BUSH GUTS GLOBAL AIDS FUND

Ari Berman writes in his blog for TheNation.com about how TheUSGov has cut funding to the Global AIDS Fund. Check out an excerpt from his post:

Under pressure from the Bush Administration, House Republicans celebrated World AIDS Day a week early. How? By cutting funding for the internationally-supported Global Fund to Fight AIDS by $200 million in the recently passed omnibus spending bill.

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The Fund received just 12 percent of total HIV/AIDS funding allocated by Congress in the spending bill. The bulk went to the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. The Bush program works in 15 hand-picked countries; the Global Fund empowers local NGOs in 130.

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In a move that seemed devised to subvert international AIDS policy, Bush's Secretary of Health and Human Services--Tommy Thompson--became the chairman of the Global Fund last January. "As Thompson was announcing from Tanzania that new grants would be offered next year, Congress was reducing the amount the United States would allot to the international organization," wrote the San Francisco Chronicle. (The Fund is currently $7 billion short of its annual goal, and struggling to attract new funding for a fifth round of grants starting in March.

You know, there's a conspiracy theory that says once the world government has been established they're going to wipe out something like two-thirds of the population of the Earth to help conserve resources like oil and food. Reading crap like this story day in and day out makes me think world government or no, TheUSGov is interested in seeing a whole lot of people die.

From the Daily Outrage:

Gutting the Global AIDS Fund

Under pressure from the Bush Administration, House Republicans celebrated World AIDS Day a week early. How? By cutting funding for the internationally-supported Global Fund to Fight AIDS by $200 million in the recently passed omnibus spending bill.

Over the last two years the Bush Administration insisted that contributions to the Global Fund be frozen at $200 million because other nations weren't contributing their fair share--a dubious assertion given that Europe provides half of the total budget and the US less than one-third. Congress ignored the Administration and appropriated $547 million for 2004. Ever determined, the White House managed to block $88 million, convincing Congress to downscale and insert language allowing the Administration to once again obstruct funding in 2005.

The Fund received just 12 percent of total HIV/AIDS funding allocated by Congress in the spending bill. The bulk went to the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. The Bush program works in 15 hand-picked countries; the Global Fund empowers local NGOs in 130. (See Esther Kaplan's forthcoming "Their AIDS Fight, and Ours" for a detailed look at Bush's policy.)

In a move that seemed devised to subvert international AIDS policy, Bush's Secretary of Health and Human Services--Tommy Thompson--became the chairman of the Global Fund last January. "As Thompson was announcing from Tanzania that new grants would be offered next year, Congress was reducing the amount the United States would allot to the international organization," wrote the San Francisco Chronicle. (The Fund is currently $7 billion short of its annual goal, and struggling to attract new funding for a fifth round of grants starting in March.

Amidst Washington's underfunding and infighting, the global HIV/AIDS crisis continues to worsen. There were five million new HIV cases in 2003 and 5 million more AIDS deaths. Half of all new infections occur in young people ages 15-24. "We've had these gruesome stats for so long," says Joanne Carter of the DC advocacy organization RESULTS. "We now know what to do and how it should be done...But it feels like we're being strangled by a lack of resources."

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