[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11568]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1030
                     INTERNATIONAL AIDS CONFERENCE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Rangel) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. RANGEL. This Sunday, the International AIDS Conference is going 
to be held in our Nation's Capital. It was some 30 years ago that this 
serious disease became known in our great country and spread from other 
parts of the world. Since that time, we've lost over a half a million 
people, yet we have not found a cure for this deadly disease.
  I have introduced legislation, H.R. 1462, with Senator Gillibrand, to 
see whether or not we can have more national attention focused on the 
fact that we can do a lot more than we are doing.
  The major thrust, of course, of what we have to do is to educate 
people that, although it used to have great stigma, there are so many 
different ways to come in contact with the disease. Education is one 
way that we can help people. Prevention, of course, is another, but I 
would like to emphasize the need for testing. So many people are 
walking around with the virus and have no idea that they have it. Even 
though there have been efforts made by community organizations for free 
testing, this is one of the exciting things about the President's 
Affordable Care Act.
  There is no question that after we get finished with the political 
circus that we are forced to go through because of the coming election 
that more and more Americans will understand the benefits they are 
receiving even now from this universal coverage, which so many people 
need, and the dramatic decrease in cost when people are able to get 
preventative care. Preventative care is one of the major parts of the 
President's Affordable Care Act. What it means is that people can now 
go to doctors for regular checkups and can find out things in time to 
prevent them from becoming more serious.
  My mom had three kids. When I was a kid, someone told her that she 
was going to the doctor with us, and we were not sick. Well, that was 
something that we didn't think was a luxury we could afford. Now, in 
seeing how important it is to contain serious illnesses and to reduce 
the costs of health care, it is so important that preventative care be 
a part of our national health system, and the quicker we get on with 
the implementation of this great bill, the more lives and the more 
dollars we will be able to save.
  So, remember, if you have any interest at all, take a look at what is 
going to be happening in September. The Congressional Black Caucus, 
during our legislative weekend that month, will have professionals come 
in to talk with us, to teach us, to tell us what we can do to extend 
this education process throughout our great country.

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