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White House, Sullivan Release Fiscal *91 AIDS Budget
NORA blasts near-level funding as reminiscent of Reagan era
by Cliff O'Neill
Washington — The Bush Administration on Jan. 29
released its proposed $1.7 billion AIDS budget for fiscal year
1991, discouraging AIDS organizations and other advocacy
groups who denounced the proposal as "disappointing" and
"mean spirited."
Contained within the 88-page, $464 billion Bush budget for
the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the
AIDS funding figures represent a seven percent increase over
last year's Reagan-Bush proposal.
"This budget maintains an unprecedented level of support
for biomedical research and health promotion efforts," stated
HHS Secretary Louis W. Sullivan, "including increased spend
ing for the AIDS and drug abuse epidemics which threaten our
country."
Sullivan outlined President George Bush's proposal for pub
lic health service expenditures on AIDS research, prevention
and other activities, an increase of $109 million over last year's
proposed levels.
That increase, however, is decidedly smaller than last year's;
the fiscal 1990 budget saw a 24 percent increase over 1989.
Also, much to the consternation of AIDS activists, this year the
Bush Administration has — like the Reagan Administration —
attempted to include under the AIDS budget banner more than
$1 billion in Medicare and Medicaid funding, something not
done with any other disease. Thus, the AIDS budget would
appear to be $3.1 billion.
But over 100,000 AIDS cases are expected to be diagnosed
iivthe next 12 months—nearly a 100 percent increase over cur
rent numbers, and AIDS activists were quick to note that the
National Commission on AIDS, of which Sullivan is a mem
ber, suggested that the U.S. would have to appropriate between
$2.5 and $15 billion to adequately combat AIDS in fiscal
1991.
Asked by this reporter about the disparity, HHS Assistant
Secretary for Management and Budget Kevin E. Moley
responded indignantly: "That question might be better directed
towards the Hill," stated Moley, apparently referring to
Congress's automatic $20 million cut in appropriated AIDS
dollars due to mandatory budget cuts imposed after it could not
agree on a budget bill before the Gramm-Rudman deficit
reduction deadline.
"The President asked for a 24 percent increase over last
year's (figures) and the Congress gave us less dollars," Moley
added. "We're coming back and asking for a $109 million
increase. And I might add, over a two year period, that's over a
30 percent increase. .. .It's a 50 percent increase, I might add,
over 1987's spending levels. So we think we are addressing
this with the funds necessary and we hope that the Congress
will, in fact, appropriate the funds we ask for this year."
"The Congress last year appropriated essentially what the
President requested," retorted Steve Smith, lobbyist for the
Human Rights Campaign Fund. Due to Gramm-Rudman, they
cut $20 million off of that. The figures in this year's presiden
tial request are drastically short of the real needs."
AIDS lobbyist Tom Sheridan, representing the National
Organizations Responding to AIDS coalition, called Moley's
defense both "ridiculous" and "disturbing," pointing to the
White House's use of entitlement dollars to beef up the AIDS
budget.
"They’re trying to match their rhetoric with dollars figures,
but they're really doing that in a disingenuous way," stated
Sheridan, calling the tactic a "shell game" and a "padding of
the federal AIDS budget."
"Medicaid and supplemental security income programs are
entitlement programs," he added. "They are programs that
people qualify for because of their disability, or because of
their income, but not because of their diagnosis. The
President's attempts to include these estimates in his budget
this year represents a mean-spiritedness and a lack of courage
in facing the AIDS epidemic foursquare."
"We are very disappointed by President Bush's budget
because we believe it is basically a status quo budget," added
Katherine McCarter of the Coalition for Health Funding. "It
perpetuates some of the meanness of the Reagan years."
Sheridan outlined a NORA plan by which the group will
lobby Congress to appropriate $3 billion in "real AIDS dol
lars." Half of the funds, Sheridan stated, would be used to
help out those regions of the country where AIDS has struck
the hardest The other half would go towards programs that
provide treatments to patients in early stages of HIV infection.
This early intervention would take place through the Health
Resources Services Administration. That line item, however,
is cut by $40 million from 1990 figures in the proposed Bush
budget.
"The National Institutes for Health announced in August
that anyone who was HIV positive with T-cell below 500
(indicating a compromised immune system) should be receiv
ing some sort of preventative therapy," noted HRCFs Smith.
"But there are no funds in the (Bush-HRSA) budget to make
those treatments available. That's just asking for trouble."
Asked where the monies for their proposed funding levels
should come from, representatives from the six health coali
tions gathered for the Bush-critical press conference, referred
to the much-touted "peace dividend," a bonus which appears
to be all but non-existent in Bush's budget proposal.
Pointing to Bush's comments only several days earlier
when he said he would do "whatever it takes" to win the war
on drags, Sheridan said he had hoped Bush would have taken
that kind of approach on AIDS.
"We were looking for that sort of a commitment (on AIDS)
from Bush, but we didn't find it," Sheridan stated. "We asked
the President for bold leadership: what we got essentially was
level funding."
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Black Gay/Bi Men Needed for Study
AIDS in the United States is disproportionately affecting the
Black community, particularly among Black gay men. Nearly 36
percent of newly reported AIDS cases in the United States occur
in the Black population indicating that education and prevention
programs are not reaching Black gay and bisexual men.
BLACK C.A.R.E. (Community AIDS Research and
Education) Project is committed to the fight against AIDS in the
Black community. It is especially concerned with gathering
information directly from the community through a national,
anonymous survey of Black gay and bisexual men (or any Black
man who has had sex with men).
It is important that the diversity of the community be repre
sented in the information collected.
To participate request either a survey or sign-up forms by
writing to Dr. Vickie M. Mays, BLACK C.A.R.E. Project, 1283
Franz, L.A., CA 90024-1563 or call (213) 206-5162.
AIDS Conference to Award 325
Scholarships to PWAs
The Sixth International Conference on AIDS, which will be
held in San Francisco June 20-24,1990 is awarding 325 scholar
ships to people with AIDS who otherwise could not afford to
attend the annual meeting of AIDS researchers.
The scholarships will take the form of free registration.This is
the first time such scholarships have been awarded. The decision
was made, according to organizers, in order to "assure that dele
gates hear expressions of the needs and concerns of those most
directly impacted by the epidemic."
HIV-infected persons interested in applying for the scholar
ships should write to Dana Van Gorder, Sixth International
Conference on AIDS, University of California at San Francisco,
Box 1505, San Francisco, 94143-1505, or call (415) 550-0880.
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