[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 18]
[House]
[Pages 24003-24005]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1330
  MOTION TO GO TO CONFERENCE ON H.R. 3057, FOREIGN OPERATIONS, EXPORT 
        FINANCING, AND RELATED PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2006

  Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 1 of rule XXII and by 
direction of the Committee on Appropriations, I move to take from the 
Speaker's table the bill (H.R. 3057) making appropriations for foreign 
operations, export financing, and related programs for the fiscal year 
ending September 30, 2006, and for other purposes, with Senate 
amendments thereto, disagree to the Senate amendments, and agree to the 
conference asked by the Senate.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Rehberg). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Kolbe).
  The motion was agreed to.


                             General Leave

  Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous material on the motion to instruct on H.R. 3057.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Arizona?
  There was no objection.


                Motion to Instruct Offered by Mrs. Lowey

  Mrs. LOWEY. Mr. Speaker, I offer a motion to instruct conferees.
  The Clerk read as follows:

       Mrs. Lowey moves that the managers on the part of the House 
     at the conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses 
     on the bill, H.R. 3057, making appropriations for Foreign 
     Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs for the 
     fiscal year 2006 be instructed to insist on the provisions of 
     the Senate bill providing a total of $2,971,000,000 to combat 
     HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, including a total of 
     $500,000,000 for a U.S. contribution to the Global Fund to 
     Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 7 of rule XXII, the 
gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey) and the gentleman from Arizona 
(Mr. Kolbe) each will control 30 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey).
  Mrs. LOWEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 5 minutes.
  Mr. Speaker, this motion to instruct the conferees on the fiscal year 
2006 foreign operations bill will ensure that the House is clearly on 
record to provide the highest possible funding level for HIV-AIDS, 
tuberculosis, and malaria in 2006.
  The motion I offer today makes a simple point: Although other issues 
have overtaken the global AIDS pandemic as front-page news, the 
pandemic is still growing; and we still have a responsibility to face 
the challenges it presents head-on.
  I was very pleased, as always, to work with the gentleman from 
Arizona (Mr. Kolbe) to provide robust funding to fight the AIDS 
pandemic, both for the Office of Global AIDS coordinator at the State 
Department and for the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB, and malaria. With 
an allocation that was more than $2.5 billion below the President's 
request, we were able to provide full funding, and even a little bit 
more, for this key priority.
  Fortunately, the Senate had even a higher allocation with which to 
work, and I am pleased that the Senate-passed bill significantly 
increased funding over the President's request for HIV-AIDS, including 
$500 million for the Global Fund, the premier multilateral mechanism 
for fighting AIDS and other infectious diseases.
  As we approach conference on the fiscal year 2006 foreign operations 
appropriations bill, we must maintain our resolve to fund the fight 
against the global AIDS pandemic at the highest possible levels.
  When the fiscal year 2006 bill finally passes, Congress will have 
provided more than $10 billion to fight AIDS since 2003. Our assistance 
has saved millions of lives, offered hope for a better future to those 
already infected with HIV, bolstered the institutional capacity of 
developing countries to deal with serious public health challenges, and 
offered comfort and safety to children orphaned by AIDS.
  We have done so much. Still, the United Nations estimates indicate 
that $15 billion will be needed in the upcoming year to fight the 
pandemic, a need that dwarfs the approximately $6.1 billion available. 
While some have benefited from our largess and that of the 
international community, many millions more are being left behind.
  Just yesterday, we saw reports of staggering statistics about the 
effect of the AIDS pandemic on children. Only one in 20 of the HIV-
infected children worldwide who need life-prolonging drugs gets them. 
Only one out of 100 gets a cheap antibiotic that can save nearly half 
of the death rate from secondary infections like diarrhea and malaria. 
Fewer than one in 10 mothers infected with the HIV virus are given 
drugs that can stop transmission to

[[Page 24004]]

their babies. And every minute of every day a child dies of an AIDS-
related illness.
  The facts speak for themselves. We can and must do better. I urge my 
colleagues to support this motion to instruct.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey) for 
her motion. It gives our subcommittee, and it gives me, as chairman of 
the subcommittee, an opportunity to highlight once again how critical 
this battle against HIV-AIDS is, and this is something that is critical 
not only to this Congress but to President Bush and his administration.
  Funding from these accounts in this fight against HIV-AIDS and also 
tuberculosis and malaria, three of the great killers of our time, has 
increased significantly in the years that I have been chairman of this 
subcommittee.
  In the first year we were appropriating about $615 million in the 
international fight. Today, in our bill, the level is $2.7 billion. 
That is four times greater in just 4 years of bills for the Foreign 
Operations Subcommittee.
  The Senate level, at nearly $3 billion, is almost five times greater.
  Our bill that we passed in the House would provide $400 million for 
the Global Fund. That is twice what the President requested. The Senate 
bill has another $100 million and puts that figure at $500 million. The 
emergency plan for AIDS relief has revolutionized the fight against 
HIV-AIDS. We have not turned the corner in this disease. We have 
certainly not reached the end nor maybe even the beginning of the end; 
but to paraphrase Winston Churchill, perhaps we are at the end of the 
beginning. We are clearly making great progress.
  According to a number of public health experts, we are finally 
reaching the point where the focus countries in the President's 
emergency program, where these resources are not the limiting factor in 
addressing the spread of this disease, of HIV-AIDS. More than 200,000 
people now receive life-sustaining AIDS treatment in Africa, and that 
is thanks to the generosity and caring of the United States taxpayers. 
For the first time, there is hope for these people. Training and the 
infrastructure now has to be the focus of our efforts.
  It will take the concerted will of all countries and groups that are 
involved with this fight to sustain and build on the progress that we 
have made thus far.
  So once again, I want to thank my colleague for her dedication to 
this very important issue and for her work to help craft a bill that I 
think is one that we can go into conference feeling very good about and 
that we can defend with vigor.
  So I am pleased to be able to accept the motion to instruct; and I am 
committed, as the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey) is, to 
reaching the highest possible level in the conference in the struggle 
against HIV-AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mrs. LOWEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I applaud the gentleman from 
Arizona (Chairman Kolbe) and the ranking member of the subcommittee, 
the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey), for the bipartisan 
cooperation and collaboration that has been shown by this motion to 
instruct and the acceptance of it.
  The bad news as it relates to foreign operations that seems to 
trickle into the American system is that we spend so much money for 
foreign operations and, therefore, are not addressing the domestic 
crises that we face. I think this bipartisan effort truly speaks to the 
fact that what we do and how we reach out in our collaborative work 
around the world, issues of democracy, issues dealing with 
tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV-AIDS, issues of constructing and helping 
in ways of creating a world friendship, is crucial to the domestic 
tranquility of America.
  As I have worked with Ambassador Holbrooke who has cited the vast 
growing, although we have made strides, devastation of HIV-AIDS, the 
impact on children, the number of orphans that are facing life alone 
because of the loss of one or two parents, there is, I think, no level 
of giving that would be too much to try and face up to this terrible 
devastation. This accepting of the motion to instruct relates to that.
  But I rise today to raise an additional concern, and I know this bill 
is not addressing it as we speak, but because of the difficulties that 
we have had with Hurricane Katrina and now Wilma and certainly Rita, 
and the eyes of Americans focused, if you will, on those tragedies, the 
eyes of America focused on the tragedies in Iraq and the constant 
bombing and the loss of 2,000 soldiers, it sometimes steers our 
attention away from the earthquake in the South Asian region, impacting 
Afghanistan to some extent, India, and Pakistan.
  We know there are 79,000 dead from the earthquake. I would hope we 
would be able to prepare a supplemental to address those questions. We 
know there are appropriations for Pakistan and the South Asian region 
in this particular bill, but not enough due to the loss of life and the 
complete elimination of towns and villages.
  I have met with many from the Pakistan-American community, doctors 
who are attempting to be of help, the Indian embassy that is helping as 
well; but focused resources are going to be crucial.
  We know that the world family is looking at the kinds of resources 
that are needed, but we need the donor community joined with the United 
States to be part of this very important effort. We know that the 
United States has given $50 million. It is not enough. I have asked 
that we raise this question with the donor community so those dollars 
can continue to mount.
  Here are the reasons why: certainly we know the medical crisis is 
going to be ongoing. But as I said earlier, major cities have been 
wiped out. People are living in tents, those who can get tents. There 
is a lack of food, lack of water, and a lack of how the government will 
rebuild the infrastructure. We realize it is in the Kashmir area, and 
that is a very difficult area. It is a difficult area politically and 
as it relates to the conflict, and so it is imperative that that area 
be rebuilt quickly and the infrastructure be brought into that area.
  I ask my colleagues to support the motion to instruct, as I do. I 
want to again applaud the ranking member and the chairman of the 
subcommittee. I look forward to working with both of them on ways we 
can provide a more expedited and certainly a higher level of 
assistance; and, of course, I ask for the Secretary of State, Secretary 
Rice, and the President of the United States to consider requesting 
more dollars for assistance. I ask my colleagues to support the motion 
to instruct.
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Democratic 
motion to support the Senate funding level of $3 billion for our global 
AIDS initiatives. The funding level includes $500 million for the 
Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.
  Appropriations Foreign Operations Subcommittee Ranking Member Nita 
Lowey and Chairman Jim Kolbe are to be commended for their leadership 
in the fight against the global AIDS pandemic. They are a model of 
bipartisan effectiveness and are leading the way in providing needed 
funding under tight budget constraints.
  In 2003, President Bush and Congress took a bold step in authorizing 
$15 billion over five years toward AIDS prevention and treatment. The 
Senate funding levels in the Foreign Operations and Labor-HHS 
Appropriations bills would put the U.S. on track to meet this 
commitment in future years.
  At this critical juncture in history, the U.S. has the opportunity 
and the responsibility to fully fund an ambitious global effort to 
combat AIDS. The statistics are staggering. Of the 40 million people 
currently living with HIV, 95 percent live in the developing world. 
This week, UNICEF released a report showing that 18 million children in 
Africa could be orphaned by AIDS by the end of 2010.
  We know how to treat this devastating disease. Success stories can be 
found in every part of the world. In Uganda and Senegal, HIV rates have 
been brought down through effective prevention campaigns. In the past 
year

[[Page 24005]]

alone, an estimated 350,000 African AIDS patients have received access 
to anti-retroviral drugs that will keep them alive to work and care for 
their families. Unfortunately, only 500,000 of the 4.7 million people 
in need of anti-retroviral drugs have them.
  If we support what works, we can prevent nearly two-thirds of the 45 
million new HIV infections projected by 2020. When we invest more 
resources, more people have access to life-saving drugs, more people 
learn how to protect themselves and their partners, more people have 
access to voluntary testing and counseling, and more pregnant women 
have services to prevent mother-to-child transmission. The longer we go 
without fully investing in stopping the AIDS pandemic, the further it 
will spread worldwide and the more expensive the bottom line will be.
  The moral case is reason alone to fully fund our global AIDS 
initiatives, but it is also in our national security interest. As we 
have seen in the case of Afghanistan and Sudan, impoverished states can 
become incubators for terrorism and conflict. We must address the root 
causes of instability so that the ``fury of despair'' does not provoke 
more violence.
  It is in this global context that I support the Senate funding levels 
for global AIDS. Let us all come together today to fully support our 
commitments to fight the global AIDS pandemic.
  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Democratic 
motion to instruct conferees to accept the Senate's funding level for 
our global HIV/AIDS appropriations.
  I want to thank my colleague, the ranking member, Ms. Lowey for 
offering this motion, and I want to thank the chairman, Mr. Kolbe for 
accepting it. Both of them have worked in a bipartisan spirit to 
increase funding for our global AIDS programs above what the President 
requested, and they should be commended for their leadership.
  Earlier this month I sent a letter to Mr. Kolbe and Ms. Lowey, along 
with 55 other Members of Congress, asking that they take this very 
action today and approve the Senate's funding level of $2.97 billion 
for global HIV/AIDS in the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill--$500 
million of which would go towards the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, 
Tuberculosis and Malaria.
  By adopting the Senate's higher level of funding, we are again 
asserting United States leadership in fighting this devastating 
disease.
  But let us be clear, much more still needs to be done.
  The United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS, UNAIDS, estimates 
that approximately 39.4 million people worldwide are currently living 
with HIV/AIDS, including about 2.2 million children under the age of 
15. Since the first cases were identified in 1981, over 20 million 
people worldwide have died from AIDS.
  While the United States is poised to provide about $3.6 billion to 
combat the disease this year, UNAIDS estimates that more than $15 
billion is necessary to fight the disease this year alone. Next year 
that number is closer to $20 billion.
  We know that the United States cannot fight this disease on its own. 
But we have a moral duty to at least contribute our fair share of 
funding to prevent the rapid spread of this disease and save the lives 
of millions of people around the world.
  Although we may argue about money, we must not forget about those who 
are most vulnerable to this disease, the women and children throughout 
the developing world whose basic rights are frequently trampled upon.
  I'm proud to say that over the last 2 weeks, Congress has taken an 
important step forward in trying to protect the rights of children who 
are affected by HIV/AIDS by passing my bill, H.R. 1409, the Assistance 
for Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Developing Countries Act of 
2005.
  I hope that the President will sign this legislation quickly and 
ensure a robust U.S. Government response to the needs of these 
children.
  Mrs. LOWEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the previous question is 
ordered on the motion to instruct.
  There was no objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion to instruct 
offered by the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey).
  The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that 
the ayes appeared to have it.
  Mrs. LOWEY. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this question will be postponed.

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