USA TODAY: Trump budget would set back global AIDS fight just when we’re on track to win it
Rick Warren and Kay Warren, co-founders of Saddleback Church

“…We’re concerned that … reductions [in funding for PEPFAR and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria] would move us in the wrong direction. … [I]t is difficult to watch programs cut or changed in ways that hurt people with the greatest needs — both here in the U.S. and abroad. While the administration is seeking to streamline government and limit waste, it must do this in ways that reduce suffering and not add to it, that show America’s great compassion and not disinterest. … [W]e have faith that the return on the same or larger investment in HIV will provide vastly greater returns — both in African lives saved and in American lives protected. These decisions should ensure that one of America’s greatest gifts to the world’s most vulnerable stays in place. As Congress debates future budgets, we hope the support of PEPFAR and global health in general continues to reflect the generosity of the American people. … [W]e can’t slow down; we can’t take any backwards steps. It’s a fight we must win. We hope our president will agree” (7/25).