Republicans Release Appropriations Package for Fiscal Year 2011
February 16, 2011 in Policy/Advocacy
by Julia Cheng, AIDS United Zamora Fellow
With less than a month before the Continuing Resolution (CR) expires, Congress is struggling to complete the Fiscal Year 2011 budget. On February 3rd, Representative Paul D. Ryan (R-WI), Chair of the House Committee on the Budget, released figures that set caps for the Fiscal Year 2011 budget at $1.055 trillion. Representative Ryan’s plan outlined cuts of $32 billion compared to the current level of spending at FY 2010 levels. In total, $40 billion would be capped for non-security discretionary programs while an $8 billion increase would go towards defense, homeland security, and veterans programs. The $8 billion increase in security related funds still falls $16 billion below President Obama’s 2011 requested budget, while funding towards other discretionary programs is $58 billion lower than President Obama’s FY 2011 request.
Using Representative Ryan’s ceiling, appropriations Chairman Representative Harold Rogers (R-KY) further defined allocations by appropriation subcommittee to begin drafting a bill. The Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcommittee will have to reduce appropriations by $6.5 billion and the Transportation and HUD Subcommittee will lose $11.5 billion from 2010 levels. These caps were approved 27-22 by the House Appropriations Committee. All Democrats voted “No” while two Republicans joined them, calling for greater cuts. On February 9th, Chairman Rogers announced a partial list of the implementation of those spending cuts which included $1.3 billion from Community Health Centers, $1 billion from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), $755 million from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), $530 million from the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Development Fund, $139 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF), and $96 million from Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) compared to the President’s 2011 requested budget.
Despite approval from House Appropriations Committee, conservative Republicans indicated that the draft proposal would not pass, delaying the release of the legislation originally scheduled for February 10th. House Appropriations Chairman Rogers subsequently announced that the difference between the FY 2011 request budget and the proposed legislation would be $100 billion, therefore meeting the targeted “cuts” as outlined in the Republicans’ “Pledge to America” document. Some Republicans have argued that the four months of the Fiscal Year that have passed should go to the $100 billion, while others have argued that the $100 billion promise should be applied to the remaining levels of funding. Currently, the plan falls in between the two figures, making a total of $58 billion reduction from the remaining levels of funding. The proposed CR was released on Friday, February 11th and debate will begin Tuesday with final vote expected on Thursday, February 17th. However, even if the bill passes in the House, it is unlikely to be approved by the Senate or the President. Senate Democrats have explained that a series of short-term continuing resolutions will be necessary to avoid a government shutdown. The legislation as released by the House Appropriations committee can be found below.
A copy of the legislation can be found here: http://www.rules.house.gov/Media/file/PDF_112_1/legislativetext/2011crapprops/AppropCRFinal_xml.pdf
A summary of the bill can be found here: http://republicans.appropriations.house.gov/_files/SummaryFiscalYear2011ContinutingResolutionCR.doc
A list of program cuts can be found here: http://republicans.appropriations.house.gov/_files/ProgramCutsFY2011ContinuingResolution.pdf
Subcommittee savings tables can be found here: http://republicans.appropriations.house.gov/_files/FY2011CRSpendingTablesbySubcommittee.doc
North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition (NCHRC) Gains Support of Local Law Enforcement
in Southern Initiatives, Syringe Access Fund
Organization Unites with Local Law Enforcement & Injection Drug Users to Fight for Syringe Decriminalization and Syringe Exchange Programs (SEPs)
by Robert BB Childs, MPH
Executive Director
North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition (NCHRC)
North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition (NCHRC) has been able to advocate for syringe decriminalization and the legalization of syringe exchange programs thanks to grants from AIDS United. NCHRC is North Carolina’s only comprehensive harm reduction program. NCHRC engages in grassroots advocacy, resource development, coalition building and direct services for those made vulnerable by drug use, sex work, overdose, immigration status, gender, STIs, HIV and hepatitis.
In solidarity with law enforcement and Injection Drug Users (IDUs), NCHRC has been advocating for saner syringe access laws. North Carolina has an estimated 25,000-50,000 IDUs, restrictive syringe access laws and no legal Syringe Exchange Programs; this has contributed to over 35,000 HIV infections and over 150,000 hepatitis C infections due to syringe and injection equipment sharing.
Though NC boasts 5 underground syringe exchange programs spread throughout the state in the Triangle, Winston Salem, Carrboro, Greensboro and Asheville, they cannot come close to meeting the population’s needs due to legal and financial barriers. Unfortunately for NC, this has led to “one in three” law enforcement officers receiving accidental needle-sticks over their careers. In NC, it is illegal to carry syringes or injection equipment to inject drugs, therefore users share equipment and do not inform law enforcement if they are carrying equipment. This leaves law enforcement prone to needlesticks when they perform mandatory pat downs by accidentally touching the syringe tips. Complicating matters, law enforcement are not given needlestick resistant gloves as standard issue due to budget cuts, thus they have no protection from needlesticks. When injured by the needle, they may have to receive expensive post exposure prophylaxis, which leads to sick time, a loss of income to the department , loss of labor and possible HIV and hepatitis infection to the officer.
Twenty-eight percent of NC law enforcement will receive multiple sticks over their career, which recently happened to an officer in Kannapolis, NC. In response to this health concern, some law enforcement have joined NCHRC’s syringe decriminalization advocacy movement, due to the overwhelming evidence that syringe decriminalization, which allows for syringe exchange programs, decreases needlesticks by 66%. Law enforcement are sick of being exposed to needlesticks and thus are joining NCHRC in its advocacy to efforts to fight in union for change. Recently the former Sheriff of Macon County came out in support of our cause, as well as officers from the Charlotte, Concord, Franklin and Winston Salem areas. NCHRC was able to connect with multiple law enforcement by leading trainings for crisis intervention team officers on working with injection drug users and responding to drug overdoses, by contacting sympathetic officers referred by Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) and by directly approaching law enforcement members and trainers.
On April 13th, 2011, NCHRC will bring law enforcement, injection drug users, farm workers who inject vitamins and antibiotics, transgender people who inject hormones, concerned citizens and public health officials, in union with our colleagues at the NC AIDS Action Network to unify for saner syringe and HIV policies in North Carolina. We will unify as one at the legislature to call North Carolina to liberate itself from unhealthy policies.
We’ll be there and we hope that you too will join in solidarity with us.
Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day with Team Indy
February 15, 2011 in AmeriCorps
National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day was February 7th and Team Indianapolis recognized the day by helping ACT Against AIDS at the Indianapolis Urban League.
We helped set up and tear down for the evening but most importantly helped an event happen that gave a venue to the community to celebrate the people who have been fighting the fight for years.
Deputy Mayor Olgin Williams and many others spoke about the importance of taking this disease seriously in every community.
We even heard about how the disease must be addressed in the churches. There was a candlelight vigil, door prizes, Service award, live testimonials, and much much more.
One of our teammates, Lisa was interviewed about the work we are doing and why we were supporting that day of service.
There was an air in the room that was a great reminder of just how many people in our community are fighting the disease but the messages received reminded us that we need to find some new innovative ways to stop the disease from getting any worse in the black community.
MLK Day in ABQ
in AmeriCorps
Team New Mexico partnered with Public Allies New Mexico AmeriCorps and Amy Biehl High School on a Martin Luther King Day service project. Our team spent the day at the Albuquerque Opportunity Center (AOC), one the area’s largest emergency shelters in the area for homeless men. The AOC is part of the Metropolitan Homelessness Project in Albuquerque, and is committed to ending homelessness in the area through a variety of initiatives. They offer a community voicemail program, a transitional housing program for veterans and also a respite care program. We helped out at the emergency shelter and dorm.
Team New Mexico partnered with Public Allies to help organize the service project. Public Allies is a national AmeriCorps program that places volunteers in different non-profits throughout the community. Similar to AIDS United AmeriCorps, volunteers meet as a group on a regular basis for trainings and other group activities, and also to organize a yearly long term project.
We also worked with Amy Biehl High School, which is a local charter high school for at risk youth located in downtown Albuquerque. Amy Biehl hosts an annual school wide MLK day of service, including a celebration with local performance artists honoring Martin Luther King. Although it is the only school in Albuquerque which actually is open on MLK day, the school makes an impact by sending volunteers–staff and students–throughout the community to various service projects. 
At the Albuquerque Opportunity Center, the shelter provides 74 men a bed and nightstand in a large dorm. Part of our work was to clean the beds, nightstands, and walls throughout the shelter. Volunteers also helped by painting walls and raking and landscaping the courtyard outside. During the day, all of the volunteers learned about different initiatives in the community that are being implemented to combat homelessness. The AOC is involved in the Albuquerque Heading Home project to provide housing for 75 homeless men and women. 
The program seeks to find 75 of the most chronic homeless in the area and establish permanent housing for them by partnering with the city and different non profits in the area. Throughout the day, we all gained a better appreciation and perspective on what it means to be homeless in Albuquerque, and the work being done to combat homelessness.
“A Clear and Unyielding Commitment”
President Obama Unveils 2012 Budget
By Donna Crews, Director, Government Affairs
AIDS United
President Barack Obama submitted his third budget to Congress on Monday, February 14th . The entire budget was $3.7 trillion with $79.9 billion for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) (where the bulk of the HIV domestic portfolio is kept). In these austere budget times the HIV/AIDS domestic funding portfolio fared well. At HHS where the discretionary portion of the budget decreased by $72 million, or 0.9 % President Obama showed his commitment to the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) and the domestic HIV/AIDS funding portfolio by increasing funding for HIV/AIDS programs at HHS, and Veterans Affairs, and maintaining level funding for HIV/AIDS programs at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), HOPWA received $335 million, and the Department of Justice. In this overall budgetary spending environment the increases that were announced in the FY12 President’s Budget shows his clear and unyielding commitment.
At HHS’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) HIV prevention funding was increased by nearly $58 million for a total investment of $858 million in FY12. Of the $58 million increase, $30 million is an investment from the Prevention and Public Health Fund from the Affordable Care Act. The prevention program that has garnered wide interest and support, Enhanced Comprehensive HIV Prevention Planning (ECHPP) received $10 million in new funding for a total of $22 million. This project targets the 12 most highly impacted jurisdictions based on AIDS prevalence in 2007. To ensure better coordination of the HIV prevention messages with existing STD programs for young people, $40 million of the HIV portion of the school health program in the Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Program has been transferred to the National Center for HIV, STD, Viral Hepatitis and TB Prevention.
At HHS’ Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA) the Ryan White Program received an increase of a little more than $88 million for a total of $2.376 million. Due to varied rounding math, in some publications of the budget it appeared to receive $85 million; however the more detailed Congressional Budget Justification for each HRSA verified the $88 million. Again due to rounding, some documents show ADAP’s increase as $80 million, though our analysis shows it at $82 million. The breakdown is as follows:
Part A + $1 million
Part B base flat
Part B ADAP +$82 million
Part C +$5 million
Part D +$.166 million
Part F AETC +$.074 million
Part F Dental +$.029 million
At HHS’ National Institutes of Health (NIH) the Office of AIDS Research (OAR) has received a $74 million increase for the HIV/AIDS research portfolio. HIV funding at Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration were flat at $178 million for FY12. Title X programs such as Planned Parenthood where many HIV tests are preformed received an $11 million increase. Abstinence only programs were not funded again this year. The teen pregnancy prevention initiative received flat funding of $114.5 million. New in the budget this year is a provision to provide the Secretary of HHS access to no more than 1% of all discretionary funds for FY12 appropriated to the domestic HIV/AIDS activities, programs, and projects to support the National HIV/AIDS Strategy. According to the FY 2010 funding levels in HHS’s just released “HHS Operational Plan: Achieving the Vision of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy,” this funding would be 1% of $6.5 billion.
Remembering his Dream
February 14, 2011 in AmeriCorps
January 17, 2011 was a day Team Indianapolis considered to be more than service! We looked at the Day as an honor to partake in, and came in knowing any service we did could not amount to the remarkable body of work Martin Luther King Jr. has implemented.
This year’s team thought there was no better way to show respect to the day by working together with another AmeriCorps team. We decided to join forces with Public Allies to help clean Indianapolis’s Earth House! The experience, a humbling one, brought together people of all types to come together for a common purpose. We scrubbed floors, clean toilets, moved furniture, vacuumed carpets, and all while getting to know members from another team.
As the day went on, our team discovered/realized something impressive. Even through all the strenuous labor we were doing we should all be thankful for such an opportunity. It’s hard to actually grasp the fact that almost sixty years ago one of the greatest legal cases of all time took place (Brown vs. Board of Education), making it possible for blacks and whites to receive the same education. Or that in 1960 four students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University proposed a sit in after being denied service at a local diner. Although there is still work to be done in our communities, our team realized that our day of service makes great strides.
After our team helped to clean the Earth House we viewed the documentary “Traces of the Trade” with Public Allies. The film was enlightening and definitely a conversation starter. Team Indy has always been proud to be a part of AmeriCorps but even more so on this day! All members that participated in the clean up wore a shirt with King’s face made up of his powerful words that represented unity and empowerment for Team Indianapolis. Although our day ended at 4:00pm, we know there is a nonviolent fight to be done to reach total social justice!