 |
 |
| Potential losses of federal AIDS funding for New York prompted Sen. Hillary Clinton (D) to threaten to block the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Modernization Act of 2006 if funding formulas aren’t changed. (Photo by Kiichiro Sato/AP) |
|
|
| | |
| |
|
|
| | |
HOME > NEWS > LOCAL
By: LOU CHIBBARO J COMMENTS
 
continued...
could subject D.C. to further cuts in funds by requiring cities and states to spend all of their Ryan White funds in a given fiscal year before they become eligible for a percentage of new funds the following year. In the past, D.C. often has failed to spend large portions of its federal AIDS funds in the year the funds were disbursed to the city due to problems in the city’s AIDS office.
Hawkins said that under the current version of the pending Ryan White reauthorization bill, if D.C. and other jurisdictions don’t “obligate” at least 98 percent of their Ryan White funds by the end of the fiscal year, they would be eligible for only about half of the Ryan White funds it received the previous year. She said it was unclear whether federal officials would interpret “obligated” funds as funds that were spent or funds earmarked for specific programs or community groups that carry out the city’s AIDS programs.
In either case, Hawkins said, the District stands to lose millions of dollars if it doesn’t “get its act together” in disbursing federal AIDS funds in a timely fashion.
Gay D.C. Councilmember David Catania, who chairs the Council’s Committee on Health, has criticized the city’s procurement and AIDS office leaders for not moving quickly enough to disburse federal AIDS funds.
Carl Schmid, federal affairs director of the AIDS Institute, and Jim Driscoll, an official with AIDS Health Care Foundation, said their groups support the current bill as the best possible compromise likely to clear Congress.
“It’s the product of a series of compromises between different groups and different interests,” said Schmid.
“Everybody has acted in good faith,” said Driscol, in referring to the bipartisan coalition of senators and House members who drafted the bill and who, according to Driscoll made numerous changes at the suggestion of AIDS groups.
“Most of the parties are taking a loss and most of the parties are making gains in at least when you consider the overall bill,” he said.
| 
