Grace Meng: Students Now See U.S. As 'The Country Who Took Their Future Away' After Funding Cuts

Forbes Breaking News

During a House Appropriations Committee markup meeting held before the Congressional recess, Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) spoke about the funding of international education programs.

Transcript

00:00And a lady from New York, Ms. Ming, is recognized for general comments on the bill.

00:04Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I, too, want to congratulate our ranking member, Lois Franco, on her first markup as well.

00:12I rise in strong opposition to this bill.

00:16Republicans have promised to lower costs for working families across our country.

00:21Instead, costs are rising, and Republicans are using their same old playbook,

00:26cut programs that help vulnerable people in America and around the world to cut taxes for the rich.

00:33We have to zoom out to see the full picture.

00:36Two weeks ago, Republicans passed the big, ugly bill, which threw millions of Americans off health care,

00:43including 1.5 million New Yorkers and thousands more off of food assistance.

00:48Last week, Republicans passed another ugly bill clawing back funding.

00:53Both parties agreed to just earlier this year for programs that have been bipartisan for decades.

01:00That legislation will force 40 million children worldwide out of school,

01:06creating new recruitment prospects for terrorist organizations and hurting opportunities for millions of girls.

01:13It will strip 3.6 million people from access to clean water, including nurses helping moms deliver babies.

01:21It will prevent 218 million women from deciding when, where, and how to start a family.

01:29And that's just the start.

01:31For months, Republicans made a big fuss, saying USAID went rogue,

01:36that unelected bureaucrats were subverting the will of the American people.

01:40And then they turned right around, closed their eyes, and give radical Russ vote, an unelected bureaucrat,

01:47the keys to the diplomacy and development car to drive straight off of a cliff,

01:53even though they just bought it from the dealership a few months ago.

01:57Now, this week, we have this bill, which will cut our 2026 national security budget by 22% from last year's levels,

02:05which were already $20 billion below the levels of the year before.

02:09This is not America first. It's America alone.

02:14A full retreat from the world that will lead to more war, more disease, and more migration,

02:20paving the way for our adversaries to fill the void we've left.

02:24At a time when sexual and reproductive health and rights are under attack,

02:28this bill hurts women and girls by banning funding to the UN Population Fund,

02:33slashing funds for life-saving international family planning programs,

02:37and codifying the Trump administration's expanded global gag rule.

02:42It cuts 20% from efforts to prevent and respond to gender-based violence,

02:47cuts humanitarian assistance by over 42%,

02:51cuts hundreds of millions of dollars from international basic education programs,

02:55which have supported 34 million learners and trained 3 million teachers since 2017 alone.

03:03I want to share just one story about the impact of these cuts.

03:07In Nepal, 12-year-old Radhika was attending school in a U.S.-funded program

03:11and was months away from graduating before her classes shut down due to the funding loss.

03:17After the funding was pulled, she said,

03:20I was learning new things every day, and I was excited about going to school again,

03:25but now I feel lost.

03:27I'm scared that without the classes, I will not be able to continue my education

03:32and might be forced to get married soon.

03:35Her and millions of other children saw the United States as their salvation.

03:40Now they know us as the country who took their future away.

03:44These cuts are bad enough, but more than that,

03:47this bill just doesn't make any sense.

03:49It's a mirage.

03:51Republicans seem to want credit for providing more funding than the president asked for,

03:55but at least 83% of the programs funded by this bill

03:58have been canceled by unelected billionaire Elon Musk and Doge.

04:03Over 11,000 employees working for USAID and the State Department have been fired,

04:09including my constituents.

04:11They were the people who made American power possible.

04:14The bill cuts $23 million from the Office of the Inspector General to oversee foreign assistance,

04:22even though our colleagues have spent the last seven months saying we need more oversight of our foreign aid.

04:28These cuts hurt, and this bill just shows how backwards my colleagues have it.

04:36Foreign aid isn't a corrupt bargain.

04:39It's not a handout, and it's not waste, fraud, and abuse.

04:42It's a vehicle for American ingenuity, generosity, and security.

04:46It's American workers making food products, which have saved the lives of over 5 million malnourished children.

04:53It's American farmers, including New Yorkers, creating more resilient crops that help lower prices for American consumers.

05:01Our scientists, our Peace Corps volunteers, our Foreign Service officers.

05:05A vote for this bill isn't just a vote to make our world less safe.

05:10It's a vote to limit our country's reach and potential.

05:14Full retreat, America alone.

05:16I urge you to join me in voting no.

05:19I yield back.

05:21I yield back.

05:38I yield back.

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