By Sen. Martin Heinrich
WASHINGTON D.C. — U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., and Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., sent a letter June 16 pressing Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the impacts that President Donald Trump’s cuts to foreign aid and withdrawal from the World Health Organization have had on the U.S.’s ability to protect Americans from Ebola and hantavirus.
“The dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the withdrawal from key international organizations such as the WHO, and the abrupt foreign aid cuts have had the combined effect of degrading our outbreak preparedness and seriously weakening the systems we rely upon to keep Americans safe from infectious disease,” the senators wrote to Secretary Rubio.
Specifically, the Trump administration’s withdrawal of global health funding that once supported outbreak detection and surveillance across parts of Africa has led to the erosion of the international disease-monitoring infrastructure relied upon to identify and contain emerging infectious diseases,” the senators said. “This erosion has been compounded by the administration’s broader underfunding of global health security and other global health programs, despite bipartisan congressional support for sustained funding for such programs.
“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention previously collaborated with the WHO to maintain a robust disease surveillance system to conduct laboratory testing and monitor the transmission of infectious diseases during major outbreaks. However, the infrastructure and trusted collaboration between organizations no longer exist due to the U.S. withdrawal from the WHO.
“Recent reductions in public health preparedness capacity here at home have also weakened our ability to rapidly detect and respond to emerging infectious disease threats. We urge the administration to conduct a serious assessment of the decisions that contributed to the weakening of these capabilities and to immediately reverse course on policies that have left the U.S. and the international community less prepared to respond to future outbreaks,” the senators concluded.
The letter is led by U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Raphael Warnock, D-Ga. Along with Heinrich and Luján, the letter is signed by U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Adam Schiff, D-Calif., John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., Angus King, I-Maine, Chris Coons, D-Del., Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., Andy Kim, D-N.J., Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., Cory Booker, D-N.J., Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., Ed Markey, D-Mass., Peter Welch, D-Vt., Michael Bennet, D-Colo., Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Mark Warner, D-Va., Alex Padilla, D-Calif., Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.
