WASHINGTON—Representative Eliot L. Engel, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and senior member of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, today made the following statement marking World AIDS Day:
“World AIDS Day is an opportunity to take stock of the progress we’ve made against HIV/AIDS and renew our commitment to the long road ahead. We owe much of this progress to bipartisan American initiatives including PEPFAR and the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program. Thanks to PEPFAR, more than 14.6 million people are getting lifesaving treatment, and more than 2.4 million babies have been born HIV-free to mothers living with HIV. All of this would have been thought impossible when PEPFAR launched just 15 years ago.
“I proudly joined as an original cosponsor of the PEPFAR Extension Act of 2018, and I’m pleased it’s heading to the President’s desk. But our work is far from over. The Trump Administration has twice sought deep cuts to our efforts to fight HIV/AIDS, while also allowing the global gag rule to hamper those efforts. I hope the Administration honors our history of bipartisan cooperation and rejects these harmful policies moving forward so that we can stay on track and, finally, realize our goal of an AIDS-free generation.”
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