Hi Friend -
Last month, I sent you a recap of my time at the Republican convention. Having just returned from the Democratic National Convention, I have plenty of foreign policy tidbits to share for this Global Gab.

To start, USGLC hosted one of the week's premier foreign policy events. In partnership with the National Democratic Institute, our event featured a panel of foreign policy luminaries and VP Harris surrogates, including Senator Chris Coons, former UN Ambassador Susan Rice, and California Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove, discussing the global issues facing the next administration. Watch the 2-minute highlight video here!

Similar sentiments were heard loud and clear on the mainstage, starting with Vice President Harris in her acceptance speech saying she would "strengthen, not abdicate, our global leadership." President Biden asked "who could lead the world other than the United States?" And former President Obama argued "America can be and must be a force for good" in the world.

The 92-page Democratic platform debuted with an entire chapter on "Strengthening American Leadership Worldwide" and the importance of "using every diplomatic tool available to advance American interests." You can see more details below, including profiles of the candidates.

The two national conventions were only part of USGLC's summer travels as we hosted dozens of in-state events, including our signature regional summits. At our annual South Summit in Louisville this year, our featured guest, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said, "Nobody realizes how little we actually spend on the diplomatic side to help avoid a war. It's not charity, it's in America's best interest." And in Omaha, at our annual Heartland Summit, Congressman Don Bacon (R-NE) warned that, "we can't become an isolationist country."

Read on below for more on what's happening around the globe and how it's impacting kitchen table issues. Hope you enjoy the last bit of summer and happy Labor Day to all.

Liz
Liz Schrayer, USGLC

THE GLOBAL GAB
August 28th, 2024

CONVENTION RECAP. USGLC was on the ground in Chicago for the Democratic National Convention, just as it was at the Republican convention last month, to uplift the voices advocating for sustained American engagement in the world.

* The Candidate Profiles. With the Democratic ticket now official, you can check out USGLC's candidate profiles on Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz at Impact 2024 highlighting their public views on America's role in the world.

* Global Platform. The 92-page Democratic platform which is still written mostly through the lens of President Biden, includes 15 pages on foreign policy. The final chapter, titled "Strengthening American Leadership Worldwide," covers everything from support for Ukraine, to countering Iran, to building durable peace in the Middle East, while "using every diplomatic tool available to advance American interests."

* On Diplomacy and Alliances: Elevating our diplomatic toolkit while calling military force "a tool of last resort," the platform stresses that "America's prosperity and the prosperity of our allies and partners are mutually reinforcing."

* On Foreign Assistance: The platform highlights the critical role of "development assistance... to strengthen global health systems, bolster pandemic preparedness programs, and alleviate global food insecurity."

* On Competition with China: The PRC gets its own section as "America's most consequential strategic competitor" with both the intent and the capacity to "overturn the international rules that keep America secure and prosperous." The platform calls to "de-risk, not decouple" while working together on issues like "climate change and countering fentanyl trafficking."

* On Africa: Discussing the world's fastest-growing continent, the platform calls for "deepening economic ties between African countries and the U.S., advancing regional integration, and helping realize Africa's immense economic potential for our mutual benefit."

* USGLC's Premier Event. In partnership with the National Democratic Institute, USGLC hosted the Convention's premier foreign policy event, featuring Senator Chris Coons (D-DE), former Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice, and Representative Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA). Hundreds of guests, including business and NGO leaders, Administration officials in their personal capacity, and foreign ministers and ambassadors joined the conversation on "Foreign Policy 2025 & Beyond: Democracy, Development, Diplomacy." Some highlights:

* Amb. Rice: "Our physical security, our national security, our economic security, are really, truly inextricably linked to what happens outside our shores."

* Sen. Coons: "Russia's aggression in Ukraine makes it clearer than ever that we're at a moment where defending democracy through our allies and partners is the path forward for the United States... Putin will only stop when we stop him."

* Rep. Kamlager-Dove: "We are not safe, our companies are not able to expand...without us really harnessing and being committed to diplomacy."

* Watch our 2-min recap video here!

* Global Leadership on Stage. It wasn't just Beyonce's song "Freedom" as VP Harris's campaign anthem, the theme of freedom dominated the convention:

* President Joe Biden: "Who could lead the world other than the United States of America?... The world is better off for it [and] America is more prosperous...safer."

* VP Kamala Harris: "We must also be steadfast in advancing our security and values abroad... I will make sure... that America, not China, wins the competition for the 21st century and that we strengthen, not abdicate, our global leadership."

* Former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta: "Our warriors need a tough, cool-headed Commander-in-Chief to defend our democracy from tyrants and terrorists... Listen to President Reagan, 'Isolationism never was and never will be an acceptable response to tyrannical governments, never.'"

* Former President Barack Obama: "America can be and must be a force for good: discouraging conflict, fighting disease, promoting human rights, protecting the planet from climate change, defending freedom, brokering peace."

USGLC ACROSS THE COUNTRY. USGLC is crisscrossing the country hosting Town Halls with political, military, and business leaders from Omaha to Louisville and Little Rock to San Antonio, including two of its signature regional summits in the South and the Heartland that drew hundreds of leaders in-person and over 100,000 more online.

* The South Summit. On stage with CNN's Scott Jennings, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell continued his clarion call against isolationism at USGLC's second annual South Summit in Louisville, Kentucky. McConnell detailed how American engagement abroad advances the security, prosperity, and values of folks across Kentucky and America's South.

* Leader McConnell: "It can be easy to turn inwards... to ignore the responsibilities of leadership that have underpinned our peace, prosperity, and security... [But] the most enthusiastic supporters of foreign assistance that I've ever met are members of the military, because they know... it's a lot cheaper to prevent a war than to be in one... it's not charity, it's in America's best interest."
Watch full event here

* The Heartland Summit. USGLC also convened its signature Heartland Summit in Omaha, Nebraska with Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) and Air Force Lt. Gen. Richard Newton to discuss how U.S. leadership abroad makes Americans safer and wealthier across the heartland.

* Rep. Bacon: "The United States is the indispensable power--we're the voice for freedom and the values that we hold dear... We can't become an isolationist country... When we do that, the world becomes more dangerous, and it eventually comes to our shores... We have got to use all of our instruments of power... diplomatic, information, military, economic... it can't just be military."
Watch full event here

'JUST SAY NO' TO ISOLATIONISM. Republican leaders continue speaking out against the dangers of isolationist winds in American political discourse.

* In Foreign Affairs, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warns of "the Perils of Isolationism" and why "the world still needs America--and America still needs the world." She sums up the urgency saying, "Isolation has never been the answer to the country's security or prosperity... The future will be determined by the alliance of democratic, free-market states or it will be determined by the revisionist powers, harking back to a day of territorial conquest abroad and authoritarian practices at home."

* In a Washington Post Op-Ed, Former VP Mike Pence and Heritage Founder Ed Feulner warn of "a new and troubling strain of isolationism," saying, "the U.S. must stand firm in its support for Taiwan, not because we view ourselves as a self-appointed global police force, but because it is in our national interest to do so. We cannot afford to be led astray by the isolationists, who promise the illusion of peace but guarantee the reality of a more dangerous world."

AROUND THE WORLD. While we've been focused on our own election season here at home, the world hasn't slowed down.

* FREEING AMERICANS. It's been a summer of high stakes diplomacy with the State Department centerstage helping to achieve the largest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history. Presidential Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs, Roger Carstens, shared a behind-the-scenes account, saying only "through great diplomacy" and help from "journalists, members on Capitol Hill, people in the NGO community, and partners and allies," was this deal possible to bring three Americans home.

* DEFENDING UKRAINE. On a bipartisan trip to Kyiv, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) called Ukraine's new cross-border incursion into Russia's Kursk region "bold and brilliant." Meanwhile, Secretary Mike Pompeo and David Urban laid out a vision for a Trump Peace Plan for Ukraine in the WSJ to "send a clear signal to Mr. Putin that he will never win."

* SUPPORTING SUDAN. In a conflict that has left more than half of the country's 48 million people facing crisis levels of hunger, USGLC is shining a spotlight on those working to mitigate the crisis and save lives. USGLC coalition members - the World Food Program USA, the International Rescue Committee, and UNICEF USA - have helped feed, clothe, heal, and protect the lives of millions caught up in the worst displacement crisis in the world.
Read the full story here

* FIGHTING FENTANYL. Years of persistent diplomacy is bearing fruit following a President Biden-Xi Summit that launched the U.S-China Counternarcotics Working Group last year. China is finally imposing new controls on three essential precursor chemicals used in the illicit manufacture of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids. Why it matters? The most recent estimates suggest that more than 90% of fentanyl in the U.S. is manufactured with precursor chemicals produced in China.
Learn more from USGLC on "Combatting the Rise of Fentanyl"

* INVESTING IN AFRICA. Officials gathered in Washington for the 21st African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum - a key mechanism for U.S. investment across sub-Saharan Africa that bipartisan leaders in the House and Senate are working to reauthorize. In discussing the importance of AGOA-enabled investment on the planet's fastest-growing continent, Secretary Blinken reiterated that "when Africa succeeds, the United States succeeds, and the whole world succeeds."

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