[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 108 (Friday, June 27, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6311-S6313]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE PEPFAR REAUTHORIZATION
Mr. REID. Mr. President, in 2003, Congress responded to President
Bush's call for action by creating the Global HIV/AIDS Program. The
goal of that program was to confront the crisis which has killed more
than 30 million Africans since 1982. Thousands are dying every day.
About 5,000 are dying every day in Africa--every day, weekends, no
holidays off. This strongly bipartisan effort to create this
legislation has already helped tens of millions of Africans affected by
HIV/AIDS. It has been 5 years since we passed that legislation, and now
it is time to reauthorize the Global HIV/AIDS Program.
This program was started with bipartisan support, and that support
remains today. The House of Representatives passed the reauthorization
on a strong bipartisan vote. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee
also passed the bill with broad bipartisan support. This legislation
has the strong support of Senate Democrats, most of the Senate
Republicans, and President Bush.
Unfortunately, as happens often, the legislation has been blocked by
a small group of Republican Senators who have placed a hold on this
legislation, preventing us from moving forward. That is why several
months ago I asked Chairman Biden and Ranking Member Lugar to negotiate
a compromise. They worked tirelessly on this challenge. I thank them
for their hard work. Also, Senator Enzi, the ranking member of the HELP
Committee, in the absence of Senator Kennedy, has worked very hard to
get rid of some of the holds.
Given the importance of this legislation and the overwhelming amount
of work we have to do in the Senate, I thought it would be appropriate
to set a deadline to get something done, and that deadline was this
week for the negotiations to be completed. First, it was Monday, then
Tuesday, then Wednesday. Then yesterday I was told by Senator Enzi
there was one more person to work it out with and we could clear it
tomorrow. That is today--he told me that yesterday.
We thought an agreement had been reached, and we have a final text of
the agreement. I thank everyone for their work and their leadership
during these negotiations, for their hard work over the past few days
to close the deal on the final issues.
Senators Coburn, Enzi, Burr--I indicated, and the White House--have
all taken part. I certainly hope my colleagues on the other side will
not block this bipartisan agreement.
President Bush will be attending the G-8 conference over the July
recess and
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should have this bill in hand to show the commitment of the United
States on HIV/AIDS. As President Bush said in February of this year:
Congress needs to make sure that this HIV/AIDS plan,
PEPFAR, gets reauthorized for a 5-year period of time. We
don't want people guessing on the continent of Africa whether
or not the generosity of the American people will continue.
Mr. President, we really must act now. I ask unanimous consent----
Mr. SESSIONS addressed the Chair.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator will refrain until the
majority leader finishes his request.
Unanimous Consent Request--S. 2731
Mr. REID. Mr. President, Calendar No. 698, S. 2731--this legislation
is named after Tom Lantos and Henry Hyde, with whom I had the good
fortune of serving in the House of Representatives. They were both
wonderful men. This is called the Lantos-Hyde U.S. Global Leadership
Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Act.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the
consideration of Calendar No. 698, S. 2731, that the only amendment in
order, other than the committee-reported substitute, be the Biden-Lugar
substitute which is at the desk; that the substitute be agreed to, the
committee-reported substitute, as amended, be agreed to, the bill, as
amended, be read a third time, and the Senate proceed to vote on
passage of the bill and there be no further intervening action or
debate.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection?
Mr. SESSIONS. I object for a number of Senators who have not been a
part of this negotiation and have some concerns.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Objection is heard.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I am disappointed, to say the least, that
again the Republicans objected to passing this bill. The White House
made a number of calls this morning but obviously not enough. They are
concerned that the President is going to be embarrassed when he goes to
Europe and not be able to say that this legislation is going to be
approved.
I now will offer a unanimous consent agreement, another one, which I
think is reasonable based on the bipartisan agreement we have reached
so far, which allows Senators on both sides to offer amendments. So I
say to everyone, if people do not like this, let's bring this to the
floor and have some amendments. That is what this is all about. The
consent agreement will have the bill come to the floor at a time when
both leaders agree--not just me.
A lot of things we do here say: The majority leader in consultation
with the minority leader. That is not what we are saying today. It will
take the consent of both leaders. I hope this will be something that is
acceptable.
With this consent agreement, we are making the commitment to move the
bill to the floor but giving both Democrats and Republicans a voice in
the process. This agreement is fair and allows for a substitute to
represent the bipartisan agreement--and, as I said, this offer is more
than fair. So here is my next unanimous consent request that I will
propound.
I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the consideration of
Calendar No. 698, S. 2731, at a time to be determined by the majority
leader, following consultation with the Republican leader, and that the
only amendments in order, other than the committee-reported substitute,
be the following: Biden-Lugar managers' package substitute amendment,
two amendments from each side that are germane to the Senate bill,
committee-reported substitute and the Biden-Lugar substitute; with
second-degree amendments in order to the four amendments that are
germane to the amendments to which offered.
There will be two amendments on each side with second-degree
amendments in order to the four amendments. As you multiply that, that
is a lot of amendments. They have to be germane, would be the only
stipulation.
General debate on the bill will be limited to 2 hours equally
divided, controlled between the leaders or designees; debate time on
any first-degree amendment be limited to 60 minutes equally divided and
controlled in the usual form; and any second-degree amendments be
limited to 30 minutes equally divided and controlled in the usual form;
that upon disposition of all amendments, the use or yielding back of
time, the substitute, as amended, be agreed to, the bill, as amended,
be read a third time, and the Foreign Relations Committee then be
discharged of H.R. 5501, the House companion, and that all after the
enacting clause be stricken and the text of S. 2731, as amended, be
inserted, the bill be read a third time, and the Senate proceed to vote
on passage of H.R. 5501, as amended; that the provisions of this
agreement become effective only after each of the amendments covered
under this agreement have been available for 24 hours for review and
printed in the Record; and each leader notifies the legislative clerk
that they have no objections, and places a statement in the Record;
further, that S. 2731 then be returned to the calendar.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection?
Mr. SESSIONS. Reserving the right to object, I think some Senators
who have concerns about this are not here at this time. I am not at
liberty, therefore, to agree to the plausible scenario for moving this
bill forward that the majority leader proposed. I note the House has
gone out of session, so without their consent the bill would not clear
and become law in any case before we get back from our upcoming recess.
But I would note that some fabulous progress has been made as a matter
of policy in this bill. I feel far better about it from what I learned
this morning--although that was the first time I heard about it--than I
did previously.
For those reasons, I will object.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Objection is heard.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I am deeply disappointed. We are going to
finish this bill sometime during the next work period, or certainly
give it a real try.
Democrats have listened to the concerns of every Senator, especially
a small group of Republicans standing in the way of international AIDS
assistance. We have compromised, and we have negotiated for months.
The unanimous consent agreement that I have offered is more than fair
and will bring forward a strong bipartisan bill. As I said, we will
have to finish this when we get back in 10 days or so. We have to
finish the housing bill, we have to do the work on FISA; that should
take up the first week.
And, of course, we have other things to do. But this will be part of
what we plan to do during the next work period. There are literally
millions of people depending on us.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Alabama is
recognized.
Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, a request for unanimous consent means
that the bill passes the Senate without debate, as written. Each
Senator should honestly evaluate that before they give their consent.
Senator Coburn was raising a number of concerns, and I think he has
been satisfied in them.
Mr. REID. That is true.
Mr. SESSIONS. For example, one of the things he and I felt strongly
about was the rule that more than half the funding should be used for
medical care. That has a lot of science behind it. And AIDS groups in
Africa pleaded with us. That was changed. That is now in there. So I
was very pleased with that.
Another change also affirmed abstinence-only programs. Another reform
Senator Coleman asked for and has received would prevent funding from
going to more wealthy nations such as Russia, China and India than
would have been available under the original bill.
It would now prevent substandard medicines from being used and would
treat faith-based groups that are working hard in Africa now in a fair
way. So some real progress has been made on this legislation. I would
certainly be the first to acknowledge that.
I have not had a chance to fully look at all of it. But I do think
President Bush and the majority leader and others who have worked on
this have made the legislation better.
Mr. REID. We will certainly hope to make it good enough that we can
get it out of the Senate. We have tried very hard to do that. It is an
important piece of legislation.
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This is something the President has wanted. He talks about it all the
time. We have done our best for him, and we will keep everyone advised
of our progress.
We are going to do our very best to finish this next work period. I
am confident it may take a little bit of time that people do not want
to spend, but we are going to have to do that because it is too
important not to.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Washington State.
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