Trump’s 2020 Budget Includes $280M To “Defeat HIV” But Also Cuts Global HIV/AIDS Relief Program By 22%

Time Magazine reports:

President Donald Trump’s proposed 2020 budget includes nearly $300 million meant to “defeat the HIV/AIDS epidemic” in the U.S. — even as it calls for a 12% reduction in total funding to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The proposed budget calls for $140 million for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to collaborate with local health departments on HIV response and prevention. The proposed budget also allocates $120 million for the Health Resources and Services Administration to provide medical care through systems like the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, which offers HIV treatment to those who otherwise could not pay for it.

At the same time, though, the 2020 budget would reduce funding to the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), an international effort to fight HIV and AIDS, by about 22%, and pledges less than what the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria said was necessary to replenish its funds.

The DNC reacts via press release:

“Trump’s proposed cut to PEPFAR is just the latest indicator that he has no real intention of making the investments necessary to combat HIV/AIDS. Further, Trump’s proposed cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, totaling more than $1 trillion, would limit the ability of HIV+ people to afford and attain the lifesaving medicine and treatment they need. HIV+ people around the world and at here in the U.S. deserve more than lip-service and empty rhetoric.”