'What Is The Actual Plan?': Chris Coons Grills State Department Official On Future Of PEPFAR

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During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing last week, Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) spoke about the PEPFAR program under the Trump administration.

Transcript

00:00Again, we'll defer to the more senior senator from Delaware.

00:03Again, we'll express embarrassment and yet take advantage of the opportunity of your kindness.

00:08I'll just ask one, well, two more questions, if I might.

00:12Botswana is a great example of a country that is relatively stable, peaceful,

00:17has developed its vast mineral resources in a positive way for its people and for its independence.

00:23President Boko is a great example of someone where over the 25 years of PEPFAR as a program,

00:30Botswana, which had one of the very highest HIV-AIDS burdens when we began,

00:36transitioned to country ownership and partnership.

00:38My most recent visit there with Senator Graham, we were impressed by how much progress they've made.

00:44Over 25 years, PEPFAR has saved 25 million lives.

00:48I respect and understand why the administration is prioritizing commercial diplomacy,

00:54something I also have long championed.

00:57It's the way that we will move forward in this century with the vast majority of African countries.

01:01But we cannot neglect some of the foundational public health needs

01:05that still are central to our relations with dozens of countries.

01:10The Secretary recently testified that 85 percent of PEPFAR funding was still being delivered

01:17and only 15 percent had been canceled due to corruption.

01:21One of the things I disagreed with publicly about someone who's no longer with the department

01:26was his characterization that the termination of a contract for male circumcision

01:33was because it was either DEI or corrupt,

01:37when in fact public health documents show it's the most effective way to reduce transmission.

01:42Can you give us any sense?

01:46What is the actual plan and path forward for PEPFAR?

01:49The administration has just submitted a rescission that would claw back significant amounts of funding

01:55that was authorized and appropriated by Congress for PEPFAR.

02:00What do you view as the path forward?

02:02And how can we get a specific update on what's actually the intention of the administration

02:08with regards to PEPFAR?

02:09Thank you for raising an incredibly important issue.

02:14As I had mentioned before, the reason why I had spent so much time talking about commercial diplomacy

02:20is because that was the fundamental change, the difference in what we were doing.

02:23But that doesn't mean the critical things we were doing in other spheres don't also matter.

02:28As somebody who spent most of his time in Africa

02:31and almost every one of the countries in which I've served are PEPFAR countries,

02:34I have a deep and abiding love and respect for the program.

02:40As Secretary Rubio had said, 85% of that is continuing.

02:45The shifting with the change in how our government is structured

02:49has been something we're focused on right now.

02:52And so the Global Health Security Bureau is absorbing the tasks that USAID used to do in regard to PEPFAR.

03:02And working out our staffing and especially our overseas posture

03:07is all predicated on making sure this continues to happen.

03:11I am afraid that I don't have any information on a response to the rescission

03:16because that would be our F Bureau and the Global Health Security Bureau.

03:21But I will absolutely find out about that and get back to you, sir.

03:24If you could convey an intense interest and enthusiasm for clarity on that,

03:29I think governing by rescission, by full-year CR reconciliation and rescission

03:35renders the appropriations role of Congress irrelevant

03:38and is a very dangerous precedent to be setting.

03:41My hope is that instead the administration will accept the repeated offers of members of both parties

03:47to work together to reform, sustain, and improve foreign assistance

03:52because whether it's the Millennium Challenge Corporation

03:55or it's PEPFAR previously delivered exclusively through USAID and CDC,

04:01there are longstanding bilateral relationships with dozens of countries on the continent

04:06where I'm getting the calls I'm sure you're getting.

04:09Confusion, alarm, and question about what is our future together.

04:15Last, Senator Graham and I have worked hard to introduce and pass

04:20legislation that creates public-private foundations

04:24to advance food security and to advance conservation.

04:28Examples from Africa with a principal reason, but it's not exclusive to Africa.

04:32The Conservation Foundation is law and is funded.

04:35The Food Security Foundation, Senator Graham's continuing to work to advance

04:40and it'll soon be on a market for this committee.

04:43Are you familiar with these at all?

04:44Do you see the idea of doubling public money

04:49with private partnership money, whether foundation or corporate,

04:52as being a positive model for moving forward together?

04:57While I know of these programs,

05:00I do know the idea of public-private partnerships

05:03has proven effective throughout.

05:07Wherever it's possible to involve the private sector,

05:09it generally improves the opportunities.

05:12It's one of the reasons why I'm such a supporter

05:14of the blended finance with DFC.

05:17It's bringing that in, which allows that dynamism,

05:20that vibrancy that the private sector can bring to that.

05:23So I think that's an appropriate way to address both of those concerns.

05:27And I would also say that when it comes to feeding programs,

05:30anything that engages the American farmer

05:32is probably going to be a good investment.

05:35Thank you, Mr. Vitrell,

05:36and thank you again, Senator Booker,

05:38for your decency, your compassion, and your forbearance,

05:40and to the chairman for tolerating my many questions.

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