Patrick Leahy: “I just took this from the quotes of what the President said on July 12 in Nigeria: The people of Africa are fighting…”

“I just took this from the quotes of what the President said on July 12 in Nigeria: The people of Africa are fighting HIV/AIDS with courage. And I'm here to say, you will not be alone in your fight. In May, I signed a bill that authorizes $15 billion for the global fight on AIDS. This week, a committee of the House of Representatives took an important step to fund the first year of the authorization bill. And the Senate is beginning to take up debate. He then stated: The House of Representatives and the United States Senate must fully fund this initiative, for the good of the people on this continent of Africa. . . . So I went to what it was the President had signed, the authorization bill of which he spoke. He called upon us to fully fund it, but what it said in the authorization was $3 billion for the first year. I spoke with the President about this. I told him I thought we could use the money. It is what he in his speech in Africa called upon the Congress to do. He said he would sign this authorization bill, which authorized $3 billion the first year, and he is calling upon us now to carry out our part. He has done his part. He wants us to carry out our part to fund it. Well, we are trying to carry out our part. I also worked with the Senator from Ohio and the Senator from Illinois, as did Senator McConnell, to find the extra money. It is more money. We have just voted for more money than what the White House said we needed when the bill first came up.”