November 10, 2006
EDUCATING A NEW CONGRESS
written by guest authors Kaytee Riek, Health GAP and Paul Davis, Health GAP
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Birddoggers rock! |
Thank goodness the TV commercials are now over, and the election results are in. Looks like we've got a whole new crop of leaders in the House and Senate that are itching for education about AIDS issues.
Congratulations to everyone who worked so hard over the past 2 months out there birddogging the candidates! We were incredibly successful, hitting over 20 public events in Pennsylvania and Ohio alone. We also did some amazing work in Rhode Island, Connecticut, and some American Medical Student Association folk even went to visit Clinton in Iowa and Maryland, and house candidates in Illinois. And Vermont got out there and talked to our only Socialist Senator, Bernie Sanders, as well as VT's new house member.
There are lots of things you can do to help us win big things for people living with AIDS, and after a quick sum-up of what we accomplished, we'll fill you in.
To sum up:
- Sherrod Brown (new Ohio Senator) is on board on trade issues, health workers, and the Ryan White CARE Act
- Bob Casey (new PA Senator) is on board w/ health workers and was actually regurgitating our talking points on the CARE Act for $2.6 billion!
- Barack Obama has been asked, and had agreed, repeatedly to be our champion on global AIDS, and to support the full $8bn for health workers - he even gave advice to birddoggers to make sure they are hitting the Republicans also! (you did, of course!)
- Philly 'burbs: new representatives Patrick Murphy and Joe Sestak both won, and both agreed to meet with us to discuss trade policy, the CARE Act, healthcare workers, and other AIDS issues.
- In RI, Sheldon Whitehouse (new RI Senator) has heard about health workers, and definitely needs some more information.
- In IL, Roskam (replacing Henry Hyde) side-stepped questions, but said he would look into whatever was sent his way.
- Senator Durbin is willing to revisit the inadequate funding levels in his otherwise terrific bill.
- Nancy Pelosi (the next Speaker of the House) said, during a decently long conversation, "we should absolutely be doing more" when asked about Bush's Global AIDS Plan, and said "I'd want even more than that" when asked specifically about $8bn for health workers.
- The First Lady of the United States confirmed that her office is on a course to roll out a new community health worker based initiative soon - likely as early as World AIDS Day: December 1st.
BIRDDOGGERS ROCK!
NEXT STEPS:
It's time to translate these campaign trail commitments into big wins for people with AIDS around the world.
1. World AIDS Day- In the next few days, a kit that is the combined work of SGAC, AMSA, UCGH, Health GAP, ACT UP, and others will come out that will have ways you can take action around world AIDS day to hold our new (and existing) elected leaders accountable.
In the days before World AIDS Day, across the country, we will be going to decision makers' offices with the press and with as big a crowd we can assemble, urging them -and the President- to move quickly to:
- launch a new $8 billion initiative for health workers
- fully fund the Ryan White Care Act at $2.6 billion next year
- repeal Fast Track when it comes up for a vote next year
We will do everything we can to help make sure your WAD events are successful and memorable for the people who can give us what we want- your elected members of Congress. E-mail Kaytee at kaytee.riek@gmail.com for help!
2. Talk to the newbies- many candidates said "talk to me after the election" when we spoke with them. While some were more sincere than others, we should all move quickly in the next few weeks and set up appointments to talk through issues that they should know about.
Maybe even set up the visit on the same day as the pre-World AIDS Day demo. This is really important, because if we don't make demands of the people in power, how are they going to know what we want?
Again, Congratulations on all of your hard work. Very successful across the board. Let us know how we can help you prepare for World AIDS Day...
LEARN MORE
ARTICLE ON NAT PLAN TO END AIDS
Check out this call for a U.S. national AIDS strategy by Chris Collins, author of the report HIV/AIDS Policy in the United States published by the Public Health Watch project of the Open Society Institute.
ELECTION REVIEW CALL
Please join Families USA Executive Director Ron Pollack for a special conference call to discuss what we can expect from the brand-new 110th Congress on health care issues.
Tuesday, November 14
3:00 pm eastern time
- What do the upcoming changes in House and Senate membership mean for health care advocates?
- What are your predictions about the top health-related priorities for the new Congress?
- What's on the horizon for Medicaid, Medicare and State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) in 2007?
- How should Congress tackle the critical health care problems facing America's families?