WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper, along with 21 of his Senate colleagues, introduced the Protecting Human Rights and Public Health in Foreign Assistance Act to nullify the Trump Administration’s sweeping expansion of the global gag rule. The bill would block implementation of the Administration’s far-reaching restrictions on U.S. foreign assistance, which impose ideological conditions on global partners and threaten to cut off funding for critical health, humanitarian and development programs worldwide.
“American foreign assistance should be guided by our values, not politics,” said Hickenlooper. “Cutting off life-saving programs that help the world’s most vulnerable, especially programs that provide access to women’s health care, is cruel. Worse yet, it leaves us vulnerable to future global health emergencies.”
This bill responds to the Trump Administration’s unprecedented expansion of three global gag rules applying to all non-security foreign assistance and to all partners, including American and foreign NGOs, multilateral organizations and foreign governments. The policy is expected to disrupt hundreds of programs globally, including those providing HIV/AIDS prevention, maternal and child health care, gender-based violence services, and humanitarian relief.
Specifically, the bill would:
- Nullify the Administration’s final rules related to “Protecting Life in Foreign Assistance,” “Combating Gender Ideology in Foreign Assistance,” and “Combating Discriminatory Equity Ideology in Foreign Assistance,” ensuring they have no force or effect.
- Prohibit any federal agency from implementing, enforcing, or advancing similar policies in the future.
- Apply retroactively to ensure the rules are treated as though they had never taken effect.
Hickenlooper is a strong opponent of the Trump admin’s attempts to undermine U.S. foreign aid that promotes health and education. He introduced the Support UNFPA Funding Act to resume U.S. contributions to the UN agency that provides access to family planning, supports the prevention of maternal death, and responds to gender-based violence. Hickenlooper was also a vocal critic of the Trump admin’s illegal dismantling of USAID and raised the alarm on the life-and-death consequences of these cuts.
Full text of the bill can be found HERE.
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