Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 363) to authorize appropriations for basic research and research infrastructure in science and engineering, and for support of graduate fellowships, and for other purposes.

Madam Chairman, there's a terminology that we use to describe joyous occasions. Sometimes it describes freedom. The Fisk Singers in Tennessee were called the Jubilee Singers, and it was because they organized around slavery and after slavery and the ability to be free with jubilation, and, therefore, they were called the Jubilee Singers.

I think today is a day of jubilation, and it certainly is a time to express the jubilation that we feel with the passage, or the intended passage, of this legislation.

Let me thank the chairman of the subcommittee, Mr. Payne, for persistence and determination and wisdom. Let me also acknowledge his ranking member, Mr. Smith; and, of course, our chairman, Mr. Berman; and the ranking member of the full committee, Ms. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen for working with us.

But I do want to spend some time acknowledging that we have named this bill after the late former Chairman Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde. That is a jubilation. It is something to express great excitement about because these two distinct figures, in many instances with common views but many instances different views, came together around this lifesaving legislation, Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. And it is particularly important because we have added malaria and tuberculosis as an element that is not a partner but results thereof and/or stands alone, but all of them kill.

I am reminded of the first mission to Zimbabwe, to Zambia, and to South Africa, where we went on a Presidential mission, three Members of Congress, to look closely at the devastation of HIV/AIDS. It was in 1996/1997. And it was there that I saw a 4 year old taking care of a dying grandparent, the last person surviving who had tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. So this legislation is crucial, and it is particularly crucial because it recognizes the devastation of all of them.

It is likewise crucial because we have not won the war. The jubilation is that the bill is on the floor, but we have not won this war. And I might also say that we have not won the war in education, the ability to prevent all of these diseases.

So let me ask my colleagues to support this legislation.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 5501, The Global HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008. I believe that the legislation we are considering today makes vital improvements to

what is already a groundbreaking program. I would like to thank Chairman Berman for his ongoing leadership on this issue, and for bringing this legislation to the floor today. I would also like to thank the Committee's Ranking Member, Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen, and my colleagues across the aisle, for working toward a compromise, to develop legislation of which we can all be proud. Today's legislation is a crucial step toward transforming PEPFAR from an emergency response to a sustainable program.

I would also like to thank both Chairman Berman and the Chairman of the Subcommittee on African and Global Health, Congressman Payne, for working with me to include important language in this legislation. My language, in Section 301 of this bill, addresses the necessity of making children a priority among individuals with HIV for proper food and nutritional support. Section 301, with my language included, states that it is the sense of Congress that ``for the purposes of determining which individuals infected with HIV should be provided with nutrition and food support--

(i) children with moderate or severe malnutrition, according to WHO standards, shall be given priority for such nutrition and food support; and

(ii) adults with a body mass index, BMI of 18.5 or less, or at the prevailing WHO-approved measurement for BMI, should be considered `malnourished' and should be given priority for such nutrition and food support;''

Madam Chairman, as Chair of the Congressional Children's Caucus, I believe that this language is crucial, and I thank the Chairman for including it in the text of the bill. HIV-infected children have been underrepresented among beneficiaries of PEPFAR-supported programs. As this legislation cites in the findings section, ``of those infected with HIV, 2.5 million are children under 15 who also account for 460,000 of the newly-infected individuals.'' And even these large numbers are deceiving, as children die much quicker from AIDS than do adults. UNICEF reports that every minute, a child dies from an AIDS- related illness, and only 1 child in 20 who needs HIV treatment receives it. I am pleased to see this language, which focuses attention on the plight of these children, and makes serving their needs a priority.

I am particularly pleased to support an amendment offered by my colleague Congressman Carson. Representative Carson's amendment would direct the Coordinator of United States Government Activities to Combat HIV/AIDS Globally and the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development to expand their plan for strengthening health systems of host countries by allowing for postsecondary educational institutions, particularly in Africa, to collaborate with United States postsecondary educational institutions and specifically historically black colleges and universities. I believe that such educational exchanges would be extremely beneficial for students both in our own Nation and in developing nations. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this amendment.

In addition, I am also pleased to support the amendment offered by my colleague Congressman Blumenauer. This amendment adds safe drinking water to nutrition and income security on the list of programs for which direct linkages are encouraged. People with HIV/AIDS are at increased risk for diarrheal diseases, and these illnesses leave HIV- infected patients with a reduced ability to absorb antiretroviral and other medications. The availability of safe drinking water must be part of any sustainable strategy of HIV prevention and treatment.

As this House is aware, it is estimated that HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, TB, and malaria together kill more than 6 million people each year. In January 2003, President Bush announced the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR. As its name implies, PEPFAR was envisioned as an emergency response; the bill before us today represents a crucial first step in the process of transitioning to a sustainable program to address these global epidemics.

Seventeen years after the first cases were diagnosed, AIDS remains the most relentless and indiscriminate killer of our time, with 39.5 million people worldwide now living with HIV or AIDS. Despite pouring billions and billions of private and Federal dollars into drug research and development to treat and ``manage'' infections, HIV strains persist as a global health threat by virtue of their complex life cycle and mutation rates. Of those infected, 24.7 million, or about 63 percent, live in Sub-Saharan Africa, a region with just 11 percent of the world's population. 61 percent of those infected in this region are women. Though Africa, and even more specifically African women, bears the brunt of the AIDS pandemic, Americans should be reminded that HIV/ AIDS does not discriminate, with well over a million people in our own country currently living with HIV or AIDS.

Tragically, 6 percent of the 39.5 million people currently infected with HIV/AIDS are children under 15 years of age. In 2006, the virus killed 380,000 children (13 percent of all HIV/AIDS deaths), and 90 percent of all children living with HIV reside in sub-Saharan Africa. According to UNAIDS statistics from 2005, 1,500 children worldwide became newly infected with HIV every single day, due largely to inadequate access to drugs that prevent the transmission of HIV from mother to child. Only 8 percent of pregnant women in low- and middle- income countries were offered services to prevent HIV transmission to their newborns.

Madam Chairman, HIV/AIDS continues to represent a serious and large- scale challenge throughout much of the world. It goes far beyond a simple health problem, and it hinders attempts to foster economic development and political stability. As we reauthorize PEPFAR, I believe it is crucial that we emphasize the long-term sustainability of our HIV efforts, and that we integrate AIDS prevention and treatment within our larger-scale development initiatives. I believe that the legislation before us today makes groundbreaking strides toward moving the Global HIV/AIDS program beyond emergency implementation and toward sustainability. It dramatically boosts HIV/AIDS programming related to women and girls, strengthens health systems in countries hardest-hit by the HIV virus, increases U.S. contributions to the Global Fund, and authorizes HIV/AIDS programs to include linkages to food, nutrition, education, and health care programs.

Though we have drugs that are effective in managing infections and reducing mortality by slowing the progression to AIDS in an individual, they do little to reduce disease prevalence and prevent new infections. For this reason, there is growing consensus among health experts that we must put greater emphasis on comprehensive prevention programs, which are perhaps the most critical aspect of any initiative to combat global HIV/AIDS. Even as increasing numbers of people have access to anti-retroviral drugs, ARVs, an estimated 5.1 million people who needed treatment did not receive it in 2006. In sub-Saharan Africa, the percentage of individuals needing treatment who actually received it rose substantially, from 2 percent in 2003 to 28 percent in 2006. This growth is impressive, and represents a significant step forward, but it also means that 72 percent of sub-Saharan Africans requiring treatment did not receive it.

Madam Chairman, despite our concerted efforts, we continue to face a serious and persistent health threat. I believe that it is imperative that we ensure that American taxpayer dollars are used to greatest effect, not to bolster ideology. This legislation makes important strides forward by removing elements of the original authorization that speak more to ideology than actual conditions in the field. Under the current law, one-third of all prevention funds under PEPFAR must be used on abstinence-only education, which neglects the real needs of populations both in America and abroad. These stipulations hurt the ability of PEPFAR to adapt its activities in accordance with local HIV transmission patterns, and they impair efforts to coordinate with national health plans. Though AIDS is clearly a global problem, it does not affect every nation equally or in the same manner.

Madam Chairman, I am extremely pleased that the legislation we are considering today removes these restrictive provisions, allowing PEPFAR to better address the requirements of each country, making more efficient and effective use of taxpayer dollars in serving the millions affected by this disease. According to studies by both the Government Accountability Office and the National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine, the abstinence-only earmark has forced a reduction in mother-to-child transmission programs, reduced prevention efforts with high-risk groups, and undermined efforts to implement Abstinence, Faithfulness, and Condoms, ABC, prevention programs.

Under the provisions of today's compromise legislation, the administration will be directed to promote a ``balanced'' prevention program in target countries. This will include all elements of the ABC approach to HIV prevention. The legislation will require that the administration report to Congress if behavioral change programs do not receive 50 percent of funds devoted to the prevention of sexual transmission of HIV in countries in which there is a generalized epidemic. I believe this language is extremely important, as it not only recognizes that HIV is transmitted in other ways, besides sexual activity, but it also acknowledges that the epidemic is not the same in every country. By requiring a report, rather than earmarking the expenditure of funds, this legislation provides guidance while still affording organizations working in the field the flexibility to respond to nuanced circumstances.

I am proud to be part of this Democratic Congress, which will produce legislation reauthorizing a Global HIV/AIDS program driven by facts, rather than ideology. The removal of the abstinence-only earmark will make this reauthorization legislation stronger than the original

2003 legislation that it will replace, and I strongly urge my colleagues to oppose any efforts that might attempt to reinstate it.

In addition, I believe it is crucial that we dedicate greater attention to strengthening local health infrastructure. Health experts have expressed concern that the high amount of spending directed toward HIV/AIDS initiatives has drawn health workers away from public health facilities and other important programs. This merely compounds a chronic shortage of qualified health workers, which, according to WHO's 2006 World Health Report, is the single most important health issue facing countries today. This need is felt particularly sharply in Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

Many health experts also continue to advocate greater integration between PEPFAR and other health programs, including those focused on nutrition, maternal and child heath, and other infectious diseases. These experts note that HIV is intricately linked to these other areas of concern; for example, malnutrition and lack of food may heighten exposure to HIV, raise the likelihood of engaging in risky behavior, increase susceptibility to infection, and complicate efforts to provide anti-retroviral, ARV, medication. Further, an HIV epidemic will likely worsen food insecurity, by depleting the agricultural workforce. I believe it is necessary, to ensure maximum effectiveness, that we integrate PEPFAR with other aspects of our international health outreach and development programs. The legislation before us today does that.

Madam Chairman, while I recognize the importance of compromise, and I am glad we were able to reach an accord with our colleagues on the other side of the aisle, I am disappointed that the compromise text does not include a repeal of the language, known as the pledge requirement, requiring that all funding recipients to ``have a policy explicitly opposing prostitution and sex trafficking.''

Madam Chairman, the removal of the prostitution pledge was a critical facet of the bill we are considering today. The pledge currently restricts recipients' privately funded HIV prevention programs. No funds may be used to provide assistance to any group or organization that does not have a policy explicitly opposing prostitution and sex trafficking. Funding recipients must refrain from speech or conduct that is inconsistent with the Government's views on prostitution, even when they use private funds. Organizations must refrain from some effective HIV prevention strategies, for fear that the Government will view it as ``pro-prostitution.'' A repeal of the prostitution pledge language would leave in place language ensuring that U.S. Government funds may not be used to ``promote or advocate the legalization or practice of prostitution and sex trafficking.''

Madam Chairman, the prostitution pledge undermines prevention efforts targeting one of the populations most vulnerable to HIV transmission. Because high-risk populations such as sex workers are extremely marginalized, it is crucial that any intervention promotes a level of trust between sex workers and service providers. Failure to provide sex workers with information and services that will help them protect themselves and their partners from HIV transmission and other sexually- transmitted diseases also puts the broader community at risk. I am disappointed that this legislation does not remove this vague and counterproductive requirement.

This legislation also contains crucial provisions with regards to malaria and tuberculosis prevention and treatment. It incorporates H.R. 1567, the Stop Tuberculosis, TB, Now Act of 2007 sponsored by Congressman Engel, important legislation which I am proud to cosponsor. Today's legislation emphasizes the linkages between HIV/AIDS and TB, and it also creates new strategies for attacking MDR and XDR forms of drug-resistant TB. The bill also requires the President to develop a comprehensive 5-year strategy to combat malaria globally and strengthen United States leadership against this disease, and creates a new Coordinator of United States Government Activities to Combat Malaria Globally.

If we are to turn the tide of turmoil and tragedy that HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis cause to millions around the world, and hundreds of thousands right here in our backyard, it is imperative that we continue to fund and expand medical research and education and outreach programs. However, the only cure we currently have for HIV/ AIDS is prevention. While we must continue efforts to develop advanced treatment options, it is crucial that those efforts are accompanied by dramatic increases in public health education and prevention measures. Investments in education, research and outreach programs continue to be a crucial part of tackling and eliminating this devastating disease.

As Americans, we have a strong history, through science and innovation, of detecting, conquering and defeating many illnesses. We must and we will continue to fight HIV/AIDS until the battle is won.

Madam Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Chairman, I thank my good friend, the new chairman of our Foreign Affairs Committee, Howard Berman. He has got a tough act to follow, because we all loved Tom Lantos. The gentleman from California (Mr. Berman) had a hard act to follow, but, boy, did he fill those big shoes very well. So, thank you, Mr. Chairman. This has been your first trial by fire, and you came out looking so well because you accommodated the concerns and the anxieties and the worries that so many of our Members had.

I want to thank on a bipartisan level all of the members of the Foreign Affairs Committee, from the most conservative to the most liberal. We were able to forge a compromise that reached a broad consensus on this vital and complex legislation. We couldn't have done it without the leadership of Chairman Berman, but also without his very able staff and the staff on our Republican side of the aisle as well.

The foundation of this bill, as Chairman Berman has pointed out, is the 2003 Leadership Act, which was the first comprehensive U.S. emergency response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic and which stands as a noble legacy of our two former chairmen, Henry Hyde and Tom Lantos. They understood, as do all of us, that millions of lives around the world depend on our country's willingness to battle this pandemic together. It does honor to our country that 5 years ago we undertook this true mission of mercy. We are fortunate to have the opportunity to reaffirm that commitment by our vote here today.

Since the passage of the original Leadership Act of 2003, extensive emergency treatment and prevention programs have begun to slow the advance of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. The success of these programs is well documented. I would like to cite some specifics.

According to the office of the Global AIDS Coordinator, more than 1.4 million people infected with the HIV virus are now being treated with the necessary drugs to fight this disease. PEPFAR has supported HIV testing and counseling for 30 million people, cared for million 6.7 million, and, as the chairman pointed out, including almost 3 million orphans and vulnerable children. We are on our way to achieving the 5- year goal of preventing the infection of 7 million people. PEPFAR has supplied medicines for approximately 800,000 expectant mothers, preventing an estimated 157,000 infant HIV infections. What a successful program.

The legislation before us keeps faith with the core principles of the Hyde-Lantos Act. We have modified the original blueprint by adding or adjusting a number of provisions based on 5 years of real-world experience regarding what works and what doesn't.

In addition to medicines and sophisticated methods of treatment, the 2003 act mandated that a more comprehensive approach be used that took into account local values and indigenous cultures, and the act before us does that.

With respect to this balanced approach, the wife of the President of Zambia said it best recently when she said, ``There are several ways in which we can reach the young people. One of the effective ways is abstinence. It brings back dignity and self-responsibility to young people, because they know their bodies are not supposed to be abused and they learn to say no.''

The compromise bill before us removes the specific directive in current law so that implementation, as the chairman has pointed out, can be better refined to reflect the varying circumstances in host countries. Nevertheless, the bill before us continues this comprehensive approach by requiring that the AIDS Coordinator provides a balanced approach for prevention activities for sexual transmission of HIV/AIDS and to ensure that abstinence and faithfulness programs are implemented and funded in a meaningful and equitable way.

The agreement that we have is carefully crafted and designed in the area of reproductive health and family planning to ensure that HIV funding for prevention is not misused to promote programs beyond the scope of this bill.

We can do that, if you wish, in other bills. But the bill ensures also that those working to fight these diseases are not required to choose between their conscience and receiving the assistance they need to carry out their work.

Also we worked a lot on the prostitution and the sex trafficking pledge. The bipartisan agreement maintains the existing certification requirement that any group or organization receiving PEPFAR funds explicitly oppose prostitution and sex trafficking. The U.S. Agency for International Development has implemented this prohibition by requiring that any group that receives funding sign a pledge affirming its opposition to these practices.

Let me be clear: Neither current law nor the pledge itself prevents organizations from working with prostitutes or other high risk groups, but it does mandate that that assistance to these individuals not be mistaken for approval or support of the activities that take their terrible toll on their bodies and that can only be described as destructive to human dignity.

We had issues with accountability and national security, and although this bill is absolutely motivated by the altruism of the American people, I believe that this legislation ensures that our interests are protected as well.

For example, U.S. contributions to the Global Fund will be subject to more stringent oversight than is currently provided by calling for the Fund to meet even higher benchmarks of transparency and accountability.

The legislation also includes a prohibition on taxation of our assistance by foreign governments to ensure that assistance intended to the afflicted not be siphoned off by unaccountable bureaucrats.

The bill also strengthens our national security. The HIV pandemic is first and foremost a health issue, but it also is one of the most significant global, economic, and security threats of our generation. General Charles Wald, the Former Deputy Commander of the US-European Command, has called HIV/AIDS the third greatest threat to our national security.

Together, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria kill millions of people during their most productive years, between the ages of 16 and 50. And in the hardest hit countries, the AIDS epidemic alone is killing a generation of parents, of teachers, of health care workers, bread winners, peacekeepers, shattering the economic and the social life of villages, communities, and, indeed, nations.

Losses on this scale have staggered the economies of the hardest hit countries. Without further prevention, without further treatment, without further care efforts, the AIDS pandemic will continue to spread its mix of death, poverty, and despondency that is further destabilizing governments and societies and undermining the security of entire regions.

Our former House colleague from Wisconsin, Mark Green, who now serves as the United States Ambassador to Tanzania, wrote to me following the committee's passage of this bill highlighting this security aspect. He said, ``In tearing apart the social fabric and leaving a generation of orphans, the scourge of HIV/AIDS could spread and create a long-term breeding ground of radicalism.''

PEPFAR programs in turn help to counter these precursor conditions. As General Wald has said, ``In addition to the obvious humanitarian efforts of PEPFAR, the program is one of our Nation's development activities that can help strengthen the social structure that keep communities and nations secure.''

The threat is not just in faraway lands, but in our own back yard. Many countries in the Caribbean have been particularly hard hit. This bill places a new emphasis on assistance to this region. It adds 14 Caribbean countries to the existing list of nations in which the Global AIDS Coordinator is given explicit statutory authority over HIV/AIDS programs.

Let me add that, although all of us share the goal of reducing the further spread of this pandemic, this is also a personal issue for me both professionally and morally. South Florida, which falls within my congressional district, ranks first in the State of Florida in the number of AIDS cases. Roughly 19 percent of the State total for those living with HIV reside in my district. So, I am all too familiar with the human cost of this disease, and hope for the day when its ravages are safely confined to the past.

Although not all Members will fully agree with every aspect of this complex compromise, it does contain the bipartisan approach that we have maintained throughout the years of work on HIV/AIDS in our committee. We have an opportunity, indeed, a responsibility, to continue the lifesaving work that began 5 years ago. This legislation is a means by which that can happen.

But the dry text of the legislation, nor the posters behind me, cannot adequately capture the human drama for which we are trying to write the exit strategy.

The poster behind me shows where PEPFAR has worldwide activities, the number of countries where it has positively had an impact. The second poster shows the number of adults and children estimated to be living with HIV just this last year. And, the third poster shows some of the faces of the children whom this legislation has saved.

Let me read, to conclude, from a Washington Post op ed authored by our chairman, Henry Hyde, 5 years ago. Mr. Hyde wrote,

``Not since the bubonic plague swept across the world in the last millennium has our world confronted such a horrible curse as we are now witnessing with the growing HIV/AIDS pandemic.

``This pandemic is more than a humanitarian crisis.

``To those who suggest that the United States has no stake in this pandemic, let me observe that the specter of failed states across the world is certainly our concern.

``The AIDS virus is a mortal challenge to our civilization.

``It is my hope that each of us will be animated by the compassion, and, yes, the vision, that has always defined what it means to be an American.''

Madam Chairman, endless numbers of children have already been orphaned and deprived of the protection and the love of their parents. We cannot make their world whole again, but there is much that we can do to comfort and care for them and to prevent others from suffering the same fate.

I ask my colleagues to join us in supporting this bill in a strong bipartisan manner, and thereby allow our country to continue our mission, our mission of mercy, for the waiting millions.

And with that, Madam Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Royce) who is the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade.

Madam Chairman, I am proud to yield 7 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health, who has worked so long and so hard on this topic.

Madam Chair, I yield 3 additional minutes to the gentleman.

Madam Chairman, before yielding to my distinguished colleague from Illinois, I would like to recognize the efforts of Yleem Poblete, our staff director on the GOP side, Mark Gage, Joan Condon, Sarah Kiko of our committee staff, they have all been working so hard, and our detailee, a valuable addition to our PEPFAR team, Ben Snyder. Thank you to everyone who has worked so hard.

Madam Chairman, I would like to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Weller), an esteemed member of the Committee on Ways and Means.

I yield an additional 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois.

Madam Chairman, I would like to yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana, Congressman Pence, the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Middle East and South Asia, who spoke so eloquently during the committee markup on the need for this bill. 5 minutes.

(Mr. PENCE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Madam Chairman, I would like to yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) for the

purpose of engaging in a colloquy with our chairman, Mr. Berman of California.

Madam Chairman, at this time I am pleased to yield 1 minute to my colleague, my friend from California (Mr. Rohrabacher), who is the ranking member of the Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight.

Madam Chairman, I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

Madam Chairman, I would like to yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Chairman, sometimes when we are negotiating legislative text or debating the merits of an important bill, such as the one before us today, we can lose sight of the extent of the impact that our decisions here can have on the lives of so many.

I would like to quote from some of the African leaders whose people and societies have been rescued from certain death by our PEPFAR programs. The President of Tanzania has said the following, ``There would have been so many orphans to date. Had it not been for PEPFAR, the care and treatment, so many parents now who would have been infected can now live. And some of them can live as many years as possible. So can you imagine if this program is discontinued or disrupted? There would be so many people who would lose hope, and certainly there would be death. You create more orphans. So my passionate appeal is for PEPFAR to continue.''

Or listen to the words of the President of Botswana when he said, ``PEPFAR is now a critical partner in the historic and heroic battle to save lives. PEPFAR has turned despair into hope. PEPFAR has galvanized donor countries and agencies alike to act in concert in the interest of humanity. If the fund is not renewed and if it is not replenished, the momentum generated by PEPFAR thus far will no doubt be lost, and the hope rekindled by the generosity of the American people will be extinguished. I say this to you,'' said the President of Botswana, ``and that's what I said to the congressional committees recently.''

So, Madam Chairman, these and so many other statements reflect the human contribution of this critical United States program. But they also demonstrate that PEPFAR programs are helping to win hearts and minds throughout the world. They are building and strengthening the bonds between the governments and the people of these countries and the United States of America. They are building good will toward our Nation and toward the American people.

Madam Chairman, after the deplorable attacks on our Nation on that fateful day almost 7 years ago, we in this Chamber committed ourselves to using the range of U.S. foreign policy tools, including soft power, to counter the conditions that breed hatred, intolerance and radicalism; radicalism that targets the United States, our interests and our allies, and seeks to undermine our freedom and democracy everywhere. The bill before us is a vital tool in that effort.

Again, as our former colleague, our Ambassador to Tanzania has said, ``I

want you to know that PEPFAR is crucial to my current mission as Ambassador to the United Republic of Tanzania. It is a tremendous public diplomacy tool that shows America at her best, a compassionate partner who is committed to helping Tanzania meet its enormous HIV/AIDS challenges.''

``I was asked to present remarks to the National Consultive Meeting of Islamic Leaders and Scholars here in Dar es Salaam,'' continues the Ambassador. ``This was a historic gathering, as it was the first time that the most esteemed Muslim leaders of Tanzania had gathered together to discuss their role in the fight against HIV/AIDS. They invited me to speak alongside the President because of their concern about HIV/AIDS and their awareness of America's historic contribution to HIV prevention, treatment and care programs.'' Why? Because of PEPFAR. ``So as we help to save lives and restore hope,'' the Ambassador ends, ``we are leaving a lasting impression on the people of this country.''

Madam Chairman, I hope that our colleagues will see the great merit of this program and that we will continue to build upon it to save many more lives.

With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

Thank you, Madam Chairman.

We have no further requests for time. I would like to yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to claim the time in opposition to the amendment for purposes of debate.

Madam Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Chairman, I support Mr. Blumenauer's amendment, which would add safe drinking water to nutrition and income security on the list of programs for which direct linkages are encouraged. For patients whose immune systems have been compromised by AIDS, the availability of safe, clean drinking water is vitally important. This is especially true for HIV positive women with young infants who use infant formula to avoid transmitting the virus to their babies during feeding. If the water used in the formula is not clean, their babies are at high risk for waterborne diseases. Therefore, this amendment would allow PEPFAR to link with existing safe drinking water programs in order to provide clean water to these treatment patients.

I yield to the gentleman from California.

Madam Chairman, I would also like to yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne).

Madam Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Chairman, on the President's request 5 years ago, Congress launched a global campaign to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS and to treat and care for those who are already afflicted. The United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Act was a bipartisan bill from its inception. Today, the Foreign Affairs Committee again brings a bipartisan global HIV/AIDS bill to the floor, and again this important reauthorization bill enjoys strong support from the White House.

The negotiations that brought forth this compromise bill were conducted in the same bipartisan spirit that guided the 2003 act into law, a spirit made possible by close cooperation between two former chairmen of the Foreign Affairs Committee, our late colleagues Tom Lantos and Henry Hyde, and I am pleased to note that this important reauthorization bill is named for these two foreign policy titans in recognition of their contributions to battling HIV/AIDS overseas.

As a direct result of the extraordinarily successful law we passed 5 years ago, the United States has provided lifesaving drugs to nearly 1.5 million men, women and children; supported care for nearly 7 million people, including 2.7 million orphans and vulnerable children; and prevented an estimated 150,000 infant infections around the world.

The 2003 legislation firmly established the United States as the leading provider in the world of HIV/AIDS assistance for prevention, treatment and care. It has reminded the global community that Americans are a compassionate and generous people, and so has helped to repair our Nation's badly-damaged image overseas. In many ways, that legislation has had great healing power.

Most importantly, with this initiative we have ensured that HIV/AIDS is no longer the certain death sentence it was just 5 short years ago. Hospital corridors that were jammed with AIDS patients waiting to die now brim with hope as lifesaving drugs are dispensed.

The reauthorization bill before the House today reaffirms our commitment to the programs and policies established 5 years ago. The 2003 legislation

worked well as an emergency intervention, but it must now be modified to reflect the constantly changing nature of the HIV/AIDS crisis. We also have 5 years of experience under our belts and we know what works and what does not.

The law we passed in 2003 was designed to deal with the emergency phase of the global HIV/AIDS crisis. The Lantos-Hyde bill will move our programs towards long-term sustainability that will keep the benefits of U.S. global HIV/AIDS programs flowing to those in need. With this reauthorization act, host governments will also gain the ability to plan, direct and manage prevention treatment and care programs that have been established with U.S. assistance.

The 2003 legislation authorized $15 billion over 5 years. In response to the desperate need for lifesaving medicine and a greater number of trained health care workers in nations hard hit by HIV/AIDS, the bill before us authorizes $50 billion over 5 years for these three pandemics.

The 2003 law relied upon the health care workforce already in place in the developing world, yet in many of the hardest hit areas of the world there are simply not enough doctors and other health care workers to meet the challenges of this pandemic. The Lantos-Hyde legislation invests new funds in training new professionals and paraprofessionals, as well as building existing capacity.

The 2003 law focused on creating new programs to tackle the HIV/AIDS crisis. The reauthorization bill increases the number of individuals receiving prevention, treatment and care services. It also builds stronger linkages between the global HIV/AIDS initiative and existing programs designed to alleviate hunger, improve health care, and bolster HIV education in schools, an approach endorsed by the President's Global AIDS Coordinator just a few short weeks ago.

The 2003 law gave inadequate attention to the needs of women and girls. The new legislation remedies this situation by strengthening prevention and treatment programs aimed at this especially vulnerable population.

The reauthorization legislation also eliminates the one-third abstinence-only earmark, but requires a balanced approach to HIV/AIDS sexual transmission prevention programs and a report regarding this approach in countries where the epidemic has become generalized.

The bill before you today is a compromise in the best sense of the word, and it is in the true spirit of the great leaders of this committee who guided the 2003 act into law, Chairmen Lantos and Hyde. This bill is the result of more than a year of preparatory work and weeks of discussions, concluding with a bipartisan agreement with the White House. President Bush has indicated his support and his intention to sign it into law as soon as Congress acts.

For all its strengths, the bill before the House today is not perfect. No compromise ever is. No one got everything they wanted in this compromise legislation. But with this agreement, we have maintained the strong, bipartisan coalition behind the global HIV/AIDS initiative which has been critical to winning rapidly increasing funding levels for this important initiative.

Madam Chairman, 20 million innocent men, women and children have perished from HIV/AIDS, and 40 million around the globe are HIV positive. Each and every day another 6,000 people become infected with HIV. We have a moral imperative to act, and to act decisively.

I will speak more lengthily about the subject, but I do want to initially extend my particular appreciation to our ranking member, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who played a critical role in working with the majority to reach this compromise. A number of Members on her side from the committee were active. Don Payne, the gentleman from New Jersey, the chairman of the Africa Subcommittee, was critically involved, as was Congresswoman Barbara Lee from California, who played such a key role in the 2003 law, as well as a number of other people, such as Congressman Carnahan. I can't mention everyone who was involved, but this was truly a collaborative effort that started long before I became Chair of the committee, with great work by Chairman Lantos last year and with the staff of the committee.

Madam Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Chairman, I thank the gentlelady for her wonderful statement, and I yield 3\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern).

Madam Chairman, before I respond with my views, I would like to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne) to express his views on the subject of this colloquy.

I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

Madam Chairman, I yield myself 1\1/2\ minutes to respond to the concerns raised during this colloquy. I thank my colleagues for raising these important concerns.

H.R. 5501 provides clear and specific instructions to the USAID Administrator and the Global AIDS Coordinator to address the food and nutrition needs of individuals with HIV/AIDS and other affected individuals, including orphans and vulnerable children; and to fully integrate food and nutrition support in HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and care programs carried out under this act.

I would like to emphasize that the committee and I personally share our colleagues' concerns about the negative effect rising costs are having on our long-term and emergency food aid programs. This is a matter that has our most serious attention, because it affects a wide array of our food aid and development programs, including the effectiveness and success of this program.

I want to reassure my colleagues that I will be working over the coming weeks to strengthen and clarify in the bill that food security and nutrition programs, especially those referred to as wrap-around services, are not to be funded with monies diverted from other standing commitments to address food and security elsewhere in the world or in these countries.

I yield 30 seconds' additional time to the gentleman from Massachusetts.

Madam Chairman, I am pleased to yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne), the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health, and a key architect of this legislation.

I yield the gentleman an additional minute.

Madam Chairman, I am very pleased to yield 3 minutes to the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. And remember, this is a bill about HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. He played a major role in the tuberculosis section of the bill, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel).

Madam Chairman, I am very pleased to yield to my friend from California, someone who has been heavily invested in getting our attention on this issue and passing the legislation, putting, fashioning and passing the legislation in 2003 and again this time, our gentlelady from California, Barbara Lee, for 5 minutes.

I yield the gentlelady an additional 2 minutes.

Madam Chairman, I am pleased to yield 1 liberal minute to the majority leader, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer).

I appreciate the gentleman yielding, and the gentleman is absolutely correct. Part 2 of the report is the definitive report on the legislation being considered by the House today.

Madam Chairman, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to my colleague from California (Ms. Woolsey), the chairman of the Education and Labor Subcommittee on Workforce Protections and a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Madam Chairman, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to my friend and colleague from California, the gentlelady, Maxine Waters.

MS. WATERS. Madam Chairman and Members, I am pleased and proud to be here today to commend not only Chairman Berman but the late Tom Lantos and Henry Hyde for their wisdom and their foresight in putting together this most important legislation.

Ladies and gentlemen, I just returned from south Africa and I am pleased to announce that while I was there, I was recognized and given the Order of the Companions of Oliver Tombo Award for my work to help dismantle apartheid in South Africa, and basically for being a friend of south Africa's. I was very proud.

But as I sat there talking with President Umbeke and others, I was reminded that in south Africa there is an estimated 5.5 million people living with HIV and AIDS. That is more than any other country in the world. Over 18 percent of the adult population of south Africa is infected by HIV. Infected persons include thousands of well-educated professionals, such as doctors, nurses, civil servants, and teachers.

In recognizing that we have done a great job in helping to promote democracy and get rid of apartheid, the enemy now is HIV and AIDS and tuberculosis. They are losing all of their professionals. They don't have the personnel to carry out the plan that they have put together to continue to move south Africa to where south Africa needs to be.

I was very proud that they had built 2.3 million new houses over the last 10 years. But, again, tuberculosis, HIV and AIDS is destroying this population. This legislation will help this country and other countries. These are our friends. They love us. And they love us for having been involved in the struggle to help save them. These are countries that we will be able to count on in the world because we have come to their aid.

Let me also recognize that there were many Americans traveling in South Africa. Those Americans who were there are being served by people who live in areas where tuberculosis and HIV is rampant.

So we need this for protection and security of all peoples.

Might I inquire of the remaining time.

Madam Chairman, we have no further requests for time. I would like to make a few closing comments, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

It is an accident of fate and hanging around a long time that put me in the position of managing this bill today, and it is the first bill not on the Suspension Calendar that has come out of the committee since I have become Chair. But the fact is the work on this legislation began a very long time before I became the Chair.

They have been mentioned before, but there are so many new initiatives and so much thoughtful logic underlying this legislation that I thought it would pay to once again mention a group of staff people who, working under the leadership of our staff director, Dr. Bob King, spent a huge amount of time working for Chairman Lantos, working with the minority staff, to craft what became a strong, bipartisan piece of legislation:

Peter Yeo; Pearl Alice Marsh; Kristin Wells; David Abramowitz; Macani Toungara; Heather Flynn from Chairman Payne's Africa Subcommittee; Christos Tsentas from Congresswoman Barbara Lee's staff; Naomi Seiler and Jessica Boyer from the Government Oversight Committee staff, all played important roles on our side in working on this legislation. Yleem Poblette on the minority staff made major contributions.

The result is a bipartisan product where in a way we have internalized on our side the logic of efforts to change behavior and recognized the validity of abstinence programs in the context of a comprehensive approach to this problem and accepted the value of faith- based organizations, and the minority has accepted the logic that this is a fundamental, moral and humanitarian concern that we should address and be willing to put a lot of value to, because we know it works.

We know there is a direct relationship between the resources we put into this program and the lives saved, the people who can avoid and prevent it, and that it has implications beyond just the moral and humanitarian dimension, as Speaker Pelosi and Congresswoman Ros- Lehtinen said, in terms of security and economic welfare and economic growth in so many parts of the world, which ultimately all inure to our benefit and our national interest.

So, once again, I am very pleased to be part of this process with my partner, the ranking member.

Madam Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Chairman, will the gentlewoman yield?

Madam Chairman, I appreciate the gentlewoman yielding, and I rise to join you in supporting the gentleman's amendment. What was interesting to me was to learn, and there are many things I learned in this bill that I didn't know, but one was that about 1.2 billion people globally lack safe water to consume in the least-developed countries, and up to 90 percent of AIDS patients, 90 percent, suffer and frequently die from the chronic diarrheal diseases that the gentleman discussed. These diseases are caused by the use of unsafe water.

This is a compelling amendment. I join the gentlewoman in supporting it.

Madam Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 318 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Madam Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Hastings). All time yielded during consideration of the rule is for debate only. I yield myself such time as I may consume.

General Leave

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and to insert extraneous material into the Record.

Madam Speaker, House Resolution 318 provides for consideration of H.R. 363, the Sowing the Seeds through Science and Engineering Research Act, under a structured rule.

The rule provides for 1 hour of general debate, equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking member of the Committee on Science and Technology.

The rule waives all points of order against consideration of the bill except for clauses 9 and 10 of rule XXI. The bill shall be considered as read.

The rule makes in order and provides appropriate waivers for all three amendments that were submitted for consideration. The first amendment to be debated on the floor will be that of the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hall), the ranking member of the Science and Technology Committee.

Finally, the rule provides for one motion to recommit, with or without instructions.

Madam Speaker, the talent, intellect and entrepreneurial spirit of the American people have made this Nation the leader in economic and technological advancements. In fact, high-tech industries drive economic growth around the world.

Every day, however, my constituents tell me the United States has fallen further and further behind our competitors in Europe and Asia. The United States continues to lead the world in many statistical categories such as R&D spending and the number of scientists and engineers; however, the rest of the world is increasing its capacity, its R&D investments, and its will to catch up with us.

Other countries such as China and India are pouring resources into their scientific and technological infrastructure at staggering rates, which is increasing their ability to compete with us in the global economy.

For example, in South Korea, 38 percent of undergraduates received their degrees in science or engineering. In France, the figure is 47 percent. In China, it is 50 percent, and in Singapore, it is 67 percent. In the United States, only 15 percent of undergraduates receive a degree in science or engineering. More telling is the fact that approximately one-third of U.S. students intending to major in engineering switch majors to something else before graduating.

Madam Speaker, the warning signs could not be any clearer. Our leadership in the race to discovery is being challenged at unparalleled levels around the world. We cannot ignore this challenge, and we cannot afford to ignore this challenge.

Our society has always depended on innovation and discovery. It has depended on pioneers who push themselves to their intellectual and physical limits to find the hidden paths that lead to that discovery. Over 125 years ago, Thomas Edison who famously quipped that he had not failed but instead had found 10,000 different ways that would not work invented the light bulb, and it was Albert Einstein who once said, ``I never came upon any of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking.''

My point, Madam Speaker, is that our advancement as a society depends on leading the search for the unknown. Americans must continue to research, we must continue to develop, and we must continue to innovate in order to create new and thriving industries that will produce millions of good jobs and a better future for our children. To do that, however, we must continue to reinvigorate America's commitment to this discovery process.

The National Academy of Sciences recently released a report, ``Rising Above the Gathering Storm.'' The report outlines specific recommendations to enhance the scientific building blocks in the United States. The bill we have today before us, H.R. 363, the Sowing the Seeds through Science and Engineering Research Act, draws directly from several of those recommendations.

To paraphrase the report, the report recommends that we strengthen our Nation's commitment to research to maintain the flow of new ideas that fuel the economy, provide security and enhance our quality of life. In that regard, H.R. 363 seeks to improve Federal support for scientific research and education in order to maintain our position as the unequivocal global leader in innovation.

H.R. 363 creates a program at the National Science Foundation to award grants to scientists and engineers at the early stage of their careers at colleges, universities and research institutions across the country. Young researchers are eligible to receive up to $80,000 per year for 5 years.

The awards are granted on a competitive basis and are based on intellectual merit of their work, the innovative or transformative nature of the proposed research, and the researcher's potential for leadership at the frontiers of knowledge.

The bill requires that the National Science Foundation director allocate at least 3.5 percent of its research funding for this grant program. The bill also creates a similar program in the Department of Energy for which $25 million is authorized.

H.R. 363 directs NSF to allocate at least 1.5 percent of its research funds

to an integrated graduate education and research training program. This program provides support to those scientists and engineers who will pursue careers in research and education.

Just this week, Madam Speaker, the president of my alma mater from the University of Maryland, Dr. Mote, came by to describe some of the challenges for young researchers in just this area. It is so appropriate that Congress is taking this action at this time.

This bill establishes the Presidential Innovation Award, an award which will recognize scientists and engineers who develop unique innovations in the national interests. The bill creates a national coordination office within the Office of Science and Technology Policy to better coordinate research efforts, and, finally, H.R. 363 directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology to provide a report to Congress on the efforts to attract and retain young researchers.

But this bill goes far beyond the long-lasting impacts of development and innovation. It goes far beyond our ability to create jobs and compete in a global economy. It will plant the seeds of hope for a better tomorrow in communities across this country.

I know firsthand what research funding will be able to do. The University of California in Merced, my hometown in my district, is on the cutting edge of several research projects where additional funding could spur the next big breakthrough. UC Merced is a leader in solar concentration technologies, just one of the many of our ongoing projects. To date, this research has largely been supported through public and private partnerships. However, increased research funding could potentially improve the efficiencies of solar power and solar thermal technologies; and if efficiency and affordability are within our grasp, we can decrease the carbon emissions and reduce our dependence on foreign oil, certainly worthy goals for this Congress. This is but one example of many research efforts across our country that has the potential to define and shape tomorrow.

It is this type of project that would benefit from the funding of this bill, but how many more ideas could become reality if our researchers only had the tools that they sorely need? How many more concepts, how many more ideas are out there on the horizon waiting to be discovered?

Madam Speaker, it is our duty and our responsibility as legislators to help make those dreams and ideas become a reality.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, before I turn it over and yield to my colleague from Texas, I just want to respond to the gentleman and say, on an ongoing basis, we have heard the same drumbeat that we are somehow trampling on the rights of the minority. It is true that this is a structured rule, but it is also true, as it was with the last bill, that every amendment that has been offered has been granted. Certainly that is in the spirit of collegiality and cooperation that this House deserves. We have gone far beyond what is required. This is not an open rule, but certainly we have done more open rules in this committee than was done in the past Congress already in the first few months. We are doing everything we can to accommodate the minority in both spirit and practice.

So I say to my colleague, my good friend from the State of Washington, that he has had the opportunity, every Member, I have heard no one who is clamoring for an amendment to this bill. In fact, all three amendments that were offered to the committee were, in fact, granted, and it seems to me that we are offering cooperation on a silver platter. We just need our colleagues to say ``yes'' and agree that we have done that.

I yield to the gentleman from Washington.

Reclaiming my time, I acknowledge this is not an open rule, this is a structured rule. That is what we put forward. In the 12 or 14 years that the current minority was in power, we saw a declining, ever-declining number of what he considers an open rule.

As I said before, we granted every amendment that came forward in the

last two bills. Certainly that is in the spirit of cooperation that we bring this legislation to the House floor.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson), a member of the Science Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Israel), a member of the Appropriations Committee.

We have no more requests for time and are prepared to close.

Mr. Speaker, I first want to acknowledge the fantastic remarks of my colleague, Mr. Israel, from the great State of New York.

I also want to respond to my colleague in closing, that while we hear continued complaints about the rule process this session, we have granted the vast majority of amendments that have been offered on these last two bills. In fact, I think every amendment that was offered was granted to the minority. There is certainly no shortage of allowing the minority to have input, both in the committee and here on the floor.

I just get to the heart of the topic at hand today, and that is, quite simply, we must, we must reinvigorate America's commitment to discovery. Where there is research to be done, we must undertake it. There is opportunity to be pursued. This country has always pursued the opportunities presented. We have been an innovator in the last 225 years that we have been in existence, and we must continue to pursue it.

When a technological breakthrough lies far away on the horizon, we must seek it and discover it. I urge a ``yes'' vote on the rule and on the previous question.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.

The previous question was ordered.

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

Mr. Chairman, as you know, the provision on food and nutrition security in the bill currently under consideration is drawn directly from a bill I introduced in December, H.R. 4914, the Global HIV/AIDS Food Security and Nutrition Support Act of 2007. I introduced the bill after chairing a hearing in the Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health to determine whether the Global HIV/AIDS program was adequately addressing the nutritional needs of its beneficiaries.

The hearing corroborated what I had already heard in the field on numerous visits to Africa over the past 5 years: PEPFAR is falling short in this critical area. I share the concerns of the gentleman from Massachusetts and the gentlelady from Missouri about the increasing cost of food aid. Just last week, the World Food Program had to issue an appeal for an additional $500 million to offset the increased costs of food and fuel.

Without the extra $73 million, people who rely on WFP for their daily sustenance may have their rations cut. This is a truly alarming situation, and it is not my intent for the provision of this bill to exacerbate it. The language under consideration very clearly states that these activities are to be funded from amounts authorized under section 401 of this bill. I used this language deliberately, as I strongly believe that the food assistance and nutritional support we are providing under the Global AIDS program must be on top of the food aid we are already providing.

Madam Chairman, let me begin by commending Chairman Berman of the committee for bringing forth this tremendous, important legislation, and for the support in this bipartisan effort from Ranking Member

Ros-Lehtinen, and for her support of this very important legislation.

I rise in strong support of the legislation currently under consideration. I am very pleased to be an original cosponsor of H.R. 5501, the Tom Lantos and Henry Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008.

This bill is appropriately named because it was under the leadership of the late Henry Hyde, then chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, that the PEPFAR legislation was originally authorized. And under the leadership of the late Tom Lantos, reauthorization began. Both of these tireless giants who have left us should be remembered by this legislation. I might also note that under the leadership of the original authorization, Congresswoman Barbara Lee and the Congressional Black Caucus were very strong advocates to push the leadership of the House and the President to consider this very important legislation.

In the 5 years, there has certainly been a pandemic that the world is facing, and there has not been a pandemic similar to this since the plague during medieval days in Europe. So I am pleased that we are finally dealing with this pandemic in the way that it should be.

In the 5 years since Congress passed the original legislation authorizing the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, as it is well known, it has become an historic program. In my opinion, this will be remembered as the single most significant achievement of President Bush's two terms in office.

And from my recent conversations with the President, I know that he has worked very hard on this reauthorization, and it is with the support of the White House and the staff, they helped us craft this bipartisan legislation.

Prior to PEPFAR, the United States did very little in supporting AIDS treatment programs abroad. In fact, Members may recall a high-ranking USAID official said that treatment was not feasible in Africa, the most heavily AIDS-infected region of the world, because Africans cannot tell time and therefore would not be able to take the required medication properly. As we know, it was foolish to say that at the time; and as we have seen the results, it has proven once again to have been a foolish statement.

These officials advocated limiting our activities only to education and prevention, a position that would have in effect sentenced millions of HIV-infected men, women and children to die if it were only that program. And so I am very pleased we expanded it to where it is today.

Fortunately, the Congress and the President did not agree with that position. And because we were willing to find a way to provide treatment for over 800,000 people, today they are receiving antiretroviral medication to prevent AIDS in the 15 focus countries, 12 of which are in sub-Saharan Africa.

We are also pleased that we are increasing the number of countries to the 14 Caribbean countries. And as cochair of the bipartisan Caribbean Caucus, and under the leadership of Representative Donna Christensen, at a meeting she convened in her district, we had health ministers admit that the Caribbean also needed substantial help.

Our progress, while significant, is not enough. Only 28 percent of Africans needing antiretrovirals are receiving them. Shockingly, over 85 percent of African children who need ARVs are going without them. A mere 11 percent of HIV-positive women who need drugs to prevent mother- to-child transmission of HIV during child birth are getting them.

In light of these troubling facts, we have taken steps in this legislation to transform PEPFAR from an emergency response to a sustainable program by expanding the program beyond a series of medical interventions. For example, the committee incorporated the provision that I discussed earlier about food security into the legislation in order to address the nutritional needs of HIV patients, their families, and communities heavily affected by the disease.

Lack of food and nutrition support has been, up to now, a major impediment to the adherence of HIV/AIDS treatment regimens.

H.R. 5501 also contains provisions to build and strengthen health systems in developing countries. The committee has given the Office of Global AIDS Coordinator the flexibility to do prevention, care and treatment programs tailored to the characteristics of the epidemic in the country in which they are operating by eliminating cumbersome earmarks that the GAO said were ineffective.

Finally, the bill authorizes significant funds, $50 billion over the next 5 years, in order to accomplish the goals of the bill. I urge the House to pass this legislation.

I recognize the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Carnahan) for 2 minutes.

We will now have the gentleman from New York (Mr. Crowley) for 2 minutes, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

(Mr. CROWLEY asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Madam Chairman, I yield an additional minute to the gentleman from New York.

Madam Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from the Ways and Means Committee, from the State of Washington (Mr. McDermott).

(Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Madam Chairman, it is my pleasure to yield to a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Klein) for 2 minutes.

Madam Chairman, I yield to the vice chairperson of the Subcommittee on Africa, a member, of course, of the Foreign Affairs Committee, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Watson) for 2 minutes.

Madam Chairman, I thank Representative Watson for her kind remarks.

Madam Chairman, at this time I would like to yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and Africa Subcommittee (Ms. Jackson-Lee).

(Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

It is my pleasure to recognize the Speaker of the House for 1 minute, the gentlewoman from California, Speaker Pelosi.

Madam Chairman, I rise in support of Mr. Blumenauer's amendment to ensure that safe drinking water is a component of our HIV/ AIDS strategy. Congressman

Blumenauer, the lead sponsor of the Water for the Poor Act of 2005, has been a strong advocate on this issue for years, and he was kind enough to testify about the challenge of clean water in Africa at a hearing of the Subcommittee on Global Health I chaired in May of 2007.

During the course of that hearing, it became clear that in Africa, the region hardest hit by the AIDS pandemic, the problem of safe water is particularly acute. The total number of people without access to potable water in the region has actually increased by 60 million in the past half decade. That is why Mr. Blumenauer and I, along with other Members of Congress, successfully secured $300 million for safe drinking water and sanitation projects for fiscal year 2008.

We all know that HIV compromises the immune system. Those infected with the disease are far more likely to succumb to the illness caused by unsafe drinking water, especially if they are children, and there is no way that people can take ARVs if they do not have access to clean drinking water.

I strongly support Mr. Blumenauer's amendment, and thank him for his cosponsorship of H. Res. 318, supporting the goals of the United Nations International Year of Sanitation. His resolution encourages international communities to achieve the target of halving the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. I encourage my colleagues to support the Blumenauer amendment.