[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.

[[Page S6313]]

  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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