Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2007. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bay Area Reporter - November 22, 2007
Bob Roehr
"The [Democratic] majority was elected on a pledge of fiscal responsibility, but so far it's acting like a teenager with a new credit card," Bush said in a speech after vetoing the spending bill.
The House failed to override that veto by two votes, on November 15. Congress subsequently passed a continuing resolution to fund those programs at the same levels as last year, through mid-December.
The $84 million increase in funding for Ryan White CARE Act programs would have been the most substantial increase in five years. The measure also would have added $6.2 million in HIV prevention funding at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and $1.1 billion to the overall budget of the National Institutes of Health.
The continuing resolution allows for prorated spending of the same amount of money as last year, however, AIDS money will have to be distributed under the new formula passed as part of the 2006 reauthorization of Ryan White.
The veto means that the "hold harmless" provision that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) fought for does not take effect. Eleven jurisdictions will see actual declines in federal dollars for HIV. San Francisco will bear the brunt of that and could lose up to $8.5 million in the fiscal year that began on October 1, unless subsequent legislation contains a similar provision.
Congress will begin tinkering with spending levels when it returns for business in early December. AIDS advocates face a difficult struggle in maintaining their hard won increases in funding.
"Our job now will be to urge the Congress not to cut the HIV/AIDS programs in half," said Carl Schmid, a lobbyist with the AIDS Institute "We have already seen compromises from the House increases for Ryan White down from $102.8 million to the current proposal of $84.3 million. CDC HIV prevention went from an increase of $17.4 million to only $6.2 million. They should not compromise any more on these programs."
The New York based advocacy group Housing Works had a suggestion of where to cut - start with the $28 million for abstinence-only education that liberal appropriations chairman David Obey (D-Wisconsin) added in the false hope of building Republican support for a veto-proof majority in the House. Slashing the entire $176 million budget for abstinence-only programs would leave ample room for the entire proposed increase in AIDS programs.
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