President's FY 2005 Budget   Domestic HIV Programs

Publication: AIDS ACTION
Published: 2/11/04

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On Monday, February 2, 2004, President Bush released his Fiscal Year (FY) 2005 budget of $2.4 trillion to the nation. That same day, in a press conference about the FY 2005 budget, Tommy Thompson, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) claimed that “under the President’s leadership…we [have] reenergized the fight against HIV/AIDS at home and abroad.” However, the figures that President Bush has requested in his FY 2005 budget for the domestic HIV/AIDS portfolio do not suggest that the rigor of this effort will be sustained, let alone “reenergized.”

There are only a few notable funding increases in the domestic HIV/AIDS portfolio for FY 2005: $35 million for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) in the Ryan White CARE Act, which is administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA); $3 million in the Minority HIV/AIDS Initiative (MHAI) Secretary’s fund; and $80 million in the Office of AIDS Research (OAR) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Yet these increases pale in comparison to the figures that the HIV/AIDS community is requesting for FY 2005. The community requests include a $319 million dollar increase for ADAP, a $204 million increase in the MHAI account, and a $240 million increase for OAR. The overall difference between the President’s requests and the community’s requests for these budget items exceeds $600 million.

Further, the President’s budget included inadequate funding requests for the Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS (HOPWA) program at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). HOPWA was flat funded at $298 million. According to the FY 2005 budget, these funds will support approximately 73,700 HIV positive people and their families. But this amount is still $52 million below the community request.

When analyzing these numbers, there are a couple of essential points that must be made in order for an accurate picture to emerge. For FY 2005, the President has not only recommended funding that is level to that of FY 2004, but in many cases, his recommendations fall below the funds provided in 2003. This situation is no better exemplified than in the Ryan White CARE Act. In the President’s FY 2005 budget the entire Ryan White CARE Act, with the exception of ADAP, was flat-funded to the amounts in the FY 2004 budget post-rescission (in the final FY 2004 budget, a .59% across-the-board cut was made to all non-defense discretionary programs, including HIV/AIDS programs). Because FY 2005 funding for many federal HIV/AIDS programs is equal to the lower, post-rescission amounts in the FY 2004 budget, the President’s FY 2005 requests for these programs are actually lower than their funding levels in FY 2003.

Despite the severe shortfalls in funding for the domestic HIV/AIDS portfolio, some good news arrived in the form of a modest increase in the United States’ funding for the global HIV/AIDS initiative. The FY 2005 budget includes $2.8 billion for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)—a $400 million increase from the FY 2004 appropriation.

Although the overall picture seems bleak, it is important to realize that the President’s suggested budget is only the first step in the budget process. AIDS Action staff will continue to keep its members apprised of developments in the budget process and, as Congress moves forward with its own budget process, we will also continue to advocate for increased funding levels in the FY 2005 domestic HIV/AIDS portfolio.

For a complete breakdown of the FY 2005 budget for HIV/AIDS programs and a comparison of the budget to the last two fiscal years, go to http://www.aidsaction.org/legislation/pdf/president_FY2005_budget-comparison.pdf.

For further information on the Department of Health and Human Services budget, visit http://dhhs.gov/budget/05budget/fy2005bibfinal.pdf.

Contact: Michael Carrigan 202-530-8030 ext. 3074 mcarrigan@aidsaction.org