Critics say Hillary Clinton is playing electoral politics in blocking renewal of the Ryan White Act (the primary federal HIV/AIDS care fund), saying that she’s holding up the measure because changes in the act would shift money away from big states where Clinton would need to get elected in a presidential run, including her home state of New York.
The most recent draft of the act generally shifts money away from large cities which were at the epicenter of the AIDS epidemic early on, and directs it to rural and Southern cities where the disease is currently having a devastating impact on people of color.
Said Ernest Hopkins, director of federal affairs for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation: “[Support for any particular formula] depends where you sit.” Naturally, those in major northern cities are unhappy with the changes; those in the South are pushing for the changes to go forward.
Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, generally praises Clinton’s “excellent record” on HIV/AIDS: “She’s a reliable vote and her office is seen as a place to go to support AIDS issues.” Of her funding formula, however, Weinstein told the Washington Post, “Senator Clinton’s view seems very parochial; it looks to the past and not to the future.”
On a side note, Former President Bill Clinton recently told the International AIDS Conference in Toronto that he would engage himself in the fight against AIDS as long as necessary:
“I can’t conceive of anything that would divert me from this commitment, short of a life-threatening illness or success (in defeating HIV-AIDS). So if Father Time doesn’t get me, I’ll stay until we turn it around.”
Sen. Clinton Delays AIDS Law’s Renewal, Citing Cut in N.Y. Funds [washington post]
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