Statement of Administration Policy: S. 945 - Abandoned Infants Assistance Act

(House)
(Metzenbaum (D) Ohio and 7 others)

The administration shares the Congress' concern about the problem of infants born addicted to drugs or with AIDS (or HIV infection) who are abandoned in hospitals. The Department of Health and Human Services is already initiating a grant program, using available funds, for demonstration projects to address this problem, including foster family care and innovative community-based alternatives to hospitalization. New legislation is not essential for this purpose. The administration therefore cannot support S. 945, which would authorize a new three-year $60 million demonstration grant program.