AIDS Action Asks President Bush: Where's Your Commitment to AIDS?

Washington, D.C. -- Today, AIDS Action criticized President Bush for his failure to support HIV/AIDS programs in his "Blueprint for New Beginnings." The proposed budget could force cuts of nearly $1 billion from public health programs essential to people with HIV/AIDS.

"President Bush made no direct commitment to people with HIV/AIDS in this budget," said Claudia French, Executive Director for AIDS Action. "At a time when 40,000 new HIV infections are reported every year and more people are living with HIV/AIDS, how can we continue our commitment to prevention, treatment, and care with $1 billion less than in previous years?"

The Bush budget includes over $3 billion in increases in funding for three healthcare initiatives: 1) the development of new community health care centers; 2) increases in access to substance abuse treatment services; and 3) continuing the five-year effort to double the National Institute of Health's (NIH) budget for medical research.

Yet the overall increase for healthcare is only $2.1 billion -- a $900 million shortfall that must be made up by cutting funds from programs essential to people living with HIV/AIDS. HIV prevention programs at the Centers for Disease Control, AIDS treatment and care programs under the Ryan White CARE Act, and even the drug approval process at the Food and Drug Administration face budget cuts under the President's proposal. And while the President's budget blueprint lists a number of areas of research to be supported by the NIH increase (cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's), conspicuously absent from that list of diseases is HIV/AIDS.

"While increasing funding for these three initiatives is commendable, it can't come at the expense of other life-saving programs. Supporting medical research is certainly important, but it's not a substitute for increased investments in HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and care," said French.

AIDS Action is seeking assurances from the Bush Administration that the Office of AIDS Research will receive equitable treatment in the distribution of the increased funding at NIH. AIDS Action is also asking that the President revise his budget to include full funding for public health programs including the HIV/AIDS Bureau at the Health Resources and Services Administration, and domestic and international HIV prevention efforts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

[Want to take action and urge the Bush administration to show equitable treatment in the distribution of HIV funding and to include full funding for public health programs? Click here.]