December 12, 2008
AIDS Alliance Urges Congress to Increase Funding for Services Provided to Women and Children Living with AIDS
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Washington, D.C. – AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth and Families asked Congress to provide a $6.3 million increase in funding for Part D of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program in a letter sent to key lawmakers this week.
A committee in the U.S. House of Representatives passed a funding measure in July with an increase of $6.3 million for Part D in Fiscal Year 2009. Congress never finished the appropriations process because of the election, instead passing a continuing resolution with level funding that expires on March 6, 2009. Lawmakers are currently preparing a final bill to be considered in January with revised funding levels for Fiscal Year 2009. An increase of $6.3 million would provide a total of $80 million for Part D programs, helping to provide more family-centered support services for women and children living with HIV/AIDS.
AIDS Alliance joined many other organizations in urging Congress to adopt the greatest possible funding levels for HIV/AIDS programs. The letter was organized by the AIDS Budget and Appropriations Committee, a subcommittee of the Federal AIDS Policy Partnership, an organization of more than 100 domestic HIV/AIDS organizations. AIDS Alliance is an active member of these coalitions.
“We were very grateful for the leadership of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Shultz and the support of many others in securing this increase for Part D in the committee mark, and urge its inclusion in the final legislation providing funding levels for 2009,” said AIDS Alliance Board President Alelia Munroe.
The letter also urges additional funding for efforts within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV. AIDS Alliance secured language in the coalition letter urging more funding to prevent perinatal transmission through intensive case management of HIV-positive pregnant mothers.
Letter to follow:
December 8, 2008
The Honorable Tom Harkin
Chairman
Senate Labor, HHS, Education
Appropriations Subcommittee
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Arlen Specter
Ranking Member
Senate Labor, HHS, Education
Appropriations Subcommittee
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable David Obey
Chairman
House Labor, HHS, Education
Appropriations Subcommittee
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Jim Walsh
Ranking Member
House Labor, HHS, Education
Appropriations Subcommittee
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Senators Harkin and Specter and Representatives Obey and Walsh:
The undersigned HIV/AIDS service and advocacy organizations urge you to increase funding for domestic HIV/AIDS programs in the final Fiscal Year 2009 Labor-HHS Appropriations bill. While the fate of the bill in both the House and the Senate is still uncertain, we ask that the final bill adopt the higher appropriation levels for each HIV-specific line item between the current House and the Senate versions of the bill, with the exception of HIV Prevention, which received flat funding in both the House subcommittee and Senate full committee passed bills. Specifically we urge you to support an increase of at least $200 million for HIV Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and maximum increases for the Ryan White CARE Act and research at the National Institutes of Health. We also urge you zero out funding for the Community-Based Abstinence Education (CBAE) program and uphold the House's decision not to fund the Early Diagnosis Grant Program, within the CDC HIV Prevention Division.
While we are appreciative of the proposed increases in the Senate and House versions of the bill, they fall well short of the true need. As you are well aware, HIV/AIDS has a devastating effect on communities nationwide. In 2008 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released revised estimates for both HIV incidence and prevalence, revealing that the HIV/AIDS epidemic remains a severe and worsening public health crisis in the United States. CDC estimates that in 2006 56,300 new HIV infections occurred in the United States. This new incidence number is 40% higher than previous estimates. At the end of 2006 an estimated 1.1 million adults and adolescents were living with HIV in the United States. Of those living with HIV in the United States, 21% are unaware of their infection and over half did not have access to medical care. The HIV epidemic continues to have a glaring disproportionate impact among men who have sex with men, racial and ethnic communities, the incarcerated, and those living in poverty. We are losing the battle against HIV; treatment efforts, funding levels, and governmental responses have not kept pace with the epidemic.
To truly combat the estimated 56,300 new HIV infections occurring each year, increased funding for comprehensive HIV prevention programs at the CDC is urgently required. In a Professional Judgment Budget submitted to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in September 2008, CDC states that an additional $877 million is needed in FY 2009 and an additional $4.8 billion is needed over 5 years to adequately address the HIV crisis in the United States and meet its HIV prevention goals. The Senate Appropriations Committee and the House Labor-HHS Appropriations subcommittee did not increase the CDC's HIV Prevention funding. We support the CDC's professional judgment that an additional $877 million is needed in FY 2009, and urge you to increase CDC's HIV Prevention funding by at least $200 million in FY 2009 as a start to reaching this goal. We urge you to also block funding for the Early Diagnosis Grant Program, which would redirect CDC's already limited HIV Prevention funding to a program that fails to address the needs of HIV-positive women in preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV. CDC prevention resources are better spent ensuring that all pregnant mothers have access to quality prenatal care, including intensive case management for HIV-positive mothers to obtain necessary medical care and prevent perinatal transmission.
The Ryan White CARE Act provides care and treatment to hundreds of thousands of low-income individuals living with HIV/AIDS. Growing caseloads and costs of treatment leave current funding levels inadequate. The estimated need for the Ryan White program is an increase of $614.5 million. The community understands the difficulties in funding the program at the true need number amidst the current fiscal climate. We urge you to support at least an increase of $100 million for the Ryan White program. This represents the total of the proposed high funding levels. To do so, the Senate must cede to the House for Title I, Title II, ADAP, Title III, and Title IV, Dental, and the AIDS Education and Training Centers.
Please also include a moratorium on the HRSA Ryan White CARE Act Housing Policy enacted by the administration in February of 2008, which places a 24 month lifetime cap on emergency and transitional housing. This policy should be withdrawn. Permanent housing options are simply not available in most of the country and lack of affordable housing is exacerbated for more vulnerable households such as low income people with HIV/AIDS. Ryan White grantees do not have systems in place to track clients from jurisdiction to jurisdiction as implementation of the policy would require. Most importantly, the policy fails to provide the appropriate and reasonable flexibility for medical professionals and grantees required in making decisions about individual patient needs.
We would ask you increase overall funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by $1.65 billion FY 2009 by supporting the House's proposed $1.15 billion increase and the $500 million increase for NIH seen in the Senate's NIH Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2008. If the United States is to remain the global leader in HIV/AIDS research for better drug therapies, evidence-based behavioral and biomedical prevention interventions, and vaccines, Congress must adequately invest in NIH. The estimated need of NIH is a $4.38 billion increase.
Please discontinue funding for the Community-Based Abstinence-only Education Program. Federally funded research studies prove that abstinence-only programs are ineffective. They do not delay the start of sexual activity or decrease the number of sexual partners, often contain medically inaccurate data, and do not teach youth how to protect themselves from HIV infection. Amidst the current financial crisis, it is simply irresponsible to spend tax payer dollars on inefficient and potentially harmful programs. If Congress cannot zero-out funding for this program, we urge you to adopt the lowest possible funding amount.
We also urge the committee to remove the rider in the Labor-HHS Appropriations Bill establishing a federal ban on funding for syringe exchange. Extensive scientific research, including seven studies undertaken by agencies of the U.S. Federal government have repeatedly demonstrated that syringe exchanges are effective in reducing transmission of HIV (by up to 75% in some areas) and do not increase substance abuse. In addition, syringe exchanges help to connect people suffering from the disease of addiction to alcohol and/or drugs to treatment, support and care programs.
We thank you for your continued support of these HIV/AIDS programs which provide life saving prevention, care, treatment and support to the many people living with HIV/AIDS in the United States. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact Donna Crews at AIDS Action (202) 530-8030 ext 3040.
Sincerely,
Advocates for Youth, Washington DC
AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts Inc, Boston, MA
AIDS Action Council, Washington DC
AIDS Alabama, Birmingham, AL
AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth, and Families, Washington DC
AIDS Foundation of Chicago, Chicago, IL
AIDS Project Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC), New York, NY
Association of Nutrition Services Agencies, Washington DC
CAEAR Coalition, Washington DC
Cascade AIDS Project, Portland, OR
Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project, New York, NY
Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, Washington DC
HIVictorious, Inc., Madison, WI
HIV Health and Human Services Planning Council of New York, NY
HIV Medicine Association, Alexandria, VA
Human Rights Campaign, Washington DC
Justice Resource Institute (JRI), Boston, MA
Kentucky HIV/AIDS Advocacy and Action Group (KHAAG), Henderson, KY
L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center, Los Angeles, CA
Lifelong AIDS Alliance, Seattle, WA
Michigan Positive Action Coalition, Detroit, MI
Minnesota AIDS Project, Minneapolis, MN
Nashville CARES, Nashville, TN
National AIDS Housing Coalition, Washington DC
National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD), Washington DC
National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA), Washington DC
National Association of Social Workers, Washington DC
National Coalition of STD Directors (NCSD), Washington DC
Project Inform, San Francisco, CA
The AIDS Institute, Washington, DC
The Sexuality Education and Information Council of the United States, Washington DC
The Women's Collective, Washington DC
TII CANN – Title II Community AIDS National Network, Washington DC
Treatment Action Group, New York, NY
Urban Coalition of HIV/AIDS Prevention Services
Village Care of New York, New York, NY
Whitman-Walker Clinic, Washington DC
cc: Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House
Rep. Steny Hoyer, House Majority Leader
Rep. James Clyburn, House Majority Whip
Rep. John Boehner, Minority Leader
Rep. Roy Blunt, Minority Whip
Sen. Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader
Sen. Richard Durbin, Senate Majority Whip
Sen. Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader
Sen. Jon Kyl Minority Whip
Rep. Jerry Lewis, Ranking Member, House Appropriations Committee
Sen. Robert Byrd, Chairman, Senate Appropriations Committee
Sen. Thad Cochran, Ranking Member, Senate Appropriations Committee
Members, House and Senate Labor HHS Appropriations Subcommittees
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Founded in 1994, AACYF is a national non-profit organization whose mission is to advance the partnership between consumers and providers – we are the voice of women, children, youth and families living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. AACYF works to enhance and expand access to quality, comprehensive, family-centered care to America's children, youth and families affected by HIV/AIDS, as it represents the nation's network of over 650 Ryan White Part D funded community-based organizations. Part D programs serve over 53,000 HIV-affected women, children, youth and families through sites located in 35 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
