---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 05 Jun 2002 10:24:06 -0700
From: charlotte utting <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [WASAN] FW: ADNA ACTION ALERT: CQ on Emergency Supp
----------
From: "Nunu Kidane" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Tue, 4 Jun 2002 21:10:47 -0700
To: "ADNA E-mail List" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: ADNA ACTION ALERT: CQ on Emergency Supp
ADNA ACTION ALERT: 020604
Message from: Church World Service
For contact information see also:
http://www.africaaction.org/adna
Senate Emergency Supp. is coming to the floor NOW! Please
make calls if you can! The Specter/Durbin and Helms/Frist
amendments could be offered as early as today. An alert that I
adapted for Church World Service from HGap (Thanks Paul Davis!)
is below:
<http://capwiz.com/churchworld/issues/alert/?alertid=189226&type
=CO> (now we know the amendment will simply add to the $100
million already in the bill--so the Durbin/Specter amendment will be
for $600 million).
Some earlier conversations indicated that H-F might allow as much
as all of the funding to go to the Global Fund rather than the quote
here that says "whatever is left over" after MTCT could go to the
GFund. It's good that Durbin is continuing to try to get Helms and
Frist to work with him.
Heather
Subject: CQ on Emergency Supp
(Facts slightly skewed, but generally accurate piece in CQ last Fri)
CQ MONITOR NEWS
Senators Want To Use Supplemental To Combat HIV/AIDS
May 31, 2002 - The supplemental spending bill was designed to
focus on combating terrorism, but an unrelated fight looms as part
of the Senate debate: whether to add hundreds of millions of dollars
to battle HIV/AIDS in developing countries.
When the bill (HR 4775) comes to the Senate floor, lawmakers
almost certainly will have to consider two HIV/AIDS-related
amendments reflecting two fairly divergent approaches to fighting
the disease overseas. Sens. Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., and Arlen
Specter, R-Pa., will offer an amendment that would provide $600
million to fight AIDS. The proposal would direct $200 million to
bilateral programs run by the U.S. Agency for International
Development and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
and $400 million to a global trust fund created by the United
Nations to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
A coalition of AIDS activists has been lobbying for the Specter-
Durbin amendment, arguing that bilateral programs tend to
emphasize prevention over treatment, while the global fund is
flexible and effective in delivering drugs to people infected with HIV
and AIDS.
Much of the $2 billion or so pledged to the fund by governments
and private contributors from around the world has not been
disbursed and the fund is "in dire need of a cash infusion" if it is to
fund treatment projects that it has approved, said Paul Davis of the
Philadelphia-based Health GAP Coalition.
Moreover, the next round of grant applications is expected to
attract more applications than the first because countries have had
more time to develop comprehensive proposals, he said.
However, Sens. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and Jesse Helms, R-N.C., have
another idea. They want to add as much as $500 million to bill, but
only if the private sector raises the same amount.
Under their proposal, the funds would be used to help combat the
transmission of HIV/AIDS from mother to child, with any leftover
funds going to the global fund.
The Senate version of the bill currently includes $100 million for the
global fund, while the House-passed bill includes $200 million but
leaves it up to the Bush administration to determine how that
money should be spent.
Combining Forces
Durbin said he has had several conversations with Frist about
merging their two approaches. "We would be almost guaranteed
success in the Senate if Frist and Helms would join with us, and
I´m working on that right now," Durbin said. A Frist aide said May
30 that the Helms-Frist amendment is still a go and that the two
senators had worked closely with the White House to fashion
their amendment.
Davis said while his group prefers, and is actively lobbying for, the
Specter-Durbin amendment, it also supports the Helms-Frist plan.
"Ideally, both amendments would pass," he said. But if the
Specter-Durbin amendment is not adopted, he said, the group
presumes those who supported it "can then be counted as rolling
over to a vote for Helms-Frist."
Durbin conceded he will have to work hard to get the 60 votes
needed to get his amendment through, but said several senators
on both sides of the aisle agree the current level of $300 million for
the global fund in fiscal 2002 is "totally inadequate."
Senate Appropriations Chairman Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., has not
commented publicly on either amendment, but several Democratic
sources said he did not support adding HIV/AIDS money to the bill.
And even if supporters of add-ons are successful in the Senate, a
conference with the House could undo their work. During its
markup on May 9, the House Appropriations Committee rejected,
29-33, an amendment by Foreign Operations Subcommittee
ranking Democrat Nita M. Lowey, N.Y., that would have added
$500 million for the global fund.
Source: CQ Monitor News
Round-the-clock coverage of news from Capitol Hill.
©2002 Congressional Quarterly Inc. All Rights Reserved.
---------------------------
This message from Church World Service is distributed through the
Advocacy Network for Africa (ADNA) via IDEX
Nunu Kidane
Advocacy Network for Africa (ADNA)
Communications Facilitator for IDEX
International Development Exchange - IDEX
827 Valencia Street, Suite 101
San Francisco, CA 94110
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