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Coburn defends HIV program
By Chris Casteel
The Oklahoman
February 9, 2007
WASHINGTON — Sen. Tom Coburn complained Thursday that lawmakers who took aim at one of his funding priorities will be hurting mothers and babies who are vulnerable to HIV. Coburn, R-Muskogee, who has been an outspoken critic of lawmakers getting funding for their pet projects, said politics seems to have driven a decision by Democratic leaders to strip funding for an HIV testing program championed by Coburn.
Coburn's comments came as the Senate took up a resolution to provide funding for most government departments through Sept. 30. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., used a procedural move Thursday to prevent amendments to the funding bill, which must pass by next week to keep government open.
The $463 billion bill is necessary to fund the government through the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. The Republican Congress last year approved the spending bills for the Department of Defense and the Homeland Security Department but failed to pass the rest before the session ended.
Democrats took over Congress in January and inherited the situation. A lone spending bill for all the departments was crafted that left many programs at their 2006 funding levels. That bill has been passed by the House and now is awaiting Senate action.
Democrats said they had removed all of the "earmarks,” or lawmakers' special projects, though Republicans — including Coburn — have questioned that assertion.
However, Coburn said Democrats had prohibited funding for a program that allows states to test pregnant women and babies for HIV. Coburn's press secretary, John Hart, suggested that the funding was removed to retaliate against Coburn, who has pushed the program but has been critical of lawmakers' special projects.
Coburn said, "To block the funding, especially for African-American women who carry the burden of this disease in pregnancy, is unconscionable.
"There's not a good answer for why this prohibition was put into this, and whoever did it doesn't care a whit about the innocent children who are going to get HIV infection, doesn't care about the African-American woman who's carrying it but doesn't know she has it, who could be treated and never progress to AIDS.
"What they care about is politics and political correctness.”
Military funding
Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, and other GOP senators have protested that the bill before the Senate shortchanges military construction needs mandated by the 2005 base closing process.
Inhofe and other senators said on the Senate floor that Democrats had shifted more than $3 billion from base closing accounts to other spending. Several states, including Oklahoma, will need a major infusion of construction money to absorb new missions moved from other bases. Bases in Texas and Kansas will be getting tens of thousands of troops being relocated from bases in Europe and Asia, and senators argued Thursday that delaying the money could delay the relocations.
Reid said the $3 billion could be added to a spending bill expected to be taken up next month to provide more funding for the military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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