Political Quotes

“I take this moment because of the fact that the AIDS/HIV epidemic continues to plague America and, in actuality, continues to plague much of the world. I take this opportunity to commend the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and the Congressional Pacific American Caucus for holding a joint hearing regarding this very important issue on June 12, that is, the issue of the HIV/AIDS epidemic that continues to threaten communities not only in our country, but throughout the world. Mr. Speaker, 20 years ago the term HIV/AIDS was unknown. Since that time, over 19 million people worldwide have died of HIV/AIDS, and approximately 34 million people continue to live with the disease. The Surgeon General, David Satcher, stated in a recent report that HIV/AIDS could be the worst epidemic ever recorded in history. Many people believe that this is an issue that does not really affect our country. It is true that the poorest regions in the world have been hit the hardest; yet the United States of America, the most technologically proficient Nation on the face of the Earth, has not been able to escape the devastation of this deadly disease. In this country alone, over 400,000 people have died, while 900,000 people are living with HIV/AIDS. The Centers for Disease Control recently released a report stating that each year there are 40,000 new cases of HIV/AIDS.”