Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1995. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
The Associated Press - 18 Dec 1995; 50 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10020.
That provision is one President Clinton has cited in threatening to veto the bill.
Senate negotiators had pushed to remove the provision from the bill, fearing it would serve as "veto bait." But their House counterparts insisted, and the final version of the measure passed the House last Friday 267-149, short of the two-thirds majority that would be needed to overturn a veto.
Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan., said Monday he hoped the Senate would send the $265 billion bill to Clinton on Tuesday.
Under the AIDS provision, put forward by Rep. Robert K. Dornan, R-Calif., service members who test positive on two separate tests would be discharged within six months. The bill makes an exception for those within two years of retirement; they would be able to serve out their military careers. In any case, the discharge papers of the service member would not mention the AIDS virus.
Lawmakers negotiating the final version of the bill "were concerned that ... service members would be unable to obtain civilian health insurance," according to a House National Security Committee summary of the measure.
Senators won inclusion of a new provision that would enable those discharged to continue receiving military health care services.
Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., said he will oppose the bill because of a number of "fundamental flaws" including the AIDS provision and a measure banning abortions at overseas military hospitals.
These measures, Nunn said, "needlessly inject domestic political issues into military manpower policies."
Dornan did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
A Republican rebuttal to Nunn's objections prepared for use in Senate debate defends the AIDS virus discharge proposal.
"The provision is not punitive," according to the GOP rebuttal. "It does not require that the service member reveal how he or she was exposed to the AIDS virus."
In addition, the rebuttal notes that the service member will receive an honorable discharge. It repeats an argument used by Dornan that service members with the AIDS virus are barred from being deployed overseas. The result, Dornan contends, is what amounts to preferential treatment of service members with the virus and an extra burden on the rest of the military.
Dornan estimates there are roughly 2,500 active-duty members of the military with the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS. That's less than two-tenths of 1 percent of the overall active force of 1.5 million.
In addition to the Clinton administration, the military services oppose the measure, saying they are able to manage the HIV problem internally without direction from Congress. Last spring the Army's personnel chief wrote to Dornan saying that "HIV-infected soldiers who are physically fit for duty should be allowed to continue on active duty."
Opponents of the provision say there is little chance of reversing an HIV discharge policy through court action because the military is exempt from the Americans with Disabilities Act.
"It clearly stems from Robert Dornan's anti-gay hysteria," said David Smith of the Human Rights Campaign Fund. "It's part of his obsessive dislike for gay people."
Copyright 1995/The Associated Press. Reproduced with permission. Reproduction of this article (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the Permissions Desk, The Associated Press, 50 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10020.
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Copyright © 1995 - Associated Press. Reproduction of this article (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the AP Permissions Desk.
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