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CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES |
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| WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Resident Commissioner, Luis Fortuño, today introduced legislation (H.R. 5292) to authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to take the necessary measures to guarantee that federal Ryan White funds flow quickly to the community-based and faith-based organizations that care for HIV/AIDS patients in Puerto Rico. The purpose of the bill is to ensure that the funds reach the people who rely on them to maintain their health. “This legislation responds to the pleas and complaints that we have received from those community and faith-based organizations that provide health services to patients with HIV/AIDS on a daily basis, whose operations are being strangled by the administrative incapacity of the local government to transfer the federal funds with the necessary speed,” said the Resident Commissioner. Leaders of community organizations in Puerto Rico have expressed their concern with the sluggishness of the local government in transferring the Ryan White funds to health care providers. “Without the funds, these organizations cannot do their work. It is unacceptable that the bureaucracy that permeates our government is putting the lives of these patients at risk,” said Fortuño, explaining that in 2003 Puerto Rico had the second highest rate of AIDS-related deaths in the United States and remains today one of the top five jurisdictions in the nation in terms of the total number of HIV/AIDS cases. Fortuño’s bill would authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to intervene in the administration of Ryan White funds assigned to a state or city, if the Secretary makes a determination that the funds have not been properly administered in either of the two previous grant years. Upon a determination of “substantial failure” by the government grantee, the federal agency is required either to appoint a third party to administer the funds or to administer the funds directly itself. “The intention is to guarantee that the people who need the funds the most are able to receive them and, at the same time, to ensure that the funds do not have to be returned to the federal government because they were not used within the grant year,” said the Resident Commissioner. If approved, the legislation will enable the Secretary of Health and Human Services to directly fund the community and faith-based organizations that serve patients with HIV/AIDS and their families. With this legislation, Fortuño takes one more step towards improving the quality of life for HIV/AIDS patients. Last year, the Resident Commissioner co-sponsored H.R. 2736 with Representative Nydia Velazquez, to increase the amount of Ryan White funds destined for Puerto Rico. (####) |
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