ENZI AMENDMENT TO STRIKE PELOSI FIX, ENSURE FAIR DISTRIBUTION OF CRITICALLY NEEDED HIV/AIDS FUNDING PASSED BY SENATE

Washington, D.C. – In a sharp rebuke to the House, the Senate today voted toreject the Pelosi fix, a misguided ploy in the House appropriations bill for theDepartments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, H.R. 3043,that wouldoverturn the bipartisan, bicameral agreement on the Ryan White CARE Actreauthorization passed last year. Senators approved an amendment, by a vote of 65 to 28, offered by U.S. SenatorMike Enzi (R-WY), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor andPensions (HELP) Committee, that will block an appropriations bill from being used tooverturn the bipartisan Ryan White CARE Act renewal, which was approved last year.The Enzi amendment kills a $6.2 million House-passed earmark for San Francisco, a citywhose funding continues to be based on individuals who are both living and dead. Itprevents communities in the South and rural America from being cheated out of newfunds they desperately need to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS. “House Democrat Leaders quietly snuck in a provision that would robdisadvantaged individuals living in underserved areas of the country, of money theydesperately need for HIV/AIDS treatment,” Enzi said. "We cannot let politics undo thevery core mission of the Ryan White reauthorization passed last year. Revisions wemade to the critically flawed funding formulas in RWCA must be preserved to ensurethat federal dollars are used to fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic of today, not yesterday.” “Where I come from, the kind of clever accounting in the House bill is calledcheating. San Francisco is already receiving Ryan White money for people who havedied. To take an additional $6 million away from states that desperately need that moneyin order to give even more to San Francisco is reprehensible. This is an earmark of theworst class, and I hope today’s vote makes it clear that it is unacceptable in this body.” A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report recently released confirmedthat a provision added by House Democrat Leadership to the House appropriations billfor the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, H.R. 3043,would take away $9.3 million dollars from areas of the country that have beenunderserved by Ryan White for years, and give it to areas that have been receiving farmore than their fair share of federal dollars. For example, San Francisco, which has adeclining HIV/AIDS population, would rob the neediest cities of lifesaving funding.House Democrat Leadership would earmark $6.1 million for San Francisco. The GAO report also confirmed that San Francisco receives funding under RyanWhite for people who have died. “I am pleased that the Senate has gone on record opposing any provision thatwould undo all of the good work we did on Ryan White, and would put lives injeopardy,” Enzi said. “There are people in rural and Southern areas – where the HIV/AIDS epidemic isspreading most rapidly – who are dying while on waiting lists to get the treatment theyneed. The reauthorization bill we passed prevents that. The new formula works. Waiting lists have declined. Yet Speaker Pelosi and House Leadership are moreconcerned with funneling even more money into San Francisco than with saving lives inplaces where people are dying to get that money.” The RWCA reauthorization bill signed into law last year saves lives by increasingoverall investment in Ryan White programs and revising flawed funding formulas, whichcurrently favor states with urban areas and a longer history of AIDS infections over stateswhere the disease is now spreading most rampantly. It better targets funding so thatinfected persons have better access to high quality health care, improve accountability forhealth outcomes, and ensure more equitable treatment opportunities for all persons withHIV/AIDS. The House Leadership rider guts the fair funding formulas that save lives. The GAO report, GAO-08-137R, is available athttp://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08137r.pdf. ####