Friend –

Much has happened in Washington these last few days, and as promised, I wanted to give you some insight into what we are seeing on the foreign policy front during inauguration week – especially given the outsized impact on our health and economic recovery here at home.

To start with, President Biden followed the tradition of past presidents from both parties of including a message for Americans and the world in his inauguration address. His message on alliances was clear, declaring that the U.S. would be “the leading force for good in the world.”

And lots to share down below in this week’s GLOBAL GAB including Administration actions, players and nomination hearings, the 2020 budget finale, and the new and frightening details emerging on the global pandemic.

As always, let me know what you’re reading and hearing – and your thoughts from this past week.

Best,

Liz
Liz Schrayer, USGLC

THE GLOBAL GAB: This Week in Washington
January 22, 2021

DAY ONE. The president’s inaugural words to “repair our alliances and engage the world” were backed up by several immediate actions on the global front – including commitments to rejoin the WHO and the Paris Climate Accords and joining COVAX, a multinational vaccine distribution effort.

The very next day, Dr. Tony Fauci represented the U.S. at the WHO’s board meeting and said the U.S. “stands ready to work in partnership and solidarity to support the international COVID-19 response.”

In addition, the Administration:

• Rolled out its National Strategy for COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness that included a focus on the international COVID response, calling “epidemic and pandemic preparedness, health security, and global health… top national security priorities.”
  
  
• Signed an Executive Order to reinstate the global health preparedness office at the National Security Council.
  
  
• Rejected a rescission package of nearly $17 billion for the State Department and USAID, proposed by the outgoing Administration, that would have frozen funds for critical programs, such as the global vaccine efforts, PEPFAR and McGovern-Dole food aid programs. While Congress would have surely rejected this proposal, the immediate unfreezing of these funds ensures these programs can continue to advance America’s national interests and save lives around the world.
  
  
• And prior to taking office, Biden outlined a COVID-19 economic stimulus plan that endorsed the importance of a global response to the pandemic – proposing $11 billion in new international resources. Here is the USGLC’s statement on why scaling up America’s international COVID-19 response is essential to protecting our own domestic health and economic security.

All this becomes that much more important with the latest news announced by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson today that the new UK strain of COVID could be not just more contagious but also more deadly – an important reminder that these efforts to bolster America’s international response could not be more urgent.

CONFIRMATION WATCH. Ahead of Inauguration Day, the Senate began moving the top national security picks through the confirmation hearing process. Secretary of State nominee Tony Blinken testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee: 

• On U.S. global leadership: “The reality is the world simply does not organize itself. When we're not engaged... one of two things is likely to happen: Either some other country tries to take our place... or maybe just as bad, no one does."
  
  
• On diplomacy: "As a general rule, we're much better off being at the table than being outside the room if we're going to try to influence those institutions and organizations and move them in a better direction.”
  
  
• On China: “If we're pulling back from the world, if we're pulling back from the institutions, if we're pulling back from playing that lead role in shaping the rules and the norms, that gives [China] the free field to redefine the century more on their terms than on ours."
  
  
• On democracy: “Our charge is to put democracy and human rights back at the center of American foreign policy.”
  
  
• On COVID-19: “We have a national interest… in doing our part to make sure that as the vaccine becomes available, we help get it out there as quickly and as effectively as we can.” The risk if we don’t: “The potential for a debt crisis among emerging economies… public health crises... state fragility.”
  
  
• On diversity: “One of the things that I am determined to focus on, if confirmed, is on making good on building… a workforce at State that looks more like the country it represents.”

Two other critical nominees spoke up on the diplomacy, global health, and development arena:

• Just confirmed Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin echoed the sentiments of former Secretary of Defense Bob Gates during his confirmation hearing when asked about the importance of diplomacy to America’s national defense: “I think it is absolutely important that the State Department be resourced adequately.”
  
  
• Avril Haines, Biden’s pick for Director of National Intelligence, told the Senate Intelligence Committee, “enabling U.S. global health leadership and positioning us to defend and detect future outbreaks before they become pandemics” will be a top priority. 

POWER UP. Making it the earliest nomination for USAID Administrator in recent memory, President Biden named Ambassador Samantha Power as his pick to lead the agency. As a former U.S. Ambassador to the UN, she is an exceptional choice and another example of positive momentum for the global development agenda.

• Of particular significance is that the USAID Administrator will also become a formal member of the National Security Committee – something USGLC has been urging for years that will ensure development has a permanent seat at the national security table.
  

Biden has selected two of the country’s top diplomats to serve in other leading cabinet roles:

• Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield is the president’s nominee for U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, whose deep experience throughout Africa gives her invaluable perspectives on today’s global health and humanitarian challenges.
  
  
• Ambassador Bill Burns, a member of the USGLC’s National Advisory Council, is Biden’s pick to lead the CIA. He has been a strong and principled voice for the importance of America’s role in the world and brings a steadfast commitment to diplomacy and global development.

BUDGET WRAP-UP. Looking back on a long year, 2020 started with a proposal to cut nearly a quarter of America’s civilian footprint around the world – and that was before the COVID-19 outbreak exploded into a global pandemic. Congress not only rejected the proposed cuts but provided a 1.5% increase over last year in the bipartisan year-end spending deal.

• In addition, the COVID relief package passed by Congress included $4 billion for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance – a critical step in the right direction for the U.S. global response.
  
  
• Last year, over 200 House members from both sides of the aisle called for strategic global resources, most urging for at least $20 billion for an economic and humanitarian response and support for programs that have a direct impact on our security and health like GAVI, the Global Fund, CEPI, and the World Food Program. And a third of Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Senate called for increasing these critical programs.
  
  
• In announcing the final year-end deal, global health was specifically called out as a priority in the summary released by Speaker Pelosi and Leader Schumer – and House Foreign Affairs Committee Republican Lead Michael McCaul said, “More must still be done to address the indirect impacts of the pandemic, particularly the damage it’s done to stabilization efforts in fragile states and on the food security of vulnerable populations around the world.”
  
  
• Typically, new Administration’s release their first budget proposal sometime in February or March. We’ll be tracking their funding proposal closely, especially as global needs to fight the COVID-19 pandemic become more urgent by the day.

GLOBAL PANDEMIC RAGES ON. As new COVID-19 strains from South Africa and the UK crop up in the U.S. and the death toll continues to rise, humanitarian leaders report that the global needs are “skyrocketing.” 

• The number of people going hungry increased from a record 97 million in 2019 to more than 270 million in 2020, according to the World Food Program.
  
  
• At least 24 million children are projected to drop out of school around the world, according to UNICEF.
  
  
• The economic impacts of the pandemic could push an estimated 5 million girls into marriage over the next five years, according to Save the Children.
  
  
• While at least 50 countries have started distributing vaccines, the director general of the World Health Organization has said that “low and most middle-income countries are not yet receiving the vaccine.”
  
  
• Since the start of the global pandemic, at least 14 vaccination campaigns against polio, measles, cholera, human papillomavirus, yellow fever, and meningitis have been postponed, delaying immunization to more than 13.5 million people in 13 of the world’s least-developed countries.

LAST READ. In case you missed the USGLC’s latest op-ed in The Hill following the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol, click here to read “The world is watching – and it matters.”