Global AIDS program teetering after Trump admin's shock-and-awe

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Politico

03/23/2025 06:00 AM EDT


America’s most celebrated global health program is on life support, former U.S. government officials and global health advocates say. President Donald Trump’s decision to suddenly halt and then terminate most U.S. foreign aid, and GOP concerns that organizations receiving government grants to combat HIV and AIDS were performing abortions, have key congressional Republicans broaching what was once unthinkable: ending PEPFAR, the program President George W. Bush created to combat HIV and AIDS in the developing world. Bush has long championed it and the 25 million lives it’s saved as the best example of his “compassionate conservatism.”

But Trump has lumped the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief in with other foreign aid programs he sees as indicative of the way Washington has put the needs of foreigners over Americans. It’s part of a seismic shift in GOP attitudes since Trump took over the party. The Bush Institute, an arm of the center that promotes Bush’s legacy, is pleading with the administration and Republicans to keep the program alive, making the case that it’s good for America.

“PEPFAR is a strategic investment in our own national security,” Hannah Johnson, a senior program manager for global policy at the institute, wrote earlier this month, arguing that “it engenders goodwill toward the United States at a time when Russia and China are competing for greater influence, in ways that are not beneficial in the long-term for the African continent.” She called on the administration to continue the program — “whether through USAID, the CDC, the Pentagon, or the State Department. It is a matter of life and death.”

Since late February, the Trump administration has terminated hundreds of millions of dollars in PEPFAR grants and contracts amid its rapid effort to align foreign aid with its “America First” policy, according to a list obtained by POLITICO. On March 25, the 2003 law that established PEPFAR is set to expire with no indication it’ll be renewed anytime soon.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/23/syndicate-americas-global-aids-relief-program-is-on-the-brink-00244106

---

Shrub got thrown under the bus. And yet they sit silently trying to persuade a madman beyhind teh scenes.

And this -

aid programs he sees as indicative of the way Washington has put the needs of foreigners over Americans.

And what is going on right now is indicative of the way 45 has put the needs of the BILLIONAIRES over Americans.

[progree]

1. Suspending antiretroviral therapy leads to more development of drug resistance and spreading of the disease

which of course would be harmful to the U.S. population as well.

among the obvious other implications of more suffering and death.

I'm of course being optimistic when I say "suspending" - supposedly it's a temporary freeze period. Ending it, which is the more likely outcome, would of course be a lot worse.

This from the OP's article to make it more confusing:

Congress did appropriate funding to cover PEPFAR’s expenses through September earlier this month. Its programs can continue even if the law authorizing it expires, but only if Trump wants to spend the money. PEPFAR’s budget is between $6 and $7 billion per year.

Trump has halted most programs overseen by the U.S. Agency for International Development, which handled a majority of PEPFAR’s projects, but so far hasn’t touched the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s, which run nearly $2 billion a year.

But, we're supposed to keep in mind (this from a neighbor's FB page) :

Anybody expecting the world to get better instantly with this political change is in for a big disappointment.
It’s going to get worse before it gets better. Take surgery. You have to experience the surgical pain of removing something that is bad for you before you begin to heal and and go through physical therapy to a final healed state. And then it might not work. We’ll see.

I don't remember hearing anything like that during the campaign. All's I heard was bringing prices down on day 1.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. 45 has been eagerly violating the "Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974"

and refusing to spend the money authorized BY CONGRESS for specific programs.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=20010201