Jon L. Christensen: “I rise today to urge for the passage of H.R. 1298, and I want to commend my colleagues Barbara Lee and Tom Lantos, as…”

“I rise today to urge for the passage of H.R. 1298, and I want to commend my colleagues Barbara Lee and Tom Lantos, as well as Chairman Hyde and the entire CBC for getting us to where we are today. The White House has also come a long way. And so I am pleased to support this bill, which now provides $1 billion for the global Fund where it can be leveraged to greater levels of funding through contributions from other sources. Hopefully as we see its success, the U.S. will increase its contribution to the global Fund where I am convinced we can do the most good. This bill wisely builds on the program in Uganda, where the three pronged approach of abstinence, being faithful to one partner, and condom use has seen much success. This is a major victory, not for those of us who have urged this approach but for the people whose lives will be saved. Lastly, I am very pleased that the Caribbean is included, specifically Haiti and Guyana, but here too, I hope that we can see this funding expanded to other countries in the region, which also bear a heavy burden of HIV and AIDS. We have come a long way in these two years, and even since the announcement of the $15 billion in the President's State of the Union Address this year. Although we can still improve upon this effort, passage of H.R. 1298 will mark a great step forward in responding to this strong moral imperative.”