PEPFAR, U.S. global HIV/AIDS program, survives Trump’s cuts

WASHINGTON — PEPFAR, the popular global HIV/AIDS program credited with saving millions of lives, has been spared from a package of billions of dollars in spending cuts that Congress sent to President Donald Trump early Friday morning to sign into law.

The original rescissions package Trump requested called for $400 million in cuts to PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which George W. Bush started in 2003.

But in the Senate, Democrats and a handful of Republicans objected to the PEPFAR cuts. Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, said the health program had saved an estimated 26 million lives and allowed nearly 8 million babies to be born healthy to mothers living with HIV.

“There are some cuts that I can support, but I’m not going to vote to cut global health programs,” Collins told reporters last week.

Seeking to tamp down the GOP rebellion, the White House this week agreed to make changes to the package, dropping the PEPFAR cuts to secure GOP votes.

“PEPFAR will not be impacted by the rescissions,” White House budget director Russell Vought told reporters after he huddled behind closed doors Tuesday with Senate Republicans.

Removing those cuts, Vought said, means the package has “a good chance of passing.”

The rescissions package, which would claw back $9 billion in congressionally approved funding for foreign aid and public broadcasting, narrowly passed the Senate early Thursday on a 51-48 vote. Collins was one of two Republicans to vote against the package, lamenting that the White House had not provided details of the cuts and that “nobody really knows what program reductions are in it.”

The House passed the package of cuts early Friday and Trump has vowed to sign it into law.

The White House’s original rescissions request sent May 28 detailed that the cuts would target only HIV/AIDS programs that “neither provide life-saving treatment nor support American interests.”

“This rescission proposal aligns with the Administration’s efforts to eliminate wasteful foreign assistance programs,” the request said. “Enacting the rescission would restore focus on health and life spending. This best serves the American taxpayer.”

But even some deficit hawks in the House said they supported the decision to preserve PEPFAR funding.

“It’s very successful. I think it serves a useful purpose,” said conservative Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Ala., who voted for the rescissions package.

Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee who also supported the package, said, “It’s half the money we’ve given to Ukraine, and it’s saved 25 million lives.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., slammed the legislation and said the PEPFAR-related changes were insufficient.

“Cuts to foreign aid will make Americans less safe. It will empower our adversaries,” he said. “The changes Republicans say they’ve made to PEPFAR are not enough, and nobody’s fooled by small tweaks to this package.”

Some advocates were relieved by the removal of PEPFAR cuts but disappointed with the overall package.

“It is always good news when lawmakers prioritize children, especially children who are orphaned or vulnerable to HIV and AIDS. But the larger trend here is not hopeful,” said Bruce Lesley, the president of First Focus Campaign for Children.

“While a few senators persuaded their colleagues to preserve funding for these children in this case,” he said in a statement, “the Senate’s overall decision to hand $9 billion back to the President suggests that what the legislature does actually doesn’t matter.”