Recognizing the importance of inheritance rights of women in Africa.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) for their work on this important issue.

The bill that we will approve today emphasizes the model of Uganda. Uganda has helped people avoid exposure and infection to HIV/AIDS. They have saved lives. The world can take a lesson from Uganda, including the United States.

Uganda understood as a developing country working to build its way back from tyranny and exploitation it had to act to save itself. It had little money, no expertise, few resources. But Uganda had faith. Uganda had faith in God and in its people to save themselves.

President Museveni asked his people to change their behavior in order to stay alive. That is not a message that is dependent on cultural interpretation. It does not require technical or scientific understanding. It is a message that gave hope and health to the general population of Uganda; and it has worked and continues to work in Uganda, as well as Zambia, Jamaica and Namibia.

The bill that is before us is landmark legislation because it sets a course for what works in saving people's lives from the certain death of HIV/AIDS. It emphasizes treatment through antiretroviral therapy, care by assisting families and children affected by HIV/AIDS, and prevention by emphasizing education to help people avoid exposure.

This legislation makes a very important distinction between preventive activities and intervention activities. The bill details that are included regarding prevention and other activities are intended to help people avoid exposure by reducing the number of sexual

partners and, if they are adolescents, delaying sexual activity until they are married. This is a realistic and effective public health strategy to help end the grip of HIV/AIDS. This legislation does not eliminate the utilization of interventions that are intended to reduce the risk of infection, especially for specific high-risk populations. The distinction between prevention and intervention is important.

I am a physician who has treated AIDS patients dying from, in many instances, an avoidable disease. We need to emphasize risk avoidance but continue to provide options for risk reduction. This approach, called ABC, is a sound approach meant for the general population to save as many lives as possible. It is a comprehensive approach to AIDS prevention that recognizes that people are different and a range of behavioral options for AIDS prevention needs to be presented.

In 2 days I will be traveling to Uganda to see for myself the Uganda experience. One of the things I want to investigate in Uganda is if it is staying true to the ABC approach. Since the mid-1990s, there has been less of an emphasis on sexual behavior and more on medical solutions. In recent years, there has been a small but disturbing trend towards riskier sexual behavior, and for the first time in a decade there has been a slight increase in the national infection rate in Uganda.

The Uganda ABC model of the earlier period is the one that seems to have worked the best and is the one that has the most to teach the rest of the world. That is why I am so pleased to support this bill. I know it provides real solutions and real hope to people in Africa, and that is why I am pleased to go to Uganda in 2 days to see this firsthand myself.

Mr. Speaker, I commend the ranking member and the chairman for their work, and credit goes to President Bush for initiating this process.

Mr. Speaker, the motion we will approve today emphasizes the model of Uganda. Uganda has helped people avoid exposure and infection to HIV/AIDS. They have saved lives.

The world can take a lesson from Uganda--including the United States.

Uganda understood that, as a developing country working to build its way back from tyranny and exploitation, it had to act to save itself. It had little money, it had no expertise, it had few resources.

But Uganda had faith. Uganda had faith in God and in its people to save themselves.

President Museveni asked his people to change their behavior in order to stay alive. That is not a message that is dependent on cultural interpretation. It is not a message that requires specific technical or scientific understanding. It is a message that gave hope and health to the general population of Uganda.

And it has worked and continues to work in Uganda, Zambia, Jamaica, an Namibia.

The motion to agree to the Senate amendment that is before us is landmark legislation because it sets a course for what works in saving people's lives from the certain death of HIV/AIDS. It emphasizes treatment through antiretroviral therapy, care by assisting families and children affected by HIV/AIDS, and prevention by emphasizing education to help people avoid exposure.

This legislation makes a very important distinction between prevention activities and

intervention activities. The bill details that included in prevention are those activities intended to help people avoid exposure by reducing the number of sexual partners and--if they are adolescents--delaying sexual activity until they are married.

This is a realistic and effective public health strategy to help end the grip of HIV/AIDS.

This legislation does not eliminate the utilization of interventions that are intended to reduce the risk of infection, especially, for specific high risk populations.

The distinction between prevention and intervention is important. As a physician who has treated AIDS patients, dying from in most instances an avoidable disease, we need to emphasize risk avoidance but continue to provide options for risk reduction.

This approach, called ABC, is a sound approach meant for the general population to save as many lives as possible. It is a comprehensive approach to AIDS prevention that recognizes that people are different and a range of behavioral options for AIDS prevention needs to be presented.

In 2 days I will be traveling to Uganda to see for myself the Uganda experience. One of the things I want to investigate in Uganda is if it is staying true to the ABC approach. Since the mid 90s, there has been less of an emphasis on sexual behavior and more on medical solutions. In recent years, there has been a small but disturbing trend toward riskier sexual behavior, and for the first time in a decade there has been a slight up-tick in national infection rates.

The Uganda ABC model of the earlier period, the one that seems to have worked the best, is the one that has most to teach the rest of the world. That is why I am so pleased to support this motion and provide real solutions and real hope to the people of the world.

Ms. McCollum. Mr. Speaker, I ask that the following article from today's Washington Post be inserted in the Record.

In Another Break With Past, Kenyans See Hope on AIDS

(By Emily Wax)

Nairobi.--The preacher's message to his 3,000-member

congregation inside the Kenyan Local Believers Evangelical

Church on a rainy Sunday was a simply one: Condoms don't

protect against AIDS.

The crowd responded with a ringing ``Eh,'' meaning yes,

nodding as they clapped and rocked to his confident voice and

his message.

``In fact, if you have sex using a condom 10 times, you

will get 10 percent of the AIDS each time,'' thundered the

pastor, Solomon Ndoria, wearing a mustard-colored three-piece

suit and pumping his hands in the air. ``Then you will

actually have AIDS. So just abstain from sex.''

One day later, Lucy Wanjiku's message to the man in her

dark metal shack, standing beside her thin foam mattress, was

a simple one, too. But she mumbled it.

She needed cash. She had to feed her 4-year-old son. So the

30-year-old woman who usually sold African crafts was selling

her body.

Wanjiku, one of the many members of Ndoria's church who

live in Kangemi, a Nairobi slum, had listened to her pastor's

words. But she had also heard discussions at the local health

clinic and seen posters downtown, and she wanted her client

to use a condom.

He refused, slapping her face. Then in the dark must of her

room, on her cot, with her son crying nearby, they had sex,

she said. Afterwards, she had enough money for pounded maize.

Now she has the virus that causes AIDS. She said she believes

she will die soon.

The preacher and the prostitute exemplify the emotional

debate over AIDS in Africa and its life-and-death

consequences. As of the end of last year, an estimated 29.4

million people in sub-Saharan Africa had AIDS or HIV,

according to U.N. estimates. About 3.5 million were infected

during 2002, and an estimated 2.4 million people died of AIDS

complications that year.

In Kenya, a nation of 31 million, 15 percent of adults have

AIDS or HIV, U.S. statistics indicate. An estimated 500 to

700 Kenyans will die each day this year from AIDS-related

causes. Yet after two decades of outside assistance and

internal debate, Kenya, like most of its neighbors, has yet

to find an effective strategy for preventing the disease or

for treating those who contract it. And AIDS continues to

kill entire villages, to wipe out generations.

When the country's first free and fair elections in

December brought an end to 24 years of autocratic rule by

Daniel arap Moi, many hailed it as a decisive moment not only

in Kenya's political history but in its fight against AIDS.

The new president, Mwai Kibaki, proclaimed a ``total war on

AIDS.'' He has committed his government to help pay for the

treatment of 40,000 patients and abandoned Moi's self-

described ``shy'' policy about condom use, taking a stand

supporting condoms in addition to abstinence until marriage.

After Kibaki's election, more than 500,000 condoms were

distributed in western Kenya, where HIV infection is most

prevalent. Kibaki's government ordered 50 million condoms

from German prophylactic maker Condomi, and Kibaki said he

will now implement the country's dormant AIDS prevention

strategy, which long included plans to distribute condoms in

hair salons, banks, restaurants and bars in addition to

health facilities. Kibaki said the government will use a $100

million ``soft'' loan from the World Bank to pay for 300

million condoms over a four-year period.

Kibaki maintains that if the AIDS problem is not tackled,

none of his government's other programs will matter. ``We

must all come out and fight and eradicate this disease,

because there won't be any point of improving the welfare of

people who are going to die,'' he said last month. ``I would

want us to look back and say, `That is the disease that used

to kill us.' ''

Anti-AIDS crusaders say they hope Kibaki continues to

follow a path that diverges sharply from the practice of many

African governments to keep silent about condom use and AIDS.

Ghana and Rwanda, largely Christian nations, are still

unclear about prevention policies. In contrast, Botswana,

with its tiny population of 1.6 million and its massive

infection rate of 36 percent, has been aggressive both in

rhetoric and treatment.

The most widely praised example in Africa is Kenya's

neighbor, Uganda, where the policies of President Yoweri

Museveni are credited with helping bring HIV infection rates

down from 30 percent to 5 percent. Museveni set up

aggressive and candid campaigns that included condom

distribution and a national plan to attract aid donors to

the country of 24.7 million.

``I think saving these lives is feasible in Kenya--right

now,'' said Christa Cepuch, a Kenya-based pharmacist with the

French medical aid group Doctors Without Borders. ``I think

with political will anything can happen. If Kibaki sat down

at his desk and made this happen, it would be a different

country in 10 years. Uganda did it and now Kenya can, too.''

In Africa's impoverished countries, the debate over whether

to tackle AIDS by trying to prevent it, through abstinence or

condom use, or by treating it with expensive antiretroviral

drugs, or both, is a complicated tangle that involves every

level of society--preachers, prostitutes and their clients,

farmers, orphans, drug companies and politicians.

As AIDS drugs decrease in price and advocates around the

globe lobby for more funding for their purchase, some AIDS

experts say they are seeing the first signs that treatment

might become affordable for poor countries. But at the

moment, they say, prevention is the more pressing issue.

Few Kenyans take issue with the idea that abstinence from

sex is an almost foolproof way to avoid AIDS. But in a

country where more than half the people live on less than a

dollar a day, it's not always that simple.

Because rural jobs are scarce, many Kenyans migrate to the

cities for work, leaving their families behind in small

villages. When spouses are separated for long periods, sexual

relations outside marriage become common. Or when there are

no jobs, it is not uncommon for a woman to sell her body--

perhaps just a few times in a lifetime--to feed her family

for a few days.

``Let's not be so naive and so bashful as to think people

are not going to have sex,'' said Wilson Ndgu, an energetic

Kenyan doctor who distributes condoms at bars and in health

clinics around the slums of Nairobi. ``People are having sex,

so we should be promoting condoms as a way to save lives.

That is the ethical and, frankly, the most Christian

response.''

Most Kenyans--78 percent--practice Christianity, and most

Christian denominations in Africa oppose condoms, some on the

grounds that they promote sex outside marriage, others

because they are a form of birth control. Only a few socially

liberal church leaders have come out in favor of condom use.

``To be honest, Kibaki is in for some real serious work

here. The scale of the epidemic and complete lack of response

to it has created a nation where a lot of people feel they

are helpless,'' said Chris Ouma, a Kenyan who is national

coordinator for the Action AIDS/HIV program. ``There is a lot

of education to do and a lot of working with the churches.

I've never seen such prominent leaders pray for people's

lives and then tell people not to use condoms.''

This All Africa Conference of Churches, with 168 members

from all branches of Christianity, is torn on the issue of

promoting condom use and backs a plan that tells worshipers

to wait until marriage to have sex. But Kibaki is now asking

church leaders to spend the first 15 minutes of every Sunday

sermon preaching the policy of ABC.

ABC stands for ``Abstain, Be faithful or use Condoms,'' the

approach successfully adopted in Uganda and copied by other

countries. President Bush, who has pledged $15 billion to

help pay for drugs in Africa and the Caribbean, has made ABC

official U.S. policy. The U.S. Senate approved a $15 billion

bill Friday that earmarks $3 billion a year for the next five

years for programs in Africa that include education about

condom use and promotion of faithfulness and abstinence.

Still, some church leaders refuse to support ABC, saying it

goes too far.

``This issue may be tougher than ever finding affordable

drugs for AIDS patients,'' said Melaku Kifle, outgoing

general secretary of the All Africa Conference of Churches.

``And Kibaki is trying to take a stand by pushing the ABC

policy. What will happen? No one really knows. Kibaki's

leadership in the coming years will be critical.''

As times change, there are signs that attitudes may be

changing, too.

On the television soap opera ``Saints and Sinners,'' the

characters talk about AIDS. In newspapers and on the radio,

the new government has launched an ad campaign that talks

about it, too. The ads say: ``Three people die every five

minutes from AIDS in Kenya. What are you doing about it?''

Kenyan doctors now hand out condoms in bars and talk about

prevention over warm Tusker beer. Even the national museum is

addressing the issue, running an exhibit this month on how

treatment and prevention improve the lives of patients.

``All of my friends say using condoms is like eating a

banana with the skin on,'' said Walter Koga, 22, a jobless

man who was hanging out with his friends at a barbershop in

Kangemi. ``Men just won't wear them because of stubbornness.

People say it's not manly. But attitudes are changing. People

don't want to be diseased, suffer horribly and die. I

actually thought I would never wear one and now I do. I've

changed.''

As a group of Koga's friends gathered to joke about how

they still don't want to use condoms, Lucy Wanjiku hovered

nearby, listening. She folded her arms over her chest and

rolled her eyes. She told a group of women standing nearby

about a friend of hers who had asked a man to use a condom

and ended up getting beaten.

She wanted to tell Koga's friends to stop joking, but she

didn't. Instead she went inside her dark metal shack to rest.

She was too sick and weak to fight with them.

Mr. Speaker, I want to take this time to thank Chairman Hyde and ranking member Lantos for being the driving force behind such an important bill, H.R. 1298, United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003. I would also like to commend the President for his leadership on this issue. I hope that other countries and their leaders follow his leadership on HIV/AIDS. This bill embodies true leadership on the part of the United States, dramatically increasing the U.S. participation in addressing the pandemic that is ravaging whole regions and millions of people. This unprecedented bill acknowledges

our moral responsibility to address the pandemic that has already resulted in the deaths of millions. I am so proud to be a part of this legislation, this distinguished body and this country.

H.R. 1298 contains a provision of mine included in the committee markup which my good friend, the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Napolitano), offered for me as a member of that committee. While much attention is being paid to preventing mother-to-child transmission, we must turn to addressing the needs and rights of the child to grow up with parents so that millions more are not orphaned before he or she can even walk.

My language gives priority preference for Federal funds to groups that are currently administering a privately funded program to prevent mother-to-child transmission and provide lifelong care and treatment in family-centered programs so that children do not grow up as orphans. This would benefit programs by letting them hit the ground running, to treat immediately as many people as possible. My language benefits programs such as the MTCT-Plus Initiative, which is administered by Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. The MTCT-Plus Initiative is supported by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the First Ladies of Africa and has $50 million in funding from several private philanthropic foundations, including the Bill and Melinda Gates, the William and Flora Hewlett, the Robert Wood Johnson and other foundations.

Family survival programs like the MTCT-Plus Initiative are critical to address the issues of millions of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS on a scale unrivaled in history. In sub-Saharan Africa, family and societal structures are breaking down because of the deaths of a generation of parents. The number of children in the developing world who have been orphaned by the AIDS pandemic will nearly double from 13.4 million to 25.4 million by the end of this decade. Today, 5.5 million children in Africa have lost both parents, and in most cases at least one of them, to AIDS; and that number will rise to 7.9 million by 2010.

Again let me thank the chairman and the ranking member for their leadership.

Older women are also profoundly affected since the responsibility for caring for the supporting grandchildren orphaned by AIDS infected parents often falls on the shoulders of the elderly.

Thank you again, Chairman Hyde and Ranking Member Lantos, for agreeing to include my amendment, and thank you too, to Congresswoman Napolitano for offering my amendment during the Committee markup.

Mr. Speaker, I also offered an amendment on the floor which was accepted that concerns Section 314 which calls for a pilot program of assistance for children and families affected by HIV/AIDS. My amendment requires that pilot program to ensure the importance of inheritance rights of women, particularly women in African countries, are included in this program. The relationship of the denial of inheritance rights for women, increased HIV/AIDS infection in women and the resulting exponential growth in the numbers of young widows, orphaned girls, and grandmothers becoming heads of households needs to be further studied and documented. My language does just that.

This is necessary because a majority of those infected by HIV/AIDs in African are women of all classes, ethnic groups, and levels of education. Women with AIDS are condemned to an early death when their homes, lands, and other property are taken. They not only lose assets they could use for medical care, but also the shelter they need to endure this disease.

The failure to ensure equal property and inheritance rights upon separation or divorce discourages women from leaving violent marriages. HIV risk is especially high for women in situations of domestic violence, which often involves coercive sex, diminished ability to negotiate with partners for safer sex, and impeded women from seeking health information and treatment.

In some places, widows are forced to undergo sexual practices such as ``wife inheritance'' or ritual ``cleansing'' in order to keep their property. ``Wife inheritance'' occurs when a male relative of the dead husband takes over the widow as a wife, often in a polygamous environment. ``Cleansing'' usually involves sex with a social outcast who is paid by the dead husband's family, supposedly to cleanse the woman of her dead husband's evil spirits. In both of these rituals, safe sex is seldom practiced and sex is often forced. Such women are at increased risk of contracting and spreading HIV.

For example, there are areas of Kenya where the wife inheritance and cleansing practices have created an alarmingly high rate of HIV/AIDS infection. Fully 22 percent of the population between ages 15 and 49 in the Nyanza province are infected, and 35 percent of ante-natal women in one district within that province are infected. Girls and young women in the Nyanza province are infected at six times the rate of their male counterparts.

Finally, in the last Congress Representative Eva Clayton and I introduced H. Con. Res. 421, recognizing the importance of inheritance rights of women in Africa, and its relationship to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. I have also chaired two briefings on this issue. Our resolution was very strongly supported by this body. It had 90 original cosponsors with bipartisan support. My amendment today to the underlying bill includes the crux of H. Con. Res. 421, which I have reintroduced as H. Con. Res. 158.

Thank you so much for putting H.R. 1298 on a fast track to present to the President for his signature. I look forward to the next step of actually ensuring that H.R. 1298 receives funds in the appropriations process giving this authorizing bill the teeth it needs to prevent infection and provide real relief to those suffering under the HIV/AIDS pandemic abroad.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to the unanimous consent agreement of yesterday, I offer a motion.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 1298, the legislation under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Rarely does Congress act with decisiveness for the benefit of so many suffering in the developing world. But this is precisely what we are doing today in enacting H.R. 1298, the United States

Leadership Against HIV/AIDS Act of 2003.

With each passing day, HIV/AIDS claims more and more innocent victims. Not since the bubonic plague swept across the world in the last millennium has our world confronted such a horrible, unspeakable curse as we are now witnessing with the growing HIV/AIDS pandemic. The number of dead or dying is grotesquely high: 25 million already dead worldwide, and the number growing at a rate of 8,500 every day, with the prospects of entire villages populated only by orphans because the adults are dead or dying from AIDS.

The bill we are considering today is the very same bill which passed the House May 1 by a vote of 375 to 41, with the exception of a minor amendment regarding debt forgiveness in poor countries. The Hyde-Lantos bill authorizes the President's 5-year $15 billion emergency plan for treatment and prevention of AIDS in those countries already facing crisis.

The legislation creates a more responsive, coordinated, and effective approach among the various agencies of the U.S. Government involved in the global fight against HIV/AIDS. During consideration of the Hyde- Lantos measure last week, the Senate added an amendment encouraging the administration to work with other countries to extend additional debt relief to poor countries most affected by HIV/AIDS. I support this amendment, and it is my hope that this legislation may be presented for the President's signature prior to his participation in the G-8 summit in France in June.

The Hyde-Lantos legislation promotes an approach that provides for antiretroviral therapy for more than 2 million people living with HIV. It encourages a strategy that extends palliative care to people living with AIDS. It supports efforts to find vaccines for HIV/AIDS and malaria. It emphasizes the need to keep families together, with particular focus on the needs of children and young people with HIV. The bill endorses prevention programs that stress sexual abstinence and monogamy as the first line of defense against the spread of this disease. And it contributes to multilateral initiatives that leverage the funds of other donor nations.

Many organizations and individuals from diverse backgrounds participated in the crafting of this legislation, including members of the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters in Wheaton, Illinois; missionaries in Uganda; AIDS treatment access groups in downtown Chicago; and caregivers who administer assistance and counseling to people living with AIDS. The Committee on International Relations heard from African ambassadors, church leaders, and citizens from around the world who are calling for action. Your support for this legislation today answers their call for action. But our work now is only beginning in this fight to save lives and rescue families and villages from this scourge.

Mr. Speaker, today I urge all of my colleagues to support H.R. 1298, the Hyde-Lantos bill. The HIV/AIDS pandemic is more than a humanitarian crisis. Increasingly, it is a threat to the security of the developed world. Left unchecked, this plague will further rip the fabric of developing societies, pushing fragile governments and economies to the point of collapse.

America does not have to take on the HIV/AIDS crisis alone. But as is often the case, American leadership, political or financial, is necessary if our friends around the world are to bear their fair share of the burden. This is what the President's proposal does. It sets a pattern of American leadership that others, we believe, will follow.

Today, we have an opportunity to do something of significant and lasting importance, an obligation to do something reflecting our commitment to human solidarity, and the privilege of doing something truly compassionate. The AIDS virus is a mortal challenge to our civilization. I know today my colleagues will be animated by the compassion and vision that has always defined what it means to be an American and answer this call for help.

Before I close, I want to thank, in particular, the distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos), the ranking Democrat member. It is absolutely clear we would not be gathered in this Chamber about to celebrate the passage of such monumental legislation without the leadership, courage, and vision of the gentleman from California. From the start, he has been a leader in the fight against AIDS, tenacious in fighting for the Global Fund, and for increased funding for bilateral efforts.

Yet during the past 3 years we have been working on this issue, he has always defended and represented his position with grace and eloquence. I would also like to recognize the essential and excellent contributions made to this legislation by his staff, in particular Peter Yeo and Pearl Alice Marsh. My own staff, Walker Roberts and Peter Smith, are also to be commended for their fine work and contributions to this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Weldon).

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend, the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos), for his generosity. Believe me, he is indispensable to this effort, too.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, and I rise in strong support of H.R. 1298.

Mr. Speaker, the House of Representatives would not be considering the United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act today if it were not for the personal commitment of the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde) to seeing this initiative signed into law. We all owe him a profound debt of gratitude, and I am delighted to pay public tribute to him for his principled and effective leadership.

Mr. Speaker, as we near final congressional approval of H.R. 1298, let us recall the humanitarian impetus for this historic initiative. Since this virus first mutated into its deadly shape, 25 million people have died of HIV/AIDS worldwide. This number is greater than the populations of New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, Dallas, San Antonio, Detroit, San Jose, and Indianapolis combined. It is more than nine times the total number of casualties we have suffered in all armed conflicts in our Nation's history combined. It is a number beyond comprehension.

This number, Mr. Speaker, represents much more than a statistic. It represents real people, with real families, real stories, and real futures. As we consider H.R. 1298, we remember these victims and pass this legislation in their name.

We remember Simon, a former seminary student and a student leader in South Africa who struggled against apartheid, but died at the young age of 31 years, hardly fulfilling his potential as a national leader.

We remember Srey, a poor illiterate Cambodian woman who had been infected by her husband. And this cruel killer showed no mercy, prolonging her agony long enough to see it claim the precious life of her baby son before consuming her.

We remember Jean David, a Haitian man whose brother sold his small house and three cows to pay for medicine. These desperate lifesaving measures proved futile. Jean David died, leaving his family impoverished, with no way to care for his son, who was also infected with HIV/AIDS.

But, Mr. Speaker, this legislation is also about life. It will ensure that there are fewer deaths due to HIV/AIDS, fewer parents grieving over the loss of their child to HIV/AIDS, and fewer children growing up without parents who have succumbed to this disease.

Our legislative work to combat HIV/AIDS worldwide does not end with today's vote. Today, I call on President Bush to do everything in his power to obtain the $3 billion in HIV/AIDS funding this year, and I call on our Committee on Appropriations to fund that amount as well.

And Congress must continue to play a strong oversight role to ensure that our Nation's HIV/AIDS programs are run effectively and efficiently. We have created a strong HIV/AIDS coordinator at the Department of State, and we expect that this coordinator will work hand in glove with the Agency for International Development.

We have required that 33 percent of HIV/AIDS prevention funds in this legislation be used for abstinence-until-marriage programs, and we expect that abstinence programs funded as part of larger multisectoral grants will count towards this 33 percent requirement.

We have provided a conscience clause to organizations implementing these programs, and we fully expect that all NGOs will only provide medically accurate and complete information about HIV/AIDS prevention methods.

Mr. Speaker, today we vote to create a top-flight bilateral HIV/AIDS program and to support the advancement of the Global Fund. I urge all of my colleagues across the aisle to once again support passage of this legislation in the name of all those who have already fallen victim to HIV/AIDS and in the hope that millions of lives will be saved by our actions.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Northern California (Ms. Lee), my friend and colleague, who has shown years of leadership in bringing us to this point.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee), a leader on this issue.

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Moran).

Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to yield 3 minutes to my dear friend and good neighbor, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Millender-McDonald), who has been a leader on this issue ever since we began this project.

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown), a distinguished member of the Committee on International Relations. He was the leader on the tuberculosis issue in this legislation, which is a significant and important and integral part of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

In closing, I would like to express my appreciation to Chairman Hyde's staff, Walker Roberts and Peter Smith; the staff of the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee), Christos Tsentas; and to my staff, Pearl Alice Marsh, Peter Yeo, David Abramowitz, and Bob King who have done an extraordinary job. I again want to express my profound personal thanks to the chairman of the

committee, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde), without whose leadership we would not be able to pass this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos), the ranking member, for those very kind remarks and also for his leadership. I want to thank the gentleman from Illinois (Chairman Hyde) for his leadership and commitment; and, to them together, I think this is the best in terms of how we work together and can work together in a bipartisan fashion. I thank the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Leach) for his years of dedication and years of hard work as we negotiated this bill.

Also to our staff, we would not be here today without them. I would like express my appreciation to Christos Tsentas in my office and to Pearl Marsh and to Peter Yeo and to my former staff, Michael Riggs, and all of the minority and majority staff for their commitment and technical expertise but, most of all, their clear understanding of the reason why we are doing this today.

This bill we have before us, as we have all said, has been shaped for the most part by a very long and bipartisan and bicameral compromise that has largely focused on the needs of those most affected by the AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria pandemics.

I applaud the other body for adding an amendment to strengthen the Enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, but I am disappointed that they did not vote to include other amendments that were put forth by our colleagues, particularly the amendment offered by my colleague from California, to balance our HIV and AIDS prevention spending among all viable approaches by striking the 33 percent designation for abstinence-until-marriage programs. The balanced approach, the ABC approach, is what is working in Uganda; and I hope as we move forward we understand that strategy very clearly.

Although I do believe that the debt relief provisions should be strengthened to say instruct the Secretary of Treasury to enter into negotiations to expand HIPC, rather than just advising him to do so, I think it is critical for us to address the issue of debt cancellation whenever we discuss the global AIDS pandemic, particularly in the Africa context.

I am delighted that this amendment is in. It did not go far enough, but it is a beginning.

The passage, of course, of this legislation is historic. But, again, we should not be too quick I do not think to pat ourselves on the back, because we must urge our President and our colleagues on the Committee on Appropriations to fully fund the $3 billion authorization beginning this year. AIDS will not wait, and neither can we.

As part of our commitment to fight AIDS, we must also work to ensure that other donor nations contribute to the global effort. We would urge the President, along with Secretary Powell and Secretary Thompson to encourage the international community to provide a substantial and consistent contribution to fight TB, AIDS and malaria on a consistent basis beginning next week in France at the G8 summit that they will attend.

I would just like to close by saying, as we pass this very historic bill today, we cannot forget our own domestic AIDS crisis. Just under a million people are estimated to be infected in the United States, and a quarter of those do not even know they are infected. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that 40,000 are newly infected each year in our own country. We must attack this disease on a domestic and international basis. This is a major step in the right direction.

I thank the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) for their leadership and for ensuring that the people of Africa now have some hope as a result of the United States policy.