending framework but does not put any dollars in the pot. That must be done in Congress's annual appropriations bills, but Frist stated clearly that he supports full funding.
"I support investing $3 billion a year for five years," Frist told reporters.
The House of Representatives passed the bill two weeks ago and President Bush, who called for the initiative in his State of the Union address earlier this year, wants to sign the bill before he attends a summit of industrial nations onJune 1. The goal is to spur other nations to step up their commitments.
The AIDS initiative focuses on 12 African countries - Botswana, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia - as well as Guyana and Haiti in the Caribbean.
Democrats praised Bush for making this a priority, but several said Bush and House Republicans had not helped earlier Senate efforts to pass major AIDS legislation.
"The president could have had this legislation last year or even earlier this year had the administration and its Republican allies in Congress wanted it," said Massachusetts Democratic Sen. John Kerry.
© Reuters
