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Lindsey Graham
RWon the General, 2020 South Carolina U.S. Senate
South Carolina U.S. Senate, Sr (2003 - Present)
To be claimed
Former Member, Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights Subcommittee, United States Senate
Former Member, Armed Services Committee, United States Senate
Former Member, Constitution Subcommittee, United States Senate
Former Member, Cybersecurity Subcommittee, United States Senate
Former Member, Personnel Subcommittee, United States Senate
Former Member, Strategic Forces Subcommittee, United States Senate
Former Member, Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities, United States Senate
Former Member, Subcommittee on Homeland Security, United States Senate
Former Member, Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights, and Federal Courts, United States Senate
Former Member, Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law, United States Senate
Member, Appropriations
Member, Budget
Member, Foreign Relations
Chair, Judiciary
Chair, Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health Policy
Member, Subcommittee on Border Security and Immigration
Member, Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies
Member, Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism
Member, Subcommittee on Defense
Member, Subcommittee on Energy nd Water Development
Member, Subcommittee on Intellectual Property
Member, Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies
Member, Subcommittee on Multilateral International Development, Multilateral Institutions, and International Economic, Energy, and Environmental Policy
Member, Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism
Chair, Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
Member, Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies
Astrological Sign:
Cancer
— Awards:
— Publications:
1. Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation?
- Pro-life
1. In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket?
- No
2. Do you support expanding federal funding to support entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare?
- No
1. Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions?
- Unknown Position
Do you support increasing defense spending?
- Yes
1. Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth?
- Yes
2. Do you support lowering corporate taxes as a means of promoting economic growth?
- Yes
3. Do you support providing financial relief to businesses AND/OR corporations negatively impacted by the state of national emergency for COVID-19?
- Yes
1. Do you support requiring states to adopt federal education standards?
- No
1. Do you support government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, geo-thermal)?
- Yes
2. Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions?
- No
1. Do you generally support gun-control legislation?
- No
1. Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")?
- Yes
2. Do you support requiring businesses to provide paid medical leave during public health crises, such as COVID-19?
- Yes
1. Do you support the construction of a wall along the Mexican border?
- Yes
2. Do you support requiring immigrants who are unlawfully present to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship?
- No
1. Should the United States use military force to prevent governments hostile to the U.S. from possessing a weapon of mass destruction (for example: nuclear, biological, chemical)?
- Unknown Position
2. Do you support reducing military intervention in Middle East conflicts?
- No
Do you generally support removing barriers to international trade (for example: tariffs, quotas, etc.)?
- Yes
1. Abortions should always be illegal.
- No Answer
2. Abortions should be illegal when the fetus is viable, with or without life support.
- No Answer
3. Abortions should always be legally available.
- No Answer
4. Abortions should be legal only within the first trimester of pregnancy.
- No Answer
5. Abortions should be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape.
- X
6. Abortions should be legal when the life of the woman is endangered.
- X
7. Abortions should be limited by waiting periods and notification requirements as decided by each state government.
- No Answer
8. Prohibit the dilation and extraction procedure, also known as "partial birth" abortion.
- No Answer
9. Prohibit public funding of abortions and public funding of organizations that advocate or perform abortions.
- No Answer
10. Support "buffer-zones" by requiring demonstrators to stay at least five feet from abortion clinic doorways and driveways.
- No Answer
11. Provide funding for family planning programs as a means to decrease the number of abortions.
- No Answer
12. Other
- No Answer
1. Agricultural
- Slightly Increase Funding
2. Arts
- No Answer
3. Defense
- Greatly Increase Funding
4. Education
- Slightly Increase Funding
5. Environmental
- Slightly Increase Funding
6. International aid
- Maintain Funding Status
7. Law enforcement
- Maintain Funding Status
8. Medical Research
- Slightly Increase Funding
9. National Aeronautical Space Administration (NASA)
- Maintain Funding Status
10. National Parks
- Slightly Increase Funding
11. Scientific Research
- Slightly Increase Funding
12. Transportation and Highway Infrastructure
- Maintain Funding Status
13. Welfare
- Maintain Funding Status
14. Other
- No Answer
15. Would you support enforcing the spending limits agreed to in 1997 by the President and Congress to balance the budget?
- Yes
1. Armed Forces personnel training
- Greatly Increase Funding
2. Covert intelligence operations
- Slightly Increase Funding
3. Defense plant conversion
- Maintain Funding Status
4. Military hardware
- Greatly Increase Funding
5. Military space shuttle missions
- Greatly Decrease Funding
6. Pay for active duty personnel
- Greatly Increase Funding
7. National Missile Defense Program
- Slightly Increase Funding
8. Modernization of weaponry and equipment
- Greatly Increase Funding
9. Programs to improve military retention rates
- Greatly Increase Funding
10. Research and development of new weapons
- Slightly Increase Funding
11. Troop and equipment readiness
- Greatly Increase Funding
12. Other
- No Answer
1. Defense
- No Answer
2. Education
- No Answer
3. Federal debt reduction
- Highest Priority
4. Medicare
- No Answer
5. Social Security
- Highest Priority
6. Tax cuts
- Highest Priority
7. Other
- No Answer
1. Less than $25,000
- Slightly Decrease
2. $25,000 - $75,000
- Slightly Decrease
3. $75,000 - $150,000
- Slightly Decrease
4. Over $150,000
- Slightly Decrease
5. Other
- No Answer
6. Over $40, 000
- No Answer
7. Alcohol taxes
- Maintain Status
8. Capital gains taxes
- Greatly Decrease
9. Cigarette taxes
- Maintain Status
10. Corporate taxes
- Slightly Decrease
11. Gasoline taxes
- Slightly Decrease
12. Inheritance taxes
- Eliminate
13. Charitable deductions
- Slightly Increase
14. Medical expense deductions
- Slightly Increase
15. Mortgage deductions
- Slightly Increase
16. Child tax credit
- Slightly Increase
17. Earned income tax credit
- Maintain Status
18. Student loan tax credit
- Slightly Increase
1. Do you support replacing the current U.S. income tax structure with a flat income tax?
- Yes
2. Should a married couple filing jointly pay the same taxes as if they were an unmarried couple filing separately?
- Yes
3. Would you cut taxes if there were an operating surplus?
- Yes
4. Would you cut taxes and use Social Security surpluses to supplement the difference?
- No
5. Other
- No Answer
1. Support public taxpayer funding for congressional candidates who comply with campaign spending limits.
- No Answer
2. Increase the amount individuals are permitted to contribute to federal campaigns.
- X
3. Prohibit Political Action Committee (PAC) contributions to candidates for federal office.
- No Answer
4. Provide free or low-cost television advertising to candidates who agree to voluntary campaign spending limits.
- No Answer
5. Ban unregulated soft money campaign contributions to political parties or committees.
- X
6. Prohibit non-U.S. citizens from making soft money contributions to national parties or party committees.
- X
7. Require full disclosure of funding sources of issue advocacy commercials which appear within 60 days of an election.
- X
8. Make campaign spending limits mandatory for all federal candidates.
- No Answer
9. Remove all contribution limits on federal candidates and parties, but require complete and immediate disclosure via the Internet.
- No Answer
10. Require congressional candidates to raise over half of their campaign money from their home state.
- X
11. Other
- No Answer
1. Broaden the use of the death penalty for federal crimes.
- X
2. Increase spending to build more federal prisons.
- X
3. Impose "truth in sentencing" for violent criminals so they serve full sentences with no chance of parole.
- X
4. Support programs to provide prison inmates with vocational and job-related skills and job-placement assistance when released.
- No Answer
5. Support programs to provide prison inmates with drug and alcohol addiction treatment.
- No Answer
6. Increase penalties for crimes committed on school grounds.
- No Answer
7. Increase funding for community policing programs.
- No Answer
8. Implement penalties other than incarceration for certain non-violent offenders.
- X
9. Require that crimes based on gender, sexual orientation, and disability be prosecuted as federal hate crimes.
- No Answer
10. Enforcement of civil rights should primarily be the responsibility of the federal government.
- No Answer
11. Prosecute as adults, youths accused of a felony.
- No Answer
12. Provide block grants to states for implementation of programs to combat juvenile crime.
- X
13. Impose harsher penalties for youths convicted of violent offenses.
- X
14. Support the use of "boot camps" as alternative sentencing for juvenile offenders.
- X
15. Support programs that provide job training and placement services for at-risk youth.
- No Answer
16. Other
- No Answer
1. Increase penalties for selling illegal drugs.
- X
2. Support mandatory jail sentences for selling illegal drugs.
- X
3. Support capital punishment for convicted international drug traffickers.
- X
4. Expand federally sponsored drug education and drug treatment programs.
- X
5. Decriminalize the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.
- No Answer
6. Increase border security to stop the flow of illegal drugs into the U.S.
- X
7. Eliminate federal funding for programs associated with the "war on drugs."
- No Answer
8. Other
- No Answer
1. Support national standards and testing of public school students.
- No Answer
2. Allow parents to use vouchers (equal opportunity scholarships) to send their children to any publicly-funded school.
- X
3. Allow parents to use vouchers (equal opportunity scholarships) to send their children to any participating school: public, private or religious.
- X
4. Allow parents to use tax-free savings accounts to send their children to any publicly-funded school.
- X
5. Allow parents to use tax-free savings accounts to send their children to any participating school: public, private or religious.
- X
6. Support charter schools where teachers and professionals receive authorization and funding to establish new schools.
- X
7. Promote education flexibility by giving federal funds, in the form of block grants, to the states to spend it as they see fit.
- X
8. Increase funding for block grants to states to help them hire additional teachers.
- X
9. Support teacher testing and reward teachers with merit pay.
- No Answer
10. Increase funding for computers and computer training in public schools.
- No Answer
11. Increase funding for school capital improvements (e.g. buildings and infrastructure).
- No Answer
12. Eliminate restrictions on federal education funding, giving educators or local school districts more flexibility to design and implement their programs.
- X
13. Support affirmative action in public college admissions.
- No Answer
14. Eliminate federal financial aid for individuals convicted of drug offenses.
- X
15. Increase funding of programs such as Pell grants and Stafford loans to help students pay for college.
- X
16. Support federal tax incentives to help families save for college.
- X
17. Other
- No Answer
1. Provide tax credits for companies that move job-creating industries into areas with high unemployment.
- X
2. Increase funding for national job-training programs that re-train displaced workers or teach skills needed in today's job market.
- No Answer
3. Reduce government regulation of the private sector in order to encourage investment and economic expansion.
- X
4. Establish empowerment zones in areas with large numbers of unemployed people.
- X
5. Eliminate any federal programs designed to reduce unemployment.
- No Answer
6. Increase the federal minimum wage.
- No Answer
7. Encourage employers to offer flex-time scheduling, comp-time, and unpaid leave for family emergencies.
- No Answer
8. Provide tax credits for businesses that offer on-site child care.
- X
9. The federal government should consider race and sex in making government contracting decisions.
- No Answer
10. The federal government should continue affirmative action programs.
- No Answer
11. The federal government should discontinue affirmative action programs.
- No Answer
12. The federal government should utilize merit and qualifications in making government contracting decisions.
- X
13. Other
- No Answer
1. Strengthen the regulation and enforcement of the Clean Water Act.
- No Answer
2. Strengthen the regulation and enforcement of the Clean Air Act.
- No Answer
3. Waive environmental review requirements for grazing permits.
- No Answer
4. Revise the 1872 mining law to increase the fees charged to mining companies using federal lands.
- X
5. Require states to fully compensate citizens when environmental regulations limit uses of privately owned land.
- X
6. Encourage further development and use of alternative fuels to reduce pollution.
- X
7. Strengthen emission controls on all gasoline or diesel-powered engines, including cars, trucks, and sport utility vehicles.
- No Answer
8. Promote the selling of pollution credits between nations to encourage industries to decrease pollution levels.
- X
9. Strengthen logging restrictions on federal lands.
- No Answer
10. Reduce current federal regulations on the environment.
- No Answer
11. Give states added flexibility from the federal government in enforcing and funding federal environment regulations.
- X
12. Other
- No Answer
1. Ban the sale or transfer of semi-automatic guns, except those used for hunting.
- No Answer
2. Maintain and strengthen the enforcement of existing federal restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.
- X
3. Ease federal restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.
- No Answer
4. Repeal federal restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.
- No Answer
5. Allow citizens to carry concealed guns.
- No Answer
6. Require manufacturers to provide child-safety locks on guns.
- X
7. Increase penalties for the possession of any illegal guns.
- X
8. Hold gun owners responsible for crimes committed with their guns by children age 16 and under.
- No Answer
9. Raise the minimum age for ownership of handguns from 18 to 21.
- No Answer
10. Require background checks of gun buyers at gun shows.
- X
11. Require a license for gun possession.
- No Answer
12. Other
- No Answer
1. Providing health care is not a responsibility of the federal government.
- No Answer
2. Implement a universal health care program to guarantee coverage to all Americans regardless of income.
- No Answer
3. Support health care strategies focused on prevention, including health education, and natural medicines and remedies.
- X
4. Support a Patient's Bill of Rights to define and enforce the rights of insured patients, including greater access to specialists and emergency rooms, wider choice of health care providers, and appeal mechanisms when claims are denied.
- X
5. Support a Patient's Bill of Rights which includes the right to sue when claims are denied.
- X
6. Support a Patient's Bill of Rights which includes the right to appeal to an administrative board of specialists when services are denied.
- X
7. Provide tax incentives to small businesses that provide health care to their employees.
- X
8. Expand eligibility for tax-free medical savings accounts, which would be taxed if used for purposes other than medical costs.
- X
9. Limit the amount of damages that can be awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits.
- No Answer
10. Allow states and local communities to use federal funds for needle-exchange programs to combat the spread of HIV.
- No Answer
11. Provide citizens age 55-65 the option of purchasing Medicare health coverage.
- No Answer
12. Support legislation to provide prescription drug coverage under Medicare.
- X
13. Increase funding for AIDS programs.
- No Answer
14. Other
- No Answer
1. Decrease the number of immigrants allowed into the country.
- No Answer
2. Increase the eligibility of legal immigrants for certain social programs (e.g. public housing, food stamps).
- No Answer
3. Require the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to reduce the time between applying for citizenship and taking the oath of allegiance to six months.
- No Answer
4. Provide extra federal aid to states with higher numbers of immigrants for necessary medical and social services.
- No Answer
5. Prohibit states from passing laws that deny human services (medical care, education) to illegal immigrants or their children.
- No Answer
6. Grant U.S. citizenship to children born in the US only if their parents immigrated legally.
- X
7. Increase the immigration quota for computer scientists and other information technology workers.
- X
8. Establish English as the official national language.
- X
9. Support the separation of the INS into two bureaus: one administering naturalization and one administering border patrol.
- X
10. Increase state autonomy in handling immigration issues.
- No Answer
11. Reimburse states for providing services to illegal aliens.
- No Answer
12. Other
- No Answer
1. Aid should be granted to countries when extraordinary circumstances cause disaster and threaten civilian lives.
- X
2. Aid should be granted to countries when it is in the security interests of the U. S.
- X
3. Aid should be granted to countries that are close allies of the U. S. and in need of financial/military assistance.
- X
4. Aid should be eliminated for any nation with documented human rights abuses.
- X
5. Aid programs should be scaled back and eventually eliminated except for extraordinary circumstances.
- No Answer
6. Other
- No Answer
1. The U.S. should resolve future disputes with Iraq only through diplomatic means.
- No Answer
2. The U.S. should take unilateral military action if Iraq does not comply with all accepted United Nations resolutions.
- No Answer
3. The U.S. should take military action against Iraq only as part of an international effort.
- X
4. The U.S. should end the economic embargo against Iraq.
- No Answer
5. The U.S. should not continue to play a prominent leadership role in the peace process between Israel and the Palestine Authority.
- No Answer
6. The U.S. should continue to play a prominent leadership role in the peace process between Israel and the Palestine Authority.
- X
7. Other
- No Answer
8. The U.S. should participate in United Nations peacekeeping missions only when vital U.S. interests are involved.
- X
9. The U.S. should not commit military troops to United Nations peacekeeping missions.
- No Answer
10. The U.S. should withdraw completely from the United Nations.
- No Answer
11. The U.S. should pay its debt to the United Nations.
- No Answer
12. Should the U.S. have full diplomatic relations with Cuba?
- Yes
13. Should the U.S. have full diplomatic relations with China?
- Yes
14. Should the U.S. recognize and extend full diplomatic relations to Taiwan?
- No
15. Should the US maintain ground troops in Kosovo?
- No
16. Do you support the cooperative threat reduction programs with Russia to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons to unfriendly nations?
- Yes
17. Do you support modifying the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty in order to deploy the National Missile Defense System?
- Yes
1. Do you support the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)?
- No
2. Do you support the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)?
- No
3. Do you support continued U.S. membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO)?
- Yes
4. Do you support China becoming a member of the World Trade Organization?
- No
5. Do you support imposing tariffs on products imported from nations that maintain restrictive trade barriers on American products?
- Yes
6. Should a nation's human rights record affect its normal trade relations (most favored nation status) with the United States?
- Yes
7. Do you support normal trade relations (most favored nation status) with Vietnam?
- No
8. Do you support granting the President "fast-track" authority in trade negotiations?
- No
9. Do you support the trade embargo against Cuba?
- Yes
1. Do you believe there has been a decline in moral and ethical standards in America over the last four decades?
- Yes
2. If Yes, please explain what you would do as a member of Congress to address this concern.
- No Answer
1. Allow workers to invest a portion of their payroll tax in private accounts which they manage themselves.
- X
2. Allow workers to invest a portion of their payroll tax in private accounts managed by private firms contracted by the government.
- No Answer
3. Invest a portion of Social Security's assets collectively in stocks and bonds instead of U.S. Treasury securities.
- No Answer
4. Increase the payroll tax to better finance Social Security in its current form.
- No Answer
5. Lower Social Security's annual cost-of-living increases.
- No Answer
6. Limit Social Security benefits based on recipients' other income and assets.
- No Answer
7. Require individuals to pay the Social Security tax on incomes above $68,400 (which is currently exempt).
- No Answer
8. Support a lock box measure, limiting Congress's ability to spend Social Security and Medicare surpluses on any other federal programs except Social Security and Medicare, until each program's long-term solvency is guaranteed.
- X
9. Other
- No Answer
1. Continuing the moratorium on Internet sales taxes.
- X
2. Implement regulation of Internet content by the federal government.
- No Answer
3. Support on-line voter registration.
- No Answer
4. Support voting on-line.
- No Answer
5. Support government mandates to curtail violent and sexual content on television.
- X
6. Support strict penalties for Internet crimes such as hacking and Internet violence.
- X
7. Support strong Internet privacy laws.
- X
8. Regulating the Internet should not in any way be controlled by the federal government.
- No Answer
9. Other
- No Answer
Do you support amending the Constitution to limit the number of terms which members of Congress can serve?
- Yes
1. Support housing assistance for welfare recipients.
- X
2. Provide homeless families with apartment vouchers they can use to supplement the cost of an apartment.
- X
3. Continue to give states and local governments responsibility for welfare programs through TANF block grants.
- X
4. Maintain current welfare-to-work requirements in order for states to qualify for block grants.
- X
5. Restore food stamp programs to legal immigrants.
- No Answer
6. Transfer homeless housing programs to states through block grants.
- No Answer
7. Provide continued Medicaid benefits for those welfare recipients who have moved from welfare to work.
- X
8. Require states to return any unused welfare block grant funding to the federal government.
- No Answer
9. Direct federal poverty aid through religious, community-based or other non-profit organizations.
- X
10. Other
- No Answer
Please explain what your top two or three priorities will be if elected. Please explain how you would obtain any additional government funding needed to implement these priorities.
- No Answer
1. Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation?
- Pro-life
1. In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket?
- Yes
1. Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth?
- No
1. Do you support requiring states to implement education reforms in order to be eligible for competitive federal grants?
- No
Do you support building the Keystone XL pipeline?
- Yes
Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions?
- Unknown Position
1. Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns?
- No
1. Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act?
- Yes
1. Do you support requiring illegal immigrants to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship?
- Yes
Do you support same-sex marriage?
- No
1. Do you support targeting suspected terrorists outside of official theaters of conflict?
- Yes
1. Do you support allowing individuals to divert a portion of their Social Security taxes into personal retirement accounts?
- Yes
Latest Action: Senate - 06/24/2019 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
Tracker:Latest Action: Senate - 06/19/2019 Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Tracker:By by Sen. Chris Coons, Sen. Lindsey Graham and Carter Roberts For the past several weeks, our national conversation has focused appropriately on how we can best recover from Covid-19. There is another question though, equally urgent, that demands our attention: how can we prevent this from happening again? The World Health Organization has determined that Covid-19 is a zoonotic disease, meaning it jumped from animals to humans. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 75 percent of new or emerging infectious diseases in people are zoonotic. If we're going to stop their continued spread and prevent the next pandemic, Congress and the administration must initiate new policies, both domestically and in concert with other nations, right now.Recent history shows just how prevalent zoonotic diseases have become. The AIDS crisis arose when HIV jumped from primates to humans, likely in or around the forests of Central Africa. Ebola followed the same trajectory, arising from human interactions with animals -- possibly primates -- in the Democratic Republic of Congo. SARS first appeared in southern China in 2002, possibly originating in bats and then spreading to civets. The H1N1 influenza virus, which led to the swine flu outbreak in 2009, started in the United States and likely jumped from pigs to humans. Now, Covid-19 is believed by many to have originated in a live wildlife market where both live and dead wild animals -- some of them high-risk or endangered species such as pangolins -- are sold for human consumption. Why do these outbreaks keep occurring? A confluence of factors has made them more and more likely: the global trade in high-risk wildlife species -- those known to carry transmissible, zoonotic diseases -- plus human consumption of exotic animals purchased in poorly regulated marketplaces or hunted for bushmeat, and human expansion into natural habitat that pushes people into closer proximity to disease vectors. Here's what needs to happen now, to prevent the next pandemic. First, governments in Asia and elsewhere should immediately shut down markets that sell high-risk wildlife for human consumption. China has taken some steps in that direction, but its policies need to be made permanent, sweeping and thoroughly enforced. As the high-risk wildlife trade is shut down, we should also take care to mitigate the negative effects that closing some markets may have on the rural poor, especially indigenous peoples and local communities. Any plan to eliminate consumption of high-risk wildlife must also include help to diversify sources of protein as part of a comprehensive response. Next, governments must fully enforce laws already on the books to end the global illegal trade in wildlife. This illicit industry is worth billions of dollars annually, supplies some of the animals known to serve as vectors for disease, and contributes to the decline of highly threatened species like elephants, rhinos, and tigers. As part of this enforcement, governments including the U.S. government will also need to educate citizens about the inherent dangers of human-to-wildlife contact to limit consumer demand for wildlife and wildlife products. We know that as long as someone is willing to pay for an animal, someone else will find a way to sell it to them. On that front, one recent study offers hope. In a March survey of citizens across Southeast and East Asia, 93 percent indicated they would support efforts by their governments and health ministries to close all illegal and unregulated markets selling wild animals.Last, governments and the private sector should work together to limit the unsustainable encroachment of humans into nature. Human activities continue to accelerate habitat loss and degradation across the globe, bringing people into closer contact with wildlife. Disruptions in our natural systems and weather patterns drive mosquitos, ticks, and other species to alter or expand their ranges, bringing new diseases with them. These are big challenges. But there are some clear steps that both Congress and the Administration can take now. The State Department and U.S. AID should prioritize diplomatic actions to shut down high-risk wildlife markets in foreign countries and promote an integrated approach to human, environmental, and animal health. In doing so they should draw on the expertise of agencies like the CDC, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to detect and prevent future zoonotic disease outbreaks. Congress should help by including funding in the next round of Covid-19 response legislation to increase the capacity of these agencies to prevent the trade of illegal and high-risk wildlife and reduce demand for wildlife consumption while supporting rural food security. It can also provide new legal authorities to help this effort, including the ability to sanction countries that fail to address the risks that wildlife markets can present. These commonsense steps would bolster American efforts to prevent another pandemic, and provide our friends and allies with the right level of support -- and, if needed, pressure -- to better combat zoonotic diseases. Recovering from the immediate crisis remains paramount. But if we learn the lessons of this global pandemic and take the right steps to prevent the next one, we can ensure a safer and more secure future for both people and wildlife. The choice is ours.
