[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1168 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1168

   To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to provide increased 
foreign assistance for tuberculosis prevention, treatment, and control.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 22, 2001

Mr. Brown of Ohio (for himself, Mrs. Morella, Mr. Waxman, Mr. Andrews, 
    Mr. Ganske, Ms. McKinney, Mr. Baca, Mr. Moran of Virginia, Mr. 
   Rodriguez, Mrs. Tauscher, Mr. Olver, Mr. Kildee, Mrs. Capps, Mrs. 
 Wilson, Mr. Carson of Oklahoma, Mr. Capuano, Mr. Frost, Mr. Udall of 
   Colorado, Mr. Lewis of Georgia, Mr. Green of Texas, Ms. Brown of 
    Florida, Ms. Lofgren, Mr. Sandlin, Mr. Rangel, Ms. McCarthy of 
   Missouri, and Mr. Reyes) introduced the following bill; which was 
          referred to the Committee on International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to provide increased 
foreign assistance for tuberculosis prevention, treatment, and control.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Stop Tuberculosis (TB) Now Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1)(A) Tuberculosis is one of the greatest infectious 
        causes of death of adults worldwide, killing 2,000,000 people 
        per year--one person every 15 seconds.
            (B) Globally, tuberculosis is the leading cause of death of 
        young women and the leading cause of death of people with HIV/
        AIDS.
            (2) An estimated 8,000,000 individuals develop active 
        tuberculosis each year.
            (3) Tuberculosis is spreading as a result of inadequate 
        treatment and it is a disease that knows no national borders.
            (4) With over 40 percent of tuberculosis cases in the 
        United States attributable to foreign-born individuals and with 
        the increase in international travel, commerce, and migration, 
        elimination of tuberculosis in the United States depends on 
        efforts to control the disease in developing countries.
            (5) The threat that tuberculosis poses for Americans 
        derives from the global spread of tuberculosis and the 
        emergence and spread of strains of multi-drug resistant 
        tuberculosis (MDR-TB).
            (6) Up to 50,000,000 individuals may be infected with 
        multi-drug resistant tuberculosis.
            (7) In the United States, tuberculosis treatment, normally 
        about $2,000 per patient, skyrockets to as much as $250,000 per 
        patient to treat multi-drug resistant tuberculosis, and 
        treatment may not even be successful.
            (8) Multi-drug resistant tuberculosis kills more than one-
        half of those individuals infected in the United States and 
        other industrialized nations and without access to treatment it 
        is a virtual death sentence in the developing world.
            (9) There is a highly effective and inexpensive treatment 
        for tuberculosis. Recommended by the World Health Organization 
        as the best curative method for tuberculosis, this strategy, 
        known as directly observed treatment, short course (DOTS), 
        includes low-cost effective diagnosis, treatment, monitoring, 
        and recordkeeping, as well as a reliable drug supply. A 
        centerpiece of DOTS is observing patients to ensure that they 
        take their medication and complete treatment.

SEC. 3. ASSISTANCE FOR TUBERCULOSIS PREVENTION, TREATMENT, AND CONTROL.

    (a) Additional Prevention, Treatment, and Control.--Section 
104(c)(7)(A) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 
2151b(c)(7)(A)) is amended--
            (1) in clause (i), by adding at the end before the 
        semicolon the following: ``, including by expanding the use of 
        the strategy known as directly observed treatment, short course 
        (DOTS) and strategies to address multi-drug resistant 
        tuberculosis (MDR-TB) where appropriate at the local level, 
        particularly in countries with the highest rate of 
        tuberculosis''; and
            (2) in clause (ii)--
                    (A) by inserting after ``the cure of at least 85 
                percent of the cases detected'' the following: ``by 
                focusing efforts on the use of the directly observed 
                treatment, short course (DOTS) strategy or other 
                internationally accepted primary tuberculosis control 
                strategies''; and
                    (B)(i) by striking ``and the cure'' and inserting 
                ``the cure''; and
                    (ii) by adding at the end before the period the 
                following: ``, and the reduction of tuberculosis-
                related deaths by 50 percent, by December 31, 2010''.
    (b) Funding Requirement.--Section 104(c)(7) of the Foreign 
Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151b(c)(7)) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subparagraph (B) as subparagraph (C); 
        and
            (2) by inserting after subparagraph (A) the following:
    ``(B) In carrying out this paragraph, not less than 75 percent of 
the amount appropriated pursuant to the authorization of appropriations 
under subparagraph (D) shall be used for the diagnosis and treatment of 
tuberculosis or for direct patient services and anti-tuberculosis drugs 
for at-risk and affected populations utilizing directly observed 
treatment, short course (DOTS) strategy or other internationally 
accepted primary tuberculosis control strategies developed in 
consultation with the World Health Organization (WHO), including the 
Global Tuberculosis Drug Facility of WHO's Stop TB Partnership.''.
    (c) Annual Report.--Section 104(c)(7) of the Foreign Assistance Act 
of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151b(c)(7)) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subparagraph (C) (as redesignated by 
        this Act) as subparagraph (D); and
            (2) by inserting after subparagraph (B) the following:
    ``(C) In conjunction with the transmission of the annual request 
for enactment of authorizations and appropriations for foreign 
assistance programs for each fiscal year, the President shall transmit 
to Congress a report that contains a summary of all programs, projects, 
and activities carried out under this paragraph for the preceding 
fiscal year, including a description of the extent to which such 
programs, projects, and activities have made progress to achieve the 
goals described in subparagraph (A)(ii).''.
    (d) Authorization of Appropriations.--Subparagraph (D) of section 
104(c)(7) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 
2151b(c)(7)), as redesignated by this Act, is amended by striking 
``$60,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2001 and 2002'' and 
inserting ``$60,000,000 for fiscal year 2001 and $200,000,000 for 
fiscal year 2002''.
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