Executive Summary: Progress Report

While our access has been unusually broad, the scope of our mission has been more
narrow than that of our predecessors. Our purpose has not been to advise the Nation, or
Congress, but to advise the President on what his Administration can and should do to stop
the spread of the epidemic; to find a cure and vaccine for HIV; to provide the best possible
treatment and care to those who are infected; and to end HIV-related discrimination and
intolerance. To augment that advisory role, the Council has established a process, which
includes ongoing monitoring and evaluation, to ensure that appropriate Administration
departments and agencies respond to our recommendations and are continuously held
accountable for their responses.
We recognize that our work to date has yet to address a number of key issues. We
encourage suggestions for future recommendations and welcome continued community input,
especially from people living with HIV and their advocates. The Council believes that
working with this Administration, we now have a significant opportunity to make a positive
impact on national HIV/AIDS policy.
Overall, the Council has been impressed with the Administration's strong commitment
to key items such as increased funding for the Ryan White CARE Act, vigorous resistance to
the proposed dismantling of Medicaid, and support for a strong and well-funded Office of
AIDS Research (OAR) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). We believe that it is
remarkable and laudable that the President has, during an era of flat Federal funding, helped
to achieve a 43 percent increase in discretionary Federal AIDS funding during his first
three years in office. However, the Council is disappointed with the Administration's lack of
action on some of our recommendations, particularly regarding some of the more politically
charged aspects of prevention and discrimination where greater courage and leadership are
required.
This report contains our first two sets of recommendations (issued in July and
December of 1995), the Administration's action in response to each recommendation, our
evaluation of this response, and our proposed followup. It also includes our third set of
recommendations, made in April 1996. We expect, in future months, to update these
evaluations and to assess and distribute the Administration's responses to our third set of
recommendations as well. We have developed recommendations in five subject areas:
Presidential leadership, research, prevention, services, and discrimination. This report is
presented accordingly.
Leadership: -
The President's personal leadership and commitment in the battle against AIDS is
clearly unmatched by his predecessors. By rapidly convening a national summit on AIDS at
the Council's request, and by following our recommendation that he discuss HIV/AIDS with
other broad audiences, the President has sent a much-needed message about the importance
of the issue of AIDS to the American people. However, more visible leadership and direct
involvement by the President, Vice-President, and cabinet officials are still needed to combat
complacency and inaction wherever they exist, both among the American people and within
the Government. For years, various groups have called for a national plan on HIV/AIDS,