Foreign Affairs Committee Sends Bass Resolution On COVID Collaboration With Africa To House Floor

WASHINGTON – Today, the House Foreign Affairs Committee voted unanimously to send House Resolution 245 to the House Floor. The resolution calls for renewed, decisive, and robust international collaboration and coordination to fight COVID-19 across Africa and was introduced last week by Congressmember Karen Bass, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Africa.

“I want to thank my colleagues for supporting this resolution,” said Rep. Karen Bass. “We all want this pandemic to be over, but this simply cannot happen unless we act in collaboration and coordination to fight COVID-19 throughout the world. Renewed, strategic, respectful, and focused approach to U.S. policy toward Africa will lay the foundation for long-term post-COVID-19 recovery. We must seize this renewed sense of urgency to create momentum around African-designed and led sustainable strategies that will increase its resilience to the next global challenge and contribute to its prosperity.”

The resolution expresses that the United States House of Representatives:

• Reaffirms that decreasing the spread of COVID-19 in Africa is in the national interest of the United States;
• Calls on the international community to ensure equitable global distribution of personal protective equipment to keep African healthcare workers safe; and
• Urges African governments to prioritize education, including by strengthening electrification infrastructure, internet access, and technology to advance and facilitate learning amid the challenges posed by COVID-19.

Read the amended resolution here.

Last week, the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa also hosted a hearing on addressing COVID-19 on the continent. Watch here.