The House on Tuesday overwhelmingly voted to pass Rep. Smith’s legislation, HR 6651, to extend the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) for another five years, continuing a successful international AIDS relief program that has saved tens of millions of lives.

“[S]ince 2003 the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or ‘PEPFAR,’ has saved an estimated 16 million lives, and 13 countries today are on track to control their HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2020,” Smith said on the House Floor on Tuesday before the vote. Current PEPFAR funding is approximately $6 billion per year.

“Before PEPFAR, only some 50,000 people in Africa had access to lifesaving antiretroviral treatment. That number has since increased to approximately 14 million people receiving treatment for HIV and AIDS,” Smith said. “Thanks to antiretrovirals, some 2.2 million babies have been born HIV-free to HIV positive mothers. Since the start of PEPFAR new HIV infections have declined between 41-76%.  And again, more than 16 million lives have been saved.”

PEPFAR began under President Bush and has continued under the Obama Administration and into the Trump Administration. Smith was joined by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), lead cosponsor of the bill, along with original cosponsors Reps Ed Royce (R-CA), Eliot Engel (D-NY), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and Karen Bass (D-CA). 

Below are excerpts of Smith’s remarks on the House Floor, delivered on Tuesday:

Mr. Speaker, I rise to urge House passage of my bill—H.R. 6651—the PEPFAR Extension Act of 2018, which authorizes funding for each of the next five years for comprehensive programs designed to prevent or provide treatment for people suffering from HIV/AIDS, malaria and/or TB throughout the world. (Current funding is approximately $6 billion per year)

Because of the vision of President George W. Bush and here, in the House, the leadership of the Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Henry Hyde, joined by Ranking Member Tom Lantos, since 2003 the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or ‘PEPFAR,’ has saved an estimated 16 million lives, and 13 countries today are on track to control their HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2020.

When President Bush signed the U.S. Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Act into law in 2003—Barbara Lee and I were actually sitting together at the ceremony—President Bush said:

“HIV/AIDS is one of the great medical challenges of our time...Across Africa, this disease is filling graveyards and creating orphans and leaving millions in a desperate fight for their own lives. They will not fight alone... The legislation I sign today launches an emergency effort that will provide $15 billion over the next five years to fight AIDS abroad... In the face of preventable death and suffering, we have a moral duty to act, and we are acting…”

Today, according to the U.S. Department of State, “PEPFAR is the largest commitment by any nation to address a single disease in history. Through PEPFAR, the U.S. government has invested over $80 billion dollars in bilateral HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis programs.”

Before PEPFAR, only some 50,000 people in Africa had access to lifesaving antiretroviral treatment. That number has since increased to approximately 14 million people receiving treatment for HIV and AIDS. Thanks to antiretrovirals, some 2.2 million babies have been born HIV-free to HIV positive mothers. Since the start of PEPFAR new HIV infections have declined between 41-76%.  And again, more than 16 million lives have been saved.

Yet, the need for this legislation is absolutely compelling, because there is much more to be done. The Trump Administration’s 2018 PEPFAR Report to Congress sounds the alarm noting that:

“according to UNAIDS, nearly 37 million people are living with HIV globally; however, the number of those on treatment is currently 20.9 million. While treatment access has increased by more than 160 percent since 2010, there is still much more to do to ensure everyone is virally suppressed, especially children and individuals under age 35. Constant evaluation of program implementation, epidemic data, and partner performance is essential to continue to accelerate our impact. We must continue to act decisively and strategically with our resources and to bring other donors and high-HIV-burden countries to the table; otherwise, we all risk an epidemic that rebounds beyond the global community’s capacity to respond. The time to act is now. Every week, 32,000 people are infected with HIV globally, including 6,900 young women and 3,000 children, and 19,000 people die of AIDS-related illnesses. In sub-Saharan Africa, adolescent girls and young women are especially affected. Of all the new HIV infections in adolescents in the region, nearly 75 percent are among females; they are up to 14 times more likely to contract HIV/AIDS than young men.”

I introduced HR 6651 joined by a group of bipartisan original cosponsors to ensure the continuation of this extraordinarily effective lifesaving initiative—and the time to act is now.   

This PEPFAR extension includes an amendment to extend programs aimed at supporting Orphans and Vulnerable Children—an initiave that assists over six million individuals— with support from multiple organizations, including Catholic Relief Services and World Vision. I would like to thank my Democratic colleague, and original cosponsor, Barbara Lee for her outstanding commitment to this issue.

I also wish to commend the leadership shown by Chairman Ed Royce, Ranking Member Engel, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen – Ileana, we will miss you – and my colleague on the Africa subcommittee, Ranking Member Karen Bass.

I also want to thank the many advocacy groups who weighed in with support and work tirelessly day-in-and-out to bring relief to those afflicted by HIV/AIDS and their family members.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.