For Decades NJ Rep Backed AIDS Funding Trump Wants Cut

WASHINGTON — As the Trump administration pursues extensive funding cuts to a global AIDS and health program that has saved tens of millions of lives, New Jersey Republican Chris Smith said he’s working privately to protect it.

In its latest budget request, the Trump administration proposed $2.9 billion for the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, an amount that would be a 38% cut to the program.

The administration has also dismantled the United States Agency for International Development, which has administered the program for decades.

Separately, the administration requested Congress cancel $8.3 billion in funding already appropriated for foreign aid, including $400 million for PEPFAR. That request to cancel money Congress has already approved includes a $1.1 billion cut to public media, including NPR and PBS.

The House is scheduled to vote on the $9.4 billion rescission this week, though proposed cuts to PEPFAR have drawn public concern from some congressional Republicans and broad condemnation from Democrats.

Since its creation, PEPFAR has grown into the largest-ever program from a single government focused on a single disease. It is credited with saving more than 26 million lives, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa. The program funds prevention and medical treatment for patients with HIV or AIDS. It also supports people who have not contracted HIV, such as vulnerable children.

The U.S. has spent more than $120 billion on PEPFAR since President George W. Bush announced the effort to almost universal surprise during his State of the Union address in 2003.

Initially, Bush requested $15 billion to combat HIV/AIDS in 15 countries, including 12 in Africa.

Since then, PEPFAR has helped slow the spread of HIV in more than 50 countries, according to the health group IAS. The program has also enjoyed bipartisan support in Congress.

Asked about looming cuts to PEPFAR after House votes Thursday, Smith told NJ Spotlight News he’s “working on it behind the scenes” but declined to say more.

Smith has historically been an advocate for the program. In 2018, he was the lead sponsor in Congress of the bill, now law, to reauthorize PEPFAR.

“PEPFAR’s success has been made possible by the twenty-year strong bipartisan support — across US congresses and presidential administrations — and the incredible compassion and generosity of the American people,” Smith said in 2023, marking the 20-year anniversary of the program.

PEPFAR “is widely viewed as the most successful U.S. foreign aid program since the Marshall Plan,” Smith said, referring to the effort America and its Western allies led to rebuild Europe after World War II.

During the Biden administration, Republican support for the program declined. U.S. officials told members of Congress that nurses paid with PEPFAR money had performed abortions in Mozambique. Abortion is legal in Mozambique.

Last year, Smith led an effort to delay PEPFAR’s reauthorization — something Congress must do to formally approve government policies and programs — following the Mozambique development, which he called “the tip of the iceberg.”

Approval for the program lapsed this spring.

Since the early 1980s, when he arrived in Congress, Smith has been one of the most vocal anti-abortion advocates on Capitol Hill. For years, he’s been a regular presence at the annual March for Life demonstrations in Washington. He has also introduced bills to make the “Hyde Amendment” — a ban on using tax dollars to pay for abortions — a permanent part of federal law.

Smith has been a “one-man” hurdle to reapproving the program, New York Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top-ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Relations Committee, said Thursday.

“Since we’ve started talking about the renewal, he’s virtually been a one-man stand on this,” Meeks said in an interview with NJ Spotlight News. “Quite frankly, I’ve tried to go around him.”

“Even though many of my Republican colleagues believe in it, they don’t want to go around him,” Meeks said of Smith. “But we’ve got to keep trying. We’ve got to do all that we can to save these lives.”

A Smith spokesman, Jeff Sagnip, did not respond to questions from NJ Spotlight News about Smith’s current work on PEPFAR and the future of the program.

Smith is not alone in his criticism of PEPFAR funding that has gone to abortion procedures.

In January, Sen. Jim Risch, an Idaho Republican who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said it was “disgusting” that money meant to combat HIV and AIDS had been used for the Mozambique abortions.

“This violation means that the future of the PEPFAR program is certainly in jeopardy,” Risch said.

At an appropriations hearing last week, White House budget chief Russ Vought, who has pushed for deep cuts to social services, said the administration doesn’t want much funding for HIV prevention through PEPFAR.

“It is something that our budget will be very trim on,” Vought said. “At some point, the continent of Africa needs to absorb more of the burden of providing this healthcare.”

Foreign aid accounts for about 1.2% of the federal budget, according to the Pew Research Center, and it was a “bigger share of federal spending at the height of the Cold War.”

Cuts to PEPFAR are a death sentence for many, said Rep. Glenn Ivey of Maryland, a Democrat. “We really can’t sugar coat this. More people are going to die.”