The House Subcommittee on Labor, Health, and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, which Republicans currently lead, approved a spending bill that would cut at least $419 million from federal AIDS programs.
AIDS activists say this would have devastating impacts on the ongoing effort to decrease HIV by 2030. The bill also includes billions of dollars in cuts to other human services, such as education and health.
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The House Appropriations Committee will consider the spending bill in full on July 1. Last year, Republicans attempted to cut HIV prevention funds, but the committee rejected the budget cuts. AIDS advocates say they are hopeful the same thing will happen again, The Washington Blade reports.
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The proposed GOP cuts would take $214 million away from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s HIV prevention programs, $190 million from the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, and $15 million from the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary’s Minority HIV/AIDS Program.
In a press release, the executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute, Carl Schmid, said, “Instead of providing new investments in ending HIV by increasing funding for testing, prevention programs, such as PrEP, and life-saving care and treatment, House Republicans are again choosing to go through a worthless exercise of cutting programs that the American people depend on and will never pass.”
“These were purposeful decisions that are well below the agreed-upon budget caps. While we will vigorously fight these cuts, we look forward to working with the entire Congress in a bipartisan fashion on spending bills that can actually become law,” he added.
The bill also includes provisions known as riders, or provisions not directly related to the main purpose of the bill, Schmid noted. These riders would strip protections from women, such as access to birth control and abortion, and for minorities, including LGBTQ+ people.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said in a press release that the riders would block the Biden administration’s policies to ensure nondiscrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation. The statement also says that another policy rider would “prevent policies or programs intended to promote diversity, equality, or inclusion.”
Rep. Tom Cole (R-LA), who serves as chair of the full House Appropriations Committee, defended the subcommittee’s bill and its proposed spending cuts: “The bill provides appropriate and fiscally responsible funding to ensure these departments can continue to perform their core missions while also acknowledging the fiscal realities facing our nation. Importantly, the bill pushes back on the Biden administration’s out-of-touch progressive policy agenda, preventing this White House from finalizing or implementing controversial rules or executive orders.”
The HIV + Hepatitis Policy Institute noted in a press release that although progress is being made on HIV/AIDS, the issue is by no means solved.
“There are currently over 1.2 million people living with HIV in the United States, approximately 32,000 new diagnoses annually, with only 65 percent of people virally suppressed and only 36 percent of the people who would benefit from PrEP on it,” the press release said.
“While we are making progress, racial and ethnic disparities persist, and continued investments are needed to reduce new infections and bring more people into care and treatment.”