In his 2012 budget proposal, President Obama has a message: “We have to live within our means, and make a down payment on our future. ” For the moment, the programs near and dear to the hearts of LGBTs and those with HIV/AIDS appear to be safe — some might even see funding increases.
Obama released his $3.7-trillion 2012 budget proposal Monday; the new fiscal year starts Oct. 1.
President Obama promised not to cut programs, but to rather increase funding for research for HIV/AIDS. He has promised support for the National Institutes of Health by an increase of $74 million, for a total of $3.2 million by 2012. The Ryan White HIV/AIDS program will also see an increase of $88 million for care and treatment of people with HIV/AIDS. Overall funding for the National HIV/AIDS Strategy program will expand care, research and prevention with a budget increase of $2 million, for a total of $28 billion, in 2012. The main goals of NHAS are to reduce HIV, increase access to care, optimize health outcomes and reduce HIV-related health disparities.
The budget also allocates money to increase funding for HIV/AIDS prevention. The budget would fund prevention programs to help reduce high-risk behaviors associated with HIV transmission. The president also has promised to maintain funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS at $335 million.
The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division will also see an increase of 11 percent in funding: This investment will enforce civil-rights protections for people with HIV/AIDS and fight to reduce stigma and discrimination against those living with the disease.
On a conference call Tuesday, when asked what programs will be cut for people living with HIV/AIDS, Jeffrey S. Crowley, White House Office of National AIDS Policy Director, said, “The President is making increases and no cuts to programs for HIV and AIDS.”
Support for equal rights for hospital visitation will continue, and the Department of Health and Human Services will ensure that hospitals with patients who are on Medicare and Medicaid will continue to receive the dignity they deserve in their time of distress: LGBT individuals, as well as widowers and widows, have the right to choose who can visit them regardless of whether that person is a family member, spouse or friend. Hospitals can no longer dictate who can and can’t visit patients; the president has promised to continue his full support on this issue.
Support for federal employee domestic-partnership benefits will continue, which provide the same benefits to same-sex couples as it does to opposite-sex couples. These benefits include health insurance, dental, vision, life insurance, vacation and relocation benefits.
Antibullying and hate crimes are also on the president’s radar, with a budget of $132 million for state and local grants to support the implementation of programs to prevent bullying, harassment and substance abuse. These programs would promote the emotional and physical health of students.
Obama has also promised to continue to support the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act with a 5-percent increase to fight hate crimes.
Other programs have not fared as well: With a goal to reduce the deficit by $1 trillion over the next 10 years, there are proposed cuts across the board. The low-income home-energy programs would receive reduced funding, as well as community development programs. Additionally, Obama will continue the newly instituted federal civilian pay freeze for the next two years.
Social Security would receive a 9-percent increase from 2010 funding levels, but the new budget also asks for outdated or ineffective programs to be terminated. There have been more than 120 terminations or reductions resulting in a budget savings of $20 billion each year.
Obama said the budget proposal, which is already garnering harsh criticism from Republicans, reflects hard choices.
“So even as recovery begins to take hold, we have more work to do to live up to our promise by repairing the damage this brutal recession has inflicted on our people, generating millions of new jobs, and seizing the economic opportunities of this competitive, new century.
“These must be the priorities as we put together our budget for the coming year. The fiscal realities we face require hard choices. A decade of deficits, compounded by the effects of the recession and the steps we had to take to break it, as well as the chronic failure to confront difficult decisions, has put us on an unsustainable course. That’s why my budget lays out a path for how we can pay down these debts and free the American economy from their burden.”
<i>The full budget proposal can be viewed at <a href=”http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget” target=”_blank”>www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget</a>.</i>