RYAN WHITE CARE ACT AMENDMENTS OF 2000 -- (Extensions of Remarks - October 06, 2000)

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SPEECH OF HON. JUANITA MILLENDER-McDONALD

OF CALIFORNIA IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Thursday, October 5, 2000

Ms. MILLENDER-McDONALD. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Ryan White CARE Act. AIDS is one of the cruelest diseases to strike this nation in recent history. Between 800,000 and 1 million Americans are currently infected with HIV and each day, an average of 100 people are diagnosed with AIDS.

The rate of HIV infection is growing at an even higher rate for minorities. Thirty to forty percent of all Americans with HIV are minorities. But when we break down these numbers, we find that the rate of HIV transmission is spreading most rapidly to women and children. Of all women with AIDS, 76 percent are women of color and of all the children with AIDS, 82 percent are minorities.

Every year I lead a minority women and children AIDS Walk in California--the first of its kind in the country. I do so because in order for the Ryan White CARE Act to truly be effective, community leaders must play an integral role in bringing people together to raise awareness, educate individuals on HIV and AIDS, and build a network of support for families struggling with this disease. The Ryan White funding is crucial, but so is our activism. As leaders in each of our communities we have a duty to help raise awareness of critical issues such as AIDS, and to help our constituents obtain the education, counseling and treatment services they need.

The Ryan White CARE Act implements some valuable and necessary changes that will help more minorities in my district. Specifically it changes the formulas for distributing Title I grants to cities and Title II grants to states to consider the number of cases of HIV infection as well as the number of AIDS cases. Under current law, funds are distributed to cities and states on the basis of the number of AIDS cases alone when we all know that those with HIV are in dire need of these programs. The bill also modifies the current ``hold-harmless'' provision for cities receiving Title I grants. Under current law, if a city experiences a decline in its Title I formula allocation, its allocation is partially protected by a hold-harmless provision. Also under current law, no city could receive less than 95% of the amount it received in FY 1995; however, this bill changes the hold-harmless provisions so that cities will be protected from losing no more than 2% of their base-year allocation in the first year. The Ryan White CARE Act also establishes a Title II formula grant program for states with ``emerging communities'' in need of additional resources to combat HIV/AIDS. This supplemental program, which will help the emerging communities in my district, will be triggered when Title II appropriations exceed FY 2000 levels by $20 million.

Finally, the Ryan White CARE Act increases the authorization for the grant program dealing with perinatal transmission of the HIV virus from its current level of $10 million to $30 million. It adds treatment services for pregnant women infected with HIV to the current list of activities, such as counseling, voluntary testing and outreach, that may be funded by these grants. This portion of the bill is particularly important to me as I have been extremely active in trying to secure funding for pilot programs here and abroad to prevent mother-to-child transmission.

I am proud of the bipartisan efforts devoted to this important legislation and know that the Ryan White CARE Act programs will continue to benefit thousands upon thousands of my constituents in need of assistance in my district. I urge my colleagues to join me in voting for this vital, and in many cases, life-saving legislation.
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