Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
San Francisco Chronicle - December 7, 2006
Edward Epstein, Chronicle Washington Bureau
In its closing days, the Republican-led Congress approved a three-year renewal of the Ryan White AIDS care program, rather than a previously planned five-year program in which San Francisco would have lost millions of dollars a year in the fourth and fifth years. City officials had said those cuts would have decimated its HIV/AIDS care program.
For the city, which gets about $28 million a year in Ryan White funds to care for about 15,000 HIV/AIDS patients, the change is a godsend, said Ernest Hopkins, director of federal affairs for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.
"The bill turns out to be a far better bill than we anticipated we could get out of this Congress," Hopkins said.
Sponsors of the five-year renewal had sought to move funds that had been centered in the original centers of the epidemic, including San Francisco and New York, to other areas of the country where new HIV/AIDS cases are growing. But they ran into opposition, mainly in the Senate from members from New York and New Jersey, who blocked the proposal.
Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., in particular, was criticized for putting her constituents ahead of others across the country. The Northeasterners were joined by California's two senators and in the House by Bay Area Democrats, who were in the minority in voting against the original bill because they said it unfairly penalized San Francisco.
"We owe much to the advocacy of the New York and New Jersey senators. This revised bill benefits their states and California and San Francisco in particular," said Hopkins.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said after the Senate approved the revised bill by voice vote that "with this reauthorization, people with this disease will continue to receive the treatment and care they need."
E-mail Edward Epstein at eepstein@sfchronicle.com.
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