Bonnie Watson Coleman Warns Bill Will Create 'Intolerable Increase In Global Human Suffering'

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During a House Appropriations Committee markup meeting held before the Congressional recess, Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) spoke about cuts in USAID.

Transcript

00:00The gentlelady from New Jersey, Ms. Watson-Coleman, is recognized for remarks on the bill.

00:07Thank you, Mr. Chair.

00:08Thank you to our ranking members as well.

00:13Thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak in opposition to this bill.

00:19I do rise in opposition to it because it will weaken American influence abroad, jeopardize

00:25national security at home, and create opportunities for our adversaries to expand their reach.

00:32Beyond being unwise, this bill is cruel.

00:35It makes severe cuts to international aid programs that have saved tens of millions of lives around the world.

00:44The net effect of this legislation is not only an American retreat on the world stage,

00:49but an intolerable increase in global human suffering.

00:53When the Trump administration dismantled USAID, they did so under the pretense that the responsibility

01:01for administering foreign aid would fall to the State Department.

01:06But now, Republicans are proposing a bill that slashes funding for the State Department's

01:11administration of foreign assistance by 93%.

01:15Through USAID funding, the United States saved more than 90 million lives over the past 20 years,

01:22including 30 million children under the age of five.

01:26That is one child saved thanks to American intervention every 20 seconds.

01:31A report from late June in the Washington Post chronicle the human cost of these cuts.

01:38The Post reported the story of a three-year-old boy in Sudan who died of a chest infection.

01:45Doctors in the area could have easily saved his life if only they had access to basic antibiotics.

01:51As the boy was dying, his mother carried him in her arms, walking miles to 11 different aid facilities.

01:59These facilities used to carry medicine that would have saved the child's life,

02:03but due to U.S. foreign aid cuts, their shelves were empty.

02:09The boy, Amran, has a twin brother, Marwan.

02:12At the time the article was published, Marwan's mother had not yet been able to bring herself

02:18to tell her surviving son that his twin brother was dead.

02:23His mother told the Post that one day, I'll just tell him, your brother went to paradise.

02:29I'm not naive.

02:31I understand that the world can be a hard and unforgiving place.

02:36I understand that leadership involves difficult choices that must be made.

02:42But this, this is not a difficult choice.

02:46These are human beings.

02:47Just because we cannot hear the whimpering of a child a world away does not mean

02:53that we are relieved of the moral responsibility to ease their suffering when we can.

02:59And we most certainly can.

03:01Recent estimates put the death toll of continued defunding of U.S. foreign aid at $14 million by 2030.

03:10I strongly encourage my colleagues to revisit the provisions in this bill which dismantle American foreign aid.

03:19Not only because it's smart foreign policy, not only because it strengthens our hand internationally,

03:26not only because it reduces the influence of our adversaries,

03:31but because reducing human suffering is the right thing to do.

03:37And now, Mr. Chairman, I have one minute and 28 seconds left,

03:45and I'd be delighted to yield them to Mr. Hoyer if he so desires.

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