Congress Passes Ryan White Reauthorization
Destabilizing Funding Cuts Averted for Illinois and Other
States Without Longstanding Name Reporting

In the last hours of the “lame duck” congressional session, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Ryan White HIV/AIDS reauthorization bill by a voice vote on December 9, 2006. President George W. Bush signed the three-year reauthorization act into law on December 19.

“This is welcome news for people living with HIV in Illinois and much of the country,” said AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) Executive Director Mark Ishaug. “Our thanks go to the Illinois congressional delegation, especially Senators Dick Durbin and Barack Obama and Representatives Jan Schakowsky, John Shimkus, Bobby Rush, and Mark Kirk, for championing the inclusion of code-based HIV data in the distribution of CARE Act funds. Without this critical provision, Illinois would have faced a devastating $6 million to $11 million loss next year in federal funding for HIV/AIDS care and treatment services.”

The Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Act provides life-sustaining care and support services to an estimated 500,000 HIV-positive people in the U.S. who have no other means of affording needed HIV-related services. The program was last reauthorized in 2000.

Passage of the bill is the culmination of more than two years of extensive negotiations led by a bipartisan House and Senate working group. On December 5, the Senate voted unanimously to pass the bill, which was amended to ensure that formula funding awards would not fall below 95% of 2006 award amounts. The compromise also calls for a repeal of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Act after three years, instead of the traditional five-year reauthorization.

“We still have a lot of work to do,” said Jim Pickett, AFC Director of Public Policy. “Funding must be increased immediately to fairly and adequately address the epidemic in areas with longstanding as well as emerging HIV/AIDS crises. A three-year compromise will give Congress and the AIDS advocacy community additional time to craft a more equitable care and treatment program.”

Despite the provision to protect states with code-based HIV data, AFC estimates Illinois could experience a 4-6% funding reduction to its more than $70 million in Ryan White awards next year because of insufficient funding slated for the fiscal year that began October 1, 2006. As part of several bills passed last week, Congress passed another continuing resolution to extend FY06 funding for several months, requiring the newly convened Congress to finalize annual funding amounts in early February.

“While AFC endorsed passage of this bill, there are provisions that remain problematic. One such example is the unfunded mandate requiring CDC to use $30 million in already allocated HIV prevention funds as grants to expand opt-out HIV testing,” said Pickett. “Because there are no new appropriations to support this mandate, CDC will need to further erode existing and already woefully under-funded state and local HIV prevention programs.”

The fate of the Ryan White Act became embroiled last week in a political crossfire that involved legislation to reauthorize the National Institutes of Health (NIH), funding for state children's health insurance programs, and an anti-terrorism bill. Disagreements among several powerful lawmakers, including House Energy and Commerce Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX), Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Michael Enzi (R-WY), and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, (D-MA) threatened to stall the Ryan White bill in the House unless Enzi and Kennedy agreed to move Barton’s controversial NIH reauthorization bill in the Senate. Senate Democrats made passage of the NIH bill contingent upon increased funding for the children’s health insurance program.

AIDS advocates from Illinois and across the country flooded the offices of Rep. Barton, President Bush, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, and House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) with calls to end the stalemate and reauthorize the Ryan White bill immediately. After several days of tense negotiations, lawmakers finally reached a compromise in the early hours of Saturday, December 9.

“Tenacious and committed AIDS advocates from across Illinois and the U.S. made sure Congress understood the importance of finalizing Ryan White reauthorization this year,” said AFC Associate Director David Munar. “We thank the thousands of Illinoisans who truly made a difference with their calls and saved us from a certain care and treatment crisis.”

CARE Act Action Center