From the Office of Senator Kerry

Thursday, June 13, 2002

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In a boost to their efforts to push the United States Senate to combat the spread and devastation of AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria on a global scale, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today unanimously passed legislation authored by Sens. John Kerry (D-MA) and Bill Frist (R-TN) -- 'The U.S. LEADERSHIP AGAINST HIV/AIDS, TB and MALARIA ACT OF 2002'-- a comprehensive package of funding for AIDS prevention programs and investments in vaccine research and purchase funds as well as the first effort to create a long term strategy for American leadership in responding to this global pandemic. The Kerry-Frist bill is the largest single monetary commitment ever made by the Foreign Relations Committee to deal with the AIDS pandemic in Africa.

"I'm grateful for the support of the Foreign Relations Committee, and I hope the broad bipartisan coalition supporting this effort will help provide a wake-up call to those who've been reluctant to match rhetoric with real commitment. This is a critical moment in the world's fight against AIDS and infectious disease, and I hope that Secretary O'Neill, having returned from Africa as a witness to the devastation, will urge the Administration to follow the model of what we've done in the Senate to respond accordingly. More than 5,000 Africans die each day of AIDS. American leadership is needed as never before," said Senator John Kerry." The United States can not afford to sit on the sidelines or tinker at the edges of a global pandemic. This legislation should jump-start all sorts of efforts to make clear we must provide relief, not rhetoric, to Africa and developing countries."

The Kerry-Frist bill will increase US spending on global AIDS from roughly $1 billion this year to more than $2 billion per year, but it would also require the US government to come up with a five-year plan to significantly reduce the spread of AIDS around the world. It would provide new money for treatment, vaccines, and education.