Press Release

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) this week joined U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-Va.) , Patty Murray (D-Wash.) , Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) , and 22 Senate colleagues in pressing the Trump Administration on the impacts that foreign aid cuts and the United States’ withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) have had on the United States’ ability to protect Americans from Ebola and hantavirus. In their letter to U.S. Secretary of State and Acting National Security Advisor Marco Rubio, the Senators raise concerns that the dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and withdrawal from the WHO have degraded the United States’ ability to detect and respond to emerging infectious diseases and protect Americans from other public health threats. “The dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development, the withdrawal from key international organizations such as the WHO, and the abrupt foreign aid cuts have had the combined effect of degrading our outbreak preparedness and seriously weakening the systems we rely upon to keep Americans safe from infectious disease,” wrote the Senators . “Specifically, the Trump Administration’s withdrawal of global health funding that once supported outbreak detection and surveillance across parts of Africa has led to the erosion of the international disease-monitoring infrastructure relied upon to identify and contain emerging infectious diseases. This erosion has been compounded by the administration’s broader underfunding of global health security and other global health programs, despite bipartisan congressional support for sustained funding for such programs.” “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) previously collaborated with the WHO to maintain a robust disease surveillance system to conduct laboratory testing and monitor the transmission of infectious diseases during major outbreaks,” the Senators continued . “However, the infrastructure and trusted collaboration between organizations no longer exist due to the U.S. withdrawal from the WHO.” “Recent reductions in public health preparedness capacity here at home have also weakened our ability to rapidly detect and respond to emerging infectious disease threats…We urge the Administration to conduct a serious assessment of the decisions that contributed to the weakening of these capabilities and to immediately reverse course on policies that have left the United States and the international community less prepared to respond to future outbreaks,” the Senators concluded . In March, Senator Welch joined Sens. Kaine and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) in requesting answers from Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. regarding the Trump Administration’s decision to withdraw the United States from the WHO and its impact on public health. In addition to Senators Welch, Kaine, Murray, and Warnock, the letter is cosigned by Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Angus King (I-Maine), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.). Read and download the Senators’ full letter to Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Rubio. ###