[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Page 14898]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                CHILD SURVIVAL AND DISEASE PROGRAMS FUND

  Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I would like to express my strong support 
for the Child Survival and Disease Program Fund. Last year Congress, 
allocated $650 million plus $50 million in supplemental emergency funds 
to the Child Survival and Disease Program Fund for Fiscal Year 1999. As 
in the past, House Subcommittee Chairman Callahan has taken the lead in 
protecting these child survival programs and I commend him for his 
leadership on this issue. For FY 2000 the Clinton Administration, 
however, has budgeted $40 million below the $700 million allocated last 
year. In order to preserve the benefits of these important programs for 
children worldwide, as we have done in the past, we should accept in 
conference the House language that Chairman Callahan proposes.
  It is a tragedy that millions of children die each year from disease, 
malnutrition, and other consequences of poverty that are both 
preventable and treatable. The programs of the Child Survival Fund, 
which are intended to reduce infant mortality and improve the health 
and nutrition of children, address the various problems of young people 
struggling to survive in developing countries. It places a priority on 
the needs of the more than 100 million children worldwide who are 
displaced and/or have become orphans.
  The Child Survival and Disease Programs Fund includes initiatives to 
curb the resurgence of communicable diseases such as malaria and 
tuberculosis. According to the World Health Organization, in 1999 
alone, more children will die of tuberculosis than in any other year in 
history. In the underdeveloped world, the Child Survival and Disease 
Programs Fund works towards eradicating polio as well as preventing and 
controlling the spread of HIV/AIDS.
  Aside from addressing issues of health, the Child Survival and 
Disease Programs Fund also supports basic education programs. An 
investment in education yields one of the highest social and economic 
rates of return--because it gives children the necessary tools to 
become self-sufficient adults. According to the World Bank, each 
additional year of primary and secondary schooling results in a 10-20% 
wage increase. Unfortunately, there are still 130 million primary aged 
children who are not attending any school, 2/3 of those children are 
girls.
  The programs supported by the Child Survival and Disease Programs 
Fund are effective because they save three million lives each year 
through immunizations, vitamin supplementation, oral rehydration 
therapy, and the treatment of childhood respiratory infections, which 
are the second largest killer of children on earth. If every child 
received vaccinations, an additional two million children each year 
would be saved from these terminal diseases. Eliminating the symptoms 
and causes of this poverty is not only the humane thing to do--it is 
also a necessary prerequisite for global stability and prosperity.
  In my view, Congress needs to maintain its support for these valuable 
programs. It is my hope that the Senate Foreign Operations Subcommittee 
will accept the proposed House language. The Child Survival and Disease 
Programs are effective and are important. They should be continued.
  I see the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Operations Subcommittee on 
the floor and urge his continued support for that program.
  Mr. McCONNELL. I thank the Senator from Ohio for his statement. I 
have listened very carefully to his remarks, and I commend him for his 
tireless efforts in supporting children's causes, here in the United 
States and throughout the world. I would like to assure him that I will 
give every possible consideration to his request when we go to 
conference.
  Mr. DeWINE. I thank my distinguished friend from Kentucky, and I 
yield the floor.

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