| June
16, 2006
This Week in Washington
1. Appropriations Committee Passes Health Bill
2. AIDS Action Staff Discusses HIV with Youth
CARE Act in Brief
1. Ryan White Markup Likely Postponed
This Week in Washington
1. House Appropriations Committee Passes Health Bill
On June 13th the full House Appropriations Committee passed the
$141.9 billion Fiscal Year (FY) 2007 Labor, Health and Human Services
and Education bill. However, House Republican leaders have decided
to wait on holding a vote on the House floor despite having announced
that they had hoped to vote on the measure next week. According
to Congressional Quarterly, a House GOP leadership aide confirmed
that the bill would not reach the floor next week, despite the
objections of Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA), who
is seeking to move all 11 FY07 appropriations bills through the
House before the July 4th recess. If the Labor, Health and Human
Services and Education (Labor-HHS) bill is delayed, it could be
subject to a continuing resolution or an omnibus bill at the current
spending level or below. Chairman Lewis hoped not to have any
continuing resolution or omnibus bill in order to avoid a lame
duck session in November after the mid-term elections.
The committee press release on the highlights
of the bill states, “Domestic HIV/AIDS—For the Ryan White AIDS
program, the bill provides an increase of $70 million over last
year and $25 million below the request with total funding of $2.1
billion. This increase will permit States to provide needed medications
for those with the greatest need. In addition, the Committee includes
$63 million for a new testing initiative at Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) to help stop the spread of this disease
through increased levels of testing.” The bill as passed does
not include the $25 million President Bush requested for Title
III of the RWCA to increase funding for programs in faith-based
and community based organizations. The bill also has $30 million
less in funding for the new CDC initiative than what the president
requested.
Earlier this year House appropriators added
$4 billion to the appropriations bill, more than President Bush
requested. Both Republican moderates and Democrats have argued
that an additional $3 billion is needed just to restore funding
to FY 2005 levels. It is likely that Senate appropriators will
also add $4 billion when they take up the FY2007 Labor-HHS appropriations
later this year. AIDS Action will keep you informed as the House
and Senate work to complete their appropriations process.
2. AIDS Action and Allied
Organizations Discuss HIV with Youth
On June 12 AIDS Action gave a presentation about HIV policy at
the National City Christian Church to members of the Kentucky
Christian Youth Fellowship who were visiting Washington D.C. Nathan
Schaefer, government affairs associate at AIDS Alliance (and a
former AIDS Action intern – we are very proud of him!) opened
the presentation with a summary of current HIV/AIDS issues, including
its prevalence, how it is transmitted, and specifically how the
virus concerns today’s youth. Next Angelo James, the Operations
Division Assistant at Human Rights Campaign who is from Kentucky
originally, spoke to the teens as a person living with HIV. Although
he said that it is sometimes hard to live with a life-threatening
illness that occasionally prevents him from doing everything that
his friends do, he works hard to take care of himself and he is
enjoying his life to the fullest.
AIDS Action Communication Coordinator Sarah Whitehead described
AIDS Action Foundation’s Connecting to Care program which studies
successful activities that engage people who are living with HIV
and aware of their status in care services. Currently the program
is working to profile 25 new activities relating to people living
with HIV who are located in rural communities or who are incarcerated
or reintegrating into society after incarceration. More can be
found about Connecting to Care at http://www.connectingtocare.net/.
The presentation concluded with AIDS Action
Political Director William McColl addressing the reauthorization
of the Ryan White Care Act as well as lobbying Congress in general.
McColl stressed to the kids that a small network of people dedicated
to a cause can make a difference. In addition to meeting with
AIDS Action, the group which is studying HIV and AIDS planned
to travel to New York City for a presentation from Gay Men’s Health
Crisis and were expecting to view a performance of “Rent,” the
Broadway rock musical depicting AIDS ravaged New York in the early
1990s. The youth group members, ranging in age from 14 – 18, were
accompanied by 5 adults.
On Tuesday, June 13 AIDS Action Director of
Government Affairs Donna Crews spoke to fifteen 10th grade students
at Cesar Chavez Public Policy High School in the District of Columbia.
The class is on HIV modes of transmission, policies in place to
assist those who are HIV positive and also policies in place to
keep people HIV negative. The students will conclude the class
with an HIV 101 presentation to all of the 10th graders on HIV
treatment, prevention, and policy.
Ms. Crews discussed the Ryan White CARE Act
– its reauthorization and its impact on HIV positive people who
have no other health insurance to get the medical care that they
need. The class had previously discussed needle exchange programs
and the impact such programs could have on curbing the number
of HIV positive people. Ms. Crews told them that President Clinton
had opportunity to allow federal government funding for needle
exchange programs in the last year of his presidency. Rather than
doing so, he chose to listen to General Barry McCaffrey (then
head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy) who believed
that distribution of needles would increase the use of drugs more
than it would slow the transmission of HIV. Ms. Crews explained
that 2-3 years later, after former President Clinton left office
and started a foundation working on HIV and AIDS domestically
and internationally, he publicly said that one of his deepest
regrets about his presidency was not implementing federal funding
for needle exchange to help stem the transmission of HIV among
intravenous drug users.
CARE Act in Brief
1. Ryan White Markup Likely Postponed
Negotiations on the Ryan White CARE Act continued this week as
Republican and Democratic staff members in the House and Senate
sought to reach an agreement on how best to allocate funding for
HIV treatment and care in cities and states. Members of the Energy
and Commerce committee, which is responsible for reauthorizing
the CARE Act in the House, had optimistically hoped to hold a
markup on the bill and possibly pass it on the House floor next
week in time for the House’s proclaimed “Health Week.” However,
it appeared that negotiators would not be able to get the bill
ready in time. At least in part, the delay has been caused by
an inability of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to
compile case level data that committee staffers can use to determine
how funding will be distributed.
On June 14th and 15th Members of the National
Association of AIDS Education and Training Centers (NAAETC), which
is an AIDS Action board member, visited more than 60 Congressional
Offices to discuss the reauthorization and the need for additional
funding through the appropriations process. AIDS Action staffers
accompanied the NAAETC members to many of their meetings.
Several Congressional aides said during their
meetings that the Energy and Commerce committee preferred to negotiate
and find an acceptable compromise rather than to rush to create
a bill that might turn out to be unacceptable. Although timing
for the process for reauthorization had slowed down from its expected
course, many staffers said that they felt that it would be possible
to create a bill that would pass the House and Senate this year.
The most optimistic staffers have said that they would like to
do so before the July 4th recess. More cautious staffers said
that it might take until August.
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.
AIDS Action works
to end the HIV epidemic by advancing public policies that
prevent new infections, provide care for people living with
HIV, and support the search for a cure. AIDS Action serves
as the national voice for people living with HIV and represents
AIDS service organizations, health departments, and a diverse
network of community-based organizations across the country. |
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