Friend –
I wanted to share an important quick update on our work – particularly on how the latest around the world is impacting families at home.
Just before Secretary Tony Blinken left for Asia with the President, I hosted an important small meeting with the Secretary and a few of USGLC’s top corporate leaders – from Airbnb, Cargill, Citi, Mastercard, Loews Corporation, and PepsiCo. The conversation was quite timely given how global instability is impacting every American family with increasing sticker shock at the grocery store and the gas pump – an acute reminder that what happens globally matters locally.
We discussed the situation in Ukraine and other growing global humanitarian crises and the imperative for American global leadership from both the public and private sectors. I thought about Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley’s recent comment, “We are entering a world that is becoming more unstable and the potential for significant international conflict is increasing, not decreasing.” Sadly, I agree.
Check out the GLOBAL GAB below with the latest on the Ukraine war, the global hunger crisis, the global pandemic and much more.
And let me know what global issues are impacting your work.
Best,
Liz
Liz Schrayer, USGLC
P.S. Don’t forget to sign-up for USGLC's virtual Global Impact Forum on June 13. The all-star line-up is literally growing by the hour with USAID Administrator Samantha Power, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander James Stavridis, Ambassador Cindy McCain, CNN’s Clarissa Ward, and many more experts you won’t want to miss. RSVP here!
THE GLOBAL GAB
May 31, 2022
UKRAINE – A PLACE OF AGREEMENT. In an overwhelming show of bipartisan support, Congress found something they can agree on – providing a package of $40 billion for security, economic and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine. The package moved from proposal to passage in just 21 days.
- WHAT’S IT WORTH. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told reporters, “America’s support for Ukraine’s self-defense is not mere philanthropy... It is squarely in our national interest to help Ukraine achieve victory in this war and to help Ukraine and other countries deter other wars of aggression before they start.”
- BIG HUMANITARIAN COMMITMENT. The new package includes security and economic assistance for Ukraine to bolster their ability to defend themselves against the Russian invasion. The funding also provides significant resources for non-security programs, including support for diplomatic, humanitarian, and global refugee programs alongside resources to fight Russian disinformation, document war crimes, and trace the property – read yachts – of Russian oligarchs.
- BICAMERAL CODELS. In two recent House and Senate CODELS, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Leader McConnell led separate unannounced trips to Kyiv to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as Congress moved the latest emergency aid package forward.
- Releasing a statement after safely departing Ukraine, Speaker Pelosi told reporters: “Our delegation traveled to Kyiv to send an unmistakable and resounding message to the entire world: America stands firmly with Ukraine.” She said lawmakers return to the U.S. “deeply inspired” to “help the Ukrainian people as they defend democracy for their nation and for the world."
- The Senate delegation included Ranking Member John Barrasso (R-WY), and Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and John Cornyn (R-TX). The House delegation included Chairmen Jim McGovern (D-MA), Gregory Meeks (D-NY), and Adam Schiff (D-CA) alongside Reps. Barbara Lee (D-CA), Bill Keating (D-MA), and Jason Crow (D-CO).
- AMERICA NOT ALONE. While Americans can be proud that our nation is Ukraine’s largest supporter, our allies and partners are also helping shoulder the burden. America’s contributions are currently about 0.2% of U.S. GDP while Estonia, Latvia, and Poland are contributing up to four times more relative to their GDP at 0.8%, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
- NATO EXPANSION. As NATO officials call for a fast-tracking of the applications of Finland and Sweden to join the alliance, Members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee introduced a resolution of support last week. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) are leading the bipartisan effort in the Senate – which requires a two-thirds majority. Foreign policy watchers anticipate another overwhelmingly bipartisan vote.
GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS SPIRALS. In an alarming new warning, the World Food Program (WFP) estimates that the number of people facing acute food insecurity could reach to 323 million people – a 17% increase from before the war.
- HOLDING THE WORLD HOSTAGE. Experts estimate that Ukraine produced enough food to feed 400 million people prior to Russia’s invasion with most of it exported through the country’s now shuttered ports on the Black Sea. WFP’s David Beasley recently told world leaders: “Failure to open those ports… will be a declaration of war on global food security… And it will result in famine and destabilization and mass migration around the world.”
- Further complicating the global food response, the WFP’s operational costs have surged by $70 million a month, resulting in cuts to critical nutrition programs.
- PERFECT STORM. Experts are warning of the potentially dire impact of rising food prices on instability, suggesting a potential “tinderbox” that could spark instability in hot spots around the world. During the 2007 and 2008 crisis, the rapid spike in food costs drove social unrest in at least 40 developing and middle-income countries and today’s food and economic conditions are even worse.
- On the growing and interconnected global crises, Tjada McKenna – CEO of Mercy Corps and USGLC Board Member – told lawmakers: “While this perfect storm may appear unique, it is a window into the types of challenges we face if conflict goes unchecked, climate impacts increase, and new health security challenges unfold.”
- Compounding the challenges of the global food crisis, the UN Refugee Agency announced another tragic metric on the state of the world: the number of people displaced around the globe has now surpassed 100 million people, the highest number ever in history.
- BULLY PULPIT. With the U.S. holding the UN Security Council Presidency for the month of May, American officials used the platform to shine a spotlight on the global food crisis. U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield spoke out: “Many go hungry and don’t know where their next meal will come from because warmongers are intentionally using starvation as a weapon of war.”
- CONGRESS ACTS. The good news is that the new emergency U.S. global aid package for Ukraine includes a critical new $5 billion in resources to bolster the world’s global food security and humanitarian response to save lives and prevent starvation.
- BANKS STEP UP. Adding their unique capabilities, seven of the world's multilateral development banks released a joint strategy with the World Bank committing $30 billion in resources to help countries respond to the increasingly dire short-term and long-term food and nutrition threats.
- GRAHAM WARNING. Speaking out at multiple Senate hearings on the hunger crisis, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said: “If you believe in a strong national security to keep America safe, then you have to be involved in world hunger.” On the latest aid package, Graham just added new alarm bells: “I just want to let colleagues on this committee on both sides of the aisle know, it’s not enough. We’ll be doing this again because I don’t see anything getting better anytime soon.”
GLOBAL COVID SUMMIT. As the White House convened its recent global COVID-19 summit, one critical item left on the table is new U.S. global health resources to step up the pandemic response in low-income countries where vaccine rates remain far too low. The Summit did generate new global commitments of $3.2 billion in funding from allies and partners to help confront the pandemic and build new preparedness and global health security efforts.
- PARTNER PLEDGES. USGLC members making new pledges at the Summit included Abbott, Abt Associaties, Catholic Relief Services, Deloitte, Friends of the Global Fight, FHI 360, Google, the International Rescue Committee, Management Sciences for Health, Mastercard, Merck, PATH, Pfizer, Rotary International, the United Nations Foundation, and UPS. Global philanthropic players also stepped up with new commitments from the Gates Foundation, the Open Society Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation.
- RUNNING ON EMPTY. Global health leaders continue to warn that the coffers are running dry with no new emergency U.S. resources for global pandemic response passed in more than a year. To date, resources to combat COVID globally – and prevent new variants from reaching U.S. shores – has been just 0.3% of total emergency resources.
- USAID Assistant Administrator Atul Gawande, who also recently headlined a USGLC event on Capitol Hill, shared with appropriators: “Stopped global COVID-19 funding would be a geopolitical mistake. It would be an ethical mistake. It would be a health security mistake. And it would be an economic mistake of historic proportions.”
- VARIANT VULNERABILITY. State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Chairman Chris Coons (D-DE) continued to raise his voice on the threat of the unfinished work to protect Americans from new variants: “This pandemic is far from over. COVID-19, I’ll remind you, originated halfway around the world, and we are no less vulnerable to this pandemic today from a global perspective, than we were a year ago.”
ACROSS AMERICA. As global issues continue to spiral and impact Americans here at home, USGLC has been on the road hosting policymakers for town halls in their home states on What’s it Worth for America to lead on the global stage:
- MICHIGAN: In a virtual town hall with Rep. Peter Meijer (R-MI) and state leaders, the veteran-turned-Congressman spoke out on how the Ukraine war is reverberating around the world and here at home.
- For Country Caucus Founder, Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), shared with his constituents why he is committed to working across the aisle on foreign policy in Congress.
- At a virtual veteran town hall, Rep. Scott Peters (D-CA) discussed how climate change is accelerating other national security threats.
- SOUTH CAROLINA. At an in-person roundtable in Columbia – in partnership with USGLC South Initiative Chair Coca-Cola – USGLC hosted a discussion on the Ukraine war and global food crisis with Republican Study Committee National Security Chair, Joe Wilson (R-SC) and Freedom Caucus Member Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC).
MUST READS. Three quick items from the USGLC community that are worth the click:
