NAPWA calls on Bush to back up his rhetoric

The National Association of People with AIDS praised President George W. Bush for calling on Congress to renew the federal Ryan White CARE Act, which provides funds for HIV prevention, treatment, and support services throughout the country, but is now calling on Bush to follow through on his statements with adequate funding for AIDS programs. "President Bush will present his budget for 2006 to the American people in a few days, and we hope the reality of his budget request will reflect his public support for the Ryan White CARE Act and other essential programs which serve Americans living with or at risk for HIV/AIDS," says Terje Anderson, NAPWA executive director, in a statement. "Unfortunately, the president's previous budgetary requests have proposed essentially flat funding for the entire domestic AIDS appropriations portfolio, including HIV care, treatment, prevention, housing, research and the Minority AIDS Initiative. We hope the president will now finally provide leadership in addressing the domestic epidemic by proposing long-delayed and desperately needed increases in funding needed to ameliorate untold suffering and save thousands of lives in the African-American community and other communities impacted by HIV/AIDS." Anderson also calls on Bush to meet his goal of fully funding international AIDS efforts through his five year President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and to significantly increase U.S. contributions to the United Nations-backed Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.