Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act Of 2009

Floor Speech

Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act Of 2009

* Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 3792, the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009. Our state receives $75 million in federal Ryan White assistance which provides care to an estimated 10,000 people in the state.

* People in Illinois depend on Ryan White Care programs for help with expensive anti-retroviral drugs, to aid them in getting to and from the medical appointments, to prevent transmission from mother to child, and for continued access to dental services through the University of Illinois at Chicago. Throughout the year, I meet with Illinoisans whose lives have been changed because of these services and whose futures would be jeopardized without them. So I am pleased to see that the bill will result in a 4 year reauthorization that will allow states to continue their current programs without disruption to programs currently in operation. I am also glad that the draft continues the extension period for names-based reporting. Illinois is one of the states still transitioning from collecting surveillance data under a code-based system to a names-based system, and the state is grateful for the extended time.

* I would also like to acknowledge the AIDS Foundation of Chicago and the many others in the Illinois HIV/AIDS community for being tireless advocates and unwavering resources for me and the 44,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in the state. We could not have accomplished this bill and other important pieces of legislation, like comprehensive health reform without their activism and community organizing.

* We have come a long way since the start of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Twenty years ago, someone was diagnosed as being HIV positive and people assumed it was a death sentence. The public was often misinformed about modes of transmission, and the science behind treatment was far more limited than it is today.

* Unfortunately, a recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that the level of attention paid to HIV/AIDS awareness has declined rapidly. The percentage of the American people who say that they have seen or heard or read a lot about HIV/AIDS in the U.S. has fallen from 34% five years ago to just 14% today. The percentage of African Americans reporting has fallen from 62% to 33%.

* The public's sense of urgency is down. And yet we learned earlier this year that 3% of the residents in the District are infected with HIV or AIDS, making D.C.'s rates higher than those in West Africa.

* Our need to increase prevention efforts and raise awareness about the disease is no less important or any less urgent today than it was when the first cases were diagnosed in 1981. The Ryan White Care Act enables us to continue moving forward with prevention and treatment. I urge my colleagues to support this critical legislation.

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