During a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing last week, Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-TX) questioned Uzra Zeya, President and CEO of Human Rights First, about how reorganization efforts at the State Department will affect federally-funded health programs.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Thank you, Chairman. Thank each one of you for your participation. To Zaya, I'd have a question regarding our critical health programs, such as PEPFAR, that has been demonstrably extremely successful, has saved millions of lives.
00:17This network has saved millions. It has provided a strong health system that protects Americans domestically and abroad by detecting and responding to health threats before they can spread as a core American value.
00:31But in recent months, we've seen concerning decisions that have undercut America's global strength and put people at risk, whether through staffing shortages, funding delays, or unclear directions amid the evolving State Department reorganization.
00:46I've gone to several countries most recently, and one of the pains that I have to hear is that there's food in the bins, there is HIV medicines, there's malaria vaccinations.
00:59We have employees that are stuck abroad. They cannot return home, American citizens, and they cannot distribute the food.
01:07Given this overwhelming success of these programs and their vital role in our global strategy, how do we ensure that the integrity, effectiveness, and bipartisan support are not only preserved but strengthened?
01:19Thank you, Congressman. I think you've explained well, you know, what some of the chaotic impacts have been of the decisions we've seen since January.
01:30And I would just add on this point that these health programs are not a giveaway.
01:37This is all about the well-being and the security of Americans.
01:40You know, if we learned anything from 2019, it is that pandemics, no borders, and the impact can be absolutely devastating from an economic and a personal perspective.
01:52So, again, with PEPFAR on the cusp of, by 2030, eliminating HIV-AIDS as a global scourge to pull the rug out under from life-saving antiretroviral programs,
02:11but also, I mean, it's come up a few times today with respect to the inherent dignity of all human beings, including LGBTQI-plus persons.
02:22The delivery of these life-saving programs to these communities is absolutely critical in our public health approach, but it isn't just HIV-AIDS.
02:31It's Mpox, it's malaria, it's Ebola, which I was part of an effort under the Obama administration that helped contain the spread of Ebola in West Africa through a multi-country, U.S.-led effort.
02:47So, all I can say is that I hope they take a hard look at the impacts thus far.
02:53They consult with the partners whose own operations have been decimated by this lurching effort, but also with the communities that have benefited from this for years and try to turn it around.
03:07One other question I would have for you.
03:10DEIA and fellowship programs.
03:12I was startled to see a group of students in my office one morning that had their scholarships cut from their foreign service careers, and they were primarily African-American and Hispanic students.
03:26Very specifically, at one point in my life, I served on a Fulbright program and a scholar's program, and so it's just very clear that black students have been cut out, eliminated from careers that have been introduced into foreign service.
03:41What have you seen to be the value of such fellowship programs, particularly targeting and being inclusive to bring in minority students?
03:51The Fulbright has not been touched.
03:53They primarily have a lot of Caucasian students, but the Payne and the Rangel scholarships that have been outstanding African-American members, those scholarships have been targeted and cut.
04:03Can you please elaborate?
04:05Is this consistent with our values?
04:08Thank you for raising this.
04:09These fellowships, which include the Pickering, Rangel, the Payne fellowships, they have long been the subject of deep-rooted bipartisan support, and I just want to say these are not DEIA fellowships.
04:21These are not quotas.
04:23They're all about merit, but they're also about casting the net more widely so that more bright students from across the country, you know, in terms of geographic representation,
04:36in terms of different backgrounds, you know, have the opportunity to consider and also the financial support to be able to pursue their education at the undergrad and graduate level and contribute to the department.
04:51And over more than two decades, I've seen some incredible diplomats come through that program.
04:57I was frankly shocked by the cutoff and the impact not only on the students involved, but on our department, as this has, I think, been a proven magnet for great talent and excellent diplomats.
05:13Well, Isaiah, I thank you so much for your contribution, your continued support, and under the Students for Fair Admissions Act law that was hered to by the United States Supreme Court, diversity, equity, and inclusion is legal in the United States Armed Services.
05:29Someone in the administration needs to read the law.
05:32If it's good in the war room and if it's good at the United States military academies, it's good in the classrooms, it's good in the workrooms.
05:38So we need to make sure we enforce the law. There's nothing wrong about having diversity, e pluribus unum, out of many we're one.
05:47There's nothing wrong with having equality, the 14th Amendment.
05:50There's nothing wrong with having inclusivity and accessibility so people that have different abilities that may need a wheelchair ramp or other things can have access and have inclusion.
05:59I thank you for your years of service and continued success. I yield back, Chairman.