Via Minneapolis Star Tribune:

House Republican leader John Boehner and other Republicans warned onThursday that a successful program to combat AIDS in Africa would be injeopardy if Democrats move ahead with plans to make changes that hesaid would support abortions.

Boehner, R-Ohio, said theDemocratic proposal to renew the five-year, $15 billion anti-AIDSeffort "will undermine this valuable program as we know it, placing atrisk the work it does on behalf of millions."

In what is shapingup to be a political and ideological showdown, House Foreign AffairsCommittee Chairman Tom Lantos, D-Calif., replied that his Democraticproposal reaffirmed the compromise he worked out with the late Rep.Henry Hyde, R-Ill., in 2003. It is a shame, he said, that the GOPminority is "failing to honor this spirit of compromise and is willingto endanger a valuable U.S. foreign policy program addressing one ofthe most serious health care challenges that humanity faces today."

mk