2.7.05 - Bush AIDS Budget Fails to Live Up to State of the Union Rhetoric

The San Francisco AIDS Foundation expressed deep disappointment today regarding the Bush Administration's Fiscal Year (FY) 2006 budget, which would cut HIV housing and prevention programs and virtually flat-funds the Ryan White CARE Act. After last week's State of the Union address, in which the President called for more focused attention to the epidemic and in particular the impact on African Americans, AIDS advocates had hoped his rhetoric would be matched with needed resources; instead, his budget includes cuts and inadequate funding levels to provide for those in need.

Under the President's proposed budget, the Housing Opportunities for People Living with AIDS (HOPWA) would be cut by $13.7 million, bringing the program to $268 million, levels not seen since FY 2001. HIV prevention efforts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would also be cut, by $4 million. The Minority AIDS Initiative, which is designed to lessen the impact of AIDS in communities of color, is flat-funded in his budget, despite the President's call to "focus our efforts on fellow citizens with the highest rates of new cases, African-American men and women." The only increase for AIDS funding included in the President's budget was $10 million for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), which is part of the Ryan White CARE Act, but this funding level is far short of the amount needed to ensure access to critical HIV medications.

"His rhetoric and numbers do not add up," said Ernest Hopkins, Director of Federal Affairs at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. "How can the President call for an improved response to the epidemic but then cut or under-fund the programs that are absolutely critical to achieving this goal? To focus efforts on African Americans living with and at risk for HIV/AIDS requires focused leadership and targeted dollars. Rhetoric without action is disingenuous."

Since Bush took office the number of people living with AIDS in the United States has increased by nearly 100,000, but his discretionary programs for basic health care and support services have remained virtually flat. As a result, increasing numbers of low income individuals living with HIV/AIDS have been denied access to HIV medications and other critical services. AIDS advocates urge Congress to show true leadership in the fight against AIDS by providing the funding levels needed to end the epidemic and human suffering caused by AIDS.