Senate Rejects Coburn Spending Bill Amendment To Transfer $60M From CDC Construction, Renovation Project to ADAP
The Senate on Wednesday defeated 14-85 an amendment proposed by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) to the fiscal year 2006 Labor, HHS and Education spending bill (HR 3010) that would have transferred $60 million into the AIDS Drug Assistance Program, CQ Today reports. The funding has been earmarked for renovations and building construction at CDC, which Coburn said includes a Japanese garden and a stream on the agency's Atlanta campus. Coburn complained about how the money would be spent, but Georgia senators defended the provision, according to CQ Today. Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) said contractors had come across a rocky area on the campus during construction and CDC Director Julie Gerberding decided to create a scenic area for agency employees. "I guess what we've got out there is a gazebo of some sort that must have a Japanese tinge to it," Chambliss said, adding, "It looked like a nice place where employees could go out in the open air and have lunch" (Swindell, CQ Today, 10/26). ADAPs are federal- and state-funded programs that provide HIV/AIDS-related medications to low-income, uninsured and underinsured HIV-positive individuals. The National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors in its latest ADAP Watch this month said 22 state ADAP programs either have implemented waiting lists or other cost-containment measures or are considering such measures (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 10/13).
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