Just this morning on Monday, September 11, left-wing activists stormed into House Speaker McCarthy’s office demanding a full 5 year reauthorization of PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief).
PEPFAR was initiated in 2003 under the George W. Bush administration with its main focus being on sub-Saharan Africa where HIV/AIDS has had the most severe impact.
The program provides funding for HIV/AIDS treatment, prevention, and care services in more than 50 countries around the world with nearly $7 billion spent annually on its operations.
BREAKING: Far-left activists have stormed U.S. Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s office.
A very sad day for Democracy… will they be thrown in prison for years on end for this?
The radical activists stormed McCarthy’s office to riot in favor of a 5 year reauthorization of PEPFAR, a… pic.twitter.com/OVB5jjEUgE
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) September 11, 2023
The reauthorization of this plan has become contentious among Republicans due to debates over how efficiently these funds are allocated and used.
Politico reports that Congress is unlikely to meet the September 30th deadline to revive this law governing United States’ global HIV/AIDS relief work as there is a fight occurring over abortion related issues.
If Congress does not come to an agreement regarding this matter then it will be difficult for groups fighting HIV/AIDS to maintain their staff or launch long term projects due to political battles that could occur each year concerning the program’s funding in general.
They’re being marched out in zip ties, still chanting “pass PEPFAR now” pic.twitter.com/0ut2kHfSUG
— Alice Miranda Ollstein (@AliceOllstein) September 11, 2023
Politico reported:
Congress is almost certain to blow past a Sept. 30 deadline to re-up the law governing the United States’ global HIV/AIDS relief work as the widely praised program becomes mired in the fight over abortion.
Money for the program would continue so long as Congress keeps the government funded — an increasingly uncertain prospect as members with competing demands begin returning this week. But lawmakers in both parties see no clear path for reviving the law by the end of the year. While the program would limp on, the impasse threatens to turn an initiative credited with saving 25 million lives into an annual political battle, making it far more difficult for groups fighting HIV and AIDS to hire staff or launch long-term projects.
GOP House members and conservative advocates allege that some of PEPFAR’s nearly $7 billion annual budget flows to abortion providers — a charge the Biden administration, the program’s leaders and outside experts vehemently deny.
Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), who leads the House’s global health subcommittee that controls PEPFAR, is leading the charge against renewing the program until anti-abortion restrictions the Biden administration lifted in 2021 are reinstated. Those restrictions would block groups that receive PEPFAR funds from using other sources of money to provide abortions or even discuss them as an option.
Smith told POLITICO that he partnered with Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) and other Capitol Hill conservatives to lobby fellow Republicans in both chambers over the August recess, and said two arguments they made resonated with members. The first is that PEPFAR would have funding to operate even if the law governing the program lapses, and the second is that the Biden administration has “hijacked” the program to support abortion access overseas.
Many people reacted to the riot on Twitter:
If these people aren’t locked up for 15+ years then it will be another clear sign that the justice system is one sided.
— Oscar Herrera (@OscarEnjoylife) September 11, 2023
I dunno. Looks like a seditious conspiracy to me, trespassing in a restricted area, and obstructing an official proceeding. Plus a terrorism enhancement.
20 year sentences sounds about right…
— Bob Dog (@BobDog19006) September 11, 2023
Isn’t this an insurrection? Where are the Capital police? Where are the arrests? Will these insurrectionists be put in a DC jail for months and months awaiting charges and then given 22 year sentences?
— Mark Temons (@MTemons) September 11, 2023
