Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA) is leading a group of Senate colleagues in urging Secretary of State Marco Rubio to approve the transfer of $2 billion in funds meant for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
What is this inquiry in response to? This inquiry comes as new internal guidance from the State Department would end the transfer of PEPFAR funds to the CDC.
According to former CDC directors, without this dedicated funding stream, more than 18 CDC outposts could close before the end of the year, reducing the agency’s ability to launch timely and sufficient global health responses to disease outbreaks.
What Sen. Jon Ossoff and his colleagues had to say:
- “Dear Secretary Rubio, We write to you with alarm at the Administration’s cut to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s global HIV/AIDs program. This decision is particularly troubling as these funds allow CDC to implement the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and support CDC’s critical global health operations that have provided the backbone for PEPFAR and other U.S. global health programs for decades.”
- “The rushed abandonment of a proven and effective structure threatens to increase the risk of future global health pandemics and disease outbreaks, which is wholly antithetical to an America First Global Health Strategy.”
- “Therefore, we urge you to immediately rescind any guidance suggesting that the State will no longer honor the transfer of $2 billion to CDC and commit to upholding this long-standing transfer that keeps Americans safe.”
- “Without USAID, CDC’s global health infrastructure remains the most effective tool the U.S. has to monitor and prevent global health emergencies. Ceasing the transfer of these funds only further puts the lives of Americans at risk.”
Further Context: Sen. Ossoff is joined by Senators Andy Kim (D-NJ), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Ed Markey (D-MA).
