---------- 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. 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On sale now! http://us.click.yahoo.com/ehaLqB/Fg5DAA/Ey.GAA/DKgolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Next WASAN meeting is Wednesday, June 26, 2002. Location: Safeco Jackson Street Center, E Main between 23 & 24, Suite 200, Seattle 7:30 PM WASAN business meeting. Everyone is welcome. We usually meet the fourth Wednesday of the month. For a calendar of local Africa events see http://www.ibike.org/africamatters/calendar.htm . To post a message: [log in to unmask] To subscribe send a message to [log in to unmask] To unsubscribe send a message to [log in to unmask] . All past postings are archived at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wa-afr-network Your use of Yahoo! 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