House proposes to gut ending HIV programs—again

Spending Cuts & Policy Riders Will Never Pass & Become Law

Washington DC… Today, the House Labor, HHS Appropriations Subcommittee released its proposed FY2025 spending bill that, like last year, eliminates the Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. initiative. 

“Instead of providing new investments in ending HIV by increasing funding for testing, prevention programs, such as PrEP, and life-saving care and treatment, House Republicans are again choosing to go through a worthless exercise of cutting programs that the American people depend on and will never pass,” said Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute. “These were purposeful decisions that are well below the agreed-upon budget caps. While we will vigorously fight these cuts, we look forward to working with the entire Congress in a bipartisan fashion on spending bills that can actually become law.”

While all details have not been released, the bill eliminates $214 million from CDC’s HIV prevention programs, $190 million from Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, and $15 million from the HHS Secretary’s Minority HIV/AIDS Fund. Other programs that impact HIV prevention would be eliminated while the bill is weighed down by mean-spirited socially conservative policy riders that impact the people most impacted by HIV.

Last year the House Republicans proposed even higher spending cuts, but due to intense opposition, the bill was unable to pass the full House of Representatives. In the end, after conferencing with the Senate, the cuts were rejected, and HIV programs were flat-funded for FY2024. While flat-funding was a win in this situation, it is woefully inadequate to move our country closer towards ending the HIV epidemic.

In a separate bill, funding for the Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS (HOPWA) program is proposed to be level-funded at $505 million. It is assumed that CDC hepatitis prevention programs also remain stalled at only $43 million.

The Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) initiative was created by the Trump administration and has been continued by President Biden. It is a concerted effort to promote prevention and treatment, including PrEP, initially in the 57 jurisdictions in the U.S. that have the highest concentration of HIV.

There are currently over 1.2 million people living with HIV in the United States, approximately 32,000 new diagnoses annually, with only 65 percent of people virally suppressed and only 36 percent of the people who would benefit from PrEP on it. While we are making progress, racial and ethnic disparities persist, and continued investments are needed to reduce new infections and bring more people into care and treatment.

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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.