[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 34 (Monday, February 26, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S979]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              South Africa

  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, over the recess that just concluded, I 
had a chance to visit South Africa for an Aspen Institute conference to 
discuss the future of that continent. With so much of the world's 
attention on Ukraine, as it should be, and the Middle East, as it 
should be, we often forget the importance of this dynamic and 
challenging African continent, with nearly one out of five of the 
world's population--a percentage that will increase greatly this 
century.
  There were so many different aspects we discussed and so many 
different opportunities. The thing that I came away with was the clear 
understanding--the Chinese understand this, as they see a future in 
Africa that we don't see, and they are investing dramatically in 
Africa's future--that if the United States and other Western nations 
ignore this reality, the Africa of tomorrow will be a lot different 
than the one today and may not be our friend as we want them to be.
  During my time in Congress, I have tried to advance several efforts 
to foster more engagement in Africa, including support for funding to 
address AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria through the Global Fund and 
PEPFAR, as well as mobility programs and clean water and sanitation. In 
fact, Chicago-based World Bicycle Relief is helping lead some of the 
most innovative mobility programs that help get kids to school and 
healthcare workers to visit rural, remote areas.
  I didn't agree with President George W. Bush on many things, but I 
want to give him credit for making the United States a leader in 
stemming the HIV/AIDS pandemic in some of the poorest parts of the 
world, including Africa.
  It was just over 20 years ago that nearly 30 million Africans were 
infected with HIV/AIDS--30 million. They had almost no access to 
treatment. President George W. Bush's response was known as PEPFAR, the 
President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. It worked. PEPFAR and its 
companion effort, the Global Fund, dramatically curtailed the AIDS 
epidemic ravaging many parts of the world, including much of Africa, 
saving more than 25 million lives. These programs provide retroviral 
drugs for those with AIDS, allowing them to live productive lives and 
to prevent the spread of disease through childbirth.
  Some might have forgotten just how devastating AIDS hit many parts of 
the world, killing more than 2 million people globally each year and 
leaving 14 million orphans in Sub-Saharan Africa. I was reminded on my 
trip just how devastating AIDS was to southern Africa. Take Malawi, 
where the PEPFAR and Global Fund programs have increased the number of 
Malawians living with AIDS, on treatment, from 5 percent to 95 
percent--survivors.
  So it is bewildering to me--I can't understand this--how we are 
presently engaged in a political debate on Capitol Hill as to whether 
PEPFAR is a good program. Extremists are arguing that we shouldn't 
reauthorize this historic, lifesaving program when people are still 
dependent on these drugs to survive from day to day and week to week.
  Last year, President Bush--junior in this situation--wrote an op-ed, 
urging PEPFAR reauthorization, in the Washington Post in which he 
quoted his late speechwriter and PEPFAR champion, Michael Gerson, as 
follows:

       What definition of pro-life does not include saving 
     millions of lives from preventable disease and death?

  Bush went on to note:

       We are on the verge of ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic. To 
     abandon our commitment now would forfeit two decades of 
     unimaginable progress and raise further questions about the 
     worth of America's word.

  I agree.
  I call on my Republican friends to help authorize this historic, 
bipartisan, lifesaving effort without further delay.