Congress Should Grant PEPFAR Future Security Because Program Is "Desperately Needed"

In this CNN opinion piece, Julian Zelizer, an author and professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University, reports on how, "[a]s the super-committee deliberates over how to reduce the deficit and other congressional committees struggle to cut spending, the fate of important programs," such as PEPFAR, "hangs in the balance."

"Though the U.S. foreign aid program, where PEPFAR is housed, constitutes less than one percent of the federal budget, it has helped to save the lives of millions of people and helped to contain a disease that was ravaging the African continent," he writes, adding, "Congress will have to make a decision about whether to increase funds for PEPFAR, whether to reduce its funds or even keep the program alive. ... When a program does work, as the evidence suggests that PEPFAR has, and is desperately needed, there should be some kind of security for its future" (10/31).