text: SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
  
      This Act may be cited as the ``Stop Tuberculosis (TB) Now Act of 
  2007''.
  
  SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
  
      Congress finds the following:
              (1) Tuberculosis is one of the greatest infectious causes 
          of death of adults worldwide, killing 1.6 million people per 
          year--one person every 20 seconds.
              (2) One-third of the world's population is infected with 
          the tuberculosis bacterium and an estimated 8.8 million 
          individuals develop active tuberculosis each year.
              (3) Tuberculosis is the leading infectious killer among 
          individuals who are HIV-positive due to their weakened immune 
          systems, and it is estimated that one-third of people with HIV 
          infection have tuberculosis.
              (4) Today, tuberculosis is a leading killer of women of 
          reproductive age.
              (5) There are 22 countries that account for 80 percent of 
          the world's burden of tuberculosis. The People's Republic of 
          China and India account for 36 percent of all estimated new 
          tuberculosis cases each year.
              (6) Driven by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, incidence rates of 
          tuberculosis in Africa have more than doubled on average since 
          1990. The problem is so pervasive that in August 2005, African 
          Health Ministers and the World Health Organization (WHO) 
          declared tuberculosis to be an emergency in Africa.
              (7) The wide extent of drug resistance, including both 
          multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and extensively drug 
          resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB), represents both a critical 
          challenge to the global control of tuberculosis and a serious 
          worldwide public health threat. XDR-TB, which is characterized 
          as being MDR-TB with additional resistance to multiple second-
          line anti-tuberculosis drugs, is associated with worst 
          treatment outcomes of any form of tuberculosis. XDR-TB is 
          converging with the HIV epidemic, undermining gains in HIV 
          prevention and treatment programs and requires urgent 
          interventions. Drug resistance surveillance reports have 
          confirmed the serious scale and spread of tuberculosis with 
          XDR-TB strains confirmed on six continents. Demonstrating the 
          lethality of XDR-TB, an initial outbreak in Tugela Ferry, South 
          Africa, in 2006 killed 52 of 53 patients with hundreds more 
          cases reported since that time. Of the world's regions, sub-
          Saharan Africa, faces the greatest gap in capacity to prevent, 
          find, and treat XDR-TB.
              (8) With more than 50 percent of tuberculosis cases in the 
          United States attributable to foreign-born individuals and with 
          the increase in international travel, commerce, and migration, 
          elimination of tuberculosis in the United States depends on 
          efforts to control the disease in developing countries. Recent 
          research has shown that to invest in tuberculosis control 
          abroad, where treatment and program costs are significantly 
          cheaper than in the United States, would be a cost-effective 
          strategy to reduce tuberculosis-related morbidity and mortality 
          domestically.
              (9) The threat that tuberculosis poses for Americans 
          derives from the global spread of tuberculosis and the 
          emergence and spread of strains of multi-drug resistant 
          tuberculosis and extensively drug resistant tuberculosis, which 
          are far more deadly, and more difficult and costly to treat.
              (10) DOTS (Directly Observed Treatment Short-course) is one 
          of the most cost-effective health interventions available today 
          and is a core component of the new Stop TB Strategy.
              (11) The Stop TB Strategy, developed by the World Health 
          Organization, builds on the success of DOTS and ongoing 
          challenges so as to serve all those in need and reach targets 
          for prevalence, mortality, and incidence reduction. The Stop TB 
          Strategy includes six components:
                      (A) Pursuing high-quality expansion and enhancement 
                  of DOTS coverage.
                      (B) Implementing tuberculosis and HIV collaborative 
                  activities, preventing and controlling multi-drug 
                  resistant tuberculosis, and addressing other special 
                  challenges.
                      (C) Contributing to the strengthening of health 
                  systems.
                      (D) Engaging all health care providers, including 
                  promotion of the International Standards for 
                  Tuberculosis Care.
                      (E) Empowering individuals with tuberculosis and 
                  communities.
                      (F) Enabling and promoting research to develop new 
                  diagnostics, drugs, vaccines, and program-based 
                  operational research relating to tuberculosis.
              (12) The Global Plan to Stop TB 2006-2015: Actions for Life 
          is a comprehensive plan developed by the Stop TB Partnership 
          that sets out the actions necessary to achieve the millennium 
          development goal of cutting tuberculosis deaths and disease 
          burden in half by 2015 and thus eliminate tuberculosis as a 
          global health problem by 2050.
              (13) While innovations such as the Global Tuberculosis Drug 
          Facility have enabled low-income countries to treat a standard 
          case of tuberculosis with drugs that cost as little as $16 for 
          a full course of treatment, there are still millions of 
          individuals with no access to effective treatment.
              (14) As the global resource investment in fighting 
          tuberculosis increases, partner nations and international 
          institutions must commit to a corresponding increase in the 
          technical and program assistance necessary to ensure that the 
          most effective and efficient tuberculosis treatments are 
          provided.
              (15) The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and 
          Malaria is an important global partnership established to 
          combat these three infectious diseases that together kill 
          millions of people a year. Expansion of effective tuberculosis 
          treatment programs constitutes a major component of Global Fund 
          investment, along with integrated efforts to address HIV and 
          tuberculosis in areas of high prevalence.
              (16) The United States Agency for International Development 
          and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are actively 
          involved with global tuberculosis control efforts. Because the 
          global tuberculosis epidemic directly impacts tuberculosis in 
          the United States, Congress has urged the Centers for Disease 
          Control and Prevention each year to increase its involvement 
          with international tuberculosis control efforts.
              (17) The United States Agency for International Development 
          is the lead United States Government agency for international 
          tuberculosis efforts, working in close partnership with the 
          Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and with the 
          President's Emergency Plan for HIV/AIDS Relief. The goal of the 
          United States Agency for International Development is to 
          contribute to the global reduction of morbidity and mortality 
          associated with tuberculosis by building country capacity to 
          prevent and cure tuberculosis and achieve global targets of 70 
          percent case detection and 85 percent treatment success rates. 
          The United States Agency for International Development provides 
          support for tuberculosis programs in countries that have a high 
          burden of tuberculosis, a high prevalence of tuberculosis and 
          HIV, and a high risk of MDR-TB.
  
  SEC. 3. ASSISTANCE TO COMBAT TUBERCULOSIS.
  
      (a) Policy.--Subsection (b) of section 104B of the Foreign 
  Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151b-3) is amended to read as 
  follows:
      ``(b) Policy.--It is a major objective of the foreign assistance 
  program of the United States to control tuberculosis. In all countries 
  in which the Government of the United States has established 
  development programs, particularly in countries with the highest burden 
  of tuberculosis and other countries with high rates of tuberculosis, 
  the United States Government should prioritize the achievement of the 
  following goals by not later than December 31, 2015:
              ``(1) Reduce by half the tuberculosis death and disease 
          burden from the 1990 baseline.
              ``(2) Sustain or exceed the detection of at least 70 
          percent of sputum smear-positive cases of tuberculosis and the 
          cure of at least 85 percent of those cases detected.''.
      (b) Authorization.--Subsection (c) of such section is amended--
              (1) in the heading, by striking ``Authorization'' and 
          inserting ``Assistance Required''; and
              (2) by striking ``is authorized to'' and inserting 
          ``shall''.
      (c) Priority To Stop TB Strategy.--Subsection (e) of such section 
  is amended--
              (1) in the heading, to read as follows: ``Priority To Stop 
          TB Strategy.--'';
              (2) in the first sentence, by striking ``In furnishing'' 
          and all that follows through ``, including funding'' and 
          inserting the following:
              ``(1) Priority.--In furnishing assistance under subsection 
          (c), the President shall give priority to--
                      ``(A) activities described in the Stop TB Strategy, 
                  including expansion and enhancement of DOTS coverage, 
                  treatment for individuals infected with both 
                  tuberculosis and HIV and treatment for individuals with 
                  multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), 
                  strengthening of health systems, use of the 
                  International Standards for Tuberculosis Care by all 
                  providers, empowering individuals with tuberculosis, 
                  and enabling and promoting research to develop new 
                  diagnostics, drugs, and vaccines, and program-based 
                  operational research relating to tuberculosis; and
                      ``(B) funding''; and
              (3) in the second sentence--
                      (A) by striking ``In order to'' and all that 
                  follows through ``not less than'' and inserting the 
                  following:
              ``(2) Availability of amounts.--In order to meet the 
          requirements of paragraph (1), the President--
                      ``(A) shall ensure that not less than'';
                      (B) by striking ``for Directly Observed Treatment 
                  Short-course (DOTS) coverage and treatment of multi-
                  drug resistant tuberculosis using DOTS-Plus,'' and 
                  inserting ``to implement the Stop TB Strategy; and''; 
                  and
                      (C) by striking ``including'' and all that follows 
                  and inserting the following:
                      ``(B) should ensure that not less than $15,000,000 
                  of the amount made available to carry out this section 
                  for a fiscal year is used to make a contribution to the 
                  Global Tuberculosis Drug Facility.''.
      (d) Assistance for WHO and the Stop Tuberculosis Partnership.--Such 
  section is further amended--
              (1) by redesignating subsection (f) as subsection (g); and
              (2) by inserting after subsection (e) the following new 
          subsection:
      ``(f) Assistance for WHO and the Stop Tuberculosis Partnership.--In 
  carrying out this section, the President, acting through the 
  Administrator of the United States Agency for International 
  Development, is authorized to provide increased resources to the World 
  Health Organization (WHO) and the Stop Tuberculosis Partnership to 
  improve the capacity of countries with high rates of tuberculosis and 
  other affected countries to implement the Stop TB Strategy and specific 
  strategies related to addressing extensively drug resistant 
  tuberculosis (XDR-TB).''.
      (e) Definitions.--Subsection (g) of such section, as redesignated 
  by subsection (d)(1), is amended--
              (1) in paragraph (1), by adding at the end before the 
          period the following: ``, including low cost and effective 
          diagnosis and evaluation of treatment regimes, vaccines, and 
          monitoring of tuberculosis, as well as a reliable drug supply, 
          and a management strategy for public health systems, with 
          health system strengthening, promotion of the use of the 
          International Standards for Tuberculosis Care by all care 
          providers, bacteriology under an external quality assessment 
          framework, short-course chemotherapy, and sound reporting and 
          recording systems''; and
              (2) by adding after paragraph (5) the following new 
          paragraph:
              ``(6) Stop tb strategy.--The term `Stop TB Strategy' means 
          the six-point strategy to reduce tuberculosis developed by the 
          World Health Organization. The strategy is described in the 
          Global Plan to Stop TB 2007-2016: Actions for Life, a 
          comprehensive plan developed by the Stop Tuberculosis 
          Partnership that sets out the actions necessary to achieve the 
          millennium development goal of cutting tuberculosis deaths and 
          disease burden in half by 2016.''.
      (f) Annual Report.--Clause (iii) of section 104A(e)(2)(C) of the 
  Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151b-2(e)(2)(C)) is amended 
  by adding at the end before the semicolon the following: ``, including 
  the percentage of such United States foreign assistance provided for 
  diagnosis and treatment of individuals with tuberculosis in countries 
  with the highest burden of tuberculosis, as determined by the World 
  Health Organization (WHO)''.
      (g) Authorization of Appropriations.--
              (1) In general.--There are authorized to be appropriated to 
          the President not more than $400,000,000 for fiscal year 2008 
          and not more than $550,000,000 for fiscal year 2009 to carry 
          out section 104B of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 
          U.S.C. 2151b-3), as amended by subsections (a) through (e) of 
          this section.
              (2) Funding for cdc.--Of the amounts appropriated pursuant 
          to the authorization of appropriations under paragraph (1), not 
          more than $70,000,000 for fiscal year 2008 and not more than 
          $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2009 shall be made available for 
          the purpose of carrying out global tuberculosis activities 
          through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
              (3) Additional provisions.--Amounts appropriated pursuant 
          to the authorization of appropriations under paragraph (1) and 
          amounts made available pursuant to paragraph (2)--
                      (A) are in addition amounts otherwise made 
                  available for such purposes; and
                      (B) are authorized to remain available until 
                  expended.
  
              Passed the House of Representatives November 5, 2007.
  
              Attest:
  
                                              LORRAINE C. MILLER,
  
                                                                   Clerk.
target: Stop Tuberculosis (TB) Now Act of 2007 - Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to require the President to furnish assistance for tuberculosis (TB) prevention, treatment, and elimination.(Current law authorizes such assistance.)
  
  Gives priority to activities described in the Stop TB Strategy (as defined by this Act). Revises related fund use provisions.
  
  Authorizes the President, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), to provide increased resources to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Stop Tuberculosis Partnership to improve the capacity of countries with high TB rates and other affected countries to implement the Stop TB Strategy and specific strategies related to addressing drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB).
  
  Authorizes: (1) FY2008-FY2009 appropriations for the President to carry activities to combat tuberculosis; and (2) set-asides from such amounts for global tuberculosis activities by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
feat_title: To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to provide increased assistance for the prevention, treatment, and control of tuberculosis, and for other purposes.