For Immediate Release:
February 7, 2006

Contact: Adrienne Verrilli 212-819-9770 x325

New York , NY - President Bush's proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2007 requests an increase of 15% to $204 million for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs that have never been proven effective. If this request is fulfilled, total federal tax-payer dollars spent on these programs will top just over $1.1 billion.

"The President's conservative ideology, not public health, is the big winner in his proposed budget," said William Smith, vice president for Public Policy for the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S. (SIECUS). "Federal tax dollars continue to flow into these programs despite the fact that no evaluation has proven them to have a positive impact on young people's health, and some research suggests may be harmful," Smith continued.

The budget also contains devastating cuts to or flat-funding for critical public health programs while substantially increasing funds for faith-based and marriage-promotion programs with no proven track record in health or education services. For example, the Title X federal family planning program, which provides reproductive health services to more than 6 million women and men annually and is already significantly under-funded, was flat-funded at $283 million. The Ryan White CARE Act, which funds primary healthcare and support services for people living with HIV/AIDS, was also flat-funded, aside from a $70 million increase to the AIDS Drugs Assistance Program and $25 million for faith-based outreach programs. Medicaid and Medicare programs, the nation's largest providers of HIV testing and treatment, are being slashed a combined $40.8 billion over five years. 

In contrast to the slashes to proven public health programs, the budget requests $188 million for states, faith-based, and community organizations for a new initiative to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS , particularly within minority communities nationwide by promoting "marriage and healthy family development." The program focuses on testing and clinical treatment for HIV without taking a comprehensive approach to education and prevention. The budget also requests $250 million for " new healthy marriages and strengthening fathering initiatives."

"By transferring money from effective public health programs to ideological ones, the President once again betrays the public trust," Smith said. "This budget has no basis in reality and it is time the Administration stops undervaluing and under-funding the public health system," Smith continued.

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