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[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E397-E398]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
AMERICA'S GLOBAL LEADERSHIP DURING COVID-19
______
HON. ED CASE
of hawaii
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, April 28, 2020
Mr. CASE. Madam Speaker, as our country and world confront the
unprecedented challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic, some say, as a reason
or excuse, that we should turn inward away from the rest of our world
and to our own affairs.
But neither can nor should we disengage. Instead, I join many of my
colleagues and our fellow citizens in stating clearly that there has
never been a better time or greater need to embrace an across-the-board
renewal of America's global leadership.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently warned
that COVID-19 poses the greatest challenge for our world since the
Second World War. As this pandemic claims lives and cripples health
care systems across the world, it also leaves in its wake the specter
of a global recession without parallel in recent memory that will claim
countless millions of jobs and livelihoods. The impacts of this
pandemic will last years if not decades, and we will return to a world
drastically changed.
This comparison of our present crisis to the Second World War reminds
us of the extraordinary sacrifices Americans made then and must make
now. Yet, just as the greatest generation fought to liberate Europe and
the Pacific, so too must we commit to fighting this virus wherever it
may emerge. The successors of American factories that assembled tanks
and planes over 75 years ago must now build ventilators and medical
supplies, not for ourselves alone but for any nation who shares our
fight against this pandemic.
We are also reminded that the greatest generation, faced with a
global economy ruined by war, chose not to celebrate victory in
splendid isolation but did what no country had ever done before. That
generation of Americans led the way in creating the United Nations and
rebuilding the economies of friend and foe alike through the Marshall
Plan, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. No one can
deny the spirit of generosity and good will that motivated those
actions, but it was also the practical self-interest of acknowledging
that our own future lay in international engagement. Americans learned
from the war that freedom, prosperity and peace go hand in hand and
that, if we want to secure those blessings, we need to lead on the
global stage.
Today, those lessons still ring true. We know that a virus from one
part of the world can swiftly spread, that a fragile state poses
security challenges beyond its borders and that a slowdown in one
economy can affect the entire global supply chain. So long as this
pandemic persists in one country, we all are at risk, from a public
health, economic, social, environmental and every other perspective.
[[Page E398]]
That is why Congress appropriated almost two billion dollars for
international assistance across two emergency relief measures. Our
Department of State and USAID have pledged almost $500 million, with
more on the way. American businesses, philanthropies and non-
governmental organizations are contributing their assistance as well
wherever possible.
These are important first steps, but our country can and must do more
to lead a global effort against this pandemic. We must coordinate
pathways for assistance from developed to developing countries to
enhance the capacity of their health care systems to combat future
waves of this pandemic. We must lead the way in bringing together the
best and brightest around the world in fully understanding this virus
and developing a vaccine. We must forge a path towards global economic
recovery, restoring old supply chains and creating new ones, and
leading our world economy to be stronger, more resilient and more just
than it was before this crisis. Above all, we must lead in repairing
the frayed fabric of global order, restoring trust in and commitment to
our shared institutions among all countries.
Seventy-five years after the Second World War, let us recall the
courage and sacrifice of the greatest generation. Let us find the
realities and opportunities in this crippling pandemic and recommit
ourselves and the United States to global leadership and to the values
of freedom, prosperity and peace at home and abroad. And as we do so
and overcome this pandemic, let us, the Americans of this age, with our
bravery, generosity and greatness of spirit, prove to be as celebrated
an example as that greatest generation to Americans of future eras
____________________
