The Secretaries of Defense, Health and Human Services, and Veterans Affairs served as non-voting members ex officio.
[10] He resigned on September 25, writing in a letter to Bush:[11] As I think you know, along with my fellow commission members I have been increasingly frustrated by the lack of support, and even opposition, of your Administration to our recommendations—recommendations which have an urgent priority and for which there is a broad consensus in the medical and AIDS communities.
...Johnson recalled speaking with the president in January: No matter how good the team may be, I said it won't win the championship without the owner fully in the game.
Congress has shown leadership in developing critical legislation, but has often failed to provide adequate funding for AIDS programs.
Articulate leadership guiding Americans toward a proper response to AIDS has been notably absent.Its principal recommendations included: Dr. James O. Mason, Assistant Secretary for Health of the Department of Health and Human Services, cited annual budget increases and said in reply:[14] Lack of leadership?
The amount of time the Secretary and I put in on this issue is inordinate compared to other very serious problems.The commission's final report, AIDS: An Expanding Tragedy, appeared in June 1993 and consisted of just 15 pages plus appendices.
It is sad because a potentially preventable disease continues to expand relentlessly and cause loss of life in young Americans on an unprecedented and unacceptable scale.The report saw some signs for hope in the Clinton administration's funding requests, but feared that "the response to the epidemic is again tangled in politics".