Bush to Trump: Don’t cut AIDS funding

Former President George W. Bush has stepped back into the spotlight recently. He's asking the Trump administration not to cut funding for AIDS assistance.

Pat Gray and Stu Burguiere found this a bit confusing today on "Pat & Stu," as funding for AIDS has only ever increased at an exponential pace.

“Was there talk of cutting funding for AIDS?” Pat wondered. He went on to talk about why the policy was important to Bush, as seen in during his presidency.  “You think about [Bush’s] time in office; one of the big things he did was increase funding for AIDS in Africa by, I don’t know, a factor of 100.”

While Bush’s presidency was unpopular in many ways, his advocacy for those suffering from HIV won him a fan in the singer Bono. The performer and philanthropist last year praised the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which was started by President Bush. PEPFAR has had bipartisan support and is credited with saving millions of lives.

Stu added, “There’s statues of Bush in Africa; there’s streets named after him” because of how much the U.S. did to help fight HIV and AIDS. He noted that it was former President Ronald Reagan who began funding for AIDS research and increased the amount each year.

To see more from Pat & Stu, visit their channel on TheBlaze and listen live to “Pat & Stu” with Pat Gray, Stu Burguiere and Jeffy Fisher weekdays 5–7 p.m. ET, only on TheBlaze Radio Network.