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President Bush proposed that the executive branch assume greater power to decide where Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resource Emergency (CARE) Act funds are distributed and how they are spent. In remarks laced with Biblical references, Bush also argued for religious groups to deliver more social services with funding from CARE.

Bush's plans to seek greater power over Ryan White spending was met with skepticism by AIDS activists. Marsha Martin, executive director of AIDS Action, a large umbrella group of local AIDS service organizations, said the program should allow states and communities more flexibility over spending decisions-- not the federal government. Terje Anderson, executive director of the National Association of People with AIDS, criticized treating social services for HIV-positive people "as somehow icing on the cake," saying that some people cannot see doctors without transportation or child care services for which Ryan White now pays.

Editor's Note: from the Washington Post