Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi

Pelosi Uses Leadership Position to Include Constituent Priorities in FY ‘99 Omnibus Bill

October 20, 1998

As a member of the Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations subcommittee and as the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Operations Appropriations subcommittee, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) fought for, and won, significant funding gains in programs of interest and concern to her constituents in San Francisco.

On the Foreign Operations Appropriations subcommittee, Rep. Pelosi worked to include important reform language promoting transparency and accountability as part of the $18 billion dollars for the International Monetary Fund. She also worked to ensure that the liberalization of investment was not included as a condition for the release of the IMF funds.

"The bill calls upon the Administration to seek and obtain many important policy changes at the IMF in areas such as labor rights, environmental protection, changing investor expectations about official rescues, and taking social conditions into account in loan programs." Pelosi said.

The FY ‘99 Omnibus Appropriations bill also includes:

• $159 million for the Centers for Disease Control's (CDC) Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program, an increase of $16 million. "This is an important program which provides direct services to the people who need them most. It supports screening, education and follow-up services for low income women, and training for health care providers," Pelosi said;
• $19 million for the CDC's Environmental Health Laboratory, an increase of $12 million. The lab works to prevent disease and birth defects through state-of-the-art laboratory science that measures actual levels of toxic substances in people;
• $28 million for Hispanic Serving Institutions, an increase of $16 million. "This increase in funding represents an important opportunity to expand a program which increases the educational opportunities for the nation's fastest growing minority population. The funding is part of Aid for Institutional Development and helps institutions provide equal educational opportunity, strengthen academic programs, and achieve greater financial stability," Pelosi said.

Some of the most significant gains were achieved in the area of AIDS funding:

• $1.79 billion for AIDS research at the National Institutes of Health, an increase of $197 million;
• $1.411 billion for the Ryan White Program, which includes the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), will increase by $261 million. "Increasing the funding for ADAP offers hope to those people who are not able to afford the full regimen of medications and combination therapies. This is life or death funding," Pelosi said. Nationally, the AIDS Drug Assistance Program averages 1,000 new clients each month;
• $225 million for Housing Opportunities for People With AIDS (HOPWA), an increase of $21 million;
• Up to $125 million for bilateral and multilateral global AIDS programs;
• $110 million for the Congressional Black Caucus AIDS Initiative. "HIV/AIDS is spreading fastest in the communities of color. The Congressional Black Caucus should be commended for creating a plan that begins to address this very serious problem," Pelosi said.

With the support of House and Senate Democrats, President Clinton succeeded in finally getting Republicans to agree to some of the key points of the Democratic agenda. "After hammering the Republicans for a year on the importance of smaller classes, they agreed to support the hiring of 100,000 new teachers. California will receive $129 million for hiring new teachers, and from that San Francisco will receive $1.5 million to reduce class size--that's the good news. But the GOP leadership continued its opposition to school modernization, increasing the minimum wage, HMO reform, tobacco legislation and campaign finance reform," Pelosi said.