PI Action alerts & updates ... 2002
Save ADAP “Call-In District Week”
Call your U.S. Representative & Senators in Their Local Offices
this Week & Urge Them to Support $162 million Increase for AIDS
Drug Assistance Program!
This week (August 26 — September 1) is the AIDS Treatment
Advocates Coalition’s SAVE ADAP “District Office Call-In
Week”. Members of Congress are still on recess and many are
working out of their district offices this month. It is a good time
to call their local offices and ask them to be a champion for the
AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP).
This program, which provides access to treatment for low-income
people living with HIV/AIDS who are uninsured or without adequate
prescription drug coverage, is facing a financial crisis. Many states
have been forced to implement limits to treatment access, including
waiting lists. A $162 million increase from the federal government
is needed in the Fiscal Year 2003 appropriations bill to help alleviate
this crisis. For more information about ADAP, go to www.atac-usa.org/adap.html.
The Senate Appropriations Committee has approved a $100 million
increase for ADAP. While this is a significant and badly needed
increase, it falls well short of what is needed. There is still
an opportunity for the entire Senate to approve a higher increase,
but we need one Senator willing to be a champion and fight for it
on the Senate floor. The House of Representatives is expected to
start its appropriations process in early September.
Please take a few minutes this week to call your elected officials
and urge them to show a real commitment for people living with HIV/AIDS!
What you can do:
Call your U.S. Representative and two U.S. Senators’ district
office this week. Identify yourself as a constituent. Tell whoever
answers the phone that you are calling to urge the Representative/Senator
to take a leadership role in advocating for a $162 million increase
for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program and the highest possible funding
for all HIV/AIDS programs. You can use the sample phone message
below to help craft your message.
Contact information:
You can find phone numbers for district offices on your Representative
and Senator’s websites. Go to www.house.gov and www.senate.gov.
If you need help identifying your elected officials, you can:
call Project Vote Smart at 1-888-868-3762 or check out their website,
www.vote-smart.org or
email Ryan Clary at rclary@projectinform.org with your street address,
including zip code.
Sample message:
“I am a constituent of Representative/Senator
________________. I am calling to urge him/her to do everything
in his/her power to get a $162 million increase for the AIDS Drug
Assistance Program in the Fiscal Year 2003 appropriations bill.
This program provides treatment for people with HIV/AIDS who otherwise
wouldn’t be able to afford it. I also urge the Representative/Senator
to support the highest possible funding for all other HIV/AIDS programs.”
Please share this Alert with your family, friends, colleagues,
etc. and ask them to take action as well!
Reminders:
If you haven’t already, please write a letter to your Representative
and Senators in support of the $162 million increase that can be
hand-delivered by SAVE ADAP members on September 9 and 10. A sample
letter and information on where to send the letters is available
in our previous Alert. If you would like a copy of that Alert, send
an email rclary@projectinform.org.
We will also have a “Call DC office day” on Wednesday,
September 4. Look for an Alert in a few days with more information
and sample message.
For more information, contact one of the following SAVE ADAP members:
ll Arnold (DC)
202-588-1775
weaids@tiicann.org
Jean-Michel Brevelle (Maryland)
301-890-5132
jmbrevelle@earthlink.net
Steve Carroll (Oregon)
503-288-6582
stevecarroll@attbi.com
Lei Chou (New York)
TheAccessProject@aol.com
Ryan Clary (California)
415-558-8669 x224
rclary@projectinform.org
Mark Garrett (Washington)
cruisingu@msn.com
Sue Gibson (Texas)
suegibson@nova1.net
Kathie Hiers (Alabama)
205-324-9822 ext. 331
Kathie@aidsalabama.org
David Munar (Illinois)
312-922-2322
dmunar@aidschicago.org
Robert O’Brien (Pennsylvania)
215-803-5181
robrien@temple.edu
Jerry Spillman (California)
gspillman@earthlink.net
