America's Global Leadership During Covid-19

Floor Speech

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Mr. CISNEROS. Madam Speaker, for the better part of the last century, U.S. leadership has been essential to addressing critical global challenges. From rebuilding Europe after World War II to building an international coalition to respond to the Ebola Outbreak, the United States is unique in the world in its ability to build international coalitions and marshal resources and support around the world. The COVID-19 pandemic is a global crisis that necessarily requires a global response in order to solve it--and the United States must take up the leadership role it has fulfilled for decades to facilitate the response.

COVID-19 knows no borders--quickly spreading across the world in a matter of months, accelerated by our inter-connected world. As such, while we should extend every effort to arrest the spread in the United States, stopping the spread in the United States alone is not enough. If we are to truly be able to reopen our economy and engage in global trade and participate in the global supply chain, we risk greater exposure and transmission of the virus if it continues to spread unchecked around the world.

Fortunately, the United States possesses not only the requisite knowledge and expertise in its public health and medical officials, but also decades of experience in global health efforts necessary to lead a coordinated global response. The United States has done this before. Through the State Department, U.S. Agency for International Development, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United States has led efforts to combat the spread of HIV, malaria, Ebola, and other infectious diseases. Doing so not only made the epicenters of those outbreaks safer, but it also made the United States and American citizens safer. As a result, we contributed to an environment that enabled the American and global economies to thrive. Today, amid the worst global pandemic in at least a century, the United States must step back into the leadership role it has held for decades and work with the international community to chart a pathway to defeat COVID-19.

We must commit the resources necessary across our global health, humanitarian, and economic toolkits to defeat the coronavirus. According to the CDC, 70 percent of the world remains underprepared to prevent, detect, and respond to a public health emergency. That means we must ensure our diplomats and development professionals on the frontlines receive the support they need to maintain operations, provide for emergency preparedness needs, and protect Americans. After committing trillions to relief at home and more than $2 billion in emergency funding to support the global COVID-19 response, it is understandable that some may be reticent to spend more on the international effort. However, as the data suggests that an outbreak in a remote village can spread to major cities on all six continents in less than 36 hours, that funding is an investment in a safer and more prosperous America.

I thank the Frontline healthcare workers, first responders, military servicemembers, and other essential personnel who are keeping our society going during an unprecedented crisis at home--and I thank the diplomats and development professionals around the world that are working to keep us safe. We must now honor their dedication and sacrifice by committing the resources to them that they will need to stop the spread of this virus and re-create an environment that will enable our communities to thrive.

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