The U.S. Senate voted 80-16 today to remove a 1987 ban preventing anyone with HIV from traveling to the United States — for business or tourism. Both of Michigan’s senators, Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, voted in favor of the measure and helped block a move by Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., to weaken it.

Continued – The United States is one of 12 countries to have such a ban. The others are Armenia, Colombia, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Sudan and Yemen.

The measure now moves to a House/Senate conference committee to resolve any conflicts between a House version of the bill and the Senate version. President Bush is expected to sign the bill.

The measure to strike down the travel ban came as part of a nearly $48 billion, multiyear authorization to fund the battle against HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis around the world. The amount approved by the Senate is nearly double what the president asked for in his State of the Union address earlier this year. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that lifting the ban would cost the United States $83 billion in Medicaid costs over the next 10 years, but to help offset this cost, the bill adds a $1 processing fee for nonimmigrant visas.

“The HIV ban is ineffective, unnecessary, and simply bad public health policy,” said Rachel B. Tiven, executive director of Immigration Equality, a pro-immigration organization focused on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues.  “It is especially harmful to gay and lesbian families, who do not benefit from the waiver available to opposite-sex couples.  The Senate’s change is welcome, and long overdue.”