Repeal on HIV travel ban headed to Senate floor

The effort to end the U.S. ban on travel and immigration into the country by people who are HIV-positive moved one step closer to victory last week when the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations approved the inclusion of language to end the ban as part of legislation to reauthorize the President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Gordon Smith (R-Or) pushed for the inclusion of that language within the PEPFAR legislation. Allison Herwitt, legislative director for Human Rights Campaign (HRC), which is working with Immigration Equality and congressional allies on the legislation, said the PEPFAR bill could come up for a vote in the Senate as early as next month.

The bill will likely face obstacles when it does come up. Herwitt said Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) opposes several provisions of the PEPFAR reauthorization unrelated to the HIV travel and immigration ban, and he may try to block or amend it. Beyond that Herwitt said it is uncertain whether any senators will work to oppose the language added by Kerry and Smith.

"There has been no senator that has made any definitive proclamation that they are going to try to remove the repeal language or try to alter it. [Sens. Joe] Biden [chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations] and [Richard] Lugar [ranking Republican on the committee] signed off on it. It seems like the White House, from everything we were told by Kerry's people, knew about the language getting in there. It isn't a deal breaker for them. .... We'll know when they get back from recess" in April, said Herwitt. She said President George W. Bush sees PEPFAR as a key feature of his legacy, and the White House is working to ensure that it is reauthorized.

The House has already passed a PEPFAR reauthorization bill that does not include the Kerry and Smith language. Herwitt said if the Senate bill passes with the HIV immigration and travel repeal language intact, House leadership has committed to working to include that language in the final bill when the differences between the two versions are worked out in conference committee.