AIDS activists criticize Specter on AIDS funding

Members of the Philadelphia chapter of ACT UP last week sent Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) a funeral wreath, criticizing the senator for not including $1 billion for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria in a spending bill he shepherded through the Senate last month. Specter has "apparently decided to stop supporting AIDS funding," said ACT UP spokeswoman Amy Schultz. "[Specter's] votes are a cynical attempt to appease the White House and rally Republican support during his reelection campaign." Specter spokesman William Reynolds said the senator has so far helped steer $2.1 billion of the $15 billion planned for U.S. global AIDS spending over the next five years. Specter "has recognized AIDS as a global emergency and that the United States and other major industrial countries have to step up and help out," Reynolds said. "This is just the beginning."