Two Bills in the Senate
- Gates’ Testimony
- Watch the hearing
Bill Gates, Co-Chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, was on Capitol Hill Wednesday discussing “new directions in global health” before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. His Foundation’s Living Proof Project highlights the many successes of U.S.-funded global health initiatives, and Gates today offered his hard-earned wisdom to the Committee:
“If we continue to innovate and to dedicate resources, huge gains in global health and development are ahead of us. If we keep pushing, we will be able to reduce poverty and prevent disease, which will help countries ultimately end their dependence on foreign assistance and allow more people to live healthy, productive lives without support from the U.S. or other donor governments. “
Gates acknowledged the difficulties President Obama faces as he aims to increase the International Affairs Budget:
“The budget scrutiny that has come with this economic downturn can and should be used to force a new fiscal vigilance that is more creative and more constructive than simply cutting spending…I understand that the federal budget now under consideration will be one of tradeoffs, and a certain amount of spreading the pain will be necessary. As you and your colleagues in both chambers consider the President’s Fiscal Year 2011 International Affairs budget request, I urge you to be mindful of the many successes U.S. foreign assistance has achieved and equally aware of the many challenges that persist.”
President Bill Clinton also testified before the committee, noting that helping the world’s poorest tackle their heal
th problems “is intrinsically good for America’s foreign policy.” When asked by Senator Kerry why the global health initiative is so important, Clinton responded that:
“Apart from the moral claim that we ought to save every child we can, we live in an interdependent world in which we have learned the hard way that no matter how brilliantly our forces perform, we cannot kill, jail, or occupy all of our adversaries. We have to build a world with more partners, and fewer adversaries. That’s what foreign policy is about. And this is an important part of our foreign policy. It makes a world with more friends, and fewer enemies.”
Senator Lugar’s opening statement was optimistic: “I believe we have an opportunity in the coming months to achieve something close to a consensus and pass a global food bill that would have major benefits for international health and stability, as well as for U.S. foreign policy.”
In regards to global health, Senator Kerry explained that “a holistic approach leads us to focus on the women and girls who are at the center of each family’s health, but are too often marginalized by their economies and health systems. This includes taking on maternal mortality, which robs families of half a million young mothers every year.”
The hearing reinforced the messages of other players in the administration, who have also spoken about the vital need for a well-resourced international affairs budget. “It has become clear that America’s civilian institutions of diplomacy and development have been chronically undermanned and underfunded for far too long – relative to what we spend on the military, and more important, relative to the responsibilities and challenges our nation has around the world,” Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said at the USGLC 2008 Tribute Dinner.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has also emphasized the interests of the United States in supporting development: supporting development: “Development was once the province of humanitarians, charities, and governments looking to gain allies in global struggles. Today it is a strategic, economic, and moral imperative — as central to advancing American interests and solving global problems as diplomacy or defense.”
Yesterday’s hearing was yet further evidence of the broad-based, bipartisan support that exists for investments in development and diplomacy.
