U.S. House Passes CARE Act Reauthorization Legislation

CHICAGO (Sept. 29, 2006)—Last night, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 325 to 98 to pass the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Modernization Act, H.R. 6134. The legislation now moves to the U.S. Senate where attempts to expedite its passage yesterday were blocked by several senators. Sponsor, Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY), may attempt to force a vote this weekend or call the bill for a vote after the November election.

"Within an often hostile political environment, we believe this bill is as good as it's going to get," said Mark Ishaug, AFC executive director. “This legislation still contains many provisions AFC opposes, but a year’s worth of intense negotiations between Republicans and Democrats—and substantial input from community stakeholders—has vastly improved the bill from the proposal first unveiled last year by President Bush,” Ishaug said.

"Hard fought provisions will benefit Illinois and other communities with emerging HIV/AIDS epidemics. The bill is also far better than current law, which triggers deep funding cuts next year for Illinois and other states without longstanding name-based HIV reporting systems," said Ishaug.

Illinois Representatives Bobby Rush, Jan Schakowsky, and John Shimkus, who serve on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, championed a provision in the bill to require the federal government to utilize both code-based and name-based HIV surveillance data in making CARE Act funding awards. The provision protects funding for Illinois and several other states that are transitioning from code-based to name-based HIV reporting systems.

Illinois’ HIV surveillance system began tracking cases of HIV diagnoses in 1999. The system has documented more than 14,000 cases of HIV diagnoses by alphanumeric codes, instead of names. In order to safeguard federal HIV/AIDS funding, Illinois switched to a name-based HIV reporting system earlier this year under pressure from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which will only accept name-based data.

“For Illinois, the inclusion of code-based data is absolutely crucial to the integrity of our systems of care, which increasingly serve large numbers of vulnerable women, families, and people of color,” said AFC Associate Director David Ernesto Munar. “Without such a provision, Illinois and several other states without longstanding name-based reporting would likely lose tens of millions of dollars in just one year, drastically destabilizing healthcare for many people living with HIV/AIDS.”

Despite the provision, AFC estimates Illinois could see a 3-4% reduction to its more than $70 million in CARE Act awards next year because of insufficient funding included in the FY07 Health/Labor/Education appropriations bills still working their way through Congress.

“The simple fact is that without adequate federal funding, this bill and any bill will result in regional funding fluctuations, including harmful funding cuts to some areas,” said AFC Policy Director Jim Pickett. “Failing to adequately meet the service and treatment needs of people with HIV/AIDS in any part of the U.S. is unacceptable. We must unite as an AIDS community and fight like never before for fair and adequate funding to ensure that no person living with HIV/AIDS in the U.S. lacks access to lifesaving care, treatment, and essential services.”

CARE Act Action Center