U.S. Capitol This Week July 15-19

White House

Former President Donald Trump selected Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) as his vice president in the race. Vance was called an “anti-abortion extremist” by Planned Parenthood Action, Reproductive Freedom For All, EMILY’s List, and other organizations. He has long called for increasing the birth rate by tackling poverty, and economic incentives for families to have more children. He introduced a bill to protect minors “from a lifetime of suffering and regret” from transgender surgeries and chemical injections, and another bill protecting children from sex trafficking.

U.S. Congress

Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) plans to introduce a bill to strengthen efforts to stop violence against children, especially in cases of child trafficking. Although violence against children should be condemned in all its forms, the bill also asks USAID for a report on how COVID-19 has impacted “vulnerable children” including LGBTQ children. Unless USAID has already been collecting surveys since the start of the pandemic asking if children identify as “nonbinary,” it would take a great amount of time and resources to collect this data. These resources and time could be instead put toward assisting children without focusing on their confused sexual orientation. If USAID already has the data, it should answer how it has avoided conflicting with the sovereignty of the countries that recognize only two sexes. 

Department of State

Although the family is the place where each individual is initiated into society, the most powerful predictor of upward economic mobility, and the most important social safety net, at an event on the U.S. priorities for the Summit of the Future, there was no mention of the role of families for sustainable development. Governments must make sure the family is a central focus of multilateral cooperation for the future of humanity. The Group of Friends of the Family rightly stated at an event at UN Headquarters rightly state that “there is no future for humanity without the family.”

U.S. Secretary of Health Xavier Becerra met with Minister Keizo Takemi, Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare of Japan to discuss the planning of the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Knowledge Hub in Tokyo and continued cooperation on World Health Organization (WHO) pandemic negotiations. Secretary Becerra also met with Canadian Health Minister Mark Holland and thanked him for his strong collaboration and support on gender and reproductive health efforts and discussed best efforts for ongoing partnership in protecting the American and Canadian people from future pandemics.