$2.9-Billion AIDS Spending Bill to Help Cities, States Passes Senate

The Senate overwhelmingly approved an AIDS spending bill Wednesday worth an estimated $2.9 billion over five years that is aimed at helping cities and states cope with growing numbers of patients with the disease.

The vote was 95 to 4. The Senate accepted amendments designed to improve inspection of the nation’s blood supply system and prevent local governments from using their share of the federal money to distribute needles to drug abusers.

“We are working in the best interest of our nation by fighting AIDS and not people with AIDS,” said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.).

The bill was approved after three days of debate and a series of amendments. It was vigorously opposed by Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), who charged that money was being diverted from other diseases and that the bill would encourage homosexual practices, which he termed immoral.

The measure now goes to the House, where a similar version was approved Tuesday on a voice vote by the House Energy and Commerce Committee and awaits floor action. The House version contains several different provisions and would spend $885 million a year.

The Senate’s bill would provide $600 million a year in the 1991 and 1992 fiscal years to cities and states to deal with AIDS patients overburdening many public hospitals. Half of the money would go to 13 big cities that have reported 2,000 or more cases of AIDS, including Los Angeles.

It would authorize spending “such sums as may be necessary” for three more years, through fiscal 1995. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the bill would increase federal outlays by $2.9 billion over five years.

The Senate approved on a voice vote an amendment offered by Kennedy establishing 150 new Food and Drug Administration inspectors as a step to ensure that the blood supply used by hospitals is free of the AIDS virus.