U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin Applauds 2015 U.S. Conference on AIDS

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin released the following statement applauding the 2015 United States Conference on AIDS. This year’s Conference was the largest in history and brought together over 3,000 leaders from across the country to focus on ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

“The 2015 U.S. Conference on AIDS marks important progress in our fight to improve the health of our citizens and to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic in our country. I am heartened that health leaders from Wisconsin and around the country pledged to further our efforts in ensuring that all people with HIV/AIDS have access to treatment and adherence supports to live a healthy life,” said Senator Baldwin. “But, with only 30 percent of Americans living with HIV achieving viral suppression, we must strengthen our federal response to HIV/AIDS. This year, I plan to introduce legislation to improve health care access for some of the most vulnerable in our society and ensure that our community providers have the capacity and supports to deliver high-quality care to those living with HIV/AIDS.”

During her time in the House of Representatives, then-Congresswoman Baldwin introduced the Ryan White Grantee Payment Equity Act, which would authorize increased Medicaid funding to health care providers for this critical safety net to enable clinics to expand their operations to care for the growing number of people with the disease.

As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Baldwin is a strong supporter of increased funding for domestic HIV/AIDS programs to improve prevention and education efforts and to help save lives. In March, she led a call with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand to strengthen federal investments in our domestic programs to address the serious public health threat of HIV/AIDS in America.