During remarks on the Senate floor Monday, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) spoke about the Trump administration's shuttering of USAID.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Mr. President, I didn't agree with former President George W. Bush on a lot of things.
00:07But I have repeatedly given him credit for making the United States the world's leader
00:13in stemming the HIV-AIDS epidemic in some of the poorest parts of the world.
00:20That was 22 years ago.
00:23The program is called the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, PEPFAR.
00:30PEPFAR, in its companion effort, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria,
00:36dramatically curtailed the AIDS epidemic that was ravaging many parts of the world.
00:42PEPFAR alone has saved more than 26 million lives.
00:48Thank you, President George W. Bush.
00:51Both of these programs provide retroviral drugs for those with AIDS,
00:56allowing them to continue to live productive lives and prevent the spread of disease at childbirth.
01:04They have been so effective that many have forgotten just how devastating AIDS was in many parts of the world.
01:12At one point, killing more than 2 million people every year
01:15and leaving 14 million orphans in sub-Saharan Africa.
01:19In some countries, life expectancy had dropped to 20 years.
01:24A few years ago, we took a look at the nation of Malawi.
01:29PEPFAR and Global Fund programs increased the number of Malawians living with AIDS
01:33and receiving treatment from 5% to nearly 90%.
01:37Thank you, President George W. Bush.
01:40These programs are not only the right thing to do, but also highly effective examples of American soft power.
01:49And until recently, a stark contrast to what China and the other nations in the world were doing.
01:55So imagine my reaction to the Trump administration's decision at the highest level
02:01to gut this life-saving bipartisan program under the heartless tutelage of the president's unelected billionaire buddy,
02:10Elon Musk, the wealthiest man in the world.
02:15Never elected to anything.
02:19Gleefully, senselessly, dancing on stage with a chainsaw
02:23so he can cut programs just like President Bush's PEPFAR.
02:27It's been estimated by experts that the gutting of USAID
02:32could jeopardize the health of more than 20 million people worldwide,
02:37including 500,000 children.
02:40What a contrast.
02:41Republican President George W. Bush will go down in history
02:45as a caring man who symbolized what the United States means to the world.
02:52A giving, caring people who have helped so many poor people
02:56in nations, many of whom will never visit,
03:01made them, put them in a position where they could survive.
03:05The Trump administration says that no programs were actually cut,
03:09just paused.
03:11The reality is far different.
03:13Any of us who've raised a family
03:15can remember when that baby needed a bottle
03:19and was darn determined to let you know about it.
03:24Screaming and shouting until you finally put that bottle in her mouth
03:28and she quieted down.
03:31So now, the Trump administration says
03:33when it comes to feeding programs
03:35for babies and infants and children around the world,
03:38because they're screaming and they're hungry,
03:41just tell them we've decided to pause the program.
03:43Pause the program.
03:47Parents laugh out loud when you consider that possibility.
03:51Just last month,
03:52the Trump administration dismissed
03:54the few remaining public health officials
03:56overseeing programs for pregnant women with HIV
03:59in low-income countries.
04:02Don't tell me that you've dedicated public service
04:05to strengthening families
04:06and then take away this basic need
04:09so that mothers giving birth to babies
04:12don't have to worry about HIV and AIDS.
04:15All the experts at the Centers for Disease Control,
04:18the State Department and USAID,
04:20have been terminated or waiting for reassignment.
04:23That's the Trump record.
04:25That's what he'll be remembered for in history
04:27if we go along with him.
04:28Even with some funding restored,
04:30how will the critical work continue
04:32without professional staff to carry it out?
04:35Like so many White House policies,
04:37this is cruelty and madness
04:39and certainly not efficiency.
04:42In upcoming funding bills
04:44and any rescission's effort,
04:47it'll be up to Congress,
04:49all of us in Congress,
04:50not the Democrats alone,
04:52we're in the minority,
04:53but Democrats and Republicans together
04:55to protect and restore
04:56these critical life-saving programs
04:58that are both the right thing to do
05:00and the strategic thing to do.