Date:         Thu, 12 Jan 1995 11:22:49 -0500
Reply-To: mamurphy@igc.apc.org

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Following is this month's sample letter on aids issue to be sent to your
Congressional Representative.


The Hon.
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Representative

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.

Please support the following funding levels for fiscal year 1996:

HIV/AIDS Prevention Education
     Centers for Disease Control                         $ 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

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 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 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.

Very truly yours,