March 31, 2006

This Week in Washington
1. House Budget Committee Marks up Fiscal Year 2007 Budget Resolution
2. Kaiser Family Foundation and NASTAD Release Annual ADAP Survey

Announcements
1. American Public Health Association’s National Public Health Week, April 3-9, 2006
2. NAPWA To Hold AIDSWatch 2006 from May 8 - 10

This Week in Washington
1. House Budget Committee Marks up Fiscal Year 2007 Budget Resolution
On Wednesday, March 29, the House Budget Committee passed its version of the budget resolution for fiscal year (FY) 2007. The budget, which passed by a vote of 22-17, is more austere than the version passed by the full Senate on March 16 by a vote of 51-49.

The Chairman of the House Budget Committee, Representative Jim Nussle (R-IA), characterized the budget resolution in his opening statement to the Budget Committee: “We will continue our efforts to control spending – across-the-board – by further restraining non-security discretionary spending, and by building on our progress to reform and find savings in mandatory programs.”

According to a March 29 story in CQ.com (Congressional Quarterly), Chairman Nussle’s budget proposes $6.8 billion in cuts to mandatory spending programs. Fortunately, none of these cuts are instructed to come from Medicare or Medicaid – the two largest financers of HIV care in the United States. The budget calls for a discretionary spending cap of $873 billion, a 3.6 percent increase over FY 2006.

During markup, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) offered an amendment to the budget which would have increased discretionary funding by $7 billion. This amendment would have allowed the Labor-HHS-Education bill, which funds the majority of domestic HIV programs, to be restored to FY 2005 levels.

The DeLauro amendment was a companion to the amendment offered by Senators Specter (R-PA) and Harkin (D-IA) during the Senate debate of the budget resolution (the amendment passed in the Senate – 73-27). Unfortunately, the Budget Committee voted, along party lines, against the Specter-Harkin amendment 14-22. According to the Congresswoman’s staff, Representative DeLauro remains “committed to keeping this issue alive and finding a way to include the Harkin-Specter amendment in the Budget Resolution.”

Representatives Castle (R-DE) and Shays (R-CT) have joined Representative DeLauro in supporting the Specter-Harkin amendment. Representative Castle is working with Representative DeLauro to get the amendment introduced on the House floor during consideration of the budget resolution. Unfortunately, due to House rules which do not allow individual amendments to be voted on for the budget resolution, it is unlikely that the Specter-Harkin amendment will have a chance to be considered. Therefore, Representatives Castle and DeLauro are encouraging constituents to call their Representative’s office and deliver the following message:

IF THE HOUSE BUDGET RESOLUTION DOES NOT CONTAIN THE $7 BILLION SPECTER-HARKIN INCREASE FOR HEALTH AND EDUCATION PROGRAMS, PASSED OVERWHELMINGLY BY THE SENATE, VOTE NO.

To find out who your Representative is and/or how to contact their office, go to: http://capwiz.com/aac/dbq/officials/.

2. Kaiser Family Foundation and NASTAD Release Annual ADAP Survey
On Thursday, March 30 in Washington, D.C. the Kaiser Family Foundation hosted a forum to release the annual National ADAP Monitoring Project Report. The report provides a survey of state AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs) in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and territories. The report was sponsored for the tenth year by both Kaiser and the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD).

In addition to releasing the report, Kaiser and NASTAD hosted approximately 150 people for a forum, “Getting Medications to People with HIV/AIDS in the U.S.: The AIDS Drug Assistance Program.” The forum discussed how ADAPs and their clients have adapted to the new Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Benefit and what lessons were learned for ADAPs and the Ryan White CARE Act from the experience of Hurricane Katrina. Among the speakers at the forum were Shana Christrup, Professional Staff Member for Senator Michael Enzi (R-WY), the Chairman of the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee and Connie Garner the Democratic Policy Director for Disabilities and Special Needs Populations for Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) the Ranking Member of the HELP Committee.

AIDS Action will provide analysis of the forum in next week’s Weekly Update. In the meantime, detailed information about the report can be found here:
http://www.kff.org/hivaids/hiv033006pkg.cfm

In particular a webcast of the forum is available at:
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/hcast_index.cfm?display=detail&hc=1686

The report can also be found here:
http://www.nastad.org/ADAP/ADAP_2006_Annual_Report_v4.pdf

Announcements
1. American Public Health Association’s National Public Health Week, April 3-9, 2006
Next week the American Public Health Association (APHA) will host its annual National Public Health Week (NPHW) – April 3-9, 2006. The theme this year is Designing Healthy Communities, Raising Healthy Kids. In 1995, former President Clinton proclaimed the first full week of April as National Public Health Week. Each year since then the public health community has focused on issues that are important to improving the public's health in the United States.

This year, NPHW focuses on children and the “built environment” – e.g. the design of neighborhoods and man-made structures such as buildings, roads and sidewalks. Each day of the week, APHA and its partners will encourage Americans to build healthier communities and to raise healthier children. The week will showcase national communities that have addressed challenges in their built environment and serve as models for other areas across the nation. To find out more about National Public Health Week and to get involved please access http://www.apha.org/nphw/2006/.

2. NAPWA To Hold AIDSWatch 2006 from May 8 - 10
The National Association of People With AIDS (NAPWA) will hold AIDSWatch, its annual DC-based advocacy event, from Monday, May 8 to Wednesday, May 10. Each year, NAPWA invites people living with HIV to Washington, DC, where they first participate in advocacy training sessions and then take their stories, new skills, and updated materials to Capitol Hill. While on Capitol Hill, participants meet with Members of Congress and their staffs to urge them to strengthen essential health care programs—like the Ryan White CARE Act, Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS, and Medicaid/Medicare—through increases in funding and improvements in legislation.

This year, AIDSWatch will also assist individuals unable to travel to Washington, DC with the scheduling of meetings closer to home, in the district offices of their Members of Congress.

Interested parties may learn more about this year’s AIDSWatch by linking to http://www.napwa.org/aidswatch.html and may register for AIDSWatch at http://www.napwa.org/register_online.html.

Individuals who have questions, cannot register online, or wish to talk their plans over may contact High Noon Communications, toll-free, at 1-866-243-7282 or by sending an email to becky@highnooncommunications.com.

The AIDS Action Weekly Update
The Weekly Update is written with a mind toward the interests of our members. If you are interested in membership with AIDS Action, we invite you to contact members@aidsaction.org.

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