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LOU CHIBBARO JR
Friday, August 01, 2008
President
Bush
signed
a
sweeping
global
AIDS
relief
bill
at
a
White
House
ceremony
Wednesday
afternoon
that
includes
language
repealing
the
U.S.
ban
on
HIV-positive
foreign
visitors
and
immigrants.
The
bill-signing
ceremony
took
place
less
than
a
week
after
the
House
of
Representatives
voted
303
to
115
to
approve
a
Senate-passed
version
of
the
legislation,
which
reauthorizes
the
highly
popular
U.S.
foreign
aid
program
known
as
the
President’s
Emergency
Plan
for
AIDS
Relief
(PEPFAR).
The
Senate
passed
the
bill
one
week
earlier
by
a
vote
of
80
to
16.
First
Lady
Laura
Bush
and
Mark
Dybul,
director
of
the
U.S.
global
AIDS
office,
accompanied
the
president
at
the
bill
signing
ceremony.
The
president,
along
with
a
large,
bipartisan
majority
in
the
House
and
Senate,
agreed
to
include
a
provision
in
the
PEPFAR
bill
that
repeals
a
1993
U.S.
immigration
law
prohibiting
HIV-positive
visitors
from
entering
the
country.
The
1993
law
to
be
repealed
by
the
PEPFAR
bill
also
bars
most
foreign
nationals
with
HIV
from
being
eligible
for
legal
immigrant
status.
However,
as
the
president
prepared
for
Wednesday’s
bill
signing
ceremony,
the
White
House
had
yet
to
disclose
whether
he
and
his
Secretary
of
the
Department
of
Health
and
Human
Services,
Mike
Leavitt,
would
approve
one
more
administrative
action
needed
to
end
the
U.S.
ban
on
HIV-positive
visitors
and
immigrants.
In
1987,
HHS
used
its
existing
legal
authority
to
add
HIV
to
a
list
of
communicable
diseases
that
disqualifies
HIV-positive
visitors
from
entering
the
country
as
well
as
foreigners
with
HIV
from
being
eligible
for
immigrant
status.
The
PEPFAR
bill
that
Bush
signed
allows
the
1987
administrative
policy
to
remain
in
place
unless
HHS
or
one
of
its
component
agencies,
such
as
the
U.S.
Centers
for
Disease
Control
&
Prevention,
reverses
the
policy.
An
HHS
spokesperson
last
week
agreed
to
make
inquiries
into
Leavitt’s
position
on
the
issue
of
repealing
the
HIV
ban,
but
the
spokesperson
did
not
get
back
with
additional
information
by
press
time.
A
White
House
spokesperson
did
not
respond
to
a
request
for
the
president’s
position
on
the
HHS
administrative
ban.
“The
legislation
Congress
has
passed
will
move
us
from
the
emergency
phase
to
the
sustainability
phase
in
fighting
AIDS,
tuberculosis
and
malaria,”
said
Speaker
of
the
House
Nancy
Pelosi
(D-Calif.),
after
the
House
voted
to
approve
the
PEPFAR
bill.
“It
will
authorize
$48
billion
over
five
years
to
provide
life-saving
HIV/AIDS
treatment
and
prevention
for
men,
women
and
children
in
the
poorest
countries
of
the
world,”
she
said.
Pelosi
also
noted
that
the
bill
would
eliminate
the
HIV
travel
and
immigrant
ban,
a
policy
that
Pelosi
and
Democratic
leaders,
along
with
many
Republican
lawmakers
in
the
House
and
Senate,
have
long
opposed.
“Congressional
backing
for
the
repeal
of
this
unjust
and
sweeping
policy
that
deems
HIV-positive
individuals
inadmissible
to
the
United
States
is
a
huge
step
forward
for
equality,”
said
Joe
Solmonese,
president
of
the
Human
Rights
Campaign.
“The
HIV
travel
and
immigration
ban
performs
no
public
health
service,
is
unnecessary
and
ineffective.”
The
1993
immigration
law
and
the
HHS
policy
directive
putting
the
HIV
visitor
and
immigrant
ban
into
place
allow
for
some
exceptions.
But
groups
like
Immigration
Equality,
which
advocates
for
immigrants
who
are
gay
or
who
have
HIV,
have
said
the
exceptions
are
limited
and
have
helped
only
a
small
number
of
HIV-positive
foreign
nationals
seeking
access
to
the
U.S.
Under
the
1993
law
and
the
HHS
policy,
foreign
nationals
seeking
to
visit
the
U.S.
can
obtain
a
temporary
waiver
from
the
ban,
which
allows
short-term
visits
for
tourism
or
business
purposes.
Foreign
nationals
seeking
a
waiver
must
register
their
names
and
HIV
status
with
U.S.
consular
offices
in
their
home
countries
in
a
process
that
immigration
activists
say
could
violate
privacy
rights.
Waivers
also
place
certain
limitations
on
HIV-positive
visitors.
The
law
and
policy
allows
foreigners
with
HIV
to
be
eligible
for
immigrant
status
if
they
can
demonstrate
that
an
immediate
family
member,
such
as
a
spouse,
parent
or
child,
who
already
has
legal
U.S.
immigrant
status
or
citizenship,
is
dependent
upon
them
for
care
and
support.
Activists
say
U.S.
immigration
officials
rarely
grant
this
exemption
and
that
it
is
off
limits
to
same-sex
partners
whose
relationships
are
not
recognized
under
U.S.
law.
Some
Capitol
Hill
insiders
have
speculated
that
the
Bush
administration
might
decide
to
leave
the
HHS
policy
in
place,
preferring
to
let
the
next
president
decide
whether
to
repeal
it.
That
would
leave
the
ban
in
place
until
at
least
late
January.
A
spokesperson
for
Sen.
Barack
Obama
(D-Ill.),
the
presumptive
Democratic
presidential
nominee,
said
Obama
opposes
the
ban
and
would
take
action
to
end
it
if
he’s
elected
president.
A
spokesperson
for
the
campaign
of
Sen.
John
McCain
(R-Ariz.),
the
presumptive
Republican
presidential
nominee,
did
not
return
a
call
seeking
McCain’s
position
on
the
issue.
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