Date:         Tue, 7 Feb 1995 16:11:35 -0500
Reply-To: mamurphy@igc.apc.org

[ Send all responses to mamurphy@igc.apc.org only. Any responses to the
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Following is this month's sample letter on HIV/AIDS issue.  The letter is to
be sent to your U.S. senators.

If you do send a letter, make a phone call or send an E-mail message on
this issue please let us know (send an email message to mamurphy@igc.org).
We need to know whether are efforts are effective.

                                                          February 12, 1995


The Hon.
The U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator:

It is essential that the nation's important HIV/AIDS related programs receive
full funding for fiscal year 1996 and that cuts not be made in existing
funding for 1995. While I realize that you will continue to be under
considerable pressure to balance the federal budget, this cannot be done by
taking a short-term view or doing so at the expense of some of the nation's
most needy citizens.

Based upon the consensus recommendations of a nation-wide consortium of AIDS
service and policy organizations, I am asking you to support the following
funding levels for fiscal year 1996:

     HIV/AIDS Prevention Education (Centers for Disease Control & Prevention)
723.3M
     Ryan White CARE Act (Health Resources and Services Administration)
933.9M
     HIV/AIDS Research (National Institutes of Health)
1,692.0M
     HIV/AIDS Housing (AIDS Housing Opportunities Act)
337.0M

You can help achieve the goal of reaching these funding levels by lobbying
your colleagues in the appropriate Senate committees and by your actions on
the Senate floor.

While AIDS is a preventable disease, it can only be prevented through
effective educational campaigns which then lead to appropriate behavioral
changes. In the long run these changes save countless lives and millions, if
not billions, of taxpayer dollars. Once people are infected with HIV their
useful lives can be extended through programs such as those funded by the Ryan
White CARE Act, allowing them to continue to work and pay taxes.

Research to find a vaccine and cure for AIDS-related diseases is expensive in
the short run, but it will have many significant spin-offs for solving other
health problems and, in the long run, it will save many lives and many dollars
that might otherwise have to be spent on patient care.

It is much more cost effective to treat many terminally ill persons in their
homes rather than in hospitals or other care facilities. The AIDS Housing
Opportunities Act helps people impoverished by AIDS to stay in their homes.

Please vote for the levels of appropriations recommended above and do not cut
the existing funding for these important programs.

I look forward to hearing from you on these matters.

Very truly yours,