Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, the threat of tuberculosis is spreading rapidly through the developing world. TB is the greatest infectious killer of adults worldwide. It is the biggest killer of young women. It kills 2 million people per year. Over more than 1,000 people in India die everyday. TB hit an all time high in 1999 with 8 million new cases, 95 percent in developing countries. Mr. Chairman, I would first like to thank the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Callahan) and the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi) for their good work in increasing the appropriations to tuberculosis in the last 3 years up to $60 million. Our amendment asks for an additional $40 million added to the other infectious diseases component of the Child Survival and Diseases Program. This increase is meant specifically for TB control efforts. This level of spending for health is much lower than any other multilateral development bank despite the fact that the majority of deaths globally from TB and childhood infectious diseases occur in Asia, that is why we are taking dollars from the Asia Development Bank, which does not meet its mission to save the poor, in order to fund a program that will absolutely save millions of lives and preserve communities in the best interests of Asia, in the best interests of Africa, and in the best interests of Latin America, and only in the best interests of the United States where TB is becoming a more and more serious problem.”