I am a member of the San Jose RESULTS group, and I have a deep personal commitment to the relief of poverty throughout the world. I have taken a particular interest in public health, and especially the AIDS pandemic. I have spent time as a volunteer working in Tanzania attempting to help combat the the pandemic. In Arusha, the town where I worked, one in every seven people was HIV positive, decades of progress were being reversed by AIDS, and a generation of orphans was being created. Last year, I was one of several people who met with Michele Senders in your San Francisco office in to discuss our concerns regarding the global AIDS pandemic.

I am writing to ask you as a member of the Senate Conference Committee to do your best to uphold the Durbin amendment (SA 127) to the FY03 Omnibus apropriations bill. The Durbin amendment passed unanimously by the Senate increases funding for the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria from $300 to $400 million, and provides an additional $80 million in bilateral AIDS assistance. I would appreciate it if you can also uphold the House foreign aid appropriation levels of $85 million for international TB control (which is $10 million more than the Senate bill), and $175 million for microenterprise (no specific amount was specified in the Senate bill).

Thanking you for this and your ongoing efforts to help address the AIDS pandemic.