Rep. Hastings Amendment: $43 Million Added to ADAP Budget

[edfu]

http://www.southfloridagaynews.com/news/spirit-hiv-aids-news/3175-hastings-aids-aids-drug-budget.html

[Miss Philicia]

That's very good news.

[denb45]

That's very good news.

YES it is 

[cardsfan69]

Wondering how the funds are going to be allocated. Just to waiting list states? All states? Or to Florida since Hastings is a Florida Rep and our ADAP went broke earlier in the month.

[edfu]

The Hastings Amendment is, it turns out, in serious trouble.  Remember:  The House Republicans, who voted to cut $60 billion-$100 billion (depending on whom you speak to) from the budget, did this to the FY 2011 budget, which has never been formally approved and is dependent on a Continuing Resolution, which expires March 4.  Other than Pres. Obama's recent budget proposal for FY 2012, no other action has yet been taken by the House with THAT budget.     

The Hastings Amendment is to the FY 2011 budget, not to the FY 2012 budget.

The Democratic-controlled Senate has vowed to fight the extensive cuts made to the FY 2011 budget by the House, and Obama has said he will veto the reduced FY 2011 House budget, which contains the Hastings Amendment, if it passes.  If this stand-off is not resolved by March 4, the government will have to shut down:  no Medicaid payments, no Social Security payments, etc.  Financial chaos. Throughout the world, actually.  And certainly no additional $43 million for the federal ADAP budget.   

All of this, and the fight over FY 2012 hasn't even begun.

[WillyWump]

If this stand-off is not resolved by March 4, the government will have to shut down:  no Medicaid payments, no Social Security payments, etc.  Financial chaos. Throughout the world, actually.  

 I believe this is a bit of the "Chicken Little Syndrome"

SS, Medicare payments etc...would still churn on as usual with no interruptions. I believe the same happened when the Govt shut down for 21(?) days under Clinton. Essential services still operated. Parks would close, but they are not considered essentail services. Interestingly I think the IRS Helpline would shut down (sweet!). Shutdowns prior to 95 were fairly common, one a year under Carter, 6 or so under Reagan, and 2 Under Clinton.

The air traffic control system, food inspection, Medicare, veterans’ health care and many other essential government programs would run as usual. The Social Security Administration would not only send out benefits but would continue to take applications. The Postal Service, which is self-funded, would keep delivering the mail. Federal courts would remain open.

http://www.trivalleycentral.com/articles/2011/02/25/casa_grande_dispatch/national_headlines/doc4d67d9a96425a634406576.txt


The biggest chaos, at least for us, would be the loss of the 43million for the ADAP budget. Which I agree is reprehensible.

Of course, correct me if I'm wrong and you've seen something I haven't.

-Will

[hope_for_a_cure]

SS, Medicare payments etc...would still churn on as usual with no interruptions. I believe the same happened when the Govt shut down for 21(?) days under Clinton. Essential services still operated.

Correct! 

[Assurbanipal]

The Hastings Amendment is, it turns out, in serious trouble.  Remember:  The House Republicans, who voted to cut $60 billion-$100 billion (depending on whom you speak to) from the budget, did this to the FY 2011 budget, which has never been formally approved and is dependent on a Continuing Resolution, which expires March 4.  Other than Pres. Obama's recent budget proposal for FY 2012, no other action has yet been taken by the House with THAT budget.     

The Hastings Amendment is to the FY 2011 budget, not to the FY 2012 budget.

The Democratic-controlled Senate has vowed to fight the extensive cuts made to the FY 2011 budget by the House, and Obama has said he will veto the reduced FY 2011 House budget, which contains the Hastings Amendment, if it passes.  If this stand-off is not resolved by March 4, the government will have to shut down:  no Medicaid payments, no Social Security payments, etc.  Financial chaos. Throughout the world, actually.  And certainly no additional $43 million for the federal ADAP budget.   

All of this, and the fight over FY 2012 hasn't even begun.

I'd continue to be hopeful about this amendment.  Typically, if a provision is voted on as an amendment in the House (as a straight up or down vote like the Hastings amendment) and the Senate likes it and includes it in its provisions it will usually survive any conference bill discussions.

And it is unlikely that there will not be a conference bill at some point.  There may be a temporary government shut down first like there was in 1995 -- but eventually political pressure will build to get things moving again (in part because most of the stuff that keeps going is on a stop-gap basis) and they will have to pass something to end the shut down.

Either that will be a "no changes" budget or, in the more likely case, there will be some cuts of the sort the White House has already signaled they are in favor of (e.g. some of the wasteful and unnecessary defense pork that got stripped out of the House bill by the freshmen).  So there will probably be a Senate budget and it is important that the Senate get on board with the level of funding in the Hastings bill.  If they do, it is pretty likely to be included in the eventual budget.

[edfu]

I should know better than to believe anything a politician says, including President Obama.  Regarding the possibility of Social Security payments stopping if there is a government shutdown, it appears that what he said is unlikely, but it is impossible to state with 100% certainty that it would not happen.  It depends on the source.  The best objective analysis of this I've found is here:  

http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/feb/24/barack-obama/barack-obama-says-if-theres-government-shutdown-so/

There would definitely be a severe curtailment of other Social Security services, though:

http://socsecnews.blogspot.com/2011/02/frequently-asked-questions-about-social.html

The question of Medicare payments, however, is much iffier:

http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/blog/2011/02/shutdown-means-revenue-drop-for-docs.html