I am proud to have fought for the codification of the Minority AIDS Initiative.  Its codification is an explicit recognition of where the disease is headed: communities of color and, in particular, African-Americans and Latinas. Though Latinos make up just 14 percent of the U.S. population, they account for 19 percent of the nearly 1 million U.S. AIDS cases diagnosed since the beginning of the epidemic.

In the United States, half of all new HIV infections occur in people under age 25, and one-fourth in people under the age of 21. Young Latinos are quickly becoming the largest demographic in the most at risk population.  It is imperative that we support prevention efforts and care and treatment options in a culturally competent and linguistically appropriate manner.

The passage of the compromise provides us with the opportunity to work collaboratively with states and cities in different regions of the nation and with families living with the disease to devise a program to adequately address the needs of all people living with HIV and AIDS throughout the United States. Eighty-nine percent of Latino AIDS cases are clustered in Puerto Rico and nine states –California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas.  With varying needs, it takes a lot of work and compromise to appease the needs of such diverse constituencies, and this proposal provides the opportunity to create the best legislation to meet the health care needs of our communities.

It has been 25 years since the onset of this disease and though science has taken us far, the misplaced priorities of our nation have left behind the needs of so many.  I look forward to the opportunities to bring a new direction to the health care system of our country in the 110th Congress and the restoration of hope for so many of our families.