During Tuesday’s House Appropriations Committee hearing, Rep. Norma Torres (D-CA) slammed President Trump’s decision to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Stores, thank you for your patience, and you are recognized.
00:05Thank you, Chairman.
00:08Thank you for holding this meeting with such an important organization.
00:16But I have to say that I am extremely disappointed that we are continuing to hold briefings here in the U.S. Capitol.
00:29Where people have no access unless they are escorted by a staff member while conducting a tour of the Capitol.
00:41You know, so much has happened.
00:44Where is the transparency and accountability?
00:47Trump has completely destroyed our American brand.
00:52He and Elon Musk are isolating us.
00:56And you know it, Mr. Chairman, it will not end well.
01:01In just 11 weeks, members, 11 weeks in office, Trump has taken $11 trillion out of our economy.
01:13Yet here we are, talking about a $4,000 expenditure, illegal expenditure, that was paid back.
01:25So you are so concerned about $4,000, but head in the sand of the $11 trillion that has been taken, stolen out of the pockets of the retirement accounts of all of our constituents.
01:43This is insanity.
01:46Mr. Chairman, I am going to request unanimous consent to submit for the record an original undoctored DOJ webpage thanking USAID for critical support capturing and charging the MS-13 gang leaders.
02:05Because the truth is, USAID has done a great job for the American people, keeping us safe, ensuring that the people that want to come and do us harm, working with other governments like Mexico, don't get to our southern border.
02:23But yet, when the Department of Justice recently arrested three of those top MS-13 gang leaders in the world on terrorism charges and publicly thanked USAID as providing critical support for the mission.
02:40A few weeks ago, the Trump Administration, Mr. Chairman, shamelessly tried to erase that action by deleting this document from the DOJ website.
02:53So I want us to put it to the record so that we have some transparency and accountability about the good work that is being done by USAID.
03:04So again, you're asking to submit that to the record?
03:06Yes.
03:07We'll do that without objection.
03:11Congress can fix this demise that is happening.
03:16And why have we not held a USAID hearing as of yet?
03:22Why have so many members forgotten their oath to uphold and defend our Constitution?
03:30Breaking the law should be a concern for everyone, regardless if you have an R or a D after it.
03:39In this administration's blatant illegal acts and the ignoring of court orders should be at the top of our list, the law and order party that we say that we are.
03:54So here we are.
03:55So here we are.
03:57Ms. Connor, PEPFAR is another example of successful programs that help both America and the world that are now under attack.
04:09And it is estimated that over 30,000 adult deaths and over 3,000 child deaths have occurred that are associated with this administration's foreign aid funding freeze and discontinuation of the PEPFAR programs.
04:25Can you tell us, as an HIV practitioner for many years, can you share with the committee what your assessment is of the orphans and vulnerable children programs and what it means for children now that these programs have been completely shut down?
04:46Ms. Thank you for that question.
04:48You know, I think part of the PEPFAR program has always included the desire to make sure that children grow up in stable and safe homes, free of exploitation and violence.
05:00And that's been since the beginning of the epidemic, as Ambassador Deibel mentioned, when there was a real crisis.
05:06That still continues today.
05:07And in fact, what OVC really does is it really strengthens the community and the caregivers around a child so that they can thrive.
05:16We see this a lot in our work.
05:17You know, we are largely a clinical organization, but we rely on our OVC partners and OVC programming to supplement what we can't do in that clinical setting.
05:26There was a recent, one of our community health workers recently raised, told us about a story is that he was sitting with a recently diagnosed five-year-old girl.
05:34She was diagnosed HIV positive and TB positive.
05:37So gravely ill five-year-old from a poor family.
05:40Mother doesn't have money.
05:41Father doesn't have money.
05:42And those situations, the first thing you do is reach out to your OVC providers.
05:45OVC providers provide nutritional support, economic support, caregiver support.
05:50They're the ones who really go to that household level, that community level, and say, how can we make sure this children thrives?
05:55And when our community health worker contacted that OVC program, they said, I'm sorry, we've been terminated.
06:00There's nothing we can do.
06:02And so that's the level that we're facing.
06:04I mean, that's a real patient experience.
06:06But we're seeing in other places, too.
06:08Another health worker said there's a 10-year-old who's been struggling to stay on medicine because of food.
06:12And there had been food support through OVC, and now that wasn't available.
06:15So I think it's a real struggle because OVC was sort of characterized as non-lifesaving, that it has not been prioritized in the waiver process.
06:22That doesn't mean it may not be prioritized after the review is done.
06:25But we really are concerned about the whole that we're seeing there.
06:28And one last thing, there is a Lancet article that came out today that really puts a finer light on what's happening around children and orphanhood.
06:35And they actually, you know, predict that there could be millions and millions more orphans if PEPFAR funding retracts too far, if it's seceded or retracted too far.
06:45Thank you for the extra minute.
06:47I'm going to yield back.