"GOP cries foul after Dayton blocks AIDS funding bill"

[jean]

(Sen Mark Dayton (D-MN) is not running for re-election.)

http://www.startribune.com/587/story/711658.html (subscription)

GOP cries foul after Dayton blocks AIDS funding bill

When an AIDS funding bill came up for a Senate vote Tuesday, Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn., a supporter of the bill, exercised the right of a single senator to block it. "Not on my account," he said, "but on behalf of some of my other Senate colleagues."

Kevin Diaz, Star Tribune
Last update: September 30, 2006 – 5:27 AM

::snip::


Senate Republican leaders said they hoped to get the new bill passed before current funding authorizations expire today. Some charged that Dayton was carrying water for other Democrat allies, chiefly Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, a possible 2008 presidential contender whose home state of New York stands to lose more than $78 million.

::snip::

In a written statement Friday, he noted that he supports the AIDS legislation but wanted to buy time for negotiations to head off funding cuts to other states.

Chief among the holdouts is Clinton, who has strenuously opposed cuts in AIDS funding for New York, one of the places hardest hit by the epidemic.

::snip::

Lorraine Teel, executive director of the Minnesota AIDS Project, said she was sympathetic to the fight for more funding. But she called Dayton's office Friday to urge him to drop his procedural objections on behalf of other senators' states.

Kevin Diaz • [e-mail]

[papau]

1. But GOP theme is NY gets too much - must protect bowling lanes in Indiana

from terrorists (as Homeland Security has already moved to do) and now AIDS in Fort Wayne.

I agree with Hillary - increase the funding for rural areas - but do not cut the funding of urban areas to do so.

[leesa]

2. You can trust Mark Dayton. He is a big loss for us.