Government Shutdown Looming

A shutdown of “non-essential” functions of the federal government appears imminent, as the most recent Continuing Resolution (CR) that temporarily authorized federal government funding is set to expire on April 8, and Congress’ negotiations for a final bill to fund government operations through Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 seemed to have reached an impasse. While President Obama called on the Senate and House to finalize such a bill at a press conference on Tuesday, he also ruled out signing into law a House-passed Continuing Resolution (CR) that would have provided the federal government funding for one additional week while negotiations continue.

President Rejects Policy Riders in CR That Slash Funds for CDC, Health Care Reform
The President said that not only it was impossible for the government to make plans while being funded two weeks at a time, but that he opposed the inclusion of new policy riders during fiscal year 2011. The House bill would have cut $12 Billion from FY 2011 funding including cuts to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that potentially could be made to HIV prevention. Additionally, the CR had a number of policy riders would have defunded parts of the Affordable Care Act including the Prevention and Public Health and Planned Parenthood, both potential sources of HIV prevention funding. Neither federal nor Washington DC local bans on syringe exchange were included in the bill but the bill blocked the use of Washington D.C. funds for family planning.

Budget Solution Elusive; National Call-In Day Held To Urge Full HIV/AIDS Funding
Negotiators between the Senate and House seemed unable to come up with a solution to the impasse particularly given that Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) told reporters that he was seeking cuts of $40 million after the President and Majority Leader of the Senate, Harry Reid (D-NV) had told reporters that the Speaker had agreed to $33 billion in cuts earlier in the week. There continues to be no agreement on the policy riders. HIV/AIDS activists responded to the impasse by conducting a national call in day on Tuesday calling for full funding for HIV/AIDS issues and no new policy riders.
After continuing negotiations throughout the day on Thursday, Reid and Boehner were scheduled to resume talks Thursday night in the hopes of reaching a resolution before a government shutdown became a reality. After the midday meeting, Boehner said he was optimistic “that we can get to an agreement, but we are not there yet.” Reid said he too was encouraged that the efforts to reach a final deal were continuing. “It’s not easy to do, but it’s doable,” he said.

What Does it Mean For the HIV/AIDS Field?
It is not entirely clear what the impact on HIV/AIDS issues would be given a government shutdown. The Office of Personnel Management released guidelines yesterday (http://www.opm.gov/furlough2011/ ) to help agency heads determine who was essential. However the Administration has said that it estimates that as many as 800,000 federal workers may be furloughed. The Health Resources Services Administration (which administers the Ryan White CARE Act) and CDC (HIV prevention funds) and Office of HIV/AIDS could conceivably be reduced to a skeleton crew or closed. While perhaps not a major problem for a short shutdown, the release of upcoming grants from might be halted. It is unlikely that there would be an immediate impact on direct services from HIV/AIDS programs of a short shutdown, or even one of more than a few weeks since many grantees and sub-grantees maintain enough funding to weather a short stoppage of payments.

Given the budget volatility and uncertainty that this year’s appropriations will match the FY 2010 appropriation, HRSA has been awarding grants at about 50% of full funding. According to a source at the National Alliance for State and Territorial AIDS Directors, partial grants were awarded to States (including Part B Base, ADAP earmark, Emerging Communities and Minority AIDS Initiative) as planned on April 1st but were reduced between 48 & 49% of FY10 awards. Funding that has already been delivered to grantees could be spent as normal.

Washington, D.C. Shutdown Possible As Well
The District of Columbia may also suffer a shutdown since its budget must be approved as part of Congressional negotiations. If the city’s HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, STD, and TB Administration (HAHSTA) staff were forced to be reduced it could affect how quickly people are able to get access to medications or medical services. People living with HIV/AIDS who are having immediate needs should contact their closest HIV/AIDS service organization or go to a nearby emergency room.

The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities has put together a summary of how negotiators reached the point of the looming shutdown here:
http://www.offthechartsblog.org/the-road-to-a-possible-government-shutdown-who%E2%80%99s-not-willing-to-compromise/
 

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“Path To Prosperity,” A Fiscal Year 2012 Budget Blueprint, Gouges Programs for America’s Most Vulnerable Populations

This week, on April 5th, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), chair of the House Budget committee introduced his Fiscal Year 2012 (FY12) budget Path to Prosperity . This is a non binding blueprint for how Rep. Ryan believes the government should spend its funds starting October 1, 2011 until September 30, 2012 the fiscal year 2012. The bill was debated in the House Budget committee on April 6th and was approved for House floor consideration. The final vote was along party lines 22 Republicans in favor and 16 Democrats against. The Ryan budget, a Democratic alternative budget, and possibly others are scheduled to be considered on the House floor next week prior to the two week Spring District work period April 16th – May 1st.

FY 12 of FY 11?
The FY12 Budget debate in Congress began when President Obama presented his FY12 Budget request on February 14th. Rep. Ryan’s budget is the next step in the process to begin the funding of the federal government. This year the confusion over spending is compounded by the ongoing debate over Fiscal Year 2011 appropriations bills, which did not pass prior to the beginning of FY 2011 on October 1, 2010, at the same time the President’s FY2012 -- and now Rep. Ryan’s FY 2012 budget -- are added to the conversation. President Obama requested $374 billion in the health portion of his budget while Rep. Ryan requested $347 billion, neither included Medicare in those figures.

Reverse Robin Hood Approach of “Path To Prosperity” Takes from Low-Income Americans, Benefits the Nation’s Wealthiest
According to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities Rep. Ryan’s budget “proposes a dramatic reverse-Robin-Hood approach that gets the lion’s share of its budget cuts from programs for low-income Americans — the politically and economically weakest group in America and the politically safest group for Ryan to target— even as it bestows extremely large tax cuts on the wealthiest Americans. ” The Ryan budget proposes $2.9 trillion of the $4.3 trillion in cuts are from low-income programs over the next 10 years. The Ryan budget cuts include the food stamp program (now known as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program / SNAP) has drastic cuts, proposed Medicaid block grants, low-income housing, Pell Grants, and other programs for people with limited incomes; and repeal of the health reform law’s subsidies to help low- and moderate-income people purchase health insurance. Plans to change Medicare in this budget would have Medicare falling behind medical costs over the next 10 years.

The Function 550 health discretionary portion of the Budget is $50.122 billion for FY 2012. The budget freezes that level through 2016. This represents a 13.5 percent cut, and is slightly less than Function 550 in Fiscal Year 2008 ($50.853 billion). The broader health community requested $65 billion for Function 550 discretionary in FY 2012; a 12 percent increase to ensure the most basic public health needs.

The Ryan budget also makes permanent the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans first introduced by President Bush 43 benefits the wealthiest one-quarter of 1 percent of Americans at a loss of $700 billion over the next ten years. To read more analysis of the budget by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities click here. To read the analysis of the budget by the Congressional Budget Office requested by Rep. Ryan click here . To read the White House's statement on the Ryan budget, click here.

Upcoming Webinar April 12 Helps Weed Through All of the Budget Threats
AIDS United will continue to keep you informed as the FY 2012 budget process continues. SAVE for All Coalition, of which AIDS United is a member, will conduct a Webinar – Extreme Federal Budget Threats on Tuesday April 12th 12 – 1:30 EDT to walk thru the Ryan budget. The presenters will be Robert Greenstein, President, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and nationally known federal budget expert and Mary Lou Beaver, State Campaigns Director, Every Child Matters/Every Child Matters New Hampshire Director, to register.
 

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