Thread: ACTIVISTS: Senate vote imminent on HIV travel ban repeal

Senate vote imminent on HIV travel ban repeal
Ala. senator seeks to remove provision from AIDS bill

LOU CHIBBARO JR
Friday, July 18, 2008


Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) identified Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) as the senator seeking to kill a measure that would repeal the U.S. ban on immigration and visitation by HIV-positive people. (Photo courtesy of sessions.senate.gov)

A global AIDS relief bill that includes language calling for the repeal of a law that bans foreign visitors and immigrants with HIV from entering the U.S. cleared a major hurdle last week when the Senate voted 65 to 3 to end a filibuster that had blocked the legislation for more than two months.
The move cleared the way for a Senate vote on the measure that was expected to occur after Blade deadline late in the week. (Visit washingtonblade.com for updates on the bill’s status.)

But the provision calling for repealing the HIV visitor and immigrant ban faced another obstacle, when reports surfaced that Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) was planning to introduce an amendment calling for striking the repeal provision from the legislation, officially known as the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief or PEPFAR.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) named Sessions as the senator seeking to kill the repeal provision minutes before the Senate voted to end the PEPFAR filibuster.

Thirty-two senators, including presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain, were not present and did not vote on the motion to end the filibuster, which is referred to as a cloture motion.
Under Senate rules, 60 votes are needed to break a filibuster through cloture. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), who withdrew as a presidential candidate in June, voted for the cloture motion.

A campaign to repeal the HIV visitor and immigrant ban enjoys widespread, bipartisan support, and gay rights and AIDS activists were hopeful the repeal clause would remain a part of the global AIDS measure, which is expected to win approval in the House and Senate.

Most Senate Republicans have joined nearly all Senate Democrats in expressing support for the PEPFAR bill and the clause seeking repeal of the HIV visitor and immigrant ban. President Bush has also endorsed the measure with the repeal provision.

Officials with the Human Rights Campaign, and Immigration Equality, a national group that advocates for immigration rights for gays and people with HIV, said Reid has attempted to fend off efforts to remove the repeal language from the PEPFAR bill, but Senate rules make it difficult for him to do so.

“Under the rules, it may be impossible to prevent a senator from moving to strike a provision from any bill,â€

Call your senator and tell them to support the Sessions Amendment.

Session, ALIPAC, - life basics

Travel = none = AIDS = none = Travel

What is so hard about AIDS and travel?

Originally Posted by zeezil

Call your senator and tell them to support the Sessions Amendment.

Did it yesterday!