{"id":11500,"date":"2023-08-20T19:34:23","date_gmt":"2023-08-20T19:34:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=11500"},"modified":"2023-08-20T19:34:23","modified_gmt":"2023-08-20T19:34:23","slug":"republicans-are-threatening-to-sabotage-george-w-bushs-greatest-accomplishment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=11500","title":{"rendered":"Republicans are threatening to sabotage George W. Bush\u2019s greatest accomplishment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\n\n&#8220;First passed in 2003 under President George W. Bush, PEPFAR is a vehicle for distributing HIV\/AIDS drugs to people in poor countries who wouldn\u2019t otherwise have access to them. It has been astonishingly effective: The most recent US government estimates suggest it has&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/statements-releases\/2023\/01\/28\/statement-from-president-joe-biden-on-the-20th-anniversary-of-the-u-s-presidents-emergency-plan-for-aids-relief-pepfar\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">saved as many as 2<em>5 million<\/em>&nbsp;lives<\/a>&nbsp;since its enactment. It is currently supporting treatment for over 20 million people who depend on the program for continued access to medication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Given its success, PEPFAR has historically enjoyed bipartisan support. In 2018, Congress reauthorized PEPFAR for another five years&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/future-perfect\/2018\/12\/12\/18136716\/pepfar-hiv-aids-trump-congress\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">without a fuss<\/a>. But this time around,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/news\/2023\/july\/pepfar-hiv-aids-congress-pro-life.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">things look different<\/a>. Some House Republicans, prodded by an array of influential groups, are threatening to block another five-year reauthorization. Their argument is pure culture war: that PEPFAR has become a vehicle for promoting abortion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In reality, PEPFAR is legally prohibited from funding abortion services, and the argument against the program on anti-abortion grounds is very thin. But in today\u2019s political climate, where the culture war reigns supreme on the right, this is enough to jeopardize the continued good functioning of a program that the Republican Party used to champion.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/future-perfect\/2023\/7\/28\/23809119\/republicans-hiv-aids-pepfar-george-w-bush\">https:\/\/www.vox.com\/future-perfect\/2023\/7\/28\/23809119\/republicans-hiv-aids-pepfar-george-w-bush<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;First passed in 2003 under President George W. Bush, PEPFAR is a vehicle for distributing HIV\/AIDS drugs to people in poor countries who wouldn\u2019t otherwise have access to them. It has been astonishingly effective: The most recent US government estimates suggest it has saved as many as 25 million lives since its enactment. It is currently supporting treatment for over 20 million people who depend on the program for continued access to medication.<br \/>\nGiven its success, PEPFAR has historically enjoyed bipartisan support. In 2018, Congress reauthorized PEPFAR for another five years without a fuss. But this time around, things look different. Some House Republicans, prodded by an array of influential groups, are threatening to block another five-year reauthorization. Their argument is pure culture war: that PEPFAR has become a vehicle for promoting abortion.<\/p>\n<p>In reality, PEPFAR is legally prohibited from funding abortion services, and the argument against the program on anti-abortion grounds is very thin. But in today\u2019s political climate, where the culture war reigns supreme on the right, this is enough to jeopardize the continued good functioning of a program that the Republican Party used to champion.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[417,1527,695,542,1559,906,968,506],"class_list":["post-11500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-share","tag-africa","tag-aid","tag-aids","tag-congress","tag-george-w-bush","tag-legislation","tag-republican-party","tag-republicans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11500"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11501,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11500\/revisions\/11501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}