Subject: HOUSE SUBCOMMITTEE VOTES TO ELIMINATE AIDS RESEARCH BUDGET
From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 1995 15:41:43 -0400

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  HOUSE SUBCOMMITTEE VOTES TO ELIMINATE AIDS RESEARCH BUDGET

         -- Move Could Threaten Search for a Cure --

     WASHINGTON -- A House subcommittee late last night voted to
eliminate the federal government's budget for AIDS research.  The
appropriations subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services,
and Education voted along party lines to gut the Office of AIDS
Research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and eliminate
$1.4 billion targeted for AIDS research for Fiscal Year 1996. 
Eight Republicans and five Democrats sit on the subcommittee.

     "This move seriously threatens efforts to find a cure for
AIDS," said Winnie Stachelberg, Senior Health Policy Advocate for
the Human Rights Campaign Fund and cochair of National
Organizations Responding to AIDS.  "Despite unprecedented public
support for national leadership on AIDS, the subcommittee voted
to shirk that responsibility.  This is no time to retreat on
AIDS."

     The Office of AIDS Research oversaw $1.33 billion in AIDS
research this year, and the Clinton Administration requested $1.4
billion for Fiscal Year 1996.  AIDS is the leading killer of all
Americans between the ages of 25 and 44.

     National polls show strong voter support for federal AIDS
research.   66 percent of voters said AIDS research should be a
high priority of the federal government, in a poll conducted in
May by Lake Research, Inc.   A bipartisan poll conducted in
February by Lake Research and the Republican Tarrance Group found
that 69 percent of Republican voters favor maintaining or
increasing federal funds for AIDS research.

     "Clearly, the American people support federal efforts to
find a cure for AIDS," Stachelberg said.  "Too many men, women
and children are threatened by this disease for us to turn our
backs now.  AIDS research should remain a top priority."

     The Human Rights Campaign Fund (HRCF), the nation's largest
lesbian and gay political organization, works to end
discrimination, secure equal rights, and protect the health and
safety of all Americans.  With a national staff, and volunteers
and members throughout the country, HRCF lobbies the federal
government on lesbian, gay, and HIV/AIDS issues; educates the
general public; participates in election campaigns; organizes
volunteers; and provides expertise and training at the state and
local level.  

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