‘Pushing Past’ Senators Blocking Consideration of PEPFAR Reauthorization Should Be ‘Bipartisan Mandate,’ Editorial Says
The Bush administration and "apparently heavy majorities" in the Senate and House have "agreed to continue and expand" the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief "with compromises that steer around the culture wars that tend to erupt over AIDS," an Oregonian editorial says. Legislation to reauthorize PEPFAR "passed the House by a vote of 308 to 166, rolled through the Senate Foreign Relations Committee" and now is "being blocked by a small group of hard-line conservative senators," the editorial says, adding, "Pushing past them should be a bipartisan mandate."
According to the editorial, conservative and "Republican support for the bill has been widespread." It adds that 14 Republican senators have "urged the Senate leadership to push the bill harder." These senators and the "leadership should redouble their efforts," the editorial says, adding that "managing it before" the Group of Eight industrialized nations summit in Japan next month "would send a powerful message to the rest of the world." The "legacy" of President Bush can "use all the help it can get," the editorial says, concluding, "So can sub-Saharan Africa" (Oregonian, 6/10).
The Politico on Wednesday examined efforts by the group of seven Republican senators regarding PEPFAR reauthorization (Loewenberg, The Politico, 6/11).