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GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE AUGUST 4, 1995
Ryan White passes; victory claimed despite Helms amendments
Continued from page 1
a vote of 63-36, a similar Helms amendment that would have cut off federal funding to public schools which "promote homosexuality."
But also last year, Ryan White co-author Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Sen. James Jeffords, R-Vt., offered an amendment to the Helms amendment that added a general clause saying no federal money could be used by schools to fund programs or materials for youth that "directly promote or encourage sexual activity, whether homosexual or heterosexual." The KennedyJeffords measure passed unanimously. And in September 1994, the Helms language was struck from the bill in House-Senate conference in favor of the language in the KennedyJeffords amendment.
This year, Ryan White co-author Sen. Nancy Kassebaum, R-Kansas, offered an amendment to the Helms "no promo” amendment that would prohibit the use of Ryan White funds to promote or encourage intravenous drug use or "homosexual or heterosexual activities." Kassebaum's amendment passed 76-23.
"It's counterintuitive to think that 'no promo homo' passes and we're doing well on Ryan White... but I think the narrow margin will help us in conference committee," Stachelberg said. She added that she considered it "unfortunate" that Dole, a cosponsor of the bill. "felt the need to vote in favor of a clearly anti-gay amendment."
A fourth Helms amendment prohibits the use of funds for state AIDS education and information programs that do not make "good faith efforts to notify a spouse of an AIDSinfected patient," passed unanimously. In
1989, a similar Helms amendment attached to the fiscal year 90 Senate Labor, Health and Human Services appropriations bill was approved 94-4.
Helms's final amendment, passed 99-0, prohibits the Clinton administration from making HIV/AIDS prevention training attendance mandatory for federal employees.
Kassebaum 3 for 3
Two other amendments from Kassebaum, both of which passed by voice votes, authorize voluntary testing of women and modified the Helms's AIDS/cancer funding equity amendment. The Kassebaum modification to the Helms AIDS/cancer funding measure requires calculating both discretionary and entitlement funds allocated to each disease. Kassebaum said she offered her amendment because the Helms amendment compared all AIDS funding-discretionary and entitlement-to only research funding for
cancer.
H. Alexander Robinson, an openly gay man with HIV who serves on President Clinton's newly-formed Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, said Ryan White reauthorization would not have happened without, among other things, the collaborative efforts of the AIDS community.
"Despite all the turmoil that has been so widely reported between the different AIDS organization-turmoil that has sometimes kept some people from working together I think today shows that when we have a common goal as important as Ryan White, we have the ability to overcome our differences," said Robinson, who is also co-chair of the National Organizations Responding to AIDS (NORA) coalition.
Funding changes
The bill, S.641, reauthorizes the Ryan White CARE Act for the next five years, but does not specify at what funding levels. Those funding levels must be determined by appropriations committees later this year. The bill for the years 1995-2000 makes some significant changes from the Ryan White program that was authorized for the years 1990-95 and expires September 30. Among those changes are:
The new bill authorizes a single appropriation for Titles I and II of the CARE Act. That single appropriation will be divided based on the ratio of fiscal year 1995 appropriations to each of the two titles. For fiscal year 1996, 64 percent of the appropriation would be allocated for Title I cities, and 34 percent would go to Title II states. The bill directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to adjust this division of funds for subsequent years to respond to the changing needs of newly eligible metropolitan areas. If the secretary determines such an adjustment is unfeasible, funding automatically reverts to two separate appropriations for fiscal year 1997.
Currently, the Ryan White CARE Act defines an eligible metropolitan area as an area with more than 2,000 cumulative diagnosed AIDS cases. Under the new bill, the current definition and eligibility requirements are maintained through fiscal year 1997. But beginning in fiscal year 1998, eligibility will no longer be based on the number of cases. Instead, eligible metropolitan areas will be defined as areas with populations of more than 500,000 that have reported more than 2,000 AIDS cases in the last five years.
●The new authorization bill establishes a
priority for distribution of Title I supplementary grants to account for "co-morbid conditions," including sexually transmitted diseases, substance abuse, tuberculosis, severe mental illness, and homelessness.
Title II funds are currently distributed based on the number of AIDS cases reported in each state over the last two years. Under the new bill, half of the funding is distributed based on the number of people living with AIDS in the state, and the other half is distributed based on the number of people with AIDS living outside eligible metropolitan
areas.
The new bill attempts to protect existing AIDS care systems from any future cuts in appropriations by phasing in caps on overall funding losses so that care will not be suddenly disrupted. No city or state will lose more than 7.5 percent of its existing funding, phased in over the five year period.
The new bill establishes a fifth title to the Ryan White CARE Act. Title V will include the Special Projects of National Significance (SPNS), which will address the needs of special populations, including Native Americans. SPNS is currently funded by a 10 percent Title II set-aside. The reauthorization bill provides that the SPNS program receive a three percent set-aside from each of the four titles. Title V also includes the AIDS Education and Training Program, which was transferred from federal health professions education legislation.
• Representation on the Title I planning councils has been changed to "more accurately reflect the demographics of the HIV epidemic, and to adequately reflect appropriate communities, subpopulations and providers."
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