Tell Congress to make up for Obama's inaction during this week's National Week to Fight AIDS

Tell Congress to make up for Obama's inaction during this week's National Week to Fight AIDS
Obama is testing AIDS advocates' patience.
His 2010 budget cuts funding to fight AIDS globally, cuts funding for federal AIDS housing, and fails to lift the federal ban on syringe exchange. Now it's up to Congress to push back against Obama's cuts. Starting next week AIDS activists around the country are going to Sound the Alarm during the National Week to Fight AIDS by targeting members of Congress to make changes to Obama's misguided budget.
"President Obama's budget is not what we have hoped for. Congress has the ability to go in to increase funding for additional programs and now is the time to be targeting them," said Health GAP grassroots organizer Kaytee Riek
From June 30 to July 7 there will be actions across the country aimed at key members of Congress who control the nation's purse strings. There will be a march from Sen. Arlen Specter's office in Pennsylvania to Sen. Frank Lautenberg's office in New Jersey. Both are members of the Senate appropriations committee.
On July 7, everyone is encouraged to call Speaker Nancy Pelosi to demand that she "work with the Appropriations Committee to improve President Obama's budget and secure sufficient funding for AIDS programs in the US and around the world."
People who live in 13 states (California, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin) have a special responsibility to speak up! In these states, a Senator sits on an especially important Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee, which decides funding for all programs in the U.S. It's up to that committee to fix the three major issues in the Obama budget. See how to contact these senators
Change that's time has come
In Obama's proposed budget, AIDS housing does not even keep pace with inflation or meet its anticipated demand for the year, let alone develop desperately needed new housing, even as new infections continue to rise. Congress needs to increase the Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA)'s budget by the $50 million dollars, to $360 million.
Wealthy countries have not kept their promises to increase funding for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria, which is facing a $5 billion funding shortfall and is cancelling entire rounds of funding and cutting existing grants.
On the campaign trail, Obama heralded the Fund as a key investment. But his 2010 budget did not request any new money for the Global Fund.
Congress needs to increase funding for the Global Fund to the U.S.' fair share-$2.7 billion-to avoid cuts to grants.
As recently as this winter, President Obama has said that he is strongly in favor of lifting the current ban on using federal funds for syringe exchanges. But he failed to remove the ban from the appropriations bill, citing that this is not the right time and place. But there is no other way to lift the ban besides removing the language banning federal funding. And if we do not do it now, that means many more HIV infections this year. As the administration tells us, every 9 and 1/2 minutes there's a new infection in the United States.
Sound the Alarm is sponsored by ACT-UP Philadelphia, African Services Committee, American Medical Students Association, Artists for A New South Africa, Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project, Global Action for Children, Harm Reduction Coalition, Health GAP, Housing Works, New York City AIDS Housing Network and Proyecto Sol Philadelphia. But anyone can get involved! For more information about how to get involved contact soundthealarm.july7@gmail.comor go to sound-the-alarm.org