[House Hearing, 115 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
END NEGLECTED TROPICAL DISEASES ACT
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MARKUP
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HEALTH,
GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS, AND
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
ON
H.R. 1415
__________
JUNE 15, 2017
__________
Serial No. 115-37
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Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs
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COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
EDWARD R. ROYCE, California, Chairman
CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York
ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida BRAD SHERMAN, California
DANA ROHRABACHER, California GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York
STEVE CHABOT, Ohio ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey
JOE WILSON, South Carolina GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia
MICHAEL T. McCAUL, Texas THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida
TED POE, Texas KAREN BASS, California
DARRELL E. ISSA, California WILLIAM R. KEATING, Massachusetts
TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania DAVID N. CICILLINE, Rhode Island
JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina AMI BERA, California
MO BROOKS, Alabama LOIS FRANKEL, Florida
PAUL COOK, California TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii
SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas
RON DeSANTIS, Florida ROBIN L. KELLY, Illinois
MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina BRENDAN F. BOYLE, Pennsylvania
TED S. YOHO, Florida DINA TITUS, Nevada
ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois NORMA J. TORRES, California
LEE M. ZELDIN, New York BRADLEY SCOTT SCHNEIDER, Illinois
DANIEL M. DONOVAN, Jr., New York THOMAS R. SUOZZI, New York
F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, Jr., ADRIANO ESPAILLAT, New York
Wisconsin TED LIEU, California
ANN WAGNER, Missouri
BRIAN J. MAST, Florida
FRANCIS ROONEY, Florida
BRIAN K. FITZPATRICK, Pennsylvania
THOMAS A. GARRETT, Jr., Virginia
Amy Porter, Chief of Staff Thomas Sheehy, Staff Director
Jason Steinbaum, Democratic Staff Director
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Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and
International Organizations
CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey, Chairman
MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina KAREN BASS, California
DANIEL M. DONOVAN, Jr., New York AMI BERA, California
F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, Jr., JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas
Wisconsin THOMAS R. SUOZZI, New York
THOMAS A. GARRETT, Jr., Virginia
C O N T E N T S
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Page
MARKUP ON
H.R. 1415, End Neglected Tropical Diseases Act................... 2
APPENDIX
Markup notice.................................................... 22
Markup minutes................................................... 23
Markup summary................................................... 24
END NEGLECTED TROPICAL DISEASES ACT
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THURSDAY, JUNE 15 , 2017
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health,
Global Human Rights, and International Organizations,
Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 11:30 a.m., in
room 2255 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Christopher H.
Smith (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
Mr. Smith. The subcommittee will come to order and good
morning to everyone.
Pursuant to notice, we are here this morning to work up
Title I of H.R. 1415, the End Tropical Diseases Act.
[The information referred to follows:]
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Mr. Smith. Title I is in jurisdiction of the Committee on
Foreign Affairs; whereas, Title II is in the Energy and
Commerce Committee, so that will have to be done by them and we
are pushing hard for that to happen.
I know that the measure is unopposed and no amendments have
been put forward.
I also note that the subcommittee will reconvene following
this markup for a hearing. With other events that have been
scheduled and upon consultation with Ranking Member Bass and
pursuant to yesterday's notice, we intend to consider this bill
in an expedited manner.
All members have a copy of H.R. 1415 before them. After we
have concluded our expedited consideration, I would be glad to
recognize any member, including myself and the ranking member,
or Dr. Bera, since he is serving in that position right now,
for any statements they might have on the issue.
All members are given leave to assert written remarks into
the record, if they so choose.
Seeing again that we have a reporting quorum present,
without objection, H.R. 1415, the End Tropical Diseases Act,
Title I only, is considered as read.
The Chair moves that it be adopted.
All those in favor, say aye.
All those opposed, say no.
The ayes have it, in the opinion of the Chair. The item is
adopted.
Without objection, the measure is reported favorably to the
full committee and the staff is directed to make any technical
and conforming changes.
I will just say a few opening comments on this legislation.
Neglected tropical diseases--and let me just say, too, this
is the second Congress that we were trying to get this
legislation passed. We got it out of our full committee last
year. Regrettably, it stalled in the Energy and Commerce
Committee but my hope is that that will not be the case this
year.
Neglected tropical diseases are a group of 17 parasitic and
bacterial diseases which blind, disable, disfigure, and
sometimes kill victims from among the more than 1 billion of
the world's poorest people, trapping the most marginalized
communities into a cycle of poverty. These diseases can keep
children from attending school and their parents from working,
and cause excessive bleeding by mothers during birth and
results often in low birth weight babies. NTDs, therefore,
constitute a significant hurdle to achieving economic growth
and dilute the impact of foreign assistance programs.
While tropical diseases primarily affect communities in
developing countries, outbreaks have been reported in the
United States and developing countries in recent years, such as
the West Nile virus, Dengue fever, and most recently Zika.
The most common NTDs can be controlled and eliminated;
however, there is still much work to be done to prepare for
currently unknown diseases that may appear on the international
scene and to reach the World Health Organization's control and
elimination goals by 2020.
To achieve these goals, heightened support is needed now
from both new and longstanding partners. H.R. 1415 supports the
control and elimination of NTDs in the United States by, among
other things, supporting USAID's NTD program to better
integrate NTD control and elimination efforts with other
development issues such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, water and
sanitation, and education; conduct research and development for
improved drugs, diagnostics, and vaccines to control or to
eliminate NTDs; directing the U.S. Government to advocate for
increased efforts to address NTDs among international
institutions, such as the U.N., WHO, and the World Bank;
calling for the Department of Health and Human Services to
submit a report on NTDs in the U.S. to better understand the
epidemiology, impact, and appropriate funding needed to address
NTDs domestically; encouraging the creation of one or more NTD
Centers of Excellence.
I would note parenthetically that in the year 2000, I
authored legislation on the issue of autism and the mainstay of
the legislation was a series of those Centers of Excellence.
And those Centers of Excellence and the work that now CDC and
NIH do on autism has resulted in a major push to try to help
those with autism, discover root causes, and to promote early
childhood intervention and it came out of those Centers of
Excellence. So this could be a game changer, we think, in a
game that has to be changed for the sake of the poor and
marginalized communities.
It also would establish a panel on intestinal worm
infections to evaluate and make recommendations regarding
potential solutions to worm infections, which impact more than
1 billion people worldwide, including 600 million school-aged
children.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told the Foreign Affairs
Committee, full committee, yesterday that the administration
was committed to remaining a leader in areas including global
health. They can demonstrate that commitment by continuing to
support the work done by CDC and the National Institutes of
Health, and the U.S. Agency for International Development. And
I do believe that as we move forward on this budget, those
gaping cuts will not materialize. And I know I and others will
work hard to ensure that we do more, in some cases, rather than
less.
It is long past time for Congress to affirm this work,
particularly in the area of NTDs. And I want to thank Ranking
Member Bass, Congressmen Dan Donovan, Gregory Meeks, Sanford
Bishop, and Eleanor Holmes Norton for joining us as early
cosponsors of this legislation.
And I would like to yield to Dr. Bera, if he has any
comments he would like to make.
Mr. Bera. Great. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will keep my
comments brief but I think this is an important piece of
legislation. I look at this as a physician who has worked
overseas.
And you know we don't always think about neglected tropical
diseases. The folks sitting around the table at home may not be
talking about schistosomiasis or trachoma but the truth is,
these are diseases that affect millions around the world. And
the reason why investing in this research and looking for cures
are so important, it is a reflection of not only our values, as
a nation, to engage with our allies and other like-valued
countries around the world to relieve suffering, we also know
that the world is much more interconnected today.
You know diseases that emerge much like Ebola a few years
ago or Zika in one part of the world certainly move and spread.
So, we can't just think about how we address health and disease
here in the United States. We have also got to go where those
diseases are and look for those discoveries.
So you know it is my hope that this moves quickly through
the full committee and to the floor of the House. And, again,
it is a reflection of who we are as a nation, our values to be
concerned and focus on that suffering around the world.
So, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will yield back.
Mr. Smith. Thank you, Dr. Bera.
Mr. Donovan.
Mr. Donovan. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to take a
moment to thank you for your leadership in this area. I mean
global health has become a great interest of mine since I got
here 2 years ago. We deal daily with the preventable diseases
throughout the world.
As Dr. Bera says, we are a compassionate, leading Nation.
We outsource our abilities to help others. As he also
mentioned, because of the ability for people to travel, many
diseases that may not affect our Nation now because people
traveling to our country affect us as well but, through our
compassion and leadership, this Nation should do everything it
can to relieve other countries of diseases that are preventable
and nonexistent in our own country.
You have been a leader in this area for so many, many
years, I just wanted to thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I thank my
colleague for supporting this legislation.
Mr. Smith. Thank you very much. Mr. Suozzi.
Mr. Suozzi. I will associate my remarks with everything
that has been said already and thank you for your leadership.
Thank you.
Mr. Smith. Well, thank you. Mr. Garrett.
Mr. Garrett. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Very briefly, I think
budget hawks might look at this and wonder what the purview was
of this organization as it relates to this action. I would
answer them by saying it is difficult, if not impossible, to
separate global health from American health; that in a world
with intercontinental travel, in a world that shrinks by the
day conceptually, the idea to combat these NTDs abroad, rather
than at home, might parallel the hawkish line that some take on
the War on Terror.
I would associate myself with the gamut of individuals on
this committee and submit that, while it is not just being a
good neighbor, it is also being a good tenant in our home and
this is good policy at every level. Thank you.
Mr. Smith. Mr. Garrett, thank you so very much.
Thanks to all the members of the subcommittee for their
support and their excellent remarks. Without further ado, the
markup is concluded.
[Whereupon, at 11:53 a.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
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