EXTRACT OF THE SPEECH: Mr. Speaker, I address this Chamber today as a longtime member of Rotary International. Rotary’s top priority is eradication of the deadly disease, polio. Its members have invested billions of dollars and countless volunteer hours in polio vaccination campaigns in countries around the world.
In 1988, Rotary helped to create the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, a partnership with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the Gates Foundation, and the vaccine alliance, Gavi, with additional critical funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development, which no longer exists. Yet the entire effort is threatened by the administration’s plan to defund key GPEI partners. Just at the time when this disease is closer than ever to being eradicated, the risk of outbreaks is greatly increased. We must do all in our power to protect the gains already made, and finish the job, including appropriating the funds required. People from my generation remember the terrible consequences of polio, often paralysis and even death for those with this highly contagious disease. Many Americans still live with long-term post-polio syndrome. Still, outbreaks continue around the world and other countries that are just a plane ride away. Complete eradication depends on continued vaccination of children everywhere and constant surveillance.
Founded in Chicago in 1905 with the motto of Service Above Self, Rotary International is the headquarters organization for a vast number of Rotary Clubs. It is one of the largest nonreligious and nonpolitical civil society membership organizations. It provides people-to-people assistance reaching the community level with vital programs. Rotarians have a wide range of political and partisan leanings, but they are united in their commitment to serve their communities and they share a common determination to end polio. We must hear their voices, and we must not let them down.