was lifted in 2010 allowing the conference to be held in the u.s. for the first time. in this part of the conference assistant secretary said the u.s. set the goal of reducing new hiv infections by 25% by 2015. this is 20 minutes. >> our next speaker it's my pleasure to introduce is dr. howard koh, the assistant secretary of health of the united states department of human and health services. a former commissioner of public health of the commonwealth of the state of massachusetts he's also served as a professor of medicine and associate dean at the harvard school of public health. a graduate of yale college and medical school he is the author of over 200 papers and the recipient of numerous awards. it was not until 2010 that the united states had its first national aids strategy introduced by president obama. this strategic plan has shaped the public health response for the country over the last two years. now i welcome him to address building on success a national strategy to save lives. [applause] >> dear friends and colleagues, i am so honored to join you this morning on behalf of the united states government to present the status of our commitment for an aids free generation. in particular, i am so pleased to review the developments and the implementation of the first-ever comprehensive u.s. national hiv/aids strategy, which addresses many of the domestic challenges already reviewed in this conference. this strategy also incorporates lessons learned from our many domestic and global partners. it was more than 50 years ago when the first hiv cases were identified in the united states. during this critical time, i was beginning my tenure as the chief medical resident at the boston city hospital. i will never forget the patient is that we lost and the way they suffered. since then, more than 640,000 americans have lost their lives to aids. and today an estimated 1.1 million people are living with hiv in the united states. one in five is unaware of his or her infection. while a u.s. infant's remains stable in recent years, with approximately 50,000 new infections annually, this figure is unacceptably high. we also know that in the united states the burden of hiv is not shared equally by population or by region. populations most affected include men who have sex with men of all races, in particular african-american and latino men, women of color and transgender women, people who use drugs, and young people the especially young black men who have sex with men. region's most affected include urban areas, the northeast and the south. none of this is acceptable. so many in our country have contributed to building a system of protection that by providing linkages to ongoing care leads to the role suppression. but in the united states only one in four people living with hiv currently achieved the level of suppression needed to preserve and reduce the risk of hiv transmission to uninfected partners. national strategies are critical to effective country leadership on hiv outlining a framework for responding to hiv/aids in ways that reflect each country needs epidemiology, disease burden and trends and demonstrate the and portents of country ownership and the need to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of hiv/aids programs. in 2009 president obama made it a top priority of his administration to develop a comprehensive bate strategy. when drafting the plan, the white house office of national aids policy consulted with people living with hiv, community-based programs, health care providers, researchers, public health experts and others. the white house office of national aids policy also consulted with pepfar and reviewed existing hiv strategies from various countries in the global north and south. pepfar has long prioritized supporting countries as they develop and implement national strategies maximizing the efficiency and effectiveness of our programs with a shared area of emphasis between pepfar and domestic hiv efforts. following 2010, when president obama unveiled the national hiv strategy, he noted, and by quote the actions we take now well below upon a legacy of global leadership, national commitment and sustained efforts on the part of americans from all parts of the country and all walks of life to end of the hiv epidemic in the united states and around the world. [applause] this process of dialogue continues today. the white house recently completed a series of these committee dialogues across the nation where ideas and implementation of the local level were discussed with key stakeholders. and to date, the national strategy has reinvigorated our efforts and reenergize our communities under the one unifying set of goals. and in a short period of time, we have demonstrated progress on the national strategies. in particular each of the goals is guided by strong science and a solid evidence of hat works best. we have the benefit of the leading scientists and researchers at the national institutes of health peery midday and other researchers across the u.s. and the world have contributed to many of the scientific breakthroughs that provide us with the knowledge and tools to in the aids. first is to reduce infections because after all, this is a preventable disease. by the year 2015, we seek to lower the number of infections by 25 per cent. we plan to do this by reducing the hiv transmission rate and increasing the percentage of people living who notice that this to reach these targets are as well was support similar global efforts to reduce hiv instances and continues to invest in cutting edge prevention research related to vaccines and microbicides and we are so pleased to see the greater emphasis on the use of treatment as prevention. also, last week's approval by the u.s. food and drug administration lacks a milestone for the pre-exposure prophylaxis and adds another tool to the efforts to reduce the incidence. as part of the national strategy, the department of health and human service agencies are charged with realigning federal dollars to concentrate on both geographic areas and populations with the greatest need. to that end, the center for disease control prevention launched high impact strategies in the most heavily affected populations and promoting its recommendation that every adolescent get tested for hiv at least once in his or her lifetime and it up those with increased risk get tested once per year. for example, the center for disease control and prevention has released a new social marketing campaign called testing makes us stronger. that was designed for and in consultation with african-american gay and bisexual men, the fastest-growing demographic in the united states for hiv infections. meanwhile, the department's health resources and services administration national network of 8100 publicly funded community health centers skilled up hiv testing for low-income people leading to a 13% increase in persons tested last year alone. [applause] and communities are implementing more creative strategies. here in the nation's capital the district of columbia's department of health takes hiv testing available at the department of motor vehicles for customers waiting in line for a driver's license or other services to get a free hiv test. [applause] of to 35 people are taking advantage of this resource everyday. we need to continue to build on this effort and others to reach people in a non-traditional settings. the second goal of the national strategy is to increase access to care and improve health outcomes for people living with hiv since fewer than 50% or retaining inconsistent care. currently, the health resources and services administration ryan white hiv/aids program a federal government program that provides services to low-income people and publicly funded community health centers are working together to expand nationwide access to care for people living with hiv. in addition, the new health care law signed by president obama two years ago is crucial for hiv/aids and implementing the national hiv/aids strategy. [applause] thanks to the affordable care act, we are putting into place common sense rules that prevent insurance companies from looking from to the people with hiv/aids from the market for cutting the rate or sending new policies because they're preexisting conditions. [applause] specifically the preexisting condition ban will apply to all americans on january 1st, 2014, and it's already in effect for children. the affordable care act also expand access to services including making hiv screening is available for women at no cost. [applause] and in 2014 and will extend coverage to millions more americans that will result in a dramatic expansion of coverage to people living with hiv. recently the united states secretary of health and human services kathleen sebelius announced important actions relevant to the national strategy second goal. first the secretary announced nearly $80 million in new grant awards that will expand care to an additional 14,000 low-income people living with hiv/aids, and based on estimates provided by the state administrators will be eliminated in the waiting lists for aids drugs treatments. [applause] senator sebelius and announced the department is working in the partnership with the pilot program that will use mobile phone text in, provide important tips and reminders of the disease management of people living with hiv the hiv health disparities in the nation complex social and economic factors including poverty, stigma and lack of access to care let opportunities for prevention and treatment to better address many of the social determinants we've expanded our efforts to work across the programs administered by our colleagues in other federal agencies such as the department of housing and urban development, labor, justice and veteran's affairs. we have also engaged leading national organizations to support the population hardest hit by hiv. for example, the center for disease control and prevention act against aids leadership initiative represents a partnership the leading national african-american and latino organization. it is designed to increase prevention efforts throughout reach communications and mobilization. in the united states for the hiv diagnosis. among the women the epidemic disproportionately affect women of color particularly black women gender based violence goes hand-in-hand with the disease. women and girls are frequently victimized by violence and sexual assaults. this increases the risk for acquiring hiv and also blocks women and girls from seeking prevention options and treatments. this is unacceptable. [applause] to address the gender disparities the white house recently established on the intersection of hiv/aids, violence against women and girls and gender related health disparities. this group is working to share best practices fasuba hid researchers and foster opportunities with partnerships. finally, we know that stigma drives discrimination and disparities. as a result, too many americans avoided of running the hiv status, disclosing their status or accessing medical care. to overcome stigma, and our efforts include a new center of disease control prevention campaign called let's stop hiv together which features people living with hiv, standing with their family and friends and calling on all americans to join the fight against the disease. the national communications effort will not only address stigma associated with the infection but also complacency about the epidemic. we must prevent the next generation from suffering the burdens we have witnessed in the past. in conclusion, we are making important progress in the first two years of the national hiv/aids strategy but much more lies ahead. we can succeed by making our international public health community even stronger. over the years the united states has been part of the effort to build that community along with so many domestic and normal partners and in particular, pepfar has coordinated the power of us working together to plan, coordinate and collaborate to save lives. as we go forward let us reflect on the past would accelerate our efforts in the fight against hiv/aids for the future. here in the united states, we believe the national hiv strategy can bring us closer to a vision of a society where new infections are rare and everyone receives the care they need and deserve. you can follow our efforts to implement the strategy on aids.gov. my hope is that together we can seize this moment of opportunity and channeled its momentum towards achieving our goal of an aids free generation. thank you very much. [applause] the house judiciary committee is considering a bill that would allow states to tax internet transactions even when the seller doesn't have a presence in the stake. at this hearing members heard from tennessee governor and utah state representative wayne herber. this is two hours and 45 minutes. >> without objection to the chair is authorized to declare a recess in the committee at any time. we welcome our witnesses and we welcome the large amount of interest in the subject as well. i'm going to recognize myself for an opening statement and then the ranking member. last november the judiciary committee held a hearing to explore whether congress should enable states to collect sales taxes from retailers like a physical presence in the state. today we will consider whether the legislative proposal authored by our colleagues, congressman steve loebsack of arkansas and congresswoman jackie spinner of california. their bill, h.r. 3179 the marketplace equity act of 2011, has bipartisan support from members both on and on the committee. in the 1992 case of not to cover, the supreme court held that under the dormant commerce clause a state may not compel the retailer to collect and remit the state sales tax the retailer lacks a physical presence in the state. the supreme court's view to for savory character collect taxes to more than 9,000 state, county and local tax interest actions throughout the country places a serious burden on the retailer's ability to sell and interstate commerce. the physical presence rules for tax collection mix interests that cannot afford to track and comply with 9,000 different tax codes as a cost of doing business throughout the country the constitution doesn't allow one state to reach into the pockets of another's deutsch retailers to exact taxation without representation. the brick and mortar as retailer plame the physical presence creates an unlevel playing field between them and their online retailer counterparts. online retailers to maintain a very limited physical presence and use common carriers to fill orders enjoy a competitive advantage over the traditional retailers. this is because most states cannot compel the online retailer to collect and remit its sales tax in the neighborhood of brick and mortar stores must collect and remit taxes on the purchases. moreover, state and local governments to the taxes they cannot collect almost online sales has lost revenue. it's true that online consumers reside the data show that they are easily avoided, rarely paid in the difficult to enforce the decision was based on the observation that compliance with numerous tax interest action laws would be burdensome and confusing. the constitution does not require a physical presence standard as a tax collection criteria. congress may pass legislation that uses a different standard under its power to regulate the commerce. marketplace equity act replaces the physical presence requirement with a requirement that state and local governments significantly simplify their tax policies if they want to collect sales taxes from out-of-state retailers to read it also contains an exception from the tax collection for small sellers. in a bill to enable sales tax collections from remote vendors should contain a robust small cellar exception. this doesn't become their tax collection agency for those 45 states with a sales tax. today's hearing is on the marketplace equity act at least two other similar bills have been introduced in this congress. one by the senator durbin and alexander called the market is fairness act and one by the ranking member of this committee mr. conyers called the main street at. we look forward to hearing from witnesses today and appreciate their testifying and the ranking member the gentleman from michigan mr. conyers is recognized for his opening statement. >> thank you. chairman smith for a very excellent description of the issue that brings us here today to be diced in working on this since 1998 with spencer bachus and then bill delahunt of massachusetts, and i have a bill of my own, h.r. 2701 that i want to announce today i am going to ask all of my co-sponsors to join me with the measure that is before the house today. i think this is an excellent resolution of what you have been -- we have all been working on for a number of years. this matter comes to the house judiciary committee because the commerce clause article 1 of the commerce section article 1, and what we try to do is follow the advice of the decision, and i think by addressing it, we will go about a more competitive equity among the retailers. now, i think the bottom line is simply the tax-free sales on the internet may be coming into en end, and this could mean a very large boost in revenue. i think it would help the economy, and i said just it would probably also help or create more jobs. now, the competitors should compete on things other than sales tax policy and so for those arguing for more of a pre-market, they should support eliminating any competitive advantage based on sales tax policy. in addition, uncollected sales taxes have a negative impact on local communities including retailers and local and state governments and neither the technology has eliminated much of the difficulty that we have experienced before with ever-increasing online sales we can anticipate significant losses as a result of uncollected sales and taxes. in my state i have an example that we could lose as much as $872 million during the fiscal year trujilo 2012 and 13. fortunately, the federal legislature can assure a level playing field in adjusting state revenues by passing this bipartisan support of legislation that allows the states to require the remote sellers to collect and remit sales tax. so, with that, i join the chairman and welcoming our two colleagues to describe the bill, and i would ask unanimous consent to put the remainder of my statement in the record. >> without objection, thank you for your comments. first panel consists of two colleagues and they happen to be the authors of the piece of legislation and what this hearing is about to be the first witness is congressman steve womack who represents the third district of arkansas. prior to his election in the house this congress he served as the mayor of rogers arkansas. he's the sponsor feature 3179 the marketplace equity act and is a member of the appropriations committee. we welcome you here today. .. and only congress can result. i would also like to thank my colleague and code sponsor, jackie speier for help in ability for you. this bill levels the playing field in the world of retail sales. currently it, they trespass to do now understand, traditional retailers, i'll refer to them as brick-and-mortar retailers, collect sales taxes on purchases made in respect to stores. these taxes are admitted to the political subdivisions to that event, typically by the state department of finance and administration. this was not an option for the retailer. it is a requirement. there is no requirement however, for online, remote retailers with no presence in a given state to collect such attacks. the united states supreme court and in 1892 decision, quill v. north dakota will it states cannot make such a requirement on