Washington Blade - December 21, 2001
Lou Chibbaro Jr.
A House-Senate conference committee resolved a dispute over funding levels for the Ryan White program by approving a $103 million increase for the program in fiscal year 2002. The Democrat-controlled Senate had called for a $21 million increase, while the Republican-controlled House called for a $112 million hike in Ryan White funds.
"We applaud the House for hanging tough against the Senate's extremely low funding numbers for Ryan White," said Log Cabin Republicans, a national gay organization.
Senate Democratic leaders have said they based their number on a needs assessment that took into consideration other health programs, including breast cancer and HIV research studies at the National Institutes of Health. In his budget submitted to Congress earlier this year, President Bush called for no increase in funds for the Ryan White program, which helps states and cities pay for medical treatment and social services for people with HIV. However, Bush's openly gay director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy called on Congress during the past two months to support a funding increase for the program, saying the administration had changed its mind.
In a separate vote, the House and Senate gave final approval to an education bill that includes a controversial amendment introduced by Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.). The Helms amendment, which both the House and Senate approved earlier this year, requires the U.S. Department of Education to withhold federal education funds from public school districts that deny the Boy Scouts "equal access" to meeting space based on the Scouts' policy of banning gay Scouts and Scout leaders. The Helms amendment also applies to other youth groups that have a similar policy of denying membership to gays.
Gay advocacy groups said the amendment sets a dangerous precedent because it puts the government on record as condoning, and providing "special protection" for, groups that discrimination against gays. Gay organizations and opponents of the amendment in Congress also argued that the amendment was unnecessary because existing federal law already prohibits public schools from denying the Boy Scouts meeting space if the schools provide similar meeting space for other organizations. Helms argued that some school districts had violated the existing law by turning away local Boy Scout troops, forcing the Scouts to incur expenses by filing suit against the schools.
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