[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 124 (Friday, October 6, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1714]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 RYAN WHITE CARE ACT AMENDMENTS OF 2000

                                 ______
                                 

                               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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