[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 93 (Thursday, July 11, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H4532]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              GLOBAL AIDS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague, 
Congresswoman Barbara Lee, for organizing today's Special Orders on 
Global AIDS.
  Over the past 5 days, the 14th International AIDS Conference has been 
meeting in Barcelona, Spain. The statistics that have been reported at 
the Conference are devastating. More than one in five adults in seven 
sub-Saharan African countries are already infected with HIV. In 
Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Zimbabwe, the rate is one in three.
  The AIDS pandemic will cause a decline in life expectancy in 51 
countries over the next two decades. This demographic effect is without 
precedent in modern times. Seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa now 
have average life expectancies of less than 40 years. By the end of 
this decade, 11 African countries will have life expectancies of less 
than 40 years. This is a level they have not experienced since the end 
of the 1800s. Sub-Saharan countries could lose 25 percent of their 
labor forces by 2002.
  At the Conference, there was overwhelming support for a $7-10 billion 
annual commitment to fight global AIDS. This worldwide commitment 
should begin with a commitment of $2.5 billion from the United States 
in fiscal year 2003. Unfortunately, the countries that attended the 
recent G-8 Summit offered only empty promises of more development 
assistance for Africa. We need to do more.
  On March 12, 2002, I sent a letter to the Chairman and Ranking Member 
of the House Budget Committee requesting a total of $2.5 billion in the 
fiscal year 2003 budget for bilateral and multilateral HIV/AIDS 
programs. Sixty-eight Members of Congress signed this letter, but our 
letter was ignored.
  I call on this Congress to provide $2.5 billion for the fight against 
global AIDS in fiscal year 2003.

                          ____________________