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at Senator Bill Frist's D.C. Home 20 Protesters Blast the U.S. Senate Leader's AIDS Funding Plan He Now Supports Much Weakened Bush White House Draft Bill
Frist is now supporting a "greatly weaken[ed]" White House draft bill. According to a copy of the new draft bill, the measure would "strip all specific funding levels" for AIDS programs; substitute the word "should" for "shall" in several mandates; remove all congressional oversight requirements; and eliminate a stipulation that $2.2 billion be earmarked for the Global Fund. Instead, the White House draft bill replaces the $2.2 billion figure with the phrase "such sums as may be necessary." Frist's earlier version of the bill (HR 2069) -- a combination of two measures passed in July by the Senate -- would have authorized nearly $5 billion over two years in spending to help curb HIV transmission worldwide. Sponsored by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Frist and supported by former Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), the first measure (S 2525) would have authorized about $4.5 billion in fiscal years 2003 and 2004 for the Global Fund and would have required the United States to develop a five-year plan to reduce worldwide HIV/AIDS cases and other infectious diseases, including tuberculosis and malaria. The second measure (S 2649) would have given the HHS secretary the authority to implement HIV prevention, treatment, care and support services in developing countries (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 2/14). The protestors argued that Bush's plan to allocate the majority of AIDS funding to U.S.-led projects will take years to implement and that any money allocated should go to the Global Fund, which the protestors called the "only timely hope for people with AIDS in developing countries," the AP/Appeal reports. Nick Smith, a spokesperson for Frist, said that Frist has not reintroduced last year's legislation because he is working with "Senate Democrats, Republicans and the White House to craft the best legislation possible" (AP/Memphis Commercial Appeal, 3/8). This summary is from the Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/hiv provided by kaisernetwork.org), a free health policy news summary and webcasting service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org by National Journal Group Inc. © 2003 by National Journal Group Inc. and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved |
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's Tennessee office was the site of an AIDS protest. Frist, siding with the White House, backed away from support a $2.2 billion AIDS bill.