SI
SI
discoversearch

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor.  We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community.  If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.
Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (459860)9/16/2003 4:32:45 PM
From: Hope Praytochange  Respond to of 769667
 
Bono Has Talk With Bush Over AIDS Funds
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


Filed at 4:10 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Bono, the Irish rock star and social activist, said Tuesday he had a ``good ole row'' with President Bush over global AIDS funding.

``He's very passionate about these problems and I believe him,'' Bono said after their White House meeting. ``I just can't agree with the numbers.''

Bush signed the Global AIDS Act in May that authorized $3 billion to fund global AIDS programs for 2004, but Congress has allocated only $2 billion. Both the president and members of Congress say developing countries wouldn't be able to make use of the extra money.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said after the Bono-Bush meeting, ``The president has shown unprecedented leadership in the fight against AIDS.''

This is not the first Bono involvement with the administration on AIDS policy. He traveled to South Africa in May 2002 with then-Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill to see firsthand the situation in that country.

He also has met with French President Jacques Chirac to push for increased spending on AIDS.

Lead singer for the band U2, Bono has long championed political causes, but he said AIDS is different.

``The AIDS emergency is just that. It's not a cause. We're not here peddling a cause. We're not looking to get into America's wallet for another cause. Several thousand people dying a day is not a cause, it's an emergency,'' Bono said at a news conference after his meeting with Bush.

Bono is founder of Debt AIDS Trade Africa, which works with religious groups concerned with global disease and hunger issues.