Washington, DC – Yesterday, the U.S. Senate passed the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act, which includes language written by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) to increase funding to combat international tuberculosis.

Senator Boxer said, “TB is a vast international threat that claims the lives of 1.6 million people each year.  The good news is that we know how to treat and cure TB.  This bill includes important language to provide increased funding for the prevention, treatment, and control of tuberculosis.  We have an obligation to take the steps necessary to stop this killer immediately.”

The Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act will authorize $50 billion over the next five years, including $4 billion for tuberculosis. 

This bill includes critical provisions of the Stop Tuberculosis Now Act of 2007, introduced by Senator Boxer to bring U.S. policy in line with the Global Plan to Stop TB, a ten year strategy to cut the number of TB deaths in half by 2015. 

The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 80 to 16.

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