Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act Of 2009

Floor Speech

Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act Of 2009

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Mr. PALLONE. I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of S. 1793, the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009, as passed by the Senate. The Energy and Commerce Committee has filed a report which constitutes the legislative history for the House version of this bill. The House bill is nearly identical to the bill before us today.

We worked closely with our Republican colleagues, and I would like to thank Congressmen Waxman, Barton, and Deal for their hard work on this issue. We also worked with our Senate colleagues to come together on this legislation, and I am proud to say that what we have before us today is both bipartisan and bicameral.

The Ryan White CARE Act was named after a young boy who contracted the AIDS virus from a blood transfusion and sadly lost his life to this horrible disease. Since his death in 1990, we as a Nation have made great strides in preventing and treating HIV/AIDS in large part due to the Ryan White program.

Not so long ago, an HIV/AIDS diagnosis was a guaranteed death sentence. Today, many patients are living full and long lives due to the advancements in treatment and the complicated but effective mix of drugs and therapies that are currently on the market.

In addition, we have made huge progress on education, awareness, and prevention. New knowledge of the disease has allowed for better and more targeted prevention programs that have effectively slowed the spread of HIV/AIDS.

In spite of these advancements, however, Mr. Speaker, there are nearly 40,000 new HIV infections reported each year, and according to the CDC, approximately 1.1 million Americans are currently living with the disease and approximately 51,000 people in my home State of New Jersey. Since the beginning of this epidemic, an estimated 580,000 Americans with AIDS have died.

It is more crucial than ever given the high numbers of Americans suffering from this disease that we have the Ryan White program. Accounting for roughly 19 percent of all Federal funds that are used on HIV/AIDS care, the program provides treatment and support services to individuals and families living with the AIDS virus and serves over half a million low-income Americans. This program is without a doubt extremely vital in our battle against this epidemic.

The bill before us today does a number of things. It reauthorizes the Ryan White program for 4 years. It increases the authorization amounts to account for the increased number of individuals living with the HIV/AIDS diagnosis. The bill eliminates the sunset provisions so that never again will patients have to fear that their services will abruptly end. It allows States who are still reporting using a code-based system to continue transitioning to a names-based system without disrupting the provision of care to patients, and it ensures that no area receives too much of a cut in funding from the previous year while also making sure that the money does get directed to those areas of the country that are hardest hit by the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

This is a strong bill, Mr. Speaker, that will ensure continued health care services for millions of Americans who depend on them with their lives. And I urge my colleagues to join me in voting for this vitally important bill.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I will yield myself such time as I may consume.

I just wanted to stress the importance of this in my home State of New Jersey. I know that in my district in New Brunswick we have the headquarters for the Hyacinth Foundation, which is one of the organizations that receives some of the money under the Ryan White Act. The type of work that they have been doing over the last few years to help with HIV/AIDS patients is just incredible. Obviously, we need more research, but the services and the treatment that are provided are really lifesaving for a lot of these patients, and it is so important.

I know that there was some concern about the time running out because of the authorization expiring, but now we are going to guarantee that this money continues. In fact, this bill does not have a sunset provision so that these programs will continue. We won't face this problem of having another deadline in the future. So that is really crucial, and I can't stress it enough.

At this time, I would like to yield such time as she may consume to Representative Lee again.

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