To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to provide for automatic eligibility for free school lunch and breakfast programs to children of parents who are enlisted members of the Armed Forces on active duty.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 844) congratulating the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative on ten years of significant achievement in the search for an HIV/AIDS vaccine, and for other purposes, as amended.

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

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

I rise tonight to request the support of my colleagues for House Resolution 844, a resolution congratulating the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative on 10 years of achievement in advancing the search for an HIV/AIDS vaccine.

Since emerging in 1981, HIV/AIDS has viciously spread across the globe, compromising economic and political stability in developing countries and indiscriminately taking the lives of over 25 million men, women and children. The cost of HIV/AIDS has been staggering.

Thankfully, the global response has accelerated. From the beginning, countless organizations and individuals took up the battle against HIV/ AIDS, committing extensive resources and giving deeply of themselves to fight an epidemic which would prove to be a formidable foe. Until 1996, however, insufficient attention and resources were being devoted to the development of a preventive HIV/AIDS vaccine, a development that would have the potential to end a plague that has devastated much of our world for a quarter century. It was this realization, Mr. Speaker, that led to the founding of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative in 1996.

Founded as a public-private partnership, the Initiative's mission is the development of safe, effective and accessible HIV/AIDS vaccines, especially in developing countries where the need is greatest. With a philosophy that has galvanized scientists, academics, nonprofit organizations, governments and faith communities, the Initiative's progress has been substantial. The Initiative has opened a Core Clinical Immunology Laboratory and a network of field laboratories throughout the countries hit worst by HIV/AIDS, conducting numerous vaccine trials in countries such as Kenya, India and South Africa. As a testament to their vitality, activism and commitment, the majority of new HIV/AIDS vaccine candidates are due in large part to the efforts of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.

We are reminded that HIV/AIDS is a global obstacle which continues to challenge our collective goal of a free, prosperous and peaceful world. In the struggle against this disease which infects nearly 14,000 people a day, the Initiative's work is of tremendous importance and its progress has been notable.

I urge my colleagues to support this resolution to extend the House's congratulations to the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative on 10 years of achievement.

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

Mr. Speaker, I also have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 844, and I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that the House of Representatives will honor the 10th anniversary of the founding of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) today. This important nonprofit scientific and advocacy organization, founded in 1996, is working to develop safe, effective and accessible HIV vaccines for use around the world but especially for use in developing countries. IAVI is headquartered in New York, with offices in Nairobi, Johannesburg, New Delhi and Amsterdam, and conducts research and advocacy activities in a total of 23 countries.

As you are well aware, the HIV/AIDS pandemic continues to decimate lives and families worldwide. AIDS has already claimed the lives of 25 million people, and there are currently nearly 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS today.

The United States has demonstrated our commitment to fighting the AIDS crisis by significantly increasing funding for treatment and care for the worst affected countries. Ultimately, however, a vaccine to prevent the spread of this disease will have a greater effect to slow and eventually halt new infections. IAVI's work focuses on four areas: accelerating scientific research on an AIDS vaccine; mobilizing public support through advocacy and education; encouraging industrial involvement in AIDS vaccine development; and assuring rapid global access to a vaccine.

This resolution is timely because in a few weeks an estimated 20,000 scientists, health care providers, community and business leaders, journalists, government, nongovernmental and intergovernmental representatives and people living with HIV/AIDS will meet at the 16th international AIDS conference held this year in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. With over 400 sessions, meetings and workshops dedicated to exploring the latest developments in HIV science, policy and practice, this is sure to provide a meaningful discourse on the global AIDS crisis.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to honor the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative's 10 years of outstanding work. I urge the adoption of this measure. It is a pleasure to once again sponsor this and speak on this with my good friend and partner, the gentlewoman from Florida, Ms. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, with whom I have had the pleasure of working on so much important legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) on their 10 years of hard work in searching for an HIV/AIDS vaccine. HIV/AIDS has taken the lives of over 250,000 people worldwide and poses a serious threat to the economic and political stability of the countries hit hardest by this terrible epidemic. The IAVI was founded 10 years ago as a public- private partnership with a mission to ensure the development of safe, effective, accessible, preventive HIV/AIDS vaccines for use throughout the world. The IAVI had a particular focus on developing countries, since their need is most urgent regarding care.

Unfortunately, 10 years ago insufficient attention and resources were devoted to the need for, and advantages of, a vaccine to bring an end to this disease. Currently, we are armed with increasingly powerful knowledge and treatments, and yet we face an ever steeper climb toward victory. HIV/AIDS is no longer a scary, unknown entity. A diagnosis is no longer the sealing of fate, even if it means the beginning of a battle. We know enough to educate, even if we do not yet know enough to cure.

The groundbreaking research and policy programs of the IAVI have galvanized scientific efforts and substantially increased financial and political support for this vital effort. Today, the majority of newly designed HIV/AIDS vaccine candidates are focused on preventing HIV/AIDS in the developing world, in large part due to the efforts of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. The IAVI has also received accolades from the G8 as being an important actor in the quest for a vaccine, after they became a founding member of the Global HIV/AIDS Vaccine Enterprise.

Today over 42 million individuals are infected with HIV/AIDS globally and 1 million here in the United States. Fifty percent of these cases in the United States are in young adults between the ages of 15 and 24. Every year, 40,000 new cases are diagnosed. Thankfully, the IAVI has continued to work effortlessly to unite scientists, academics, nonprofit organizations, and governments from the north and south, including communities of faith, communities of color, and many others, in an effort to develop a vaccine to stop global HIV infection rates of 14,000 a day.

We all admire the commitment of the IAVI in discovering a vaccine and I want to again express my support for the continued success of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.

Mr. Speaker, I would first like to commend my good friend and colleague from New York, Eliot Engel, for introducing this important resolution. His leadership in Congress on the global battle against HIV/AIDS is greatly appreciated.

Mr. Speaker, over 14,000 people are infected with the deadly HIV/AIDS virus each day. Let me repeat that statistic, Mr. Speaker--14,000 individuals each day are infected with HIV/AIDS.

HIV/AIDS has infected 65 million people and killed nearly 25 million since June 1981 when it was first detected.

For many in the developing world, contracting the HIV/AIDS virus is a death sentence. No drugs. No doctors. No hospitals. No hope.

And for family members left behind--often young children--there is equally little hope. Many will be forced to live with over-burdened and impoverished extended family, in understaffed orphanages or on the streets.

Treatment has brought the promise of life back to many individuals who were on the brink of death. However, palliative care is not a long term solution to relieve the suffering from this deadly disease.

That is why there is an absolute moral imperative to develop a vaccine to stop the

transmission of the HIV/AIDS virus. A successful vaccine will literally save millions of lives in the poorest countries of the world, restore people to their livelihoods, and prevent children around the globe from becoming AIDS orphans.

The resolution before the House brings attention to the intensive work over the past decade to develop a successful HIV/AIDS vaccine. The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative has built bridges between the developed and developing world that did not exist before. It also has conducted vitally important vaccine trials in the developing world that hopefully will lead to a successful vaccine in the near future.

I commend the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for recently awarding $23.7 million towards financing this network of committed researchers working around the clock to find a cure.

Mr. Speaker, there will be a successful HIV/AIDS vaccine one day, and it is our collective hope that this will occur before millions more of the world's citizens lose their lives. This resolution congratulates the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative for 10 years of significant achievement in the search for an HIV/AIDS vaccine towards this goal.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to supports its passage.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support for H.R. 844.

AIDS is the greatest worldwide health crisis of our time. Presently, there are more than 40 million people that are either infected with the HIV virus or are living with AIDS. At least 14,000 people are infected each day. Putting an end to AIDS is one of the most pressing humanitarian challenges we must face. For this reason, the development of a preventive vaccine has been a stepping-stone toward achieving this end.

The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative has been working for the past ten years to create a safe and effective HIV/AIDS vaccine. They have worked hard with the public and private sector to garner financial and political support in order to make the vaccine accessible to all those in need, especially in the developing world, where ninety-five percent of those infected with the virus live.

Today, I am honored to congratulate the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative for its advances in scientific progress, which have been instrumental in bringing about a worldwide effort and support for this important cause. It is their research and devotion to finding an HIV/ AIDS vaccine that brings hope of ending an epidemic that has already killed more than 25 million people worldwide. However, there is more to be done. We must take this opportunity to commit ourselves to fighting for the dignity and lives of our brothers and sisters around the world by promoting innovative research in finding a cure.

AIDS is presently a formidable adversary--one that cannot be ignored, one that does not only exist in faraway places, but one that is here, in our neighborhoods and homes, infecting 40,000 of our people each year. The efforts of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative have brought us closer to the day when we will live in a world that is free from AIDS.