DeWine's stand on AIDS deserving of high praise

During last month's debate on the Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill for fiscal 2004, U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, offered an amendment to increase funding for the Global AIDS Initiative by $289 million. The amendment passed, but not before DeWine made a compelling speech on the floor of the Senate.
"Mr. President, this amendment is the right thing to do," he said. "It is the right thing to do because HIV/AIDS is wiping out entire communities. It is the right thing to do because at least 8,000 people -- real people, Mr. President, mothers and fathers and children and babies -- are dying every day from AIDS and millions of others who are not on treatment drugs are suffering the painful effects of the disease. It is the right thing to do because we have the resources to fight HIV/AIDS and we need to do something."
A House-Senate conference committee is working out differences between the versions of the bill that came out of each chamber. We hope that DeWine's amendment remains intact. It's the right thing for Congress and the United States to do.
In February President Bush announced that the United States would spend $15 billion to fight AIDS abroad over the next five years -- most of the money would go to African and Caribbean nations. "There are millions of orphans, lonely children, because their mom or dad has died -- children left, in some cases, to fend for themselves," Bush said.
Reality
Since then, however, the reality of Iraq's reconstruction has overshadowed just about everything at the White House and in Congress. The $80-plus billion package recently approved by Congress for Iraq has forced members to take a hard look at all other initiatives.
Thus, when the Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill emerged from committee, there was less money for the Global AIDS Initiative than the president had pledged, or DeWine had anticipated. The senator, who visited Africa this year and has made numerous trips to Haiti, correctly concluded that more was needed. And so, with the support of the leaders from both sides of the aisle, he offered the amendment to increase the allocation to $2.4 billion.
Members of the conference committee should take to heart DeWine's appeal on the floor of the Senate: "We should be judged, Mr. President, not just by what we do in society. I believe we should also be judged by what we put up with -- by what we are willing to tolerate. ... We must not tolerate a world where this suffering and dying occurs and we have the ability and the tools to help and to make a difference and to save lives."
At a time when America's reputation as a caring nation is being challenged because of Iraq, the strong support for the global war on AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria will go a long way toward restoring our good name around the world.