'Jesus Wept': Chris Coons Decries GOP's Proposed Cuts To Foreign Disaster Relief And Food Assistance

Forbes Breaking News

During remarks on the Senate floor Wednesday, Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) spoke about proposed cuts to foreign disaster relief and food assistance.

Transcript

00:00Jesus wept.

00:05Jesus wept.

00:08Most of us who grew up in Bible-believing households know this is the shortest verse in all of Scripture.

00:16And in some ways, the most powerful.

00:19One that haunts me.

00:21Jesus wept in John 11, the chapter 35th verse,

00:24because he had come too late, seemingly, to save the life of Lazarus.

00:31He wept because someone he knew and loved had died,

00:34and it had caused such harm and loss to his family.

00:41Today we are doing something on this floor of this Senate.

00:46My Republican colleagues are doing something on the floor of this Senate

00:50that I believe would make Jesus weep.

00:59In Luke, there's a moment in the 10th chapter where a lawyer,

01:02and it's always a lawyer,

01:04comes to test Jesus.

01:07And trying to justify himself presses Jesus with questions.

01:10What must I do to gain eternal life?

01:13And Jesus says, what does the Scripture teach?

01:15And he says, you should love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind.

01:20And the second commandment is like unto it,

01:23you should love your neighbor as yourself.

01:27Jesus says, you have read well.

01:29Do this and you will gain eternal life.

01:31But the lawyer, hoping to be justified, says,

01:34but wait, who is my neighbor?

01:39And what follows is the well-known parable of the Good Samaritan,

01:43where the righteous, the priestly, the respected, the powerful,

01:49walk on the other side of the road when they encounter someone who's been set upon by robbers.

01:54Not my problem.

01:56Not my neighbor.

01:58But in the parable of the Good Samaritan,

02:00it's this person, a Samaritan,

02:03from a disfavored ethnicity,

02:06someone outside the circle of concern to the ancient Israelites

02:10who does the right thing.

02:12This parable would have been shocking at the time,

02:16that it was preached by Jesus.

02:17The idea that the good neighbor was the outcast,

02:22the unexpected,

02:23would be something that, frankly,

02:25would have been a surprise.

02:27So although today,

02:28being a Good Samaritan is a common term,

02:31it's important to know the history.

02:32We are taught as children

02:37that we are to see all as our neighbors.

02:40Not just those who live next door.

02:42Not just those who look like us,

02:44or speak like us,

02:45or pray like us.

02:46But the widest possible definition of neighbor

02:48is what we are called,

02:51through righteousness,

02:52to see in the world.

02:54And what a difference it has made.

02:57Because our nation

02:58has for decades

03:00embraced the cause.

03:02Of being present.

03:04Of caring.

03:05Of making life-saving differences

03:07to young mothers and children.

03:09To widows and orphans.

03:10To the imprisoned.

03:11To the hungry.

03:12To the refugee.

03:13To those fleeing oppression.

03:15To those seeking relief.

03:19From authoritarian governments.

03:21For those seeking a better way.

03:24We are all God's children.

03:26And from childhood we are taught

03:29that the golden rule,

03:32which appears in virtually every religion,

03:35do unto others as you would have them do unto you,

03:38is the very foundation of the goodness of America.

03:41That we care for each other as neighbors.

03:44And we care for the world as neighbors.

03:47Yes, we are the most charitable,

03:49giving, philanthropic, engaged nation on earth.

03:52And yet, all that we do in foreign aid

03:56is less than 1% of our total federal budget.

04:02Months ago, when Elon Musk and Doge

04:04began roaming about the federal agencies of our government,

04:08their first target

04:09was that that delivers disaster relief,

04:13that helps feed the hungry,

04:14that helps welcome the refugee,

04:16that helps stabilize countries going through turmoil.

04:19They laid off thousands, they shut down programs,

04:22they canceled billions.

04:25And yet, here today, we are at it again.

04:29Republicans are proposing even deeper cuts.

04:33I want to talk about one area

04:35of the many that will be cut, I fear, later today.

04:39Disaster assistance.

04:42Our nation's been riveted as we've watched the tragedy

04:44that unfolded in the Texas Hill Country,

04:47where a raging river killed

04:49dozens and dozens of innocent children.

04:53And you know, around the world,

04:55when disaster strikes,

04:56it is the Americans who show up first.

05:00It is Americans who show up with relief,

05:02with assistance,

05:03with skill and talent and ability.

05:05It's been this way for decades,

05:07and it should be this way still.

05:08I was on a bipartisan trip to the Philippines

05:12just a few months ago with Senator Ricketts.

05:15And I was struck to learn that the Philippines,

05:18of all the nations on Earth,

05:20is the most prone to natural disasters.

05:24They value our partnership, our alliance.

05:27We've been security partners for decades.

05:29There's many Filipino Americans.

05:31There's a close and deep relationship.

05:33But in meeting with their national leaders,

05:36their elected leaders,

05:37their senators and their ministers of their cabinet,

05:40they said, you know,

05:41it makes an incredible difference here in the Philippines.

05:44Every time there's a typhoon,

05:46there's an earthquake,

05:47there's a volcano,

05:48it's the Americans who come.

05:50It's the Americans who deliver the aid,

05:52who help us help ourselves

05:54with training and equipment and support.

05:56And, you know,

05:58in the excess of Doge's deep cuts,

06:01they fired and laid off

06:03most of our experts who are capable

06:05of delivering world-class disaster relief.

06:10We saw the consequences

06:11with an earthquake in Myanmar just three months ago

06:15where the few remaining folks

06:17who did this work were laid off

06:19as they were deployed.

06:21And instead, the response was led by the Chinese.

06:25We are driving nations

06:27into the open arms of our adversaries.

06:31We have long been known as a nation

06:33that sought to be respected,

06:36admired, believed in, embraced,

06:40not for the example of our power,

06:43but by the power of our example.

06:46That when there were dread pandemics

06:48killing millions,

06:50America showed up.

06:52One of the positives of this day

06:54is that my Republican colleagues

06:56have recoiled

06:57from fully shutting down PEPFAR.

07:00And that is a positive.

07:01One of the best things

07:02we've ever done as a nation

07:03is to save 27 million lives

07:06across the world

07:08that otherwise would have been lost

07:09to HIV AIDS.

07:12But I'll tell you,

07:13when Ebola raged across Africa in 2014,

07:16I was the one member of Congress

07:20who went to Liberia.

07:21At the request of the president,

07:24a Nobel Peace Prize winner,

07:26a brave and proud leader

07:28of a nation struggling,

07:30facing massive losses of life.

07:33Projections at the early stages

07:34of the Ebola pandemic

07:36were that a fifth

07:38to a quarter of their population

07:40would die

07:41in a matter of weeks.

07:42And who came to help?

07:45The Americans.

07:48Catholic Relief Services,

07:49Save the Children,

07:51CARE,

07:52the U.S. military,

07:53our public health service.

07:55I'll never forget meeting

07:56a young Liberian named Alvin.

07:59He dropped out of college

08:00to become a physician's assistant

08:02to help when the outbreak began.

08:04And he, in caring for patients himself,

08:08contracted Ebola,

08:10a near-certain death sentence.

08:13Yet Alvin was evacuated

08:14by Americans

08:15to the Ebola treatment center

08:17set up and funded

08:18and equipped by Americans.

08:20And his life was saved

08:22by Americans.

08:24Whether it was

08:25the president of the nation,

08:27Ellen Johnson Sirleaf,

08:28or Alvin,

08:30the folks I met

08:31on that trip to Liberia

08:33thanked and praised

08:34the American people

08:35for our decency,

08:38our kindness,

08:39our seeing them

08:40as our neighbor

08:41in their moment

08:42of deepest struggle,

08:44risk, and loss.

08:47And yet today,

08:49yet today,

08:51my colleagues

08:53would rather trim

08:54one-tenth of one percent

08:56of the budget,

08:57nine billion,

08:58to cut deeper

08:59into food aid

09:01and disaster assistance

09:02and fighting pandemics,

09:03all to justify

09:06a tax cut.

09:10I can think of few

09:12more despicable acts

09:14on this floor

09:15in my 15 years.

09:18I can speak to process.

09:20We have a bipartisan

09:21appropriations process

09:24where we can and should

09:25debate and consider

09:26these further cuts

09:27and put them on the floor

09:29and vote them up,

09:30but this is an odd thing.

09:32It's a rescission.

09:34It's a cutting back

09:35further of money

09:37we've already appropriated.

09:40Just a few minutes

09:41later today,

09:42I will be trying

09:43to get votes

09:44to end

09:45$465 million

09:48of further cuts

09:49in disaster assistance

09:50that will be

09:51on the floor today.

09:54Taking money

09:55from the World Food Program

09:58and UNICEF,

09:59from Red Cross

09:59and Save the Children,

10:01from Catholic Relief Services

10:03and World Vision,

10:05folks may think

10:07at home

10:08that this money

10:09that goes out

10:10to the world

10:10is money better spent

10:12here,

10:13but for the pennies

10:15on the federal dollar

10:17that we spend

10:18responding to disasters

10:19around the world,

10:21organizations

10:21we all know

10:22and a majority of us

10:24believe in and support

10:25like the Red Cross,

10:27World Vision,

10:28or Catholic Relief Services

10:29are able to appear

10:32in time

10:32and deliver

10:33life-saving aid.

10:36Think about

10:37what we are doing.

10:40Think about

10:41the example

10:41we are setting.

10:42Think about

10:43what we are teaching

10:44our children.

10:45Open your hearts

10:47and eyes

10:47and realize

10:48what we are

10:49about to do.

10:52This is a nation

10:53of which I am

10:54so proud.

10:56And yet at times

10:57it does things

10:58of which I am

10:59so ashamed.

11:02I cannot imagine

11:03the faces

11:05in the refugee camps,

11:07in the villages,

11:08in the clinics,

11:10in the schools,

11:11in the towns,

11:12in the cities

11:13around the world

11:14who for years

11:16have been used

11:16to the idea

11:17that when there's

11:18a pandemic,

11:20the Americans come.

11:21that when there's

11:22an earthquake,

11:23the Americans come.

11:25That when there is

11:26starvation,

11:27the Americans come.

11:29Today we will vote,

11:31no, we won't.

11:33We are more interested

11:34in ourselves

11:35and in a bigger tax cut

11:38than we are in saving,

11:41starving children.

11:44People laid low

11:45by the devastation

11:46of an earthquake.

11:48Families separated

11:49by a typhoon.

11:51The best part

11:52of this nation,

11:53what truly makes us great,

11:55is our selfless

11:57giving to others.

12:00We will be judged

12:01by how we act

12:03today.

12:05For God's justice

12:06is swift

12:07and sure.

12:09And I tremble

12:10when I think

12:11about the answer

12:12this chamber

12:13will give today

12:14to the question,

12:16who is

12:17my neighbor.

12:22Ladies and gentlemen

12:23of the Senate,

12:24we should turn aside.

12:26We should not

12:27with this act

12:27and this vote today

12:28make Jesus

12:30weep.

12:33Thank you,

12:33Mr. President.

12:34With that,

12:34I yield.

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