The
proposed
2006
budget
that
President
Bush
submitted
to
Congress
this
week
calls
for
cutting
funds
for
federal
AIDS
prevention
and
surveillance
programs
by
$4
million,
a
development
that
drew
sharp
criticism
from
AIDS
activists.
Activists
said
they
were
especially
concerned
that
the
proposed
cuts
came
at
the
same
time
the
president
is
calling
for
a
$38
million
increase
in
programs
aimed
at
curtailing
AIDS
and
teen
pregnancy
by
promoting
sexual
abstinence
until
marriage.
“Programs
which
focus
on
abstinence
as
the
sole
means
of
preventing
HIV/AIDS
put
our
young
people
at
tremendous
risk,”
said
David
Smith,
an
official
with
the
Human
Rights
Campaign,
a
national
gay
political
group
that
lobbies
Congress
on
AIDS.
Smith
and
other
gay
and
AIDS
activists
said
abstinence-only
programs,
which
ban
discussion
of
safer-sex
procedures
such
as
condom
use,
are
harmful
to
gay
youth
who
can’t
marry
and
often
don’t
have
access
to
information
about
AIDS.
The
Bush
budget
calls
for
a
$10
million
increase
in
funding
for
the
AIDS
Drug
Assistance
Program,
or
ADAP,
which
provides
life-sustaining
AIDS
drugs
to
low
income
people
who
don’t
have
private
health
insurance.
But
the
president’s
budget
calls
for
no
additional
funds
for
all
other
parts
of
the
Ryan
White
CARE,
the
sweeping
federal
statute
that
created
ADAP
and
other
programs
to
provide
care
and
treatment
to
low-income
people
with
HIV
and
AIDS.
Activists
said
the
proposed
“flat
funding”
of
Ryan
White
programs
is
equivalent
to
a
cut
in
funds
because
of
rising
costs
in
medical
care
and
the
growing
number
of
people
with
HIV
and
AIDS
in
the
United
States.
The
president’s
call
for
cutting
the
Medicaid
program
by
an
average
of
$4.5
billion
a
year
over
the
next
decade
will
create
even
more
hardship
for
low-income
people
with
HIV,
activists
said.
Medicaid
serves
as
the
single
largest
provider
of
medical
care
to
people
with
AIDS
in
the
U.S.
Although
the
president
mentioned
how
AIDS
has
hit
minority
communities
the
hardest
in
his
Sate
of
the
Union
speech,
he
proposed
no
additional
funding
for
the
government’s
Minority
AIDS
Initiative,
a
program
that
targets
African
Americans
and
other
communities
of
color
for
AIDS
prevention
and
treatment
efforts.
The
budget
submitted
to
Congress
by
Bush
also
proposes
a
$14
million
cut
in
the
Housing
Opportunities
for
People
With
AIDS,
or
HOPWA,
program.
The
program
provides
housing
subsidies
for
low-income
people
with
HIV
or
AIDS.
In
his
budget
message
to
Congress,
Bush
said
he
was
initiating
a
1
percent
cut
in
spending
on
discretionary
domestic
programs
in
an
effort
to
reduce
the
federal
budget
deficit
by
one-half
by
2009.
“It
meets
our
nation’s
essential
needs,”
he
said.
A
statement
released
by
the
White
House
notes
that
the
president’s
budget
calls
for
spending
more
than
$17
billion
for
domestic
AIDS
“treatment,
prevention,
and
research,
including
almost
$21
million
for
Ryan
White
programs
and
its
comprehensive
approach
to
address
the
health
needs
of
persons
living
with
HIV/AIDS.”
The
White
House
statement
stressed
that
the
2006
budget
would
continue
to
fund
Bush’s
$15
billion
global
AIDS
relief
program,
which
calls
for
spending
that
amount
over
a
five-year
period.
“The
president’s
2006
budget
proposal
supports
the
status
quo,
but
what
is
really
necessary
at
this
juncture
is
an
infusion
of
cash
similar
to
what
we
saw
with
the
President’s
Emergency
Plan
for
AIDS
Relief:
real
money
and
swift
action,”
the
national
AIDS
advocacy
group
AIDS
Action
said
in
a
statement.
Christopher
Labonte,
HRC’s
legislative
director,
said
HRC
would
join
gay
and
AIDS
groups
to
call
on
Congress
to
add
more
funds
to
the
AIDS
programs
that
Bush
wants
to
cut.
Labonte
said
HRC
was
hopeful
that
Congress
would
at
least
restore
the
cuts
Bush
is
proposing
for
AIDS
prevention
programs
run
by
the
U.S.
Centers
for
Disease
Control
&
Prevention.
“We
have
to
be
clear
that
the
president’s
message
of
compassion
about
AIDS
in
his
State
of
the
Union
address
was
not
reflected
in
his
budget,”
Labonte
said.
Gay
Republican
activist
Carl
Schmid,
who
lobbies
Congress
on
behalf
of
the
AIDS
Institute,
a
national
group
based
in
Florida,
said
the
group
was
disappointed
in
the
president’s
funding
proposals
on
AIDS.
“They
say
they
want
to
decrease
the
number
of
infections,
but
they
are
decreasing
the
funding
on
prevention,”
Schmid
said.
“We
obviously
need
more
money
in
prevention.”
