[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 37 (Tuesday, February 28, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H2380]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                    EFFECTS OF THE RESCISSION BILLS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New York [Mr. Nadler] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I am here today to protest the mean-spirited 
and draconian rescissions that have been reported out of the Labor, 
Health and Human Services, and Education and the VA/HUD and Independent 
Agencies Appropriations Subcommittees.
  An excellent statement released yesterday by ACT-UP expresses quite 
directly the severity of these cuts.

       Two House Subcommittees voted to rescind funding for AIDS 
     programs that is already in the pipeline. The VA/HUD 
     Appropriations Subcommittee voted to eliminate all $188 
     million allocated for HOPWA, the Housing Opportunities for 
     People with AIDS Program, eliminate all 3,000 Section 8 
     rental assistance vouchers set-aside for HIV-positive people, 
     and cut $2.7 billion in general Section 8 vouchers. The 
     Labor/HHS Appropriations Subcommittee cut $13 million from 
     the Ryan White CARE Act, which pays for medical care and 
     services for people with HIV, and cut $23 million from the 
     Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's HIV prevention 
     program.
       The HUD funding cuts alone mean that New York City will 
     lose $41.7 million, Upstate New York $2.2 million and Long 
     Island $1.2 million. In New York City, 700 units now housing 
     over 1,000 people with AIDS and HIV disease and their family 
     members will be lost.

  Mr. Speaker, these severe slashes in housing funding will touch a 
wide range of American people--families, children, and seniors--but 
perhaps the most striking examples of heartlessness is putting sick and 
dying people out on the streets. It is, Mr. Speaker, nothing but 
immoral. I am absolutely appalled at the insensitivity to human life 
that I have seen over the past 50 or so days here in the Congress. We 
must put an end to this slashing and burning of America's middle and 
low-income people and families, and of the most needy members of our 
society.
  For more than a decade, the devastation of the AIDS pandemic has 
affected every American community and has touched most Americans in 
some way personally. AIDS cuts across gender, ethnic, racial, and 
socio-economic lines. The rate of increased infection is alarming. Ryan 
White CARE funding is essential for AIDS service providers to keep pace 
with the pandemic to continue and provide effective and cost-efficient 
HIV-related medical and social services.
  Mr. Speaker, according to a recent and very disturbing, New York 
Times article,

       AIDS has become the leading cause of death among all 
     Americans aged 25 to 44 . . . this number has surpassed 
     unintentional injury, which dropped to second place in this 
     age group.

  Since AIDS was first identified in the early 1980's, more than 
440,000 cases have been documented and more than 250,000 AIDS-related 
deaths have resulted in the United States. More than 1 million people 
in the United States are believed to be HIV-positive, but have not yet 
contracted AIDS.
  The Congressional district I represent in New York City is among the 
hardest hit by AIDS. With over 65,000 cases of AIDS--the highest number 
of any city in the country--in fact, more than 40,000 more cases than 
the next highest city, New York City has been the city most affected. 
Additionally, New York State, has approximately 20 percent of the 
Nation's AIDS cases, 81,386 cases. Ryan White funding is absolutely 
vital to many New Yorkers living with HIV/AIDS.
  But the AIDS crisis goes far beyond New York--Americans in 
communities across the Nation have felt the effects of AIDS in some 
way.
  Mr. Speaker, the impact of the AIDS epidemic is felt by everyone, 
from all walks of life. As the number of people living with HIV and 
AIDS continues to rise and access to private health care remains an 
obstacle to treatment, Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Act and 
Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS funds are more critical than 
ever. Slashing these programs will interrupt early intervention and 
health care to thousands of Americans living with AIDS and will merely 
escalate the pain and suffering that millions of people with AIDS 
experience.
  I call on my good colleagues in Congress to unite against these 
immoral attacks by the big bad wolf. If we are not careful they will 
come and huff and puff and blow our houses down. We can not allow our 
Nation's seniors, children, families and people with AIDS to be put out 
in the streets.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to take a leadership role and join 
me in speaking out and working to oppose these Draconian, and mean-
spirited cuts.


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