Congress Creates Bipartisan HIV/AIDS Caucus, 30 Years After HIV Discovery

WASHINGTON -- The first ever bipartisan congressional HIV/AIDS caucus officially launched on Thursday, 30 years after the human immunodeficiency virus was first identified.

Led by House members Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), the group marks the first time Republicans have joined with Democrats to create a group aimed at eradicating AIDS, which has claimed 25 million lives around the globe since 1981. Prior to Thursday, similar groups in Congress contained only Democrats.

"It makes a huge difference to have Republicans on board, and I'm really excited about that," McDermott told The Huffington Post. "As a physician, I traveled in Africa in '87 to '88, and I saw the disease firsthand, and what it was doing. But when I came to Congress [in 1989], no one was talking about this, and it was a gay man's disease as far as anyone was concerned. I started a task force in Congress to address it in 1992, but it was tough to get people interested, and until today we didn't have anyone on the other side."

As of Thursday, three other Republicans have joined the caucus: House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehitnen (Fla.), Rep. John Carter (Texas) and freshman Rep. David McKinley (W.Va.).

"HIV is a monstrous international epidemic and a destructive force on humanity," Franks said at a press conference on Capitol Hill. “My two top priorities as co-chair of the HIV/AIDS Caucus are to better enable faith-based organizations to implement life-saving medical services and to make significant strides so no child is born with HIV after 2015. I look forward to working with my colleagues to bring attention to this important humanitarian issue."

Part of the caucus's mission will also be to protect congressional funding for HIV/AIDS programs both in the United States and abroad, notably the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program created during the Goerge W. Bush administration.

"I think PEPFAR was the most significant thing George Bush did in his time in office," McDermott said, "and I give him high marks for putting his money where his mouth was."

McDermott also credited the former president with helping to make Republicans "comfortable" with speaking out about the AIDS epidemic. Without Republicans, Democrats formed task forces and study groups in Congress, but this is the first formal HIV/AIDS group with members from both sides of the aisle.

Last month McDermott traveled to Rwanda and Democratic Republic of the Congo with former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson, one of the architects of the PEPFAR program and a guest at Thursday's press conference.

"American leadership in the global fight against HIV/AIDS began a decade ago when Republican and Democratic leaders stood together and refused to allow a deadly disease to claim a generation of African teachers, nurses, doctors, parents and children,” Gerson told reporters. The caucus, he said, would serve to remind Congress of its "continuing responsibility to save lives."

PEPFAR was reauthorized by the House in 2008 with a vote of 308-116, but right-leaning trends in the Republican party could make the program's next reauthorization in 2013 more challenging.

Alongside international programs, the congressional HIV/AIDS Caucus will also support and uphold domestic HIV/AIDS programs -- a point that's especially important to residents of Washington, D.C., which has the highest rate of HIV infection in the nation.

Jeffrey Crowley, director of President Obama's Office of National AIDS Policy, said Thursday that AIDS is still "a very serious epidemic" in the United States. The president "has made [HIV/AIDS] a priority," he explained, "by releasing the first comprehensive National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States."

Crowley also told the assembled members of Congress that "congressional leadership on domestic and global HIV/AIDS has been critical, and we look forward to continuing to work with [you] on this important effort.”

WATCH Rep. Jim McDermott discuss the importance of HIV/AIDS funding in Congress

Comments

[Good Days]

10:55 AM on 09/26/2011

This is great news! I work with Good Days from Chronic Disease Fund, and it is our goal to assist chronic disease sufferers in gaining the treatment they need. By supporting our organization, you could help these patients too! http://www.gooddaysfromcdf.org/.

[hypnotoad72]

04:40 PM on 09/16/2011

For humanitarian reasons, or because it'll be more profitable to make "treatments" rather than "cures"?

I know cynicism existed 30 years ago, but today's "for-profit" paradigm being so grossly out of control that it would eliminate the middle class in the name of profit-hunting, I wouldn't be surprised if there were cures that were swept under the rug.

Indeed, to go onto a tangent from a tangent, the electric car was worked on in the late-60s (GM) until other influences swayed them into halting it (Big Oil).  Everybody has to endure lesser profit - except the big companies rigging the system in their favor, of course.

[TheLibraryOfCodex]

12:35 PM on 09/16/2011

Next, they'll create a caucus to investigate the new technology of "Atari"

[Victor Zone]

12:11 PM on 09/16/2011

AH yes. Never had any money for AIDS research but they have money for committees and discussions which will most likely drag on, get postponed and result in NO action due to conflict disagreement or insufficient funding. But hey you wont be able to say they did nothing.

[Victor Zone]

12:06 PM on 09/16/2011

Quite a change from the Reagan years, back in the 80s, when he couldn't even bring himself to utter the words AIDS or HIV and swept it under the rug

[nmcginni]

10:40 AM on 09/16/2011

Wow, Congress has a great record. Look what they are doing for HIV/AIDS, they created a caucus.

Too bad they won't form a caucus about the jobs crisis.

[captainrick]

09:56 AM on 09/16/2011

After more than 12 years of Republican control of state government, Mississippi has the WORST record on HIV/AIDS in the country. With over 10,000 people infected, less than half are in treatment. Human Rights Watch (www.hrw.org) compares HIV care in Mississippi to that in Rwanda and Ethiopia.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTjHS3UvQps
Federal HIV money is spent primarily in the large urban areas while the rest of country is more or less left to fend for itself. Some states have stepped up to meet the crisis. Others have not. In Fla. under Rick Scott, there are now over 9000 people on waiting lists for medication assistance. Yeah, we're making progress. Thirty years? Well, I say better late than never.

[houstondemocrat]

09:47 AM on 09/16/2011

"But when I came to Congress [in 1989], no one was talking about this, and it was a gay man's disease as far as anyone was concerned. "
--------------------------------------------------------------
Exactly, nobody cared because gay's were dying. I bet these same people proclaim to be Christians.

[BillWoodinville]

09:33 AM on 09/16/2011

Next Up on the Congressional Agenda: The Bi-Partisan Anti-Polio Committee.

[DenverBigDaddy]

09:56 AM on 09/16/2011

Rotary International has taken care of that.

[Bear Left]

08:58 AM on 09/16/2011

It's high time Congress formed a panel to investigate allegations that the world is round. I know these are only allegations, and many scientists still support "intelligent flatness," but let's be fair.

[DrBill0620]

08:30 AM on 09/16/2011

From the trenches - not sure I understand the timing here, but good to see bipartisanship, especially at a time when progress being made on the HIV/ AIDS front.

HIV in the developing world still a huge problem - PEPFAR program mentioned in the article and Bill/ Melinda Gates and Clinton Foundations have done remarkable work improving the situation.

Some might ask why we need to take care of the developing world w this? In addition to loss of life prematurely, loss of productivity can be a drain on the country's and global economies.

What I liked - was his comment re no child born with HIV after 2015. Totally achievable - if mothers w HIV take HIV drugs during pregnancy - baby does not acquire HIV. For the most part mother-baby HIV transmission has gone away in the US and developed world; not so in developing/ resource poor countries.

Another poster mentioned problems w access to HIV drugs in the US. True - AIDS Drug Assistance Programs in US need help also.

Progress - vaccine progress being made. Treating people w HIV drugs can prevent further transmission to others - and there is progress being made w "cure" that might eradicate HIV from the body altogether - or, if not, can permanently suppress virus to make HIV a chronic illness rather than death sentence.

[gdauth]

08:22 AM on 09/16/2011

Better late than never? This is another example of how useless Congress is. Is it going to take 30 years for them to do something about jobs? Probably! Congress as outlived it's usefulness. We have career politicians who view Congress as a job, when it should be viewed as a Public service. They are concerned about their jobs when they should be concerned about our jobs. It is time for term limits.

[Watch Maker]

07:43 AM on 09/16/2011

Why bother now? A cure must be close, they need to take credit for it.

[caneca]

07:39 AM on 09/16/2011

That gives us all hope that someday the Republicans may even join the rest of the world in recognizing climate change...maybe in a 100 years?

[tagtron]

07:30 AM on 09/16/2011

30 Years Late: Congress Creates Bipartisan HIV/AIDS Caucus ........................they must have finally figured out a way to profit from it. You're doin' a heck of a job boys