Bush Institute warns GOP that ending critical HIV program could cost millions of lives

The Bush Institute, founded by anti-gay former President George W. Bush, has issued a bipartisan letter asking the Republican-led Congress to support the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), an African HIV-prevention program launched by Bush in 2003 that has saved over 25 million lives.

Though Bush didn’t sign the letter, it was signed by more than 30 retired ambassadors, foreign policy luminaries, and organizations who want Republicans to reauthorize funding for the program, even though Republicans falsely claim it’s a “massive slush fund” for promoting abortion and LGBTQ+ advocacy, The New York Times reported.

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“PEPFAR is a model of United States leadership and a source of great national pride,” the letter said. “It is one of the most successful international development programs since World War II. Abandoning it abruptly now would send a bleak message, suggesting we are no longer able to set aside our politics for the betterment of democracies and the world.”

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“The program is built on the democratic values of transparency, accountability, and data-driven decision-making… citizen involvement, responsiveness to stakeholder feedback, and the strengthening of institutions,” the letter added. “As authoritarian China and Russia seek to increase their influence in Africa by any means possible… data show that residents of PEPFAR countries think more highly of the United States than the global average. Stronger relationships and alliances can be leveraged to tackle global challenges like combating extremism and authoritarian influence.”

“We are a diverse coalition of organizations and leaders whose work spans faith, democracy, human rights, and global health. We are calling on Congress to reauthorize PEPFAR, so that the program can continue to save mothers, fathers, and children,” the letter said. “Funding over the years has helped build public health infrastructure, including laboratories, training 340,000 health workers, creating networks of clinics and hospitals, and generating data-reporting systems. When Ebola and COVID-19 tore through communities in sub-Saharan Africa, health officials were equipped because of PEPFAR.”

The letter also noted that PEPFAR has reduced the HIV death rate in African countries by at least 20% by helping over seven million orphans, children, and their caregivers receive critical care and support. “More than 5.5 million babies have been born HIV-free,” the institute said. “With access to treatment, more people can receive an education and join the workforce to provide for their families.”

The letter was signed by groups and individuals including The Carter Center (founded by former Democratic president Jimmy Carter); amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research; the Bipartisan Policy Center; former U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Deborah Birx; former Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson; and the former Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair, The Hill noted.

The legislation funding PEPFAR lapsed on September 30. House Republicans are using PEPFAR’s re-funding as a bargaining chip in budget negotiations, threatening to defund the entire federal government by mid-November unless they’re allowed to slash military diversity programs and military aid to Ukraine and to increase anti-immigration measures at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Bush didn’t sign his institute’s letter because he “is trying to use his voice judiciously,” sources close to him told the aforementioned publication. Nevertheless, over the summer, he spoke about PEPFAR’s future with Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, at the Bush family compound.

Bush also published a mid-September opinion piece in The Washington Post that said, “We are on the verge of ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic. To abandon our commitment now would forfeit two decades of unimaginable progress and raise further questions about the worth of America’s word.” The article said that real “pro-life” Republicans should support PEPFAR.

“Among evangelical Christians, what definition of being ‘pro-life’ does not include saving millions of lives from preventable disease and death?” Bush wrote.

Ben Plumley, the former CEO of the now-defunct international HIV organization Pangea, said in a now-deleted interview with the queer men’s media outlet Hornet that most HIV transmissions in sub-Saharan Africa are heterosexual, meaning that conservative Republicans could support PEPFAR without worrying about seeming too overtly supportive of the LGBTQ+ community.

In early September, several HIV activists were arrested at the U.S. Capitol after their sit-in protest for PEPFAR at Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s office (R-CA).

One of the arrestees, Asia Russell, Executive Director of the Health GAP (Global Access Project) said in a statement, “House Republicans are playing political games with the lives of countless adults, children, and newborns with HIV and most affected by HIV across the globe and here in the United States. Extremists in the House have sunk to a new low. Never in the 20-year history of PEPFAR have lawmakers pulled such outrageous stunts.”

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) is reportedly working with Rep. John James (R-MI) on a bipartisan reauthorization bill for the program.