Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008

Floor Speech

TOM LANTOS AND HENRY J. HYDE UNITED STATES GLOBAL LEADERSHIP AGAINST HIV/AIDS, TUBERCULOSIS, AND MALARIA REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2008

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Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California. Mr. Speaker, this bill underscores the United States' position as the world leader in the fight against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.

In addition to all that the bill does to fight the three diseases on a global level, the bill finally does away with an outdated and unnecessary provision in immigration law that prevents persons with HIV from visiting or immigrating to the United States.

This provision, in place for over 20 years, has kept parents from children and sisters from brothers. It has slowed research and discourse by preventing many researchers and other experts in the field from entering the country. And it has significantly undermined our leadership in the fight against HIV.

The U.S. is one of only 12 countries in the world to have such harsh HIV-based restrictions on entry. The others include Sudan, Libya, Russia and Saudi Arabia. Even China has recently overturned its ban.

This discriminatory policy has no basis in public health, and it should have been stricken long ago.

Our immigration laws have long prevented the admission of persons who have communicable diseases that HHS believes are of ``public health significance.'' In 1993, HHS sought to remove HIV from this list. But Congress, in a time of fear and ignorance about the disease, kept it in.

HIV is now the only medical condition permanently listed in the INA as a basis for inadmissibility. For any other disease, HHS retains the discretion to determine, with the wealth of medical and public health expertise at its disposal, whether that illness should be a bar to admission.

HHS does not believe that HIV should present such a bar. Neither do the American Medical Association, the Centers for Disease Control, the World Health Organization, and other public health organizations. These experts agree that there is no medical or public health rationale for this policy.

The policy also keeps world-renowned experts, doctors, and researchers from participating in U.S. hosted efforts to combat the epidemic. Indeed, since 1993, the International Conference on AIDS has not been held on U.S. soil.

It is time we end this discriminatory policy.

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