I was proud to vote earlier this week for H.R. 5501, which will help fund the global fight against diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.

Global health issues require a global response and this funding is critical to international stability. It must not be overlooked that efforts to fight the world’s most dangerous diseases are clearly in the national interest of the United States.  Disease intensifies poverty, and poverty undermines world peace and prosperity. It would be terribly short-sighted to turn inward and ignore these shared challenges that must be addressed by every nation on Earth.

The image of the United States has been severely tarnished in recent years, but we can begin to rebuild it by fulfilling our responsibility as the world’s most powerful country to aggressively join the global struggle against disease.  I applaud my colleagues and the White House for their bipartisan support of this bill.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 5th, 2008 at 10:00 am and is filed under Politics, Foreign Policy, Healthcare .