called the Ryan White Care Act Reauthorization that is currently before the Senate. One thing you can always count on is turning the topic to AIDS in Africa or elsewhere when the topic of the AIDS crisis in the United States. Why? Because it deals with racial issues, sexuality and poverty.

There is currently an awful bill that was passed by the Republican dominated House and which is stalled in the Senate, thanks to great leaders like Senator Clinton, Obama and others. I pray that the bill does not get passed in its' current form.

It needs 675 million dollars added to it to fully fund the care, treatment, testing, prevention of HIV/AIDS in this country. Instead of doing that, the Republicans have very evilly pitted red states against blue states, rural areas against urban areas, and organizations and medical care providers against each other to desperately fight for money that sold out AIDS activists say "just isn't there".

The Ryan White Reauthorization Act must be fully funded according to need. That need includes 675 million more dollars. Republican Senators and House members should not be given cover and be allowed to say they are doing something about AIDS when what they are proposing is to punish doctors and community based organizations in larger, more urban areas who have prevented AIDS from becoming as bad as it is in Africa and Asia, in the US.

The current bill is similar to saying that we have conducted breast cancer screening in areas where many women and some men were at risk of developing breast cancer for the last fifteen years and now that we have determined that there are people with breast cancer in that area we are going to destroy all the networks and expertise in those areas,and give too little money to other areas in the US to address a huge problem that they all but ignored for the last fifteen years. Now, everyone will have too little money to address the problem.

Well, if you cut Medicaid and dump a $2700 donut hole through the Medicare Prescription drug act on people with HIV/AIDS throughout the country you'll just see what we are already seeing. People are buying food instead of accessing medicatioons or medical care. When a wave of multiple drug resistant tuberculosis or highly resistant HIV hits your area - and it will - you will all be able to thank a Republican controlled administration and Congress for ruining yet another great program, and putting the health of the people in this country last, again.

Either fund the Reauthorization Act with an additional 675 million, or wait until a new Congress gets in. Thanks to Senators like Obama, that awful bill has not yet been approved by the Senate. Pity to deprive Republican Senators and House members from the South and rural areas of the ability to say they did something about AIDS in their own states.