[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1116 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1116

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 27, 2001

Mr. Inouye (for himself, Mr. Stevens, Mr. Kennedy, Mrs. Hutchison, and 
 Mr. Corzine) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
             referred to the Committee on Foreign 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: ``, 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 95 
                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) by striking ``and the cure'' and inserting 
                ``the cure''.
    (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 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 funding for 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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