For Immediate Release:	August 29, 2003
For More Information:	Rebecca Mandell, Office of Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, Rebecca_Mandell@lautenberg.senate.gov, (202) 224-3224
Sponsor Organization:	Office of Senator Frank R. Lautenberg
"His policies are bearing out the suspicion that 'compassionate conservatism' is an oxymoron."
Newark, N.J. -- Today, United States Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) issued the following remarks after reading press reports that the Bush Administration has cut off federal funding for an AIDS program focusing on prevention and treatment in Africa and Asia. The New York Times (A-8) today reported that the State Department has “discontinued” financing for a small consortium of AIDS related nonprofits working in both Africa and Asia. President Bush made a recent and well-publicized trip to Africa promoting his plans to provide $15 billion to combat AIDS on that continent. “President Bush is more interested in placating anti-abortion extremists here in America than he is in saving tens of thousands of lives in African and Asian countries ravaged by AIDS. He cut off US funding—a total of $34 million—for the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF) even though his own State Department determined that UNPF did not support coercive abortions or involuntary sterilization in China. Now, we hear that he has cut off US funding—a total of $1 million—to a small but respected consortium that provides AIDS-related counseling and services to African and Asian refugees. President Bush claims that this money would have been used for abortions but once again, his own State Department acknowledges that they have no evidence to prove that claim. Nations around the world are recognizing the immediate need to help fight the global AIDS epidemic but the greatest, richest country in the world is not leading this effort. That is shameful. As President Reagan was fond of saying, “There you go again.” President Bush went to Africa and pledged US support for AIDS programs. Now he’s cutting funding. What a sham—just like the No Child Left Behind Act, which he refuses to fund, or the tax cuts that he claimed would create jobs (over two private sector jobs have been lost for every minute he has been president). President Bush has established a pattern of saying one thing and doing the exact opposite—and hoping that the American people won’t notice. His policies are bearing out the suspicion that “compassionate conservatism” is an oxymoron.”