Abortion fight clouds AIDS-fighting program’s future

Key Facts

J.) to amend the defense policy bill that’s on the Senate floor this week to reauthorize PEPFAR for five years failed when Republican members objected.
J.) to amend the defense policy bill that’s on the Senate floor this week to reauthorize PEPFAR for five years failed when Republican members objected.
Meanwhile, House Republicans confirmed this week that they will not put forward any reauthorization of the $7.5 billion program that fights AIDS and HIV, the virus that causes it, in more than 50 developing countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe.
But Democrats and Republicans who want to reauthorize the program — created by former President George W. Bush and widely credited with saving millions of lives — say anything less than a five-year reauthorization of PEPFAR would signal to other countries that the U.S. commitment to fighting HIV and AIDS is weakening and leave the program more vulnerable to cuts in the future.