Groups working to end AIDS fear losing ground under Trump
“Advocates working to end the AIDS epidemic fear they may lose ground under the Trump administration after coming within reach of ending the disease’s siege in the U.S. and abroad. While former Presidents Obama and George W. Bush made fighting AIDS one of their administrations’ top priorities, President Trump has proposed massive cuts to prevention programs, failed to fill key positions that advise the administration on the issue, and has at times made disparaging remarks about countries suffering from the epidemic. … [T]he Trump administration has proposed cuts [to global AIDS in its] budget requests. … ‘The president’s budget, while Congress may or may not act on it, it’s still a statement of priorities and the values of an administration,’ said Jen Kates, director of global health and HIV policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation. ‘It does send the message these certain areas are not as important as others’…” (Hellmann, 2/27).
The White House budget proposal introduced earlier this month would cut more than $1 billion from global AIDS efforts.
His proposal also recommends millions of dollars in cuts to domestic AIDS efforts, including $40 million from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s HIV/AIDS prevention program, $26 million from federal housing program for people with AIDS and $58 million from the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program.
Congress rejected similar cuts in Trump’s first budget proposal. Read more via the Hill