[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 60 (Tuesday, May 16, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E734-E735]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              WORLD BANK AIDS MARSHALL PLAN TRUST FUND ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON-LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                          Monday, May 15, 2000

  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, thank you for bringing this 
important piece of legislation to the floor this week.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3519, the World Bank AIDS 
Marshall Plan Trust Fund Act.
  I would like to thank Congressman Leach for including the core 
provisions of Barbara Lee's original bill, H.R. 2765, the AIDS Marshall 
Plan and Congressman Dellums for his public awareness regarding the 
importance of this bill.
  This bill garners bipartisan support, including the Democratic Caucus 
and the CBC which both recognize the necessity of HIV/AIDS funding in 
Sub-Saharan Africa. Further, I was an original co-sponsor of AIDS 
Marshall Plan legislation authored by Congresswoman Barbara Lee.
  Mr. Speaker, I personally saw the devastation that the AIDS epidemic 
is causing in Africa during a visit with the President during March of 
1999. During that trip, I visited places like St. Anthony's Compound in 
Zambia where grandparents were caring for grandchildren orphaned by 
AIDS.
  In Uganda, the government showed the delegation the impact of AIDS as 
we met with a grandmother who was caring for 38 of her grandchildren 
because they were orphaned by her 11 children.
  I also met with Ugandan First Lady Janet K. Museveni who is leading 
the campaign to help orphans as we discussed the fact that over 13 
million children have been orphaned because of AIDS.
  This trip emphasized to me the dire circumstances existing in Africa 
today and the obligation countries like the United States have to 
combat this disease.
  The goal of this bill to create a trust fund administered by the 
World Bank to combat the AIDS epidemic is long overdue.
  By directing the Secretary of Treasury to enter into negotiations 
with the World Bank and member nations, H.R. 3519 would serve as the 
impetus for an international response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
  This bill would authorize the United States to contribute $100 
million a year through fiscal year 2005 to this fund which would 
provide grants for prevention care programs and partnerships between 
local governments and the private sector that would lead to education, 
treatment, research, and affordable drugs.
  Organizations like the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS 
(UNAIDS) would be recipients of these grants.
  By providing grants to organizations like UNAIDS, this bill could 
help address the ``drug corruption'' in sub-Saharan Africa by requiring 
that only those countries that eliminate corruption are eligible for 
trust funds.
  Just last week, this Congress passed the Africa Growth and 
Opportunity Act in which there is a structured framework for this 
country to use trade and investment as an economic development tool 
throughout Africa and the Caribbean.
  Unfortunately, the conference report does not include Senators 
Feinstein and Feingold's Amendment that would have prohibited the 
Executive Branch from denying African countries to use legal means to 
improve access to HIV/AIDS pharmaceuticals for their citizens. This 
amendment would have clarified the African Growth and Opportunity Act 
so that African Governments, in accordance with the World Trade 
Organization policies, could exercise flexibility in addressing public 
health concerns.
  Thus, this amendment would simply allow countries to determine the 
availability of HIV/AIDS pharmaceuticals in their countries and provide 
their people with affordable HIV drugs.
  Despite the failure of Senators Feinstein and Feingold's amendment, 
the White House still recognized the importance of access to drug 
therapies by issuing an Executive Order just
  This Executive Order incorporates the language of the Senator 
Feinstein-Feingold Amendment and declares that the United States would 
not invoke a key clause in U.S. trade law against sub-Saharan African 
countries concerning the protection of patents on AIDS drugs. Like the 
Senators' amendment, the Executive Order would instead hold the African 
countries to the less stringent standard of the WTO on intellectual 
property protection.
  Furthermore, I am pleased the House-Senate conference report includes 
amendments, which I offered during last year's consideration of the 
House bill.
  The first provision encourages the development of small businesses in 
sub-Saharan Africa, including the promotion of trade between the small 
businesses in the United States and sub-Saharan Africa. This is an 
important victory for small business enterprises in America that are 
looking to expand remarkable trade opportunities in Africa.
  It was once said, ``There is nothing more dangerous than to build a 
society, with a large segment of people in that society, who feel that 
they have no stake in it; who feel that they have nothing to lose. 
People who have a stake in their society, protect that society, but 
when they don't have it, they unconsciously want to destroy it.'' 
Although Martin Luther King was not speaking of AIDS, his comment rings 
true in so many aspects today.
  The private sector must take responsibility for the eradication of 
this disease if these U.S. businesses are going to use African 
resources for their economic benefit.
  Thus, I am pleased that an additional amendment I offered was 
incorporated into the conference report. This provision encourages U.S. 
businesses to provide assistance to sub-Saharan African nations to 
reduce the incidence of HIV/AIDS and consider the establishment of a 
Response Fund to coordinate such efforts.
  This is important because HIV/AIDS has now been declared a national 
security threat. My provision reflects a national and international 
consensus that we must do everything we can to eliminate the HIV/AIDS 
disease.
  Senior Clinton Administration officials clearly express their 
frustration that by all estimates on HIV/AIDS, that nearly $2 billion 
is needed to adequately prevent the spread of this disease in Africa 
per year.
  Although, some say this may not be feasible at the moment, and the 
$100 million a year donation from the U.S. is not either, we no longer 
can deny that this disease is an epidemic of enormous proportion that 
can no longer be ignored.
  The very fact that the Clinton Administration formally recognized a 
month ago that the spread of HIV/AIDS in the world today is an 
international crisis by declaring HIV/AIDS to be a National Security 
threat is illustrative of the devastating effect of this disease.
  It is estimated that 800,000 to 900,000 American are living with HIV 
and every year another 40,000 become infected. Although newer and 
effective therapies have led to reductions in the mortality rate of 
people with HIV/AIDS, the demographics of this epidemic have shifted. 
Thus, women, young people, and people of color represent an alarming 
portion of the new cases of HIV/AIDS.
  Globally, more than 16 million have died from AIDS since the 1980's, 
80% of them in sub-Saharan Africa.
  The creation of a WorldWide trust in which nations would be able to 
obtain grants to address the needs of HIV/AIDS victims globally is 
truly needed.
  We know that 60% of those that have died from AIDS are in sub-Saharan 
Africa.
  An even more heart-wrenching statistic is that 13 million children 
have lose one or both of their parents to AIDS and this number is 
projected to reach 40 million by 2010.
  AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for nearly half of all infectious 
disease deaths globally.
  The percentage of the adult population infected with HIV or suffering 
from AIDS is alarming. To name a few: In Zimbabwe--25.9%; Botswana--
25.1%; Namibia--19.4%; and South Africa--12.9%.
  Additionally, in places like Namibia there has been a 44.5% drop in 
the life expectancy. Now adults in Namibia are only expected to live 
38.9 years.
  In Zimbabwe, the life expectancy is only 38.8 years and in Malawi, 
34.8 years. Not since the bubonic plague of the Middle Ages, has there 
been a more devastating disease.
  Yet, HIV/AIDS is 100% preventable. There is no reason for 2 million 
to die a year in Sub-Saharan Africa and 4 million to become infected.
  The AIDS Marshall plan will help to ensure that the federal 
government commits to addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic over the next 
several years.

[[Page E735]]

  The survival of Africa is at stake. The United States can and should 
be the leader in generating a global response to this incredible 
contagion.
  Now is the time to act and I urge my colleagues to support this 
measure in its entirety.

                          ____________________