District Should 'Remain Vigilant' As Senate Votes On Bill That Would Remove Ban On Funding For Needle-Exchange Programs, Letter Says

Main Category: HIV / AIDS
Article Date: 05 Dec 2007 - 10:00 PDT

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Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian Fenty and other district leaders should "remain vigilant" as the Senate this month likely will vote on a $21 billion appropriations bill that would lift a ban on city funding for needle-exchange programs, Grant Smith -- legislative assistant for the Office of National Affairs at the Drug Policy Alliance -- writes in a Washington Post letter to the editor in response to a Nov. 30 Post editorial (Smith, Washington Post, 12/4).

The House in June passed the appropriations bill after lawmakers voted to remove language that prevents the district from financing the programs. The ban was first imposed under a federal law signed by former President Clinton in 1998 that prohibits the district government from using local tax money to fund any organization that operates a needle-exchange program. The House has added the ban each year to the district's appropriations bill (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 7/2).

According to Smith, the bill has "languished in the Senate since July." District leaders should be aware this month, "when the Senate will be in a rush" to pass the bill, Smith writes, adding that the Senate "should reject any last-minute attempts to restore the ban." Only after President Bush "signs the bill can the district focus on delivering on its promise to infuse critically needed money" into needle-exchange programs, Smith writes, concluding, "We cannot afford to assume Congress and the president will do the right thing" (Washington Post, 12/4).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.