By Matt Simonette

Staff writer

AIDS activists, most of them students from area medical schools, gathered in front of the Federal Plaza offices of U.S. Sens. Richard Durbin and Barack Obama June 26 to call for the timely passage of new legislation expanding funding to fight HIV/AIDS.
The protest, organized by members of the American Medical Student Association, called on the senators to speed up passage of legislation that commits more than $50 billion over five years to continue the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.
The legislation, according to AMSA, adjusts current AIDS funding to account for inflation and adds funding for concerns such as tuberculosis and malaria.
Durbin and Obama are both co-sponsors of the legislation, but it stalled after a group of Senators led by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) placed a hold on it. Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) June 19 called for a compromise between Coburn and negotiators.
AMSA, which staged protests across the country, contends that senators need to be doing more to speed the legislation’s passage and not let it be diluted by any compromises.
The bill, according to David Munar, of AIDS Foundation of Chicago, “has to happen in July” or else it will have little chance of going through this year.
Munar said new legislation resulting from the compromise could potentially remove 55 percent of the money earmarked for treatment and eliminate measures protecting women’s rights.
“Protecting (their) rights is obviously central to a bill like this,” Munar said.
In Illinois, activists had clocks delivered to Obama and Durbin’s offices to remind them that time was running out.
“We need more than supportive statements. Time is running out for (them) to use their power to force a vote,” said Rishi Rattan of AMSA.
Emily Haak of AMSA added, “Obviously, they both value the legislation. Now it’s time (for them) to step up and get it passed.”