Senate Votes to Triple Spending for AIDS Relief

The Senate voted Wednesday to extend the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) with $48 billion to be spent over a five year period. Since being introduced in 2003, PEPFAR has supported anti-retroviral treatment for over 1.7 million people affected by AIDS. The extended bill will continue to provide treatment and save tens of thousands of lives.

Obama Pledges to Double U.S. Foreign Assistance

In a speech today, Presidential candidate Barack Obama pledged to double U.S. Foreign Assistance stating:

"I will make the case to the American people that it can be our best investment in increasing the common security of the entire world. That was true with the Marshall Plan, and that must be true today. That’s why I’ll double our foreign assistance to $50 billion by 2012, and use it to support a stable future in failing states, and sustainable growth in Africa; to halve global poverty and to roll back disease. To send once more a message to those yearning faces beyond our shores that says, “You matter to us. Your future is our future. And our moment is now."