As the world pauses to commemorate World AIDS Day this week, I write as an Episcopalian to urge that as your prepare your FY 2011 budget request to Congress, you work to ensure the full funding of the commitment toward fighting this deadly pandemic made by Congress in the 2008 reauthorization of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

I would like to share with you excerpts from the World AIDS Day statement issued by my Church's leader, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori:

"In poorer countries around the world, stemming the spread of HIV/AIDS has proven the most difficult of the eight Millennium Development Goals and the one that threatens to undermine progress toward all the others. More than 33 million people continue to live with HIV/AIDS around the world, and nearly 3 million are newly infected each year. The global economic crisis has made matters worse, pushing as many as 100 million more people below the poverty line. Their futures are more at risk than ever, yet their interests have rarely been considered in wealthier nations' political conversations about the economic crisis.

Last year, the U.S. Congress made an historic commitment to the battle against AIDS in poor countries, promising to triple our nation's commitment to fighting AIDS abroad over the next five years. That promise has dimmed as federal resources have grown scarcer and political conversations have focused on domestic need. President Obama's first federal budget, released earlier this year, failed to keep pace with Congress' 2008 financial commitments to fighting AIDS abroad, and slowed the growth of those efforts from previous years. As we approach a new federal budget cycle this winter, Americans must send a clear message to the Administration that in spite of economic challenges at home, our nation cannot retreat from our commitments to fight poverty and disease abroad."

Mr. President, I know that as a Senator and a presidential candidate you supported the 2008 renewal of PEPFAR and the funding commitments it made to those living with HIV and AIDS in poor countries around the world. That legislation brought hope to the tens of millions of people suffering as a result of the pandemic, but its future success will depend, in large measure, on the decisions your Administration makes in the coming months and years. I am deeply mindful of the challenges you are facing in responding to human need at home and the many complex global challenges, but I urge your renewed commitment to this vital initiative, which has stood for the past six years as a signal to the world of our nation's generosity, values, and humanity. Thank you for your consideration, and please know that my prayers are with you.