Steven Gunderson: “Mr. Chairman, I want to make three or four quick points that people need to understand. The difference between AIDS and…”

“Mr. Chairman, I want to make three or four quick points that people need to understand. The difference between AIDS and every other disease that has been mentioned is AIDS is the only infectious disease of all of these that was mentioned by the distinguished chairman of the committee. But, second, I think we need to understand what HOPWA is all about. Ladies and gentlemen, this is emergency housing for people, in most cases, in the final stages of AIDS who finally have been disowned by their parents, they have no place to go because of their sexual orientation. If you want to put these kinds of individuals on the street or in hospitals under Medicaid, it costs much greater. You need to understand what you are doing. What we are pleading with the committee for is a commitment that we will not zero out fiscal year 1995 HOPWA funds. We can deal with the issue of emergency housing and Ryan White reauthorization for 1996 later on this year, but you cannot in good conscience zero out the fiscal year 1995 funds.”