Congress agrees to maintain funding for domestic HIV programs

Rejects House Republicans’ Cuts & Program Eliminations

Washington DC… “After House Republicans initially put at risk the nation’s progress in ending HIV, we are relieved that House and Senate congressional negotiators have agreed to maintain funding for domestic HIV prevention, care, and treatment programs,” said Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute.

Funding cuts totaling $767 million, including eliminating the entire Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. initiative, were included in the original House Republicans proposed FY2024 funding bill.  By contrast, the Senate bill, which was drafted and approved on a bipartisan basis, maintained funding for most programs and even proposed an increase for the CDC’s domestic HIV prevention program. The Senate bill was shepherded by Labor HHS Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Tammy Baldwin and Ranking Member Shelley Moore Capito.

As a result of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, funding for FY2024 non-defense spending, including the Labor HHS spending bill, was increased over initial House Republican levels, and, in the end, Congress rejected the proposed HIV program cuts through the bicameral negotiation process.

“While flat funding does not expand our efforts to prevent and treat HIV or get us closer to ending HIV, it is much better than the alternative we have been facing, which was cutting vital HIV services and jeopardizing people’s lives,” continued Schmid.

The rejected House Republican proposed cuts included $542 million for the Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. initiative, a historic effort to end HIV begun by former President Trump and continued by President Biden. This would have eliminated $220 million at the CDC; $165 million from the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, and $157 million from HRSA Community Health Centers that focus on PrEP. In addition, $74 million would have been cut from other parts of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, $32 million from the Minority HIV/AIDS Fund, and SAMHSA’s $117 million Minority AIDS programs.

In the final bill released today, all those programs would be maintained at level funding.

Funding for CDC’s hepatitis division would remain at only $43 million, the same level proposed in the president’s budget and supported by the House and Senate bills.

A funding increase of $6 million for the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) program was included as part of HUD’s FY2024 spending bill signed by the president on March 9th.

HIV+Hep especially thanks House Appropriations Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro for leading the fight against the proposed HIV funding cuts in the House.

Schmid concluded, “We look forward to engaging with the Congress as it now considers the FY2025 spending bill, which we hope will not just maintain but increase funding for fighting infectious diseases, such as HIV and viral hepatitis, in the interest of public health.”

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The HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute is a national, non-profit organization whose mission is to promote quality and affordable healthcare for people living with or at risk of HIV, hepatitis, and other serious and chronic health conditions.