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**[[The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS
Relief:]{.underline}]{.smallcaps}**

**[[A Program Under Attack]{.underline}]{.smallcaps}**

**Prepared Remarks of Rep. Mike Pence**

**February 6, 2008**

Thank you for that warm introduction, and thank you for having me. I
always feel privileged to come to Ball State University, and this is no
exception. I would like to take this opportunity to thank your
President, Dr. Jo Ann Gora, and the faculty and staff here for your warm
hospitality. I also would like to thank the students who are here today
for taking time out of their busy schedules to attend this discussion of
how the United States has led and can remain a world leader in fighting
one of the greatest human tragedies of our time, the global HIV/AIDS
pandemic.

In January 2003, President Bush said in his State of the Union address
to Congress, \"To meet a severe and urgent crisis abroad, tonight I
propose the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief - a work of mercy beyond all
current international efforts to help the people of Africa\..." Congress
heeded the call, and the President\'s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief,
better known as PEPFAR, was born.

PEPFAR put the world on notice that America will not ignore despair and
desperation. It has shown the world that America is committed to
bettering the lives of people around the globe, especially in Africa,
who suffer from HIV/AIDS. I am proud to have supported the passage of
PEPFAR on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives in 2003, and I
am hopeful that it can be reauthorized without delay in this session of
Congress.

The need for PEPFAR is clear. The HIV/AIDS pandemic has infected more
than 60 million people worldwide, and it has killed more than 25 million
people. In its wake, HIV/AIDS has orphaned 14 million children. To call
this a crisis is not an understatement.

Today, nearly 70% of people in the world who are afflicted with HIV/AIDS
reside in Africa. Within that continent there are whole countries where
more than one-third of the adult population is infected.

More startling, if current infection rates continue, new epicenters for
the disease are likely to arise out of India, China, and Eastern Europe,
with numbers that could surpass Africa in as few as two years.

Despite these troubling projections there is cause for hope. Recent
reductions in the price of antiretroviral, or ARV, drugs and greater
ease of use of these drugs have made therapy for people infected with
HIV/AIDS possible on a much larger scale. ARV drugs are commonly known
as a "drug cocktail" that is used to suppress the HIV/AIDS virus in
infected people. The price of ARV drugs has fallen from more than
\$12,000 to under \$300 per year per individual since the start of
PEPFAR. In addition, ARV drug treatment regimens have been greatly
simplified.

Much work remains to increase individual access to life-extending ARV
drug therapy worldwide. The number of people actually receiving ARV drug
treatment remains remarkably low. In Africa, where more than 4 million
people have a sufficiently advanced stage of the disease to warrant ARV
drug treatment, only about 50,000 people are receiving it.

In addition to making ARV drug treatments more widely available for
those people who have been infected, the global community must work just
as hard to prevent infection in those people who have not yet been
infected. In Africa today, 14,000 people each day are diagnosed with
HIV/AIDS. Lowering this infection rate through prevention will halt the
advance of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, save lives, and ultimately increase
stability in Africa and other regions of the world.

In the countries across the world where the United States is combating
HIV/AIDS, PEPFAR seeks to:

• Encourage bold leadership, at every level, to fight HIV/AIDS;

• Apply best practices within our bilateral programs in concert with
host governments\' national HIV/AIDS strategies; and

• Encourage all partners to coordinate activities, adhere to sound
management practices, and harmonize monitoring and evaluation efforts.

In the fifteen most heavily impacted countries of the world, known as
\"focus countries\" under this program, the United States' goals are to
support in an accountable and sustainable way:

• Prevention of 7 million new HIV infections;

• Treatment of 2 million HIV-infected people; and

• Care for 10 million people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS,
including orphans and vulnerable children.

PEPFAR attempts to fulfill these goals, not only by providing medicine
and health care to those in need, but also by providing funding
resources for evidence-based programs that have been successful at
preventing infection. These programs also respect the pro-family,
pro-life cultures of the countries in which they are implemented.

Currently within PEPFAR , these pivotal provisions exist in forms such
as the ABC Model, which stands for Abstinence, Be faithful, and
Consistent and Correct Condom use. It is absolutely essential that we
preserve these prevention methods that focus on behavioral change.
Working with faith-based and non-governmental organizations on the local
level, in particular through the ABC Model, has produced undeniable
results.

Uganda has seen HIV prevalence drop from 30% of the population to 5% in
a little more than ten years. In contrast, Botswana's heavy promotion of
condoms has proven to be counter-productive. Botswana continues to have
the highest HIV prevalence in the world. Currently, 36% of the
country\'s 1.6 million people are HIV-positive. By 2010, more than 50%
of the country\'s children will be AIDS orphans and the average life
expectancy will have fallen from 47 years to 27 years.

In cooperation and support of the ABC model, faith-based organizations
are able to provide a particularly important service through PEPFAR in
many African communities. In fact in many countries, as many as 80% of
all citizens participate regularly in religious life and services.
Religious leaders implementing the practical prevention model in place
in the current program have enormous reach and authority.

It is not enough to send billions of dollars to Africa without sending
values-based techniques that work to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS by
changing behavior.

It is imperative that efforts be focused on youth as well as adults.
Half of all new infections occur in individuals between the ages of 14
and 24. Delaying sexual intercourse by even a year can have significant
impact on the health and well-being of adolescents and on the spread of
the epidemic in communities.

Girls in countries in Africa with a high HIV-prevalence rate are at
significantly higher risk of acquiring HIV, especially from older
partners. In some communities, as many as 20 % of girls aged 15 to 19
are infected compared to just 5 % of boys.

PEPFAR is set to expire this year. If Congress does not reauthorize the
program, the severity of the HIV/AIDS pandemic will only worsen in the
global community, and millions more will suffer. Given not only the
serious nature of this humanitarian crisis, but also the amount of
hard-earned taxpayer dollars invested in the effort to fight global
HIV/AIDS, it is essential that Congress act quickly and wisely to ensure
that America continues its commitment.

President Bush has called for an increase in funding from \$15 billion
to \$30 billion in PEPFAR spending over the next five years, and I
support this increase. This week in Congress the House Foreign Affairs
Committee, on which I serve, will begin the process of reauthorizing
PEPFAR by taking up a bill entitled "The Global HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis,
and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008."

This bill not only reauthorizes PEPFAR for an additional five years, but
it also provides for increased funding. Many Americans would rightly
think that this bill would have strong bi-partisan support. 
Unfortunately, the committee proceedings scheduled for this week in
Congress seek to undermine and dilute this powerful plan.  Provisions
included in the reauthorization bill would open PEPFAR funding streams
to those organizations overseas that lead the world in promoting and
providing abortions.  The American people's money, given generously to
regions of the world that are being ravaged by HIV/AIDS, is in danger of
being severely hijacked in order to subsidize international abortion
clinics like Planned Parenthood.

Last week when the President called for continued support for this very
important initiative in his final State of the Union address, he
insisted that Congress must "maintain the principles that have changed
behavior and made this program successful."  The current draft of this
reauthorization is no longer the program envisioned by the President and
embraced by Congress.  Under the new bill, PEPFAR would no longer be a
program focused solely on prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS. Instead,
it would be converted to a program that, with increased funding, could
*take* lives through abortion rather than *save* lives through
prevention and medication.  PEPFAR is a successful program that is under
attack. 

Under the changes being proposed this week, the Democrat Majority has
proposed doing away with funding requirements for abstinence and be
faithful programming, two programs that are making a significant
difference.  Removal of these funding requirements would effectively
eliminate all available funding for two critical strategies for reducing
HIV infection and prevalence rates.

Furthermore, the Democrat majority in Congress has chosen to mandate the
integration of reproductive health services into the PEPFAR program. 
This would transform a successful strategy to reverse the HIV/AIDS
pandemic into a mega-funding pool for organizations with an abortion
promotion agenda.

Under the reauthorization legislation, PEPFAR would be transformed into
a family planning promotion program. But, U.S. global family planning
programs already have an existing budget of nearly \$400 million dollars
for fiscal year 2008, an existing set of program guidelines, and most
importantly, the Mexico City Policy restrictions on which organizations
can access these funds. Under the Mexico City policy America's family
planning dollars are prevented from going to organizations that provide
abortions.  Family planning programs should not be allowed to hijack the
valuable funding directed at prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS.

PEPFAR must be reauthorized, and I strongly support doing so. However, I
have grave concerns about the direction that the current reauthorization
bill is taking. I intend to fight these objectionable provisions in the
Foreign Affairs Committee and to work for a clean reauthorization bill
of which all Americans can be proud. PEPFAR must remain solely devoted
to prevention of HIV infection and relief for the millions around the
world suffering from HIV/AIDS. It must preserve the abstinence and be
faithful programs that are producing real change. And, as Congress
reauthorizes PEPFAR, we must draw a clear line in the sand to
distinguish between money clearly designated for fighting HIV/AIDS and
funds that will be used to take innocent life.

Too much is at stake in the world for Congress not to reauthorize
PEPFAR. My promise to you, as your representative in Washington, is that
I will do all that I can to ensure that America's commitment to fighting
the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa and around the globe will continue, and
continue in a manner that best reflects the nature of America's
compassion and its devotion to saving lives.