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Margaret De Jong Morgenthaler spent 22 years as a missionary nurse in Haiti and Senegal, working in public health efforts and outpatient clinics. She lives in Fort Kent.
As the Senate approaches the July 18 deadline on the Trump administration’s $9.4 billion rescissions package, Sen. Susan Collins faces a defining moment. Her voice and her vote may determine whether America continues its bipartisan tradition of life-saving aid or abandons millions of vulnerable people — including women and children — worldwide.
Mainers understand what it means to help communities in crisis. From rural towns where neighbors help neighbors to the state’s long tradition of maritime rescue, Maine has always embodied the values of compassion and service. And American compassion, like that of your neighbors, starts at home. But it does not end there.
The administration’s rescissions package threatens work that reflects American values on a global scale. “PEPFAR cuts make no sense to me whatsoever, given the extraordinary record of PEPFAR in saving lives,” Collins told reporters in June, openly and boldly recognizing what’s at stake.
The senator is correct. The consequences aren’t theoretical — they’re happening. The Democratic Republic of Congo is already facing a surge in HIV infections after U.S. foreign aid cuts shuttered anti-HIV programs. An International Committee of the Red Cross survey of over 100 hospitals in the eastern part of the country found nearly 75 percent of them had exhausted existing inventories of essential medicines because of supply issues triggered by the funding cuts.
The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief ( PEPFAR) has saved more than 25 million lives, prevented millions of HIV infections, and supported several countries to achieve HIV epidemic control. The program has enabled 7.8 million babies to be born HIV-free to mothers living with HIV. In the DRC alone, deaths from HIV/AIDS have fallen from as high as 200,000 a year to 14,000 after U.S.-funded programs helped bring post-exposure prophylaxis kits and other drugs into health clinics. A $400 million cut would devastate this bipartisan success story that President George W. Bush launched and every administration since has strongly supported.
The cuts are also affecting Maine directly. Konbit Sante, a Falmouth-based nonprofit, had to stop its maternal care work at a public hospital serving a poor neighborhood in Cap-Haitien, Haiti’s second-largest city, putting 32 nurses and community health workers out of jobs and thousands of lives at risk. MCD Global Health of Hallowell had to halt its mission to combat malaria in Mozambique, Uganda and Niger after losing a five-year, $27 million USAID grant.
Collins rightly criticized the rescissions process itself, noting it’s “unusual to have a rescission sent up without consultation with the committee.” The package lacks sufficient detail, asking Congress to cut funding without specifying which programs would be targeted within broad categories. This represents poor governance and a lack of transparency at its finest. Needed changes should occur through normal appropriations where Congress can examine exactly what’s being cut and why.
Additionally, the majority of the proposed rescissions target fiscal year 2025 funding approved in March, not programs designed under the Biden administration. Long lists of arguably questionable activities that DOGE identified are not targeted by this rescissions package.
Throughout her career, I believe Collins has demonstrated the independence and moral courage that Maine voters respect. She has voiced concerns about cuts to public broadcasting because rural Maine communities depend on federally funded services. The same principle applies to global life-saving aid — these programs serve the world’s most vulnerable while advancing American values.
By voting no on the rescissions package, Collins can uphold Maine’s tradition of helping those in need, preserve programs with proven track records of saving lives, and ensure America continues leading with compassion rather than retreating into isolation.
The deadline is July 18. Lives are literally hanging in the balance.
