[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 183 (Thursday, December 1, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8142-S8143]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       RECOGNIZING WORLD AIDS DAY

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today is World AIDS Day, a time for us to 
reflect on one of the worst plagues the world has experienced. This 
year also marks the 30th anniversary of the first appearance of the 
disease in the United States.
  For three decades this preventable disease has devastated families 
and communities around the world. It has killed over 25 million people. 
But there has been a strong global response from the research 
community, governments, health workers, and patient advocates to fight 
this disease and save lives. This battle has yielded notable victories, 
and I am proud of the leadership the United States has demonstrated in 
the fight against AIDS.
  The number of newly infected people in the world is steadily 
declining. Successful antiretroviral treatments have saved 2.5 million 
lives in developing countries. Advancements have been made in HIV 
testing and prevention, and biomedical innovations have created 
powerful drugs that can transform AIDS from a death sentence into a 
more manageable chronic disease. Most recently, promising tests in gene 
therapies and vaccines are giving researchers renewed hope for a way to 
prevent the spread of HIV. Some scientists are becoming optimistic 
about the possibility of a cure.
  Despite this considerable progress, however, an estimated 34 million 
people in the world are still suffering from AIDS--5 million more than 
in 2002. Only about half of them have access to ongoing medical 
treatment that is essential to making HIV/AIDS a manageable disease.
  Today President Obama announced two new initiatives that will enable 
us to build on our successful efforts to combat HIV/AIDS here in 
America. First, the United States will commit $15 million to the Ryan 
White program, which supports HIV clinics around the country. In 
addition, we will commit $35 million to State AIDS drug assistance 
programs.
  I commend the President and his administration on these critical new 
commitments. They represent the next step in America's first-ever 
National HIV/AIDS Strategy, which the President introduced in 2010. 
They remind us that AIDS doesn't just affect people in developing 
countries--1.2 million people are currently living with HIV/AIDS in the 
United States, and over 600,000 people here have died from this deadly 
virus.
  Thirty years into this epidemic, the burden of the disease in America 
continues to be disproportionately borne by gay and bisexual men and 
people of color. While African Americans represent 12 percent of the 
U.S. population, they account for almost half of all people living with 
HIV and half of new infections each year.
  In the State of Illinois, over 37,000 people have HIV or AIDS. 
Eighty-three percent of those people make their homes in Chicago. All 
of these lives depend upon continued Federal commitment to investment 
in research and treatments.
  There is hope. Organizations such as AIDS Foundation Chicago--the 
umbrella group for HIV/AIDS groups working in Chicago--are dedicated to 
eliminating the disease in the United States. The ONE Campaign is a 
grassroots organization that works closely with African leaders and 
activists to stop the spread of preventable diseases such as HIV/AIDS. 
These two groups are examples of the many groups of people of 
conscience who are working to make HIV/AIDS history. The promising new 
biomedical research in gene therapies and vaccines gives me hope that 
we can someday eliminate AIDS and in the meantime improve the lives of 
those who are affected by it both here and abroad. But these important 
programs depend upon the Federal Government's will and ability to fund 
them. Unfortunately, these programs are at risk.
  The U.N. recently released a progress report on the global response 
to AIDS. It said:

       Financial pressures on both domestic and foreign assistance 
     budgets are threatening the impressive progress to date. 
     Recent data indicating that HIV funding is declining is a 
     deeply troubling trend that must be reversed for the 
     international community to meet its commitments on HIV.

  The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria--the 
international financing institution that invests the world's money into 
fighting these deadly diseases--has recently announced that the decline 
in funds is putting the fund in a tough spot. It can't award any new 
grants until 2014.
  As Congress debates the deficit, we should remember that the fight 
against AIDS has always been a bipartisan effort. It was under the 
administration of President George W. Bush that PEPFAR--now the Tom 
Lantos and Henry J. Hyde U.S. Global Leadership against HIV/AIDS, 
Tuberculosis and Malaria Act--was created. PEPFAR and other notable 
programs continue to be strengthened under the Obama administration. 
Today our President reminded us of this historical bipartisan support. 
He said:

       At a time when so much in Washington divides us, the fight 
     against this disease has united us across parties and across 
     presidents. And it shows that we can do big things when 
     Republicans and Democrats put their common humanity before 
     politics.

  We need to cut the deficit, but let's be smart about it. The fact is 
that every dollar we cut from HIV/AIDS research and treatment this year 
means additional funding will be required the next year and the next. 
But this is not just about saving taxpayer dollars, as important as 
that is. Most of all, this is about saving lives. Every dollar not 
funded this year will exact a horrible toll. Men, women, and children 
will die who otherwise could have been saved. People who would have 
lived longer, healthier lives will have to rely on overly burdened 
programs such as Medicare and Medicaid just to survive. We must not 
allow that to happen.
  Several years ago, I visited a program in Uganda for women who were 
dying of AIDS. We sat on the porch, and the women showed me scrapbooks 
they were making. They were gathering together photos, notes, and other 
bits of memorabilia about their lives so that their children would have 
some way to remember them after they died. Their children, playing in 
the yard, had already lost one parent and were now about to be 
orphaned. As I sat with those mothers, all of Uganda began to feel like 
a terminal ward of a hospital--an entire nation waiting to die. That is 
not true anymore. Today, because of discoveries by scientists and the 
determination of people of conscience, there is hope in Uganda and 
other desperately poor nations that have been hit hard by the HIV/AIDS 
pandemic.
  There is also hope here at home. The United States continues to 
demonstrate its leadership in eliminating HIV/AIDS, but we cannot allow 
our efforts to fail for lack of funding and support. The elimination of 
HIV/AIDS is one of our most important commitments to the people of this 
country and the world, and we ought to keep that promise.

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