2 Dannemeyer Amendments Added to Key AIDS Measure

Conservative Rep. William E. Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton), who rarely prevails in congressional battles over AIDS policy, came away with two-thirds of what he wanted Tuesday, as a House panel added two Dannemeyer amendments to key AIDS legislation sponsored by Democrats.

Despite a defeat on a third, more controversial amendment, partisans on both sides of the issue said the acceptance of any Dannemeyer suggestion is significant because the Orange County lawmaker is often dismissed as being too reactionary to influence federal policy on acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce unanimously approved the two Dannemeyer amendments to the AIDS Prevention Act of 1990, introduced by liberal Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), after Waxman, in a conciliatory gesture, offered his support of the amendments.

“There has been a great deal of cooperation among members and staff in working on these issues,” Waxman said, “and I think that while differences of opinion continue, that the process has been greatly improved.”

For his part, Dannemeyer vowed to try again on the House floor to add language that would encourage states to require doctors to report the identities of patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS, to public health authorities.

Even if that effort fails, Dannemeyer said, he will support Waxman’s legislation, which he said represents “real progress.”

The Waxman bill would provide during each of the next five years $500 million for early AIDS testing and counseling and $300 million in grants for communities with a high incidence of AIDS cases. The bill would also offer $60 million next year for model AIDS treatment programs and grants for states to buy AIDS-fighting drugs for patients otherwise unable to pay for them.

The successful Dannemeyer amendments would pay for voluntary AIDS testing for all patients admitted to hospitals in areas with a high incidence of AIDS and for a federal study of the effectiveness of attempting to trace the sexual contacts of those infected with HIV.

Earlier, the Energy and Commerce Committee’s health and environment subcommittee included in the Waxman bill another Dannemeyer proposal that would encourage states to require AIDS testing of state prison inmates.

In a largely partisan 25-18 vote, the full committee Tuesday turned down a third amendment, opposed by Waxman, that represents the cornerstone of Dannemeyer’s campaign to redirect national public health policy on HIV infection.

The defeated Dannemeyer amendment, like one rejected two years ago by the full House, 327 to 70, would bar federal aid to states that do not require doctors to report patients who test positive for HIV to public health authorities.

Dannemeyer has repeatedly said public health officials should seek out the partners of those found to be infected with HIV, just as they do those who are infected with syphilis, gonorrhea and other curable venereal diseases.

Homosexual activists and others strongly oppose mandatory reporting because they believe that it would discourage those most at risk of contracting AIDS from seeking testing for fear of discrimination.

Waxman said such decisions should be left up to individual states.

“There is no disease where there is a federal requirement for these lists (of the infected) to be kept,” Waxman said. “You can’t force people to name their sexual partners . . . unless we put them on the rack.”

Dannemeyer argued, however, that federal action is required because none of the 11 jurisdictions that together account for 78% of all AIDS cases require mandatory reporting.

California and New York, which account for about half of all AIDS cases in the United States, do not require doctors to report patients’ HIV status to public health officials, he said.

In addition, Dannemeyer said, scientific advances make it possible to offer treatment to those who test positive for HIV, with the hope of delaying the onset of the fatal disease.