McCain: “I’ll do what I can to unstick [PEPFAR]”
June 13th, 2008 at 10:40 am | posted by Matthew Bartlett, ONE Regional OrganizerSen. McCain held a town hall meeting back here in the Granite State yesterday. And just like we did for every candidate from both parties during the NH Primary, ONE was there to help represent for the poorest people on Earth.
As soon as Sen. McCain came to the stage, he spotted our ONE group in the crowd and recognized ONE and had us stand up in front of everyone. Later on during the town hall meeting, I raised my hand to ask Sen. McCain to support the new global AIDS bill, called PEPFAR, that is currently being considered in the Senate. NH’s own Sen. Sununu was there too, who is helping to pass this critical and life saving US response to the global AIDS pandemic.
Good people from both sides of the political aisle are taking brave and bold steps to help pass the new PEPFAR bill in the Senate before the G8 summit meeting. But it will take all the efforts of ONE members everywhere to make sure that our leaders know that it is not only possible to prevent and treat the spread of HIV/AIDS…it is also a priority!
You can go here to encourage your senators to officially co-sponsor PEPFAR, and you go here to sign a petition to Senators Reid and McConnell urging them to use their leadership to unstick the legislation and move it to the Senate floor.
-Matthew Bartlett
June 13th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
whooo hoooo!!! way to go matty!!!
June 13th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
Yes, this was a VERY GOOD effort on the part of our ONE members and staff in NH. With Sen. Sununu there also, it was good to keep Sen. McCain “on target” with the PEPFAR program.
It’s NOT ENOUGH for any politician to recognize ONE members in a crowd and speak to us in a gratuitous manner. We should not be there only to get our faces on You Tube or to be caught in a photo op with a politico.
We are there at these meetings to BE THE VOICE FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NO VOICE in our Congress - for the woman dying from AIDS with no medications; for the child who is left orphaned and homeless because AIDS & extreme poverty have taken their parents’ lives.
I like the way that Matt stayed on task and never let the issue of PEPFAR go until Sen. McCain was politely forced to speak about this issue.
This is advocacy for Africa far beyond wearing a whiteband or screaming for a rock star.
I am heartened by this video and will be reposting the You Tube link for it at several various sites that I frequent and have started threads there for PEPFAR.
Now - WHO IS GOING TO GET BARACK ON YOU TUBE FOR PEPFAR? (lol)
Take very good care, my friends. Blessings always.
ALWAYS ONE in the Spirit, debbie
www.mpwn-uganda.org
June 13th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
Major props, way to go!
June 14th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
great questioning and way to point out Sununu’s support.
hopefully, McCain’s camp will tell McConnell and Obama’s camp will tell Reid, that they both want to urgently debate on and approve the bill
June 14th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
I don’t know where to post this so here it is. During McCain’s recent speech in Kenner, LA on 6/3/2008 McCain said “I want to freeze all discretionary spending until we have completed top to bottom reviews of all Federal programs to weed out failing ones.” Wouldn’t all money being put toward any bill One is pushing be part of that spending. So he is going to pass the PEPFAR bill just to freeze it if he gets in office. Maybe I am not understanding, can someone please explain?
June 15th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
That’s an EXCELLENT question, Angela, and I hope that our friends in the DC office will follow up with McCain’s staffers about that statement of his & how that gels with what he told Matthew Bartlett the other day in NH.
We have to keep these politicians honest (even Obama) because once they start seeing with Presidential stars in their eyes, they often become blind to the people and the issues which put them “on top” to begin with.
Looking forward to the response to your question, Angela.
LIVING POSITIVELY, debbie
www.mpwn-uganda.org
June 15th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/6/15/12494/0959/895/536099
Video clip is featured in the comments of this front page dailykos post on PEPFAR.
June 16th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Thank you Senator McCain. Please follow through. God bless.
June 16th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
This is from the dailykos article that Betty posted:
“What’s scary about Coburn is not just how wrong he is (see the comments above from Denis Nash and Mead Over; they are public health experts, which Coburn is decidedly not), and how far out of the mainstream he is, it’s that he’s John McCain’s chief medical adviser and functions as a medical adviser for Republicans”
Uh??????
We, as ONE, have a LOT of work cut out for us to do if Coburn is that highly regarded as a “medical advisor” for Senate Republicans!!
I noticed how McCain was wiggling around Matthew’s questions and I wasn’t REALLY convinced in my heart that he would do whatever he could to get PEPAR unstuck in the Senate - and now I’m completely convinced of that!
Please update us from the DC office about what is going on regarding McCain, Coburn & PEPFAR. Could Bill Frist be of any help in this situation?
Looking forward to SOME response from our DC ONE team about all this.
Always ONE in the Spirit, debbie
www.mpwn-uganda.org