For Immediate Release
Media Contact:
Justin Burke
213.201.1525
AIDS PROJECT LOS ANGELES SUPPORTS ONE-YEAR REAUTHORIZATION OF RYAN WHITE CARE ACT
Bill Gives Congress Time to Fix HIV/AIDS Funding
Los Angeles, Calif., September 29, 2006 – AIDS Project Los Angeles today announced support for a one-year reauthorization of the Ryan White CARE Act that was introduced this week in both the House and Senate.
The measure would bypass a Congressional stalemate on a long-term reauthorization bill that has stalled over attempts to shift funding from some larger states, such as California, New York and New Jersey, to other, mostly Southern states.
"Congress has tried and failed,” said APLA Executive Director Craig E. Thompson of the reauthorization process. “In the past, the CARE Act was reauthorized by nearly unanimous votes. Now, we can’t get a bill to the floor.”
The $2.1 billion CARE Act is the largest dedicated source of federal funding for HIV/AIDS. Passed in 1990, the CARE Act must be reauthorized every five years.
“We appreciate all efforts to reauthorize the bill,” Thompson said, “but the CARE Act isn’t some pork barrel project for the South, the North or any other part of the country.”
“APLA supported reauthorization provided Congress came up with sufficient funding for all jurisdictions,” Thompson said. “Now, Congress should buy some time with this one-year bill, and then craft a new Ryan White CARE Act that fully funds our country’s fight against AIDS like we mean it.”
The one-year measure was introduced this week by Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), and Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) in the House of Representatives.
Los Angeles Democratic Representatives Henry Waxman and Hilda Solis, along with several other California representatives including Lois Capps, Susan Davis, Anna Eshoo, Barbara Lee, Doris Matsui, and Fortney (Pete) Stark have signed on as co-sponsors.
“We applaud the California members who are supporting the one-year bill,” Thompson said. “We know they would happily pass a five-year bill if the measure didn’t threaten to destabilize the system of care that California built, bought and paid for over the past fifteen years.”
The Lautenberg one-year bill increases authorization levels by 3.7 percent to account for inflation; provides $30 million for states without cities that receive separate Title I funding; prevents monies appropriated in FY07 from reverting back to the Treasury if unspent; and gives states an extra year to change the way they report HIV data.
Los Angeles County received some $34 million in CARE Act funding in 2006, a five percent cut from the year before. There are now more people than ever, some 57,000, living with HIV/AIDS in Los Angeles County. It is the second largest epidemic in the country, after New York City.
The CARE Act provides care, treatment and services to over half a million low-income Americans living with HIV/AIDS, most with little or no access to health insurance.
AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA), one of the largest non-profit AIDS service organizations in the United States, provides bilingual direct services, prevention education and leadership on HIV/AIDS-related policy and legislation. Founded by four friends in 1982, APLA is a community-based, volunteer-supported organization with local, national and global reach. For more information, visit www.apla.org.
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