[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 182 (Wednesday, November 30, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H7938-H7939]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
POVERTY AND HIV/AIDS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from
California (Ms. Lee) for 5 minutes.
Ms. LEE of California. Mr. Speaker, as a founding co-chair of both
the Congressional Out of Poverty Caucus and the Congressional HIV/AIDS
Caucus, I rise today to draw attention once again to the ongoing crisis
of poverty in America. And, today, I also want to draw particular
attention to the impact of poverty on our national fight to stop HIV
and AIDS.
Mr. Speaker, December 1 is World AIDS Day, and this year marks 30
years after the first discovery of AIDS cases. The United States and
the HIV/AIDS community globally have made tremendous progress in our
collective response to this domestic and global crisis. We have reduced
the stigma surrounding the disease and strengthened education and
outreach activities which continue to prevent millions of new cases of
HIV worldwide. The scientific community has improved the treatment of
HIV and AIDS with anti-retrovirals and combination therapies, and
recent breakthroughs have revolutionized the way we think about AIDS.
We have come a long way in our battle against AIDS. Contracting HIV
no longer has to be a death sentence. But we have much more work to do.
Not everyone who is HIV positive has access to these life-saving
therapies. For the one in three Americans who are poor or near poor,
HIV can still be the same death sentence that it was during the Reagan
Presidency. Today, nearly one in five Americans with HIV do not even
know their status, and only about half of Americans who do know their
status are receiving the treatment that they need.
For the 100 million Americans either in poverty or living on the edge
of poverty, much more must be done. Access to the drug cocktails, high-
quality health care, housing, and healthy foods that are all critical
for people living with HIV are out of reach for far too many.
Mr. Speaker, 30 years later, we continue to shortchange HIV efforts
in poverty-stricken communities; we fail to fully include women in
outreach education and treatment; and we lack the resources for
communities of color. This is just simply unconscionable.
Women of color and young gay and bisexual men still receive the most
severe burden of HIV in the United States. African Americans represent
approximately 14 percent of the United States population, but accounted
for an estimated 44 percent of new infections in 2009. And we know the
numbers are on the rise in Latino communities and Asian Pacific
American communities as well. These disproportionate rates of infection
are not something that have happened in isolation. People of color
continue to face higher rates of unemployment, incarceration, poverty
and near poverty than their white counterparts. We can and we must do
much better than this.
We must do more for those who are disproportionately impacted by HIV
and AIDS, both here in America and around the world. We must provide
the science-based, comprehensive sex education that is proven to reduce
the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. And we must grow past old
fears and engage all community stakeholders to truly end the stigma
surrounding the testing and treatment of this disease. We must repeal
laws that legalize and promote discrimination and hate. We must support
and expand programs which provide critical support for people living
with HIV and AIDS and immediately--mind you, immediately--extend
treatment to the thousands of Americans on the waiting list for life-
saving drugs.
And of course we must fully implement the national HIV/AIDS strategy
and support Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act. These
policies are the critical next steps in our fight to stop this terrible
disease. And we must protect the fraction of one percent the Federal
budget directed to our global AIDS programs through PEPFAR and the
Global Fund.
U.S. efforts are dramatically reducing the burden of HIV and AIDS in
developing countries, and failing to support these programs would have
dramatic national security and diplomatic implications for the United
States--not to mention the humanitarian disaster that would occur. That
is why last week I was very proud to be joined by over 100 Members of
Congress in seeking appropriations of at least $5.25 billion for the
PEPFAR program and $1.5 billion for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS,
Tuberculosis and Malaria. And I will enter this letter into the Record.
Finally, Mr. Speaker, I was proud to have played a role in
overturning the unjust and ineffective HIV travel ban in 2008. And,
now, for the very first time in 20 years, the International AIDS
Conference will be held in Washington, D.C. in July of 2012.
So let me encourage every Member and their staff to engage with the
leading researchers and doctors in the worldwide fight against HIV and
AIDS. Our global leadership will never be more important than at this
promising moment of reversal, when we could move forward or we could go
backwards. So I hope every Member will join our bipartisan 60-plus
members of the HIV/AIDS Caucus.
Congress of the United States,
Washington, DC, November 21, 2011.
Hon. Kay Granger,
Chairman, Appropriations Subcommittee on State/Foreign
Operations, Washington, DC.
Hon. Nita Lowey,
Ranking Member, Appropriations Subcommittee on State/Foreign
Operations, Washington, DC.
Hon. Patrick Leahy,
Chairman, Appropriations Subcommittee on State/Foreign
Operations, Washington, DC.
Hon. Lindsey Graham
Ranking Member, Appropriations Subcommittee on State/Foreign
Operations, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairmen Leahy and Granger, and Ranking Members Graham
and Lowey: As you begin negotiations on a final Fiscal Year
2012 Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related
Programs Appropriations bill, we write to respectfully
request that you secure funding for bilateral and
multilateral HIV/AIDS programs at the levels proposed in
S.1601, Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related
Programs Appropriations Act, 2012.
We urge support for $7.9 billion for global health programs
contained in the Senate
[[Page H7939]]
mark. More specifically, we urge you to support, at the very
least, $5.25 billion for the U.S. President's Emergency Plan
for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and $750 million for the Global Fund
to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, as explicitly
allocated in S. 1601. In total, we support $1.05 billion for
the Global Fund (of which $300 million is contained in the
Senate Labor, Health and Human Services appropriations bill).
Moreover, we are strongly opposed to language contained in
the House Subcommittee Mark prohibiting funding for syringe
exchange programs, which are proven to reduce the incidence
of HIV infection.
U.S. global health programs including PEPFAR, along with
U.S. contributions to the Global Fund, are reducing disease
burden in low- and middle-income countries, and these
programs have important national security and diplomatic
elements for the United States. Global health programs
directly impact American security interests by stabilizing
parts of the world where extremism and a lack of alternatives
are a recipe for future conflict. The economic impact of
global health activities is also felt in the U.S., providing
thousands of jobs to help plan and implement global health
programming and to conduct health-related research at
colleges and universities.
Thanks to the help of the United States, the Global Fund
has grown into a proven, country-driven, performance-based
mechanism which ensures that countries themselves are
responsible for building their own sustainable programs. The
Global Fund has a robust history of improving its function
and continues to do so through its recent announcement of an
improvements agenda to further ensure every dollar is
utilized effectively, remains accountable, and is transparent
in operation.
We also welcome PEPFAR's leadership on advancing
combination HIV prevention approaches and urge the conferees
to ensure that these interventions are implemented to their
fullest and meet the needs of those most at-risk, especially
marginalized populations. Moreover, integration of HIV/AIDS
prevention, care and treatment programs--and, where
appropriate, other critical global health programs funded by
this bill, including maternal health, child survival, family
planning/reproductive health, and nutrition--is critical for
ensuring that the health needs of individuals are met and the
impact of funding is maximized.
In recent months, U.S.-funded research has made enormous
progress in shaping the response to AIDS and malaria
worldwide. These remarkable scientific advances call for a
renewed emphasis on ensuring that we maintain robust support
for PEPFAR and the Global Fund and continue the vital U.S.
commitment to the fight against global HIV/AIDS, TB and
malaria.
These programs amount to a fraction of one percent of the
federal budget, but they affect the lives of tens of
millions, guard against future conflicts, open up developing
markets, and will have lasting impact on the global AIDS
epidemic in the long term.
Thank you for considering this request.
Barbara Lee, Member of Congress; Wm. Lacy Clay, Member of
Congress; Bobby Rush, Member of Congress; Maurice
Hinchey, Member of Congress; Donna Christensen, Member
of Congress; Donald Payne, Member of Congress; John
Lewis, Member of Congress; Keith Ellison, Member of
Congress; Emanuel Cleaver, Member of Congress; Dale
Kildee, Member of Congress; Sheila Jackson Lee, Member
of Congress; Pete Stark, Member of Congress; Tammy
Baldwin, Member of Congress; John Conyers, Jr., Member
of Congress; John Sarbanes, Member of Congress; Mike
Quigley, Member of Congress; Eleanor Holmes Norton,
Member of Congress; Gwen Moore, Member of Congress;
Karen Bass, Member of Congress; Frederica Wilson,
Member of Congress; Diana DeGette, Member of Congress;
Yvette Clarke, Member of Congress; Edolphus Towns,
Member of Congress; Lynn Woolsey, Member of Congress;
Bruce Braley, Member of Congress; Raul Grijalva, Member
of Congress; Barney Frank, Member of Congress; Donna
Edwards, Member of Congress; Lucille Roybal-Allard,
Member of Congress; Janice Schakowsky, Member of Congress;
Theodore Deutch, Member of Congress; Alcee Hastings,
Member of Congress; Terri Sewell, Member of Congress; Jim
McDermott, Member of Congress; Tim Ryan, Member of
Congress; Grace Napolitano, Member of Congress; Russ
Carnahan, Member of Congress; Marcia Fudge, Member of
Congress; Colleen Hanabusa, Member of Congress; Hansen
Clarke, Member of Congress; Sanford Bishop, Member of
Congress; Ed Perlmutter, Member of Congress; Charles
Rangel, Member of Congress; Robert Brady, Member of
Congress; G.K. Butterfield, Member of Congress; Eliot
Engel, Member of Congress; Eddie Bernice Johnson, Member
of Congress; Henry Waxman, Member of Congress; Danny
Davis, Member of Congress; Mike Honda, Member of Congress;
Sam Farr, Member of Congress; David Scott, Member of
Congress; Joe Baca, Member of Congress; Betty Sutton,
Member of Congress; John Garamendi, Member of Congress;
Melvin Watt, Member of Congress; Dennis Kucinich, Member
of Congress; Maxine Waters, Member of Congress; Cedric
Richmond, Member of Congress; Jackie Speier, Member of
Congress; Doris Matsui, Member of Congress; Carolyn
Maloney, Member of Congress; Bobby Scott, Member of
Congress; Steve Cohen, Member of Congress; Laura
Richardson, Member of Congress; Debbie Wasserman Schultz,
Member of Congress; Ruben Hinojosa, Member of Congress;
James Moran, Member of Congress; Gary Ackerman, Member of
Congress; Andre Carson, Member of Congress; Bennie
Thompson, Member of Congress; Hank Johnson, Member of
Congress; Al Green, Member of Congress; Judy Chu, Member
of Congress; Bob Filner, Member of Congress; Jared Polis,
Member of Congress; Corrine Brown, Member of Congress;
Chaka Fattah, Member of Congress; Albio Sires, Member of
Congress; Joseph Crowley, Member of Congress; Ed Pastor,
Member of Congress; Zoe Lofgren, Member of Congress;
Michael Capuano, Member of Congress; Louise Slaughter,
Member of Congress; Chris Van Hollen, Member of Congress;
Shelley Berkley, Member of Congress; Howard Berman, Member
of Congress; Jose Serrano, Member of Congress; Rosa
DeLauro, Member of Congress; Lois Capps, Member of
Congress; Luis Gutierrez, Member of Congress; David
Cicilline, Member of Congress; James McGovern, Member of
Congress; Jerrold Nadler, Member of Congress; David Price,
Member of Congress; Sander Levin, Member of Congress;
Madeleine Bordallo, Member of Congress; Rush Holt, Member
of Congress; Gregory Meeks, Member of Congress; John
Olver, Member of Congress; Elijah Cummings, Member of
Congress; Earl Blumenauer, Member of Congress; George
Miller, Member of Congress.
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