Tom Coburn: “Mr. Speaker, the AIDS Action Council, the largest AIDS organization in the United States, supports this funding formula.…”

“Mr. Speaker, the AIDS Action Council, the largest AIDS organization in the United States, supports this funding formula. Let us be clear about that. Number two is Ryan White title I funds, San Francisco last year received over $35 million. At the end of the year, they had a $7 million balance in their checking account. If we take the growth in title I funds that we have seen in this Congress and the two congresses previously, we are averaging 24 to 29 percent per year increase. Take a million dollars. Under this hold harmless, at the end of 5 years that means they would have $750,000. But at a growth rate of 24 to 29 percent, what they would actually have is well over a million dollars at the end of that 5 years. So we are into the specifics of talking about a cut when there is no cut. The fact is there is extreme imbalance in the amount of funding that is going to the EMA in San Francisco versus other areas and it is recognized. This legislation is not intended to hurt San Francisco. I will have a private wager with the gentleman and gentlewomen from California that in 5 years there will be more money under this formula for each of those EMAs than there is today, including San Francisco.”