Associated Press - December 5, 2006
Devlin Barrett

The agreement by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and fellow New York and New Jersey lawmakers came in the final days of the GOP-controlled Congress. They signed off on a pact that will soften cuts to their states but still free up more money for rural states and the South.

California gets some $260 million annually under the legislation and California lawmakers had urged passage of the compromise.

"Many states, including our own, will pay a significant price if the Senate adjourns without reauthorizing the Ryan White CARE Act," Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer wrote in a letter to Senate leaders.

The five-year renewal of the $2.1 billion-annual law had sparked a funding fight between cities where the disease first made its mark and the rural communities where it is now spreading fastest. The Senate adjourned Tuesday night without passing the bill, but supporters aimed to get the deal through both chambers of Congress before the end of the week, and then to President Bush for his signature.

"We stood our ground, and they gave ground and we came up with a compromise that we can live with. We're very happy," said Clinton.

Republican Sen. Mike Enzi, chair of the Senate Health Committee, said the deal came after "months at the negotiating table trying to find an agreement that will ensure that Americans have access to lifesaving HIV/AIDS treatments regardless of their race, gender, or where they live."

Clinton, D-N.Y., and other Northeasterners had held out, claiming the original five-year version of the program's renewal would cut their state's funding by at least $70 million each. Enzi, the measure's Republican champion, disputed both figures, saying the cuts would be far less.

A deal crafted by Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., won their support by shortening the renewal to three years so the money disbursements will be revisited sooner, and the large funding cuts expected in the final years are eliminated.

Southern state officials had been frustrated that opposition from the Northeast was holding up a bill that would send them more money. They cheered the compromise.

"We're thrilled that we finally have gotten the bill," said Kathie Hiers, head of AIDS Alabama. "I think overall it's going to help the deep south states a great deal," she said, estimating Alabama would get $7 million in new money in the first year of the deal.

Changes in the bill include counting patients with HIV in addition to those who have developed AIDS. Now just AIDS patients are counted for funding. That change favors areas where the epidemic is newer.

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Associated Press Writer Erica Werner contributed to this report.

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