Joe Pitts: “there is flexibility in the existing program. Countries can apply for a waiver. Every country that has applied has…”

“there is flexibility in the existing program. Countries can apply for a waiver. Every country that has applied has received a waiver. Our friends say that all they want to do is provide flexibility and more condoms. Well, for 20 years of fighting AIDS, the bureaucrats who run these programs tried the same approach over and over again. It never worked. When Uganda came up with a comprehensive approach that would, they still opposed it. Well, the buck stops here in Congress, and we told them in 2003 to do what works, and it's working. Without this amendment, this bill will allow them to go back to the failed policies of the passed. So many on the other side are saying we need to listen to the other experts on the ground; we need to follow their advice. That's true. They even raise this point with the Centers for Disease Control in a letter signed by several of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, including the distinguished subcommittee chairwoman, Mrs. Lowey. That letter highlighted the report that was written by the world's leading HIV/AIDS experts, was endorsed by more than 100 leaders from 36 countries, people like the President of Uganda, people like Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the HIV/AIDS director of the World Health Organization, researchers from Johns Hopkins and other leading medical institutions.”