Booker Leads Senate Colleagues in Urging Secretary Rubio to Restore Critical Global Health Programs to Keep Americans Safe

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, led 20 colleagues in calling on Secretary of State Marco Rubio to urgently restore funding for global health, development, and humanitarian programs. In the wake

of the Trump administration’s abrupt termination of key foreign assistance programs and personnel without review, the letter highlights the national security imperatives of U.S. global health efforts, which keep Americans safe, strengthen U.S. leadership, and increase global stability.

“The Trump Administration’s freeze on foreign assistance and opaque waiver process, coupled with the attempted dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has significantly weakened our ability to respond to emergencies, left gaps in disease surveillance, and undermined global partnerships— leaving a vacuum that our adversaries are eager to fill,” the Senators wrote.  

The Senators expressed concern that without American global health programs, current outbreaks of infectious diseases like Ebola, Marburg Virus, and Bird Flu have the potential for spreading to U.S. soil. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an infectious disease can spread from a remote village to a major city in the United States in as little as 36 hours. Additionally, the foreign assistance funding freeze has stopped critical Malaria interventions before peak transmission and paused many clinical trials and data collection endeavors that require continuous data collection. As a result, product development for desperately needed drugs and vaccines have been brought to a halt. 

“The U.S. cannot afford to withdraw from the global stage. Weak health systems in already fragile regions create opportunities for infectious disease to spread unchecked, for extremist groups to gain influence, and for adversaries to expand their reach,” the Senators continued.

The Senators warned Secretary Rubio that Russian leaders have publicly praised the decision to dismantle USAID, an agency that helps counter China’s efforts to expand its Belt and Road Initiative in Africa and Latin America. Additionally, China is already stepping in to fill the vacuum left by the United States at the World Health Organization.  

“We urge you to reverse the damaging personnel actions at USAID, and swiftly restart U.S. investments in global health, development, and humanitarian aid—not just as a moral obligation, but as part of the necessary strategy to protect America’s national security. In the meantime, there must be a clear process to achieve and implement waivers for these critical programs… Restoring these investments and the professional staff with training and skillsets to implement these life-saving programs will strengthen global health security, reinforce our leadership on the world stage, and make us safer at home,” the Senators concluded.

The letter is cosigned by U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT),  Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chris Coons (D-DE), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM), Ed Markey (D-MA), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Patty Murray (D-WA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Jeanne Shaheen (D-VT), Tina Smith (D-MN), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Ron Wyden (D-OR). 

To read the full text of the letter, click here.