Rebuilding Usaid

Floor Speech

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Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Virginia for having this Special Order hour tonight.

Mr. Speaker, when the Trump administration slashed USAID funding and fired its dedicated employees, they said it was a crowning achievement of fiscal responsibility because why spend money abroad, spend it on everyday Americans instead.

Well, they didn't spend the savings on Americans. They gave tax cuts to the wealthiest corporations and cut Americans' health benefits and food assistance instead. Because of the cuts to USAID, we are now seeing how it actually puts American lives and American dollars at massive risk.

If you think foreign aid doesn't affect you, let's look at the most recent example, because more than 70 Americans, including 9 Virginians, some in my district, are missing right now in Nepal because of the catastrophic floods that happened there last week. Over a thousand people are dead.

USAID was running a natural hazards program to monitor and identify landslides, disasters, and climate events in Nepal and the project's former director said that the cuts to that program undermined ``landslide situational awareness.'' Imagine how many lives, and yes, even how much money we could have saved, and all the damage we could have prevented.

It is more than just that. USAID was America's frontline defense against global chaos by building peace, providing clean water, and stabilizing unstable regions. It aimed to stop humanitarian crises from exploding into violent conflicts, crises that affect Americans at home and abroad.

Look at the trillions of dollars being spent on wars right now. We can spend pennies on the dollar instead to prevent them. In fact, Jim Mattis, Trump's old Secretary of Defense said: ``If we don't fund the State Department fully, then I need to buy more ammunition ultimately.''

Let's refund USAID. It will save American lives and, yes, it will save money, too.

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