[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1145 Introduced in House (IH)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1145

 To provide additional appropriations for the fiscal year 2003 for the 
                              Peace Corps.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 6, 2003

   Ms. Millender-McDonald (for herself, Mr. Wexler, Ms. Lofgren, Ms. 
Watson, Ms. Norton, Mr. Brady of Pennsylvania, Ms. Kaptur, Ms. Woolsey, 
 Mrs. Christensen, Mr. Honda, Mr. Walsh, Mr. Rangel, Mr. McNulty, Mr. 
 Frost, Mr. McDermott, Mr. Kildee, Mr. Waxman, Ms. McCollum, Mr. Watt, 
  Mr. Owens, Mr. Houghton, Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Payne, and Mr. Brown of 
    Ohio) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                  Committee on International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide additional appropriations for the fiscal year 2003 for the 
                              Peace Corps.

    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 ``Peace Corps HIV/AIDS Training 
Enhancement Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2003''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) AIDS is so pervasive that it is destroying the very 
        fiber of what constitutes civil society in many regions of the 
        world: individuals, families, and communities; economic and 
        political institutions; military and police forces are all 
        affected.
            (2) AIDS has claimed 22,000,000 lives--more than all the 
        soldiers killed in major wars of the 20th century--and 
        currently infects more than 36,000,000 individuals worldwide.
            (3) Infant mortality due to AIDS is increasing throughout 
        the world and AIDS-related mortality will eliminate the gains 
        made in child survival over the past 20 years. More than 
        13,000,000 children worldwide (95 percent of whom live in 
        Africa) have lost either their mothers or both parents to AIDS.
            (4) Life expectancy in ten countries in Africa has dropped 
        by over 20 years due to AIDS--wiping out the gains of 30 years 
        of development.
            (5) Teachers and health care workers are the most heavily 
        HIV/AIDS affected sectors of public employment. In many African 
        nations it is estimated that between 25 and 50 percent of all 
        health care workers may be dead from AIDS by 2005.
            (6) Botswanan President Festus Mogae declared that 
        Botswana, once an economically successful southern African 
        nation, is now threatened with extinction.
            (7) Mobilizing resources and human capacity is essential in 
        the prevention of new infections and treatment to those already 
        infected with HIV/AIDS.
            (8) 7,300 Peace Corps volunteers work in 76 countries 
        worldwide including 25 countries in Africa. 1,431 of these 
        Peace Corps members are health volunteers who serve in Africa, 
        the Eastern Mediterranean, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, 
        and the Pacific.
            (9) Peace Corps health volunteers work in rural and urban 
        settings in a variety of health activities including teaching 
        HIV/AIDS education and prevention methodologies to local 
        people.
            (10) Peace Corps volunteers work to improve the health of 
        women, men and children, adolescents, and families by promoting 
        health information and by improving the skills of African 
        professionals, local organizations, and local people in HIV/
        AIDS prevention and treatment.
            (11) The Peace Corps would like to increase its capacity in 
        HIV/AIDS education and prevention activities--especially in the 
        area of training HIV/AIDS trainers--by increasing its health 
        volunteer corps. The Peace Corps believes that with increased 
        capacity, it can significantly impact communities to take more 
        responsibility for their own health care. But it cannot do so 
        without further funding.

SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATION FOR FISCAL YEAR 2003.

    (a) Appropriation.--In addition to such sums as are otherwise 
appropriated to carry out the provisions of the Peace Corps Act for the 
fiscal year 2003, there are appropriated $5,000,000 for the fiscal year 
2003 to carry out the provisions of such Act which shall be available 
only for additional health volunteers working with HIV/AIDS treatment 
and prevention methodologies, particularly the training of local HIV/
AIDS trainers.
    (b) Availability of Funds.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
law, sums appropriated under subsection (a) shall remain available 
until expended.
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