California: Senate Deals Blow to San Francisco AIDS Funds

On Oct. 23, the Senate passed an amendment to an appropriations bill that would reinstate more drastic cuts to San Francisco's portion of Ryan White CARE Act funding. The amendment, sponsored by Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), passed by a 65-28 vote. If it stands, the city could lose $8.5 million rather than $2.5 million in fiscal 2008, which began Oct. 1.

Enzi's amendment prohibits the use of funds to modify HIV/AIDS funding formulas under Ryan White as reauthorized last year. Under that reauthorization, funding would shift to where the epidemic is moving - the South and within communities of color. With additional funding for Ryan White, the hope was that few communities would suffer major cuts during the transition, but scarcely more money was found. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) advocated for a stop-loss provision in the House version that would minimize funding cuts to 11 cities that would actually lose funding under new formulas. Among those cities, San Francisco stands to lose most.

The stop-loss provision would "not take away funding from other areas," Pelosi said. "I urge senators who voted in favor of the amendment to reconsider their vote and instead support removing the Enzi provision in conference," she said, vowing to oppose the amendment in the committee where differences between the Senate and House legislation will be resolved.

Ernest Hopkins, director of federal affairs for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, said he remains optimistic a resolution will be found. "Enzi is making a statement of no tampering with the formula and that's fine -- that's not what this does," he said.

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