YAYS and NAYS for PEPFAR

PEPFAR past yesterday 308 - 116. Check the full list of who voted for and against PEPFAR after the jump.

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PEPFAR PASSES HOUSE!

The House just voted overwhelmingly to reauthorize the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) by 308 - 116!!

The next step is a vote in the Senate next week. Stay tuned for updates and how to take action.

-Virginia Simmons

Take Action: Call to Pass PEPFAR

One of the best tools we have to fight global poverty - PEPFAR - is up for renewal and about to face a House vote this week. As ONE members this is our moment to stand up and take action.

Please call your member of Congress and tell him or her that you want the U.S. Congress to reauthorize this critical legislation. All the information you need for your call is here.

Passed in 2004, PEPFAR - the President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief - has provided $15 billion in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment in developing countries. The 2008 reauthorized would put $50 billion to work fighting this epidemic from 2009 through 2013.

This new and improved PEPFAR sets expanded goals, including:

-Stopping 12 million new cases of HIV infections
-Doubling the number of people on antiretroviral treatment to three million people (including 450,000 children)
-Training 140,000 new health-care workers
-Caring for five million children who have been orphaned by AIDS

PEPFAR is working - and there is no one better to call and urge your member of Congress to support it than you. Please call today.

PEPFAR Movement

Late Tuesday night, bipartisan cooperation in the House Foreign Affairs Committee moved us one critical step closer to approving the 5-year expansion of the “President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief” or “PEPFAR.”

The legislation they passed yesterday, “The Lantos-Hyde US Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, TB, Malaria Act” would transition PEPFAR from an emergency response to a sustainable response program, and provide for expanded training for 140,000 new health care professionals and community care workers. The bill also strongly focuses on prevention and includes comprehensive efforts that place a special emphasis on women and on the underlying factors which make them vulnerable to HIV infection, including a focus on violence against women.

In all, the U.S. would provide lifesaving treatment for at least three million AIDS patients; prevent 12 million new infections; provide care for five million AIDS orphans; and train and support 140,000 new health professionals. The bill also provides $4 billion for the treatment and prevention of tuberculosis and $5 billion to fight malaria.

Although the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s action this week marks a critical momentum shift for PEPFAR’s reauthorization, the full House must continue to uphold this commitment to bipartisanship and pass the the bill (protecting all provisions) during a House floor vote.

-Virginia Simmons