On the recordDecember 4, 2012
This past weekend, we observed World AIDS Day, a time to remember those lost to this horrific disease and to recommit ourselves to prevention, treatment and, ultimately, a cure. For more than 30 years now, HIV/AIDS has exacted a huge toll, killing more than 25 million people. Every 9.5 minutes in our country, someone is infected. But this is predominantly a disease of the developing world. A shocking 33.4 million people are living with HIV/AIDS today, almost all in the world's poorer countries, particularly sub-Saharan Africa. Too many of them don't have access to the medication and overall health care infrastructure that they need. AIDS is linked to many other problems of poverty, malnutrition, and other infectious diseases as well. It contributes to instability and a sense of hopelessness in countries that are already susceptible to violence and terrorism. If we don't contain and defeat this epidemic, it will undermine democratic governments, it will continue to impede economic growth overseas, and it will threaten us right here in the United States. In other words, this isn't just an economic issue or a health care issue; it's a national security issue. Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, over the last decade, ``acting in our national security interests'' has come to mean invading and occupying foreign nations. The Iraq war lasted 9 years and was responsible for untold human misery.…
