Congressman Jake Auchincloss Announces Guest for President Trump’s Joint Address to Congress
Washington, D.C. - Congressman Jake Auchincloss (D, MA-04) is announcing former Assistant Administrator for Global Health at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Dr. Atul Gawande, MD, MPH, as his guest for President Trump’s address to a Joint Session of Congress on Tuesday, March 4th.
Dr. Gawande is a renowned surgeon, writer, and public health leader. Prior to leading global health at USAID, he was a practicing general and endocrine surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a professor at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He was the founder and chair of Ariadne Labs, a joint center for health systems innovation, and of Lifebox, a nonprofit organization working to make surgery safer globally.
At USAID, Dr. Gawande oversaw global health efforts, providing access to preventative treatment and care. Since taking office on January 20, Trump has dismantled USAID and eliminated over ninety percent of 6,300 USAID awards, including health programs that help millions battling diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV.
“The global vaccination efforts of Dr. Gawande and the public health officials at USAID have saved millions of lives and prevented unnecessary suffering. For the first time since 2003, a child in the U.S. has died from measles. Trump’s dismantling of USAID and his promotion of anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – who refuses to unequivocally recommend the measles vaccine – as our nation’s top health officer is reversing decades of progress in eradicating the world’s deadliest diseases,” said Congressman Jake Auchincloss
“The experience of USAID shows what doing surgery with a chainsaw on the US government looks like. It is a bloodbath. The dismantling of USAID is costing tens of thousands of American jobs, massive loss of life, and mismanagement of billions of taxpayer dollars — the exact opposite of addressing fraud, waste, and abuse. The American people deserve to hear an explanation for why he’s firing public servants who keep America secure and cutting programs that save lives,” said Dr. Atul Gawande.
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