IV 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 904 

Supporting the goals of World AIDS Day. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 1, 2023 

Ms. LEE of California (for herself, Ms. JACOBS, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Ms. 

BARRAGA ́N, Ms. SEWELL, Mr. MULLIN, Ms. ADAMS, Ms. HOULAHAN, Mr. 

SOTO, Ms. NORTON, Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia, Ms. WILSON of Florida, 

Mr. COHEN, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Mr. NADLER, Ms. CLARKE of 

New York, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, Mr. FITZPATRICK, 

Ms. MENG, Mr. SWALWELL, Mr. VICENTE GONZALEZ of Texas, Mr. 

SCHIFF, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Ms. WILD, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. TRONE, 

and Mr. CARSON) submitted the following resolution; which was referred 

to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by 

the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

RESOLUTION 

Supporting the goals of World AIDS Day. 

Whereas, as of the end of 2022, an estimated 39,000,000 

people were living with human immunodeficiency virus 

(HIV) or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), 

including 1,500,000 children; 

Whereas, in the United States, more than 770,000 people 

with AIDS have died since the beginning of the HIV epidemic, including over 19,000 deaths among people with 


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diagnosed HIV in 2021, with the disease disproportionately affecting communities of color; 

Whereas, in 2021, over 35,000 people became newly diagnosed with HIV in the United States; 

Whereas, according to the Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention (‘‘CDC’’), Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and other Pacific Islanders are 

disproportionately affected by HIV in the United States; 

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 of 

1990 (Public Law 101–381; 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/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, since 2016, the historic U=U 

(Undetectable=Untransmittable) movement has positively 

impacted the lives of people living with HIV by promoting the scientific facts; 


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Whereas when people living with HIV are on treatment and 

have an undetectable viral load, they protect their own 

health and they cannot transmit HIV; 

Whereas, in 2022, the Federal Government across sectors 

(including the White House, the Department of Health 

and Human Services, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (‘‘CDC’’)) has publicly announced 

support for the U=U movement in hopes of positively 

changing the trajectory of HIV in the United States; 

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/AIDS 

epidemic, in 2003, Congress and the White House created the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief 

(PEPFAR); 

Whereas the PEPFAR program remains the largest commitment in history by any country to combat a single disease; 

Whereas 25,000,000 lives have been saved through PEPFAR; 

Whereas, as of September 30, 2022, PEPFAR has supported 

treatment for approximately 20,000,000 people, and has 

enabled 5,500,000 infants of mothers living with HIV to 

be born HIV-free; 

Whereas, in fiscal year 2021, PEPFAR directly supported 

HIV testing and counseling for 64,700 people; 

Whereas sustained bipartisan commitment is essential for 

PEPFAR to continue saving lives, preventing new HIV 

infections, and accelerating progress toward controlling 

the global HIV/AIDS pandemic; 


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Whereas the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and 

Malaria, launched in 2002, has helped provide 

antiretroviral therapy to approximately 24,500,000 people living with HIV/AIDS and to 710,000 pregnant 

women to prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS to their 

children, saving an estimated 59,000,000 lives, as of 

2022; 

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/AIDS, including a nearly 40-percent reduction in new HIV transmissions, a nearly 60-percent reduction in new HIV transmissions among children, and 

a reduction of over 50 percent in the number of AIDSrelated deaths between 2010 and 2022; 

Whereas approximately 29,800,000 people had access to 

antiretroviral therapy in 2022, compared to only 

7,800,000 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 the CDC states that preexposure prophylaxis 

(PrEP) reduces HIV transmission through sexual contact 

by 99 percent when taken as prescribed, proving that 

PrEP is critical for HIV prevention; 


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Whereas nearly 4,000,000 people globally had started taking 

PrEP by the end of 2022; 

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 there were approximately 1,300,000 new HIV diagnoses in 2022 globally, structural barriers continue to 

make testing and treatment programs inaccessible to 

highly vulnerable populations, and an estimated 

5,400,000 people living with HIV globally still do not 

know their HIV status; 

Whereas the CDC reports that over 35,000 people were diagnosed with HIV in the United States in 2021, and 13 

percent of the 1,200,000 people in the United States living with HIV are not aware of their HIV status; 

Whereas the CDC has found that men who have sex with 

men, particularly young Black Americans and Hispanics, 

are the population most affected by HIV in the United 

States; 

Whereas southern areas of the United States bear the greatest burden of HIV, accounting for 52 percent of new infections in 2021; 

Whereas globally transgender feminine individuals are 66 

times more likely and transgender masculine individuals 

are 6.8 times more likely to be diagnosed with HIV compared to the general adult population; 

Whereas one in two people living with HIV in the United 

States is over 50; 


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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 transmissions among people 

who inject drugs, and the crisis has disproportionately affected nonurban areas, where HIV prevalence rates have 

been low historically and there are limited services for 

HIV prevention, treatment, and substance use disorder 

treatment; 

Whereas December 1 of each year is internationally recognized as ‘‘World AIDS Day’’; 

Whereas 2023 marked the 20th anniversary of the PEPFAR 

program, an initiative launched by President George W. 

Bush with bipartisan support that has become the primary policy instrument of the United States to address 

HIV/AIDS globally; and 

Whereas, in 2023, commemorations for World AIDS Day recognize the essential role of communities in the global 

HIV/AIDS response: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) encourages people around the world to work 

3 to achieve the goal of zero new HIV transmissions, 

4 zero discrimination, and zero AIDS-related deaths, 

5 in order to end the HIV epidemic in the United 

6 States and around the world by 2030; 

7 (2) encourages Federal, State, and local govern8 ments, including their public health agencies, and 

9 community-based organizations to share and disVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:06 Dec 02, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR904.IH HR904

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1 seminate U=U (Undetectable equals 

2 Untransmittable) information; 

3 (3) commends the efforts and achievements in 

4 combating HIV/AIDS through the Ryan White HIV/ 

5 AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009 (Public 

6 Law 111–87), the Minority HIV/AIDS Initiative, 

7 the Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS 

8 Program, the Centers for Disease Control and Pre9 vention, the National Institutes of Health, the Sub10 stance Abuse and Mental Health Services Adminis11 tration, the Office of Minority Health, and the Of12 fice of the Secretary of Health and Human Services; 

13 (4) commends the efforts and achievements in 

14 combating HIV/AIDS made by the President’s 

15 Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (‘‘PEPFAR’’), the 

16 Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Ma17 laria, and the Joint United Nations Programme on 

18 HIV/AIDS; 

19 (5) supports continued funding for prevention, 

20 care, and treatment services, and research programs 

21 for communities impacted by HIV and people living 

22 with HIV in the United States and globally; 

23 (6) urges, in order to ensure that an AIDS-free 

24 generation is achievable, rapid action by all countries 

25 toward further expansion and scale-up of 


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1 antiretroviral treatment programs, including efforts 

2 to reduce disparities and improve access for children 

3 to life-saving medications; 

4 (7) encourages the scaling up of comprehensive 

5 prevention services, including biomedical and struc6 tural interventions, to ensure inclusive access to pro7 grams and appropriate resources for all people at 

8 risk of contracting HIV, especially in communities 

9 disproportionately impacted as these groups make 

10 up the majority of new HIV diagnoses in the United 

11 States and prevention efforts should specifically 

12 reach these groups; 

13 (8) calls for greater focus on the HIV-related 

14 vulnerabilities of women and girls, including women 

15 and girls at risk for or who have survived violence 

16 or faced discrimination as a result of the disease, 

17 such as through the implementation of layered pre18 vention programming through PEPFAR’s DREAMS 

19 (Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, 

20 Mentored, and Safe) public-private partnership to 

21 reduce structural and individual vulnerabilities to 

22 HIV; 

23 (9) supports continued leadership by the United 

24 States in domestic, bilateral, multilateral, and pri25 vate sector efforts to fight HIV; 


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1 (10) encourages input from civil society in the 

2 development and implementation of domestic and 

3 global HIV policies and programs that guide the re4 sponse with specific measures for transparency and 

5 accountability; 

6 (11) encourages and supports greater degrees 

7 of ownership and shared responsibility by developing 

8 countries in order to ensure the sustainability of the 

9 domestic responses to HIV by those countries; and 

10 (12) urges other members of the international 

11 community to sustain and scale up their support for 

12 and financial contributions to efforts around the 

13 world to combat HIV. 

Æ 


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