[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 202 (Tuesday, December 1, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7140-S7141]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     SENATE RESOLUTION 781--SUPPORTING THE GOALS OF WORLD AIDS DAY

  Mr. BOOKER (for himself and Mr. Sullivan) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 781

       Whereas, as of the end of 2019, an estimated 38,000,000 
     people were living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or 
     acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), including 
     1,800,000 children;
       Whereas, in the United States, more than 770,000 people 
     with HIV/AIDS have died since the beginning of the HIV/AIDS 
     epidemic, including nearly 16,000 deaths among people with 
     diagnosed HIV in 2018, with the disease disproportionately 
     affecting certain populations;
       Whereas each year nearly 40,000 people become newly 
     diagnosed with HIV in the United States;
       Whereas communities of color are disproportionately 
     affected by the spread of HIV in the United States;
       Whereas, in order to address the HIV epidemic in the United 
     States, on August 18, 1990, Congress enacted the Ryan White 
     Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act of 1990 (Public 
     Law 101-381; commonly referred to as the ``Ryan White CARE 
     Act'') to provide primary medical care and essential support 
     services for people living with HIV who would benefit from 
     these services;
       Whereas the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program provides services 
     and support for over half of all people diagnosed with HIV in 
     the United States;
       Whereas, to further focus attention on the HIV/AIDS 
     epidemic among minority communities in the United States, in 
     1998, the Minority AIDS Initiative was established to provide 
     funds to State and local institutions and organizations to 
     best serve the health care costs and support the needs of 
     racial and ethnic minorities living with HIV;
       Whereas the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 
     established a global target to end AIDS as a public health 
     threat by 2030;
       Whereas, in order to further address the global HIV/AIDS 
     epidemic, in 2003, Congress and the White House created the 
     President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR);
       Whereas the PEPFAR program remains the largest commitment 
     in history by any country to combat a single disease;
       Whereas, as of 2019, PEPFAR has supported treatment for 
     approximately 15,700,000 people, including by providing 
     antiretroviral drugs to 2,600,000 pregnant women living with 
     HIV to prevent the transmission of HIV from mother to child 
     during birth;
       Whereas, in fiscal year 2019, PEPFAR directly supported HIV 
     testing and counseling for nearly 79,600,000 people;
       Whereas the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and 
     Malaria, launched in 2002, has helped provide antiretroviral 
     therapy to approximately 20,100,000 people living with HIV/
     AIDS and to 718,000 pregnant women to prevent the 
     transmission of HIV/AIDS to their children, saving an 
     estimated 38,000,000 lives, as of 2019;
       Whereas the United States is the largest donor to the 
     Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and 
     every $1 contributed by the United States leverages an 
     additional $2 from other donors, as required by law;
       Whereas considerable progress has been made in the fight 
     against HIV/AIDS, including a 23-percent reduction in new HIV 
     infections, over a 40-percent reduction in new HIV infections 
     among children, and over a 30-percent reduction in the number 
     of AIDS-related deaths between 2010 and 2019;
       Whereas approximately 25,400,000 people had access to 
     antiretroviral therapy in 2019, compared to only 7,800,000 
     people who had access to such therapy in 2010;
       Whereas research funded by the National Institutes of 
     Health found that HIV treatment not only saves the lives of 
     people living with HIV, but people living with HIV on 
     effective antiretroviral therapy and who are durably virally 
     suppressed cannot sexually transmit HIV, proving that HIV 
     treatment is prevention;
       Whereas it is estimated that, without treatment, half of 
     all infants living with HIV will die before their second 
     birthday;
       Whereas, despite the remarkable progress in combating HIV, 
     significant challenges remain;
       Whereas there were approximately 1,700,000 new HIV 
     infections in 2019 globally, structural barriers continue to 
     make testing and treatment programs inaccessible to highly 
     vulnerable populations, and an estimated 7,100,000 people 
     living with HIV globally still do not know their HIV status;
       Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
     reports that more than 37,000 people were diagnosed with HIV 
     in the United States in 2018 and 14 percent of the 1,200,000 
     in the United States living with HIV are not aware of their 
     HIV status;
       Whereas men who have sex with men (MSM), particularly young 
     MSM of color, are the population most affected by HIV in the 
     United States;
       Whereas southern areas of the United States bear the 
     greatest burden of HIV, accounting for 51 percent of new 
     infections in 2018;
       Whereas people living with HIV are frequently susceptible 
     to comorbidities, such as hepatitis B and C and tuberculosis;
       Whereas the opioid and heroin epidemics have led to 
     increased numbers of new HIV infections among people who 
     inject drugs;
       Whereas the crisis has disproportionately affected nonurban 
     areas, where HIV prevalence rates have been low historically 
     and have limited services for HIV prevention and

[[Page S7141]]

     treatment and substance use disorder treatment;
       Whereas, in 2020, the United States hosted the Conference 
     of the International AIDS Society, reinforcing the important 
     leadership role the United States plays in ending AIDS 
     globally;
       Whereas the COVID-19 pandemic has placed a significant 
     burden on the public health systems across the United States 
     and the globe;
       Whereas December 1 of each year is internationally 
     recognized as ``World AIDS Day' ''; and
       Whereas, in 2020, commemorations for World AIDS Day 
     recognize the need for ``Global Solidarity, Shared 
     Responsibility'': Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) encourages people around the world to work to achieve 
     the goal of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination, and 
     zero AIDS-related deaths, in order to end the HIV epidemic in 
     the United States and around the world by 2030;
       (2) commends the efforts and achievements in combating HIV/
     AIDS through the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act 
     of 2009 (Public Law 111-87), the Minority HIV/AIDS 
     Initiative, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 
     the National Institutes of Health, the Substance Abuse and 
     Mental Health Services Administration, the Office of Minority 
     Health, and the Office of the Secretary of Health and Human 
     Services;
       (3) commends the efforts and achievements in combating HIV/
     AIDS made by PEPFAR, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, 
     Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the Joint United Nations 
     Programme on HIV/AIDS;
       (4) supports continued funding for prevention, care, and 
     treatment services, and research programs for communities 
     impacted by HIV and people living with HIV in the United 
     States and globally;
       (5) urges, in order to ensure that an AIDS-free generation 
     is achievable, rapid action by all countries toward further 
     expansion and scale-up of antiretroviral treatment programs, 
     including efforts to reduce disparities and improve access 
     for children to life-saving medications;
       (6) encourages the scaling up of comprehensive prevention 
     services, including biomedical and structural interventions, 
     to ensure inclusive access to programs and appropriate 
     protections for all people at risk of contracting HIV, 
     especially in communities disproportionately impacted;
       (7) calls for greater focus on the HIV-related 
     vulnerabilities of women and girls, including women and girls 
     at risk for or who have survived violence or faced 
     discrimination as a result of the disease;
       (8) supports continued leadership by the United States in 
     domestic, bilateral, multilateral, and private sector efforts 
     to fight HIV;
       (9) encourages input from civil society in the development 
     and implementation of domestic and global HIV policies and 
     programs that guide the response;
       (10) encourages and supports greater degrees of ownership 
     and shared responsibility by developing countries in order to 
     ensure the sustainability of the domestic responses to HIV/
     AIDS by those countries; and
       (11) urges other members of the international community to 
     sustain and scale up their support for and financial 
     contributions to efforts around the world to combat HIV.

                          ____________________