America's Global Leadership During Covid-19

Floor Speech

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Ms. SPANBERGER. Madam Speaker, as the world faces the unprecedented challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. leadership in the global response is essential. Thank you to my colleague from California, Congressman Bera, and my colleague from Florida, Congressman Yoho, for leading a Congressional special order so that Members who represent communities across America can reiterate this point clearly.

I serve on the Asia Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which Representatives Bera and Yoho lead as Chairman and Ranking Member. Our Subcommittee held our first hearing on the coronavirus outbreak in China in early February and our second one later that month. What we heard during these hearings from public health experts and administration officials reaffirmed something we already knew: The United States needed to demonstrate leadership in the international response in order to keep Americans safe.

Since these hearings, this horrible disease has ravaged families and communities in the United States and around the world, including in Central Virginia. The death toll, as well as the impact on our way of life, has been heartbreaking. Every day, I speak with Central Virginians who are experiencing this pain. As we do everything we can to halt the spread and impact of the virus in our local communities and across our nation, we must also recognize that U.S. leadership in the global fight against coronavirus is an essential part of ending the suffering at home.

The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that infectious diseases know no borders. An outbreak in a remote village can spread to major cities across all populated continents on earth in less than 36 hours. Even once we have more thorough testing and U.S. towns begin to see dropping numbers of cases, the disease could easily return. No matter how successful we are in fighting the threat of COVID-19 at home, we will not end the suffering and fear created by the virus unless we also combat it around the world.

This is exactly why global health experts, as well as foreign policy and military leaders, are speaking out--calling on U.S. government officials to lead by example and demonstrate leadership on the global stage. If our nation cedes international leadership, we are demoting our international standing, creating a void that our adversaries will fill and exploit, and most critically, we are risking the safety and livelihoods of Americans.

In addition, the pandemic is an incredibly painful reminder that, at the end of the day, U.S. national security comes down to resilience at home. As we face international threats, including infectious disease, we are only as strong and prepared as our most vulnerable neighbors and our most susceptible systems. The coronavirus pandemic highlights that national security is much more than what typically comes to mind--it includes our medical supply chains, the safety of American workers, and so much more. It includes emerging, transnational threats such as climate change and the COVID-19 virus--a disease that at any moment now is expected to cause a death toll surpassing the number of Americans who died in nearly a decade of fighting in Vietnam. Going forward, we must be prepared for the full range of risks to American security. And to do this, we must think of national security in a more comprehensive and integrated fashion, recognizing it is rooted in our strength at home and that the United States must lead on the global stage to provide the sense of security that so many Americans lack as they face disease and job loss.

As we strengthen and implement our response to the COVID-19 pandemic and prepare for future threats, we must recognize that U.S. global leadership is essential to protecting the health, security, and economic interests of all Americans. We cannot step back from this challenge; we must step up.

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