[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 16]
[House]
[Pages 22422-22423]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           MS. SOLIS'S SPECIAL ORDER ON LATINOS AND HIV/AIDS

  Mr. GUTIERREZ. Madam Speaker, I rise today to discuss the devastating 
effect HIV/AIDS has had on the Latino community and communities of 
color across this country. Today, I am also pleased to be an original 
cosponsor of Congresswoman Hilda Solis' Concurrent Resolution to 
support the observance of National Latino AIDS Awareness Day. This bill 
was introduced at a pivotal time: the bedrock of our Nation's response 
to HIV/AIDS, the Ryan White CARE Act, expired last week on September 
30, 2005.
  Unfortunately, HIV/AIDS has a disproportionate stronghold in the 
Latino community. The numbers are disturbing. The CDC has reported that 
43,171 people were diagnosed with AIDS in 2003. Twenty percent of those 
reported were Latino, yet Latinos represent only 14 percent of the 
population. In the past 3 years, the number of new HIV/AIDS diagnoses 
among Latinos increased more than 14 percent. This disparity is on 
track to continue to grow even greater because the latest statistics 
show that AIDS diagnoses among whites has decreased three percent from 
2000 to 2003.
  These trends are especially evident in our urban areas. According to 
the City of Chicago Department of Health, the 2003 AIDS rate was 32.9 
per 100,000 people in Chicago. In the United States as a whole, the 
AIDS rate is half that.
  Chicago's high rate reflects the prevalence of AIDS in communities of 
color. In 2003, the AIDS rate for African-Americans in Chicago was 
three times the AIDS rate of Whites. Latinos also have a higher AIDS 
rate than whites in Chicago.
  This epidemic has left many of our metropolitan areas struggling to 
care for those affected by HIV/AIDS. Many of the minorities suffering 
disproportionately from HIV/AIDS do not have the access to the 
healthcare and other services they need. When Congress passed the Ryan 
White CARE act in 1990, we put in place programs that addressed these 
issues and, as a result, we have seen improvement in the way we treat 
and care for uninsured and underinsured people living with HIV/AIDS.
  But more needs to be done. AIDS has placed our country in a state of 
emergency. Indeed, this notion is expressed in the title of the 
legislation, the ``Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency, CARE Act.'' 
This emergency requires the attention of the Congress, and I am pleased 
to join Congresswoman Solis today in calling for the reauthorization of 
the Ryan White CARE Act and cosponsoring her bill to support the 
observance of National Latino AIDS Awareness Day.
  Madam Speaker, we need to recognize the disproportionate affect AIDS 
has on our communities of color, and I join my fellow Members of the 
Congressional Hispanic Caucus tonight to call on Congress to work 
swiftly to reauthorize and strengthen the Ryan White CARE Act and to 
make sure these programs are fully funded.
  Ms. LEE. Madam Speaker, I rise tonight to join the Gentlewoman from 
California, my colleague Ms. Solis, to talk about the Ryan White CARE 
Act and the devastating impact of HIV/AIDS upon minority communities.
  I want to thank my colleague for her leadership in organizing this 
event as we approach the third anniversary of National Latino AIDS 
Awareness Day on October 15th. As the leader of the Congressional 
Hispanic Caucus's Health taskforce, I know she is a forceful advocate 
for ending the racial and ethnic health disparities that continue to 
plague both our communities.
  Madam Speaker, 15 years ago, a young and courageous boy by the name 
of Ryan White inspired members of this body and people all over the 
country to come together out of compassion to destigmatize HIV/AIDs, 
and to provide medical care and support services to people living with 
this dreaded disease.
  The passage of the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency 
(CARE) Act in 1990 provided hope for thousands of Americans afflicted 
with HIV/AlDS, and signaled the beginning of a sustained Federal 
response that has now grown to over $2 billion a year.
  The Ryan White CARE Act has been reauthorized twice so far, first in 
1996, and then in 2000. Each time we have remembered Ryan for his 
courage and his compassion and we have remembered countless others who 
have needlessly become infected by this devastating disease and who 
still needed our help.
  Now it is time to do it all over again.
  Since the beginning of this pandemic, over 500,000 individuals have 
died in the United States, many of whom will be forever memorialized 
through the ongoing AIDS Memorial Quilt project.
  The AIDS quilt stands as testament to the strength and vitality of 
those who were claimed by this dreaded disease, but it also charts the 
evolution of HIV/AIDS here in the U.S. as well.
  The face of AIDS has changed dramatically since the early days of the 
epidemic, and now people of color are overwhelmingly represented.
  Today, there are over 1 million people living with HIV/AIDS in the 
United States, 42 percent of which are African Americans, 20 percent of 
which are Hispanic.
  Every year another 40,000 individuals get infected with HIV, over 50 
percent of whom are African Americans, and 15 percent of which are 
Hispanic.
  The fastest growing categories of new infections nationally are among 
African American women and the Hispanic community.
  My district in Alameda County reflects the national averages, with 
African Americans representing over 50 percent of all new AIDS cases, 
and Hispanics 21 percent, and over the last 8 years the numbers for 
Hispanics have shot up.
  Clearly we need to work harder to get the word out about HIV/AIDS, 
and we need to make sure that our communities have access to the 
resources they need.
  That's why I'm a proud original co-sponsor of Ms. Solis's resolution 
supporting National Latino AIDS Awareness Day. We need to recognize the 
fact that AIDS affects everybody, and the more than 76,000 Latinos 
currently living with AIDS are testament to that.
  At the same time we must also recognize the work of national and 
community based organizations, like the Latino Commission on AIDS, that 
are doing the work. In my district, organizations like La Clinica de La 
Raza, AIDS Project East Bay, SalvaSIDA, CALPEP, and SMAAC, deserve to 
be recognized for their efforts to reach out to Hispanic and African 
American communities alike.
  It is their work that drives us here in Congress to demand more 
funding for communities of color dealing with HIV/AIDS. And that's why 
we established the Minority AIDS Initiative in 1998 with President 
Clinton.
  As a key complement to the Ryan White CARE Act, the Minority AIDS 
Initiative plays a critical role in supporting outreach and capacity 
building in minority communities.
  As we work to re-authorize the CARE Act, we must strengthen the 
Minority AIDS Initiative and ensure that the needs of minorities are 
being met.
  That means we need a strong and robust primary prevention approach 
that differentiates messages between race, ethnicity, gender, sexual 
orientation and identity, and age.
  We also need to make sure to build in housing and supportive services 
to provide continuity of care for all individuals infected with HIV--
especially in minority communities.
  That means providing convenient access to case management, dental 
care, mental health

[[Page 22423]]

therapy, psychosocial support, and drug and alcohol treatment while we 
try and address the needs of people living with HIV/AIDS.
  As we move to re-authorize the CARE Act, we must also ensure full 
funding for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), the Housing 
Opportunities for People with AIDS program (HOPWA), and the Minority 
AIDS Initiative.
  Each of these programs is critical to addressing the needs of people 
living with AIDS and to addressing the needs of those who are most 
vulnerable, and they deserve our support.
  I hope that with this effort today we can begin to take some concrete 
steps to move forward with the re-authorization of the Ryan White CARE 
Act.
  I want to thank my colleague again for organizing this discussion.

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