Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 17, 1990 TAG: 9005170512
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/2 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said he believed White House officials would drop any reservations about the bill's cost when they hold budget deliberations with congressional leaders, in part because of the breadth of the Senate's 95-4 vote Wednesday.
"I think basically they wanted to see how the bill would ultimately sift out. They now know, at least from the Senate standpoint," Hatch said.
"We're very hopeful . . . that the White House will see the merits of it and will help to include it in the summit agreement. And I have no doubt that they will," he said.
Hatch, a leading conservative, joined with liberal Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., in sponsoring the AIDS bill.
The measure now goes to the House, where a similar but bigger version awaits floor action. Lobbyists for AIDS groups were optimistic about its chances there.
The Senate's bill would provide $600 million a year in the 1991 and 1992 fiscal years to cities and states to deal with AIDS patients overburdening many public hospitals.
Half the money would go to 13 big cities that have reported 2,000 or more cases of AIDS.
It would authorize spending "such sums as may be necessary" for three more years, through fiscal 1995. The Congressional Budget Office estimated the bill would increase federal outlays by $2.9 billion over five years.
The bill was approved after three days of debate and a long series of amendments. It was vigorously opposed by Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., who charged money was being diverted from other diseases and that the bill would encourage homosexual practices, which he termed immoral.
Joining Helms to vote against the bill were Sens. Gordon Humphrey, R-N.H.; William Roth, R-Del., and Malcolm Wallop, R-Wyo. Not voting was Sen. John Heinz, R-Pa.
The Senate accepted an amendment establishing 150 new Food and Drug Administration inspectors as a step to ensure the blood supply used by hospitals is free of the AIDS virus.
The 13 big cities are to receive half the money in the first year, and $150 million of that in the first 60 days after enactment. Those cities, and congressional estimates of their first-round allocation, are:
Atlanta, $4.7 million; Boston, $3.5 million; Chicago $5 million; Dallas, $3.8 million; Houston, $6.6 million; Los Angeles, $15.8 million; Miami, $6.8 million; New York, $56.3 million; Newark, N.J., $7.7 million; Philadelphia, $4.4 million; San Francisco, $23.5 million; San Juan, Puerto Rico, $5.8 million; and Washington D.C., $6.4 million.
by CNB