[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 50 (Thursday, March 22, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S3615]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. BOXER (for herself, Mr. Smith, Mr. Durbin, and Mr. 
        Brown):
  S. 968. A bill to amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to provide 
increased assistance for the prevention, treatment, and control of 
tuberculosis, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Foreign 
Relations.
  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, today, I rise to introduce the bipartisan 
Stop TB Now Act of 2007. I am joined in this effort by Senators Gordon 
Smith, Dick Durbin, and Sherrod Brown.
  For 8 years, I have worked with Senator Smith to fight the spread of 
international tuberculosis. I appreciate his help on this bill. I am 
also grateful for the support of Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, as 
well as Senator Brown, who was the leader on international TB issues 
when he was a member of the House of Representatives.
  The need for this legislation is clear. Tuberculosis kills 1.6 
million people per year--1 person every 15 seconds. One-third of the 
world is infected with the bacteria that causes TB and an estimated 8.8 
million individuals develop active TB each year. And tuberculosis is a 
leading cause of death among women of reproductive age and of people 
who are HIV-positive.
  While developing nations are most heavily impacted by TB, there is 
also a concern here at home. My State of California has more TB cases 
than any other State in the country and 10 of the top 20 U.S. metro 
areas with the highest TB rates are in California.
  The best way to treat TB is through DOTS, which stands for directly 
observed treatment, short course. This treatment ensures a steady and 
uninterrupted supply of drugs to prevent the spread of multi-drug 
resistant TB. It costs just $20-100 per person to treat regular TB with 
DOTS. But it costs 1,400 times that amount to treat a person with 
multi-drug resistant TB.
  Today, we face an even more dangerous problem--the outbreak of 
extremely drug resistant TB. In some cases, this form of TB is 
untreatable. In one South African town, 53 TB patients were found to 
have XDR-TB. All but one died. We must fully fund international TB 
control efforts because drug-resistant TB happens when people fail to 
complete treatment.
  To stop the spread of tuberculosis, the international community came 
together last year to develop the Global Plan to Stop TB, a 
comprehensive assessment of the resources and actions needed to cut the 
number of TB deaths in half by 2015.
  My bill will bring U.S. policy in line with this plan by authorizing 
$330 million for fiscal year 2008 and $450 million for fiscal year 
2009. for foreign assistance programs that combat international TB. The 
bill also authorizes $70 million for fiscal year 2008 and $100 million 
for fiscal year 2009 for the Centers for Disease Control programs to 
combat international TB.
  TB kills more people than any other curable disease in the world. We 
have a moral obligation to take the steps necessary to meet this 
challenge.
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