Washington Blade - February 15, 2008
Joshua Lynsen

"I'm sure in the back of their minds, they just wish we would die and go away," said Phillips, a gay Virginia man who's HIV positive.

That's the only way to explain Bush's proposed 2009 budget, Phillips said.

"We know the services have never been there to begin to adequately meet the needs of people," he said. "And this tiny, tiny increase isn't going to help people at all."

Unveiled last week, Bush's budget adds $1 million to the $2.1 billion Ryan White CARE Act. It adds $14 million for grants such as the AIDS Drug Assistance Program, but cuts $13 million from other programs and services.

The slim net gain - effectively a 0.004 percent boost - trails the increases Bush proposed in his 2007 and 2008 budgets. About $76 million was added in 2007 and another $21 million was proposed for 2008.

Cuts resulting from Bush's budget could trigger service losses similar to those reported this week by the Maryland AIDS Administration.

The state is facing a 40 percent reduction in federal support for 2008. That $800,000 loss was expected to hurt the state's HIV surveillance activities.

AIDS groups, gay activists and medical professionals called Bush's newest proposal shameful.

"After accounting for inflation, the budget proposal amounts to a cut in funding for HIV/AIDS research, prevention, care and treatment," said Christine Lubinski, executive director at the HIV Medicine Association.

Rebecca Haag, executive director at AIDS Action, said the budget shows Bush is prepared to leave office having failed to adequately help the nation's HIV patients.

"President Bush should know by now that HIV continues to increase in this country because we have not set aside the proper amount of funds with the proper national AIDS strategy to address our diverse epidemic," she said. "If he wanted to address the unfinished business of those living with HIV in the United States, he would have submitted a very different budget."

Also frustrated were HIV patients who said they felt ignored by Bush.

Phillips and Rick Stafford, who leads the Democratic National Committee LGBT Caucus and tested HIV positive in 1984, said Bush seems more interested in spending money on foreign wars than ailing Americans.

"We're dealing with people's lives," Stafford said. "We should be willing to make the investments to protect our citizens just as we're willing to make the investment to make sure our troops are safe."

Bush's proposed budget is slated for congressional review, but members of Congress might not immediately seek to add funds.

Stafford said because Bush has pledged to veto any spending bills that exceed his request, congressional leaders might delay action in the hopes that a Democrat wins November's presidential election.

He said such a development would enable Democrats to add more funding to the Ryan White CARE Act.

"I think that's the best we can hope for right now," Stafford said, "especially with his veto option."

However it's done, though, Dr. Gene Copello of the AIDS Institute said Congress must dedicate more money to fight the epidemic and treat patients than Bush allocated.

"Most of the people who rely on these government programs for their health care and medicines are very poor and from minority communities," he said. "As the richest nation in the world, we can't turn our backs on them."

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