Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008 - Continued
Floor Speech
TOM LANTOS AND HENRY J. HYDE UNITED STATES GLOBAL LEADERSHIP AGAINST HIV/AIDS, TUBERCULOSIS, AND MALARIA REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2008--Continued -- (Senate - July 16, 2008)
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Mr. DURBIN. Will the Senator yield for a question?
Mr. REID. I would be glad to yield to my colleague from Illinois.
Mr. DURBIN. I say, through the Chair, that in a recent hearing of my Appropriations subcommittee, I asked the Acting Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, responsible for regulating these energy futures markets: What is the size of the market? There is one exchange known as NYMEX, which is regulated by his commission, there is another known as ISE, based in London, which is coming under regulation, but there is a whole world of trading out there involving futures trading with swaps, over the counter and the like, and he said--this Acting Chairman said--I don't know. I don't know the size of the market.
So when Americans express their concerns about speculation and its impact on oil and ask whether our Government is doing its job to make sure there is no manipulation of the future price of oil, that there is not excessive speculation, the honest answer from Mr. Lukkin and I believe it was honest--is he doesn't know.
This legislation which we are presenting is going to call for more disclosure and more oversight and more reporting of these markets so we will have information and be able to look closely at these trades. I ask the Senator from Nevada, as part of this legislation, is it not a fact that we are going to dramatically increase the number of people working at this commission--100 new full-time employees--and new computer capabilities so they can keep up with the dramatic increase in trading which is taking place, and will have people to deal with the new information that is collected?
Mr. REID. I say to my friend, if you had to put a mark on this legislation--what does it do more than anything else--I would say transparency. It will allow the entity we depend on to allow us to know what is going on with trading of futures, to have more manpower in order to get more information for the American people.
I say to my friend from Illinois it is important that we have transparency. That is what we are talking about. That is why I mentioned Senator Gramm and what he did. He took away transparency so that the American people will have some idea of what is going on.
Mr. DURBIN. If the Senator will yield for one more question--because I see some of my other colleagues on the floor, including Senator Dorgan, who has done some extraordinarily good work on this issue--I ask the Senator from Nevada: A month ago, when I visited the Air Transport Association here in Washington and met with the CEOs of all the major airlines in America--I say half jokingly that it is a good thing you couldn't open the windows on that high floor of that building because some might have been tempted to jump out, they were so despondent about what is happening to their businesses as airlines--and I know the Senator from Nevada has seen flights canceled to his home State, I have seen flights canceled in and out of Chicago, American today announced the layoff of 200 more pilots, more planes being grounded--when this bill has a limitation on the positions, which is the amount that can be traded, does this bill not also protect the right of companies, such as airlines, that want to legitimately hedge so they can be protected from future oil increases, so those legitimate commercial interests can trade on the markets and use this speculation in a positive way to protect them from the uncertainty of oil prices in the future?
Mr. REID. I say to my friend that the direct answer to the point is yes. But talking about 200 pilot layoffs, the last time I flew to Las Vegas was right before the July 4 break. I got on the plane and the pilot said to me, the captain: Senator, good to have you on our plane. He said: You know, there are 950 of us going to be laid off--950 pilots were given notice less than a month ago. Now we have 200 more.
The Senator said in a side remark that these people likely felt like jumping out of that window of that high-rise. My comment to that is, that is fairly valid. They are desperate. These are companies which are the largest companies in America--United Airlines, Delta, Northwest. These companies have been around for a long time and have employed hundreds of thousands of people.
The State of Nevada has two population centers. It is a huge State areawise, some 700 miles tall and some 400 miles wide at its widest part. But the population, 90 percent of the people, live in Reno and Las Vegas. If you want to go to Elko or Ely, you have to drive. It used to be that from Salt Lake to Elko you had a flight every hour. Now there is one a day. There used to be a number of flights from Reno to Elko. None.
Rural America is going to be in deep trouble. We have become an airplane society. We go places in airplanes. That is going to come to a screeching halt unless something is done quickly, because these airlines are cutting the flights as we speak. I repeat, every hour there was a flight from Salt Lake to Elko. Now there is one a day.
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Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I rise to speak in support of section 305 of the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act. Section 305 would make an important change in our laws that is long overdue.
Under current law, foreign students, tourists, refugees and immigrants with HIV are prohibited from entering the United States. Section 305 would eliminate this HIV travel ban. I was pleased to join Senator Kerry and Senator Smith as an original cosponsor of the HIV Nondiscrimination in Travel and Immigration Act, the original version of this provision.
Our immigration laws treat people with HIV differently than people with any other medical condition. HIV is the only disease specifically listed in U.S. law as a bar to entering the United States. For all other medical conditions, the Secretary of Health and Human Services determines whether the public health risk justifies a bar to admission.
Only 11 other countries have such harsh travel restrictions for people with HIV. Listen to the other countries with HIV travel bans: Armenia, Colombia, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Sudan, and Yemen. Even China recently took steps to overturn its HIV travel ban. Does the United States really want to be in the company of Sudan when it comes to the treatment of people with HIV?
This HIV travel ban undermines our global leadership in the fight against AIDS and is incompatible with the goals of PEPFAR.
How can we tell other countries to end discrimination against people with HIV when we ourselves treat people with HIV who want to travel to our country differently than those with any other medical condition?
The travel ban for persons with HIV was enacted in 1993, at a time when there was fear and misunderstanding about this disease. The travel ban is a relic of an earlier time. Hasn't our knowledge about HIV and tolerance for people with HIV expanded enough in the 15 years to eliminate the travel ban?
The travel ban does not further any public health goals. Eliminating the ban will simply return the authority to the Secretary of Health and Human Services to decide whether or not persons with HIV should be admitted into our country, as they do for all other diseases.
Our laws already require that anyone who wants to immigrate here demonstrate that they are unlikely to become an economic burden to the U.S. Government, which ensures that lifting the HIV travel ban would not have a significant financial cost.
Over 200 organizations, including the American Medical Association, the American Public Health Association and the World Health Organization, oppose the HIV travel ban. A broad range of faith-based groups, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, support lifting the HIV travel ban.
The HIV travel ban allows for a discretionary, case-by-case waiver process, but it is available only to a restricted group of visa applicants, and it is cumbersome and time-consuming. Let's take just one example: when Chicago hosted the Gay Games in 2006, the organizers had to work with various government agencies for several months before securing a waiver for persons with HIV to attend the event.
We will take an important step towards ending discrimination against people with HIV by lifting this travel ban and treating persons with HIV the same way we treat those with other medical conditions. That is consistent with the goals of PEPFAR and the U.S. leadership role in fighting discrimination against people with HIV around the world.
I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
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