Decrease in U.S. Contribution to Global AIDS Fund ‘Disappointing and Unwise,’ Editorial Says
The Senate's decision last week to decrease the U.S. contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria from $500 million to $200 million is "distressing and foolhardy," according to a San Francisco Chronicle editorial. The contribution was reduced after Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), the original author of the $500 million plan, "backed off" his proposal when President Bush threatened a veto and promised to offer his own plan, the editorial says. According to "insiders," Bush would contribute $100 million a year for five years beginning in 2004 to the fund, an amount the Chronicle calls "too little and too late." The Chronicle concludes, "As the world's wealthiest country with a $2.1 trillion national budget, the U.S.' $200 million response to the epidemic is disappointing and unwise. America must allocate more -- at minimum the $500 million -- not just because we can, but because it's the right thing to do" (San Francisco Chronicle, 6/15).
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