[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 522 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. RES. 522
Commemorating and supporting the goals of World AIDS Day.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
December 2, 2025
Mr. Booker submitted the following resolution; which was referred to
the Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Commemorating and supporting the goals of World AIDS Day.
Whereas, as of the end of 2024, an estimated 40,800,000 people were living with
human immunodeficiency virus (referred to in this preamble as ``HIV'')
or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (referred to in this preamble as
``AIDS''), including 1,400,000 children;
Whereas, in the United States, more than 790,000 people with AIDS have died
since the beginning of the HIV epidemic, including over 19,300 deaths
among people with diagnosed HIV in 2022, with the disease
disproportionately affecting communities of color;
Whereas, in 2023, over 39,000 people became newly diagnosed with HIV in the
United States;
Whereas, while all races and ethnicities are affected by HIV in the United
States, communities of color are disproportionately impacted;
Whereas, in order to address the HIV epidemic in the United States, on August
18, 1990, Congress enacted the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources
Emergency Act (Public Law 101-381; 104 Stat. 576) (commonly referred to
as the ``Ryan White CARE Act'') to provide primary medical care and
essential support services for people living with HIV who are uninsured
or underinsured;
Whereas the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program provides services and support for over
half of all people diagnosed with HIV in the United States;
Whereas, to further focus attention on the HIV and AIDS epidemic among minority
communities in the United States, in 1998, the Minority AIDS Initiative
was established to provide funds to State and local institutions and
organizations to best serve the needs of racial and ethnic minorities
living with HIV;
Whereas the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals established a global
target to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030;
Whereas, in order to further address the global HIV and AIDS epidemic, in 2003,
Congress and the administration of President George W. Bush, with
bipartisan support, created the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS
Relief (referred to in this preamble as ``PEPFAR''), which for more than
2 decades has served as the primary policy instrument of the United
States to address HIV and AIDS in the developing world;
Whereas the United States PEPFAR program remains the largest commitment in
history by any country to combat a single disease;
Whereas 26,000,000 lives have been saved through PEPFAR;
Whereas, as of September 30, 2024, PEPFAR has supported treatment for
approximately 20,600,000 people and has enabled 7,800,000 infants of
mothers living with HIV to be born HIV-free;
Whereas, in fiscal year 2024, PEPFAR directly supported testing and counseling
for 84,100,000 people;
Whereas the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, launched in
2002, has helped provide antiretroviral therapy to approximately
25,600,000 people living with HIV or AIDS and to 648,000 pregnant women
to prevent the transmission of HIV and AIDS to their children and, as of
2025, has saved an estimated 70,000,000 lives;
Whereas the United States is the largest donor to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS,
Tuberculosis and Malaria, and every $1 contributed by the United States
leverages an additional $2 from other donors, as required by law;
Whereas considerable progress has been made in the fight against HIV and AIDS,
including an approximately 40-percent reduction in new HIV
transmissions, an approximately 60-percent reduction in new HIV
infections among children, and a reduction of over 50 percent in the
number of AIDS-related deaths between 2010 and 2024;
Whereas approximately 31,600,000 people had access to antiretroviral therapy in
2024, compared to only 7,700,000 people who had access to such therapy
in 2010;
Whereas research funded by the National Institutes of Health found not only that
HIV treatment saves the lives of people living with HIV, but people
living with HIV on effective antiretroviral therapy and who are durably
virally suppressed cannot sexually transmit HIV, proving that HIV
treatment is prevention;
Whereas it is estimated that, without treatment, half of all infants living with
HIV will die before their second birthday;
Whereas, despite the remarkable progress in combating HIV, significant
challenges remain;
Whereas, in 2024, there were approximately 1,300,000 new HIV diagnoses globally,
structural barriers continue to make testing and treatment programs
inaccessible to highly vulnerable populations, and an estimated
5,300,000 people living with HIV globally still do not know their HIV
status;
Whereas children living with HIV are significantly less likely than adults to
know their HIV status, and, as a result, are prevented from accessing
life-saving treatment;
Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that over 39,000
people were diagnosed with HIV in the United States in 2023, and 13
percent of the 1,200,000 people in the United States living with HIV are
not aware of their HIV status;
Whereas men who have sex with men (referred to in this preamble as ``MSM''),
particularly young MSM of color, are the population most affected by HIV
in the United States;
Whereas Southern States bear the greatest burden of HIV in the United States,
accounting for 52 percent of all diagnoses in 2022;
Whereas people living with HIV are frequently susceptible to other infections,
such as hepatitis B and C and tuberculosis;
Whereas the opioid and heroin epidemics have led to increased numbers of new HIV
infections among people who inject drugs, and the crisis has
disproportionately affected nonurban areas, where HIV prevalence rates
have been low historically and services for HIV prevention and treatment
and substance use disorder treatment are limited;
Whereas December 1 of each year is internationally recognized as ``World AIDS
Day''; and
Whereas, in 2025, commemorations for World AIDS Day will recognize the essential
role of community and collective action to sustain and accelerate HIV
progress in the global HIV and AIDS response: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) supports the goals and ideals of World AIDS Day,
including the goal to achieve 0 new human immunodeficiency
virus (referred to in this resolution as ``HIV'')
transmissions, 0 discrimination, and 0 deaths related to
acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (referred to in this
resolution as ``AIDS'');
(2) commends the efforts and achievements in combating HIV
and AIDS through the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources
Emergency Act (Public Law 101-381; 104 Stat. 576), the Ryan
White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-
87; 123 Stat. 2885), the Minority HIV/AIDS Initiative, the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National
Institutes of Health, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration, the Office of Minority Health, and the
Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services;
(3) commends the achievements in combating HIV and AIDS
made by the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the
Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS;
(4) supports efforts to end the HIV epidemic in the United
States and around the world by 2030;
(5) supports continued funding for prevention, care, and
treatment services and research programs for communities
impacted by HIV and people living with HIV in the United States
and globally;
(6) urges, in order to ensure that an AIDS-free generation
is achievable, rapid action by all countries toward further
expansion and scale-up of testing and antiretroviral treatment
programs, including efforts to reduce growing disparities and
improve access to life-saving medications for children;
(7) encourages the scaling up of comprehensive prevention
services, including biomedical and structural interventions, to
ensure inclusive access to programs and appropriate protections
for all people at risk of contracting HIV, especially in
communities disproportionately impacted by the disease;
(8) calls for greater focus on HIV-related vulnerabilities
of women and girls, including women and girls at risk for, or
who have survived, violence or faced discrimination as a result
of the disease;
(9) supports continued leadership by the United States in
domestic, bilateral, multilateral, and private sector efforts
to fight HIV;
(10) encourages input from civil society in the development
and implementation of domestic and global HIV policies and
programs that guide the response to the disease;
(11) encourages and supports greater degrees of ownership
and shared responsibility by developing countries in order to
ensure the sustainability of the domestic responses to HIV and
AIDS by those countries; and
(12) urges other members of the international community to
sustain and scale up their support for, and financial
contributions to, efforts around the world to combat HIV.
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