House Foreign Affairs Committee, White House Meet To Discuss Global AIDS Program Bill

House Foreign Affairs Committee members and White House officials met on Tuesday and agreed on a compromise draft bill to reauthorize the U.S. global HIV/AIDS plan, CQ Politics reports. Under the compromise bill, $50 billion would be allocated for the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief over the next five years -- an increase from the $30 billion the President had previously called for. The new draft, like an earlier version, would remove a controversial provision that requires one-third of HIV prevention funding be spent on abstinence-only education, according to CQ Politics.

Although the compromise measure moves away from the explicit abstinence-only earmark, it calls for "balanced funding" for prevention programs in target countries, including all elements of the ABC approach to HIV prevention -- which stands for abstinence, be faithful and use condoms.

According to CQ Politics, the compromise draft bill also would retain the so-called "anti-prostitution" pledge that an earlier version of the bill had dropped. The compromise bill also would allow funding for HIV testing and education in family planning clinics, but language was dropped from an earlier draft of the bill that would have authorized the use of PEPFAR funds to support contraceptive activities in the context of HIV/AIDS programming. The move to integrate services between HIV/AIDS services and reproductive health groups on the ground has long been sought by Democrats and their allies in the family planning and public health community (Graham-Silverman, CQ Politics, 2/27).

The House Foreign Affairs Committee is scheduled to consider the compromise bill today (CQ Politics, 2/27).

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The Tuesday meeting was the first time that House Foreign Affairs Committee members and White House officials met to discuss the draft bill. Acting committee Chair Howard Berman (D-Calif.) "appeared ready" to move forward with negotiations, CQ Today reports. "I very much want it to be bipartisan, but I also want the program to be effective," Berman said on Tuesday, adding, "Effectiveness is the key."

Democratic committee spokesperson Lynne Weil said it is "very encouraging that the White House and the minority staff finally came to the table on this bill." Bill O'Keefe, senior director for advocacy at Catholic Relief Services, said, "They're all good people who want desperately to preserve the program, and they don't want to do anything to jeopardize what is possibly the most successful U.S. policy venture in the last eight years."

However, some groups have said that a compromise on the reauthorization bill "would be a disappointment" and that a "harsh debate was inevitable," according to CQ Today. "There's nothing about offering contraception to women that isn't going to be turned into something about abortion," Jodi Jacobson, director of advocacy at the American Jewish World Service, said (Graham-Silverman, CQ Today, 2/26).

NPR's "Morning Edition" on Wednesday reported on the PEPFAR bill (Wilson, "Morning Edition," NPR, 2/27). Audio of the segment is available online.