FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 27, 2005

CONTACT: Brendan Daly/Jennifer Crider 202-226-7616

Pelosi Supports Increased Funding For Global AIDS Initiatives

Washington, D.C. – House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi submitted the following statement into the Congressional Record today in support of a Democratic motion to support the Senate funding level for the Global AIDS initiatives.  The motion, offered by Congressman Nita Lowey (D-NY), passed on the floor of the House this afternoon:

“Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Democratic motion to support the Senate funding level of $3 billion for our global AIDS initiatives.  The funding level includes $500 million for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. 

“Appropriations Foreign Operations Subcommittee Ranking Member Nita Lowey and Chairman Jim Kolbe are to be commended for their leadership in the fight against the global AIDS pandemic.  They are a model of bipartisan effectiveness and are leading the way in providing needed funding under tight budget constraints. 

“In 2003, President Bush and Congress took a bold step in authorizing $15 billion over five years toward AIDS prevention and treatment.  The Senate funding levels in the Foreign Operations and Labor-HHS Appropriations bills would put the U.S. on track to meet this commitment in future years.

“At this critical juncture in history, the U.S. has the opportunity and the responsibility to fully fund an ambitious global effort to combat AIDS.  The statistics are staggering.  Of the 40 million people currently living with HIV, 95 percent live in the developing world.  This week, UNICEF released a report showing that 18 million children in Africa could be orphaned by AIDS by the end of 2010. 

“We know how to treat this devastating disease.  Success stories can be found in every part of the world.  In Uganda and Senegal, HIV rates have been brought down through effective prevention campaigns.  In the past year alone, an estimated 350,000 African AIDS patients have received access to anti-retroviral drugs that will keep them alive to work and care for their families.  Unfortunately, only 500,000 of the 4.7 million people in need of anti-retroviral drugs have them.

“If we support what works, we can prevent nearly two-thirds of the 45 million new HIV infections projected by 2020.  When we invest more resources, more people have access to life-saving drugs, more people learn how to protect themselves and their partners, more people have access to voluntary testing and counseling, and more pregnant women have services to prevent mother-to-child transmission.  The longer we go without fully investing in stopping the AIDS pandemic, the further it will spread worldwide and the more expensive the bottom line will be. 

“The moral case is reason alone to fully fund our global AIDS initiatives, but it is also in our national security interest.  As we have seen in the case of Afghanistan and Sudan, impoverished states can become incubators for terrorism and conflict.  We must address the root causes of instability so that the ‘fury of despair’ does not provoke more violence.

“It is in this global context that I support the Senate funding levels for global AIDS.  Let us all come together today to fully support our commitments to fight the global AIDS pandemic.”

“ Democrats are united in presenting a New Direction for America, one that will make our nation as strong as its people, one that brings opportunity, security, and prosperity to all Americans. ”

Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi