A Failure of Leadership: 

Challengers Suraj Patel and Robbie Goldstein Respond to Oversight Committee Letter from Reps. Carolyn Maloney and Stephen Lynch

April 15, 2020

Congressional primary challengers Suraj Patel (NY-12) and Dr. Robbie Goldstein (MA-08) issued a joint statement today criticizing their incumbent opponents, Reps. Carolyn Maloney and Stephen Lynch, for failing to prevent and address years of budget cuts to our national and global public health infrastructure, including eliminating $6.3 billion in funding to the Public Health Fund, underfunding and sunsetting the Complex Crisis Fund, and eliminating the global health security unit of the National Security Council. While serving as senior members of the House Oversight Committee, Reps. Maloney and Lynch have provided minimal oversight as funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) have been diverted to the southern border to build a wall and increase security presence. 

This rebuke from Goldstein and Patel comes in light of news that President Donald Trump is defunding the World Health Organization, a decision which has been widely condemned by political and public health leaders around the world. Maloney and Lynch--both of whom are in leadership on the House Committee for Oversight and Reform--released a joint letter criticizing the President’s decision. 

That criticism comes as too little, too late for the Patel and Goldstein campaigns, who charge Reps. Lynch and Maloney with years of failure to properly fund critical public health programs, both at home and abroad.

“Leadership isn’t being reactive about Donald Trump’s failures; it’s about being proactive and preventing them from happening in the first place. Funding to the WHO should be not just maintained, but bolstered, during the current COVID-19 crisis. That being said, Congress is the funding body of our government. It is unacceptable to see our opponents, who have served in Washington for a combined 47 years, refuse to take responsibility for the system-wide failure to prevent and treat this crisis. Unfortunately, Donald Trump is not the only one making, as our opponents write, “a deliberate but transparent effort to deflect responsibility for [his] own failures onto others.” We need new leadership at the WHO, new leadership in the White House, and new leadership in our Congressional Districts.” - Suraj Patel, candidate for Congress in NY-12 (New York City). 

“As an Infectious Disease physician, it has been clear to me for years that we needed to be prepared for a global pandemic. Over the past 10 years, Republicans in Congress-- and now President Trump-- have decimated funding for our most critical public health institutions and programs. Leaders on the House Oversight Committee have had repeated opportunities to ensure that domestic and international health programs are funded and that decisions by the Executive Branch were fully investigated. We must fight for continued funding for public health, and we must also recognize the mistakes and silences of the past 10 years that have plunged our country into devastation in the midst of a global pandemic. Now, more than ever, it is time for new leadership, bold action, and accountability from Congress, not a delayed response after years of failed oversight.” - Robbie Goldstein, MD, PhD; Infectious Disease Physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and Candidate for Congress in the MA-8.