[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 33 (Thursday, March 17, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3055-S3056]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. CORZINE:
  S. 674. A bill to provide assistance to combat HIV/AIDS in India, and 
for other purposes; to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
  Mr. CORZINE. Mr. President, today I am introducing legislation to 
make India eligible for assistance under the Emergency Plan for AIDS 
Relief (PEPFAR).
  India is at a tipping point. A silent tsunami is at hand, and we can 
either act now or witness the preventable deaths of millions of people. 
An estimated 5.1 million people are infected with the HIV virus in 
India, second only to South Africa. HIV/AIDS has been reported in 
almost all the states and union territories of the country. In some 
parts of the country, the prevalence rates are similar to those in the 
hardest-hit areas of sub-Saharan Africa. In Belgaun in Karnataka, for 
instance, a district whose population is greater than that of Ireland, 
4.5 percent are infected.
  The epidemic is spreading rapidly from urban to rural areas and from 
high-risk groups such as sex workers and IV drug users to the general 
population. The mobility of India's population threatens to spread HIV/
AIDS around the country. And with an overall population larger than the 
whole of Africa, there exists a serious threat of catastrophe. One 
estimate, by the CIA, predicted that 20 to 25 million could be infected 
by 2010, more than in any other country in the world.
  India's political leaders, public health officials, non-governmental 
organizations, and medical and scientific communities have taken 
important steps to combat HIV/AIDS. India, the world's largest 
democracy, has skilled governmental and civil society actors who are 
committed to a new awareness of the AIDS crisis and strategic 
approaches to combating the disease. But significant gaps remain in the 
Indian health care system's ability to address the crisis. Only 29 
cents per capita are spent in India to combat HIV/AIDS. This amount is 
significantly less than in countries that have succeeded at stemming 
the disease, such as Thailand (55 cents) and Uganda ($1.85).
  There is an urgent need for assistance in care and treatment. More 
resources are necessary for public education, as demonstrated by the 
fact that 90 percent of Indians with HIV do not know they are infected. 
There is also a desperate need for assistance in tracking and 
monitoring the epidemic, merely to ascertain its full scope. These and 
other gaps require immediate and sustained U.S. engagement and 
contribution of resources.
  The U.S. government is doing important work to combat HIV/AIDS in 
India, but the available resources are insufficient. To provide the 
necessary

[[Page S3056]]

assistance, and to demonstrate America's commitment to helping India 
combat HIV/AIDS, it is critical that India become eligible for the 
President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Smaller countries may seem 
more manageable. Combating HIV/AIDS in a country the size of India may 
seem daunting. But if we invest now in stopping this epidemic, if we 
take advantage of this window of opportunity, we can head off a 
catastrophe.
  In addition to adding India to the list of countries eligible for 
PEPFAR assistance, this bill authorizes whatever funds are necessary to 
provide this assistance. It thus ensures that confronting the epidemic 
in India does not come at the expense of other countries. We must 
continue to expand the list of eligible countries in recognition of the 
global nature of this pandemic. We must also accelerate assistance to 
African and Caribbean countries already included as focus countries. 
Finally, we must increase overall funding to combat HIV/AIDS.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                 S. 674

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. ASSISTANCE TO COMBAT HIV/AIDS IN INDIA.

       Section 1(f)(2)(B)(ii)(VII) of the State Department Basic 
     Authorities Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2651a(f)(2)(B)(ii)(VII)) 
     is amended by inserting ``India,'' after ``Haiti,''.

     SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

       In addition to any amounts otherwise available for such 
     purpose, there is authorized to be appropriated to the 
     President such sums as may be necessary for fiscal years 2006 
     through 2008 to provide assistance to India pursuant to the 
     United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and 
     Malaria Act of 2003 (22 U.S.C. 7601 et seq.) and the 
     amendments made by that Act.
  By Mr. DORGAN (for himself, Mr. Hagel, Mr. Brownback, Mr. Johnson, 
Mr. Durbin, Mr. Burns, Mr. Conrad, Mr. Dayton, and Mr. Harkin):
  S. 675. A bill to reward the hard work and risk of individuals who 
choose to live in and help preserve America's small, rural towns, and 
for other purposes; to the Committee on Finance.
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, today Senators Hagel, Brownback, Johnson 
and many of our colleagues are re-introducing the New Homestead Act 
that will help address one of the most serious threats to the future of 
America's Heartland--the loss of its residents and Main Street 
businesses.
  Over the past several years, we have described for our colleagues--
and the American people--the economic devastation that population loss 
has had on America's Heartland. Hundreds of thousands of people have 
left small towns in rural areas throughout the Great Plains in search 
of opportunities elsewhere.
  In North Dakota, we have experienced greater than 10 percent net out-
migration in nearly 90 percent of our counties over the past two 
decades. My home county, Hettinger, saw its population dwindle from 
4,257 in 1980 to just 2,715 in 2000. Its population is projected to 
drop to just 1,877 by 2020.
  However, this out-migration problem isn't limited to North Dakota. 
Nearly all of America's Heartland is facing population losses of epic 
proportions. Seventy percent of the rural counties in the Great Plains 
have seen their population shrink by at least one-third.
  If you are a business owner, mayor, school board member, minister or 
resident of one of these rural communities, you know firsthand about 
this problem. People who are from these areas know that you simply 
can't grow or run a business in an environment where the overall 
economy is shrinking, current and potential customers are leaving, and 
public and private investment is falling. Too many communities in North 
Dakota and other rural States lack the critical mass of people and 
resources it takes to keep a community alive and growing.
  The New Homestead Act of2005 that we are introducing today will help 
stem the problem of chronic rural out-migration and allow many rural 
areas to grow and prosper again. This one-of-a kind bill is virtually 
identical to the bill we introduced in the last Congress. The New 
Homestead Act gives people who are willing to commit to live and work 
in high out-migration areas for 5 years added incentives to buy a home, 
pay for college, build a nest egg, and start a business--or just plain 
get ahead in life. These incentives include repaying a portion of 
college loans, offering a tax credit for the purchase of a new home, 
protecting home values by allowing losses in home value to be deducted 
from Federal income taxes, and establishing Individual Homestead 
Accounts that will help people build savings and have access to credit.
  This legislation also would establish a new venture capital fund with 
state and local governments as partners to ensure that entrepreneurs 
and companies in these areas get the capital they need to start and 
grow their businesses.
  Our rural areas have been fighting for their very survival for years, 
yet until recently, most Amen:s didn't even know about this struggle. 
Today, however, general awareness about the problem of chronic rural 
out-migration is growing. This issue has been the subject of national 
symposiums, forums, town hall meetings and congressional hearings.
  Last year, the U.S. Senate acted on some provisions from the New 
Homestead Act that offer state and local governments much-needed tools 
to encourage businesses to locate or stay in rural areas that are 
suffering from high out-migration. With the help of the leaders of the 
tax-writing Senate Finance Committee, Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa 
and Ranking Democrat Max Baucus of Montana, the Senate passed two key 
investment tax credit measures in the New Homestead Act as part of a 
major corporate tax bill considered last year. These investment tax 
credits would have been used to encourage businesses to move to or 
expand their operations in high out-migration rural counties. Together, 
these rural investment tax provisions would have made an estimated $641 
million in tax credits available for business over the next decade.
  Regrettably, these tax provisions were dropped from the final tax 
bill sent to the President. But the Senate's action sent a message of 
hope and opportunity to many rural communities: Federal policymakers do 
understand that rural out-migration is a serious threat to the economic 
well-being of the Nation's Heartland and that the New Homestead Act is 
a serious proposal for addressing it.
  I think our colleagues would agree that our Nation's rural areas are 
great places to live and raise a family. Most rural communities have 
good schools, low crime rates, and a level of civic involvement that 
would make any public official proud. But unfortunately it has been a 
constant struggle for many rural communities in North Dakota and the 
Great Plains to survive. This shouldn't be the case.
  I look forward to working with all of my Senate colleagues to try to 
reverse the trend of population loss and grow the economies of rural 
areas in North Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and the rest of America's 
Heartland. Enacting the policy changes recommended in the New Homestead 
Act is a very good place to start.
  I urge my colleagues to support the New Homestead Act in the 109th 
Congress by cosponsoring it and helping us move this important bill 
forward, once again, in the legislative process.
                                 ______