Bono, DATA, applaud key US Senate decision on AIDS funding. Bono has praised the work of Republican Senator Mike DeWine after the US Senate accepted his amendment and agreed to spend an additional $289 million over the next year to fight AIDS in Africa and other countries. 'This is a key move from the Senate.' said Bono. 'More money to fight the AIDS emergency is critical, not just to save millions of lives in Africa, but to keep the momentum going. 'That Senators as diverse as DeWine, Durbin, Santorum, Leahy, Frist and Daschle agree on this should give a signal of how serious the situation is. These Senators are the bodyguards of the world's poor today, and deserve real praise. 'President Bush talked about the urgency of getting the drugs out on motorbikes and bicycles if we have to. This is the only way that this pandemic can be defeated. The Senate showed today they are willing to provide more resources to keep that idea alive.' DeWine has seen the disease's deadly devastation during trips to Africa and Haiti and has become a passionate advocate of increased AIDS funding in Congress. 'In my recent trip to Africa and on my many visits to Haiti, I have seen pain, death and orphaned children left in the wake of this epidemic,' he said. 'We aren't going to win the battle overnight. This fight will demand the time, resources, support and prayers of the American people and people around the world for decades.' Jamie Drummond, DATA Executive Director, described it as 'a key moment in DATA's 'Keep America's Promise to Africa' campaign, and a victory for all the people across America who called their senators and helped push for this. Learn more about the DATA campaign to tackle the AIDS pandemic - and how the numbers break down - here www.datadata.org