To Defeat COVID, Bring America's Full Power to the International Fight

With its staggering human toll, the COVID-19 pandemic already constitutes one of the greatest challenges America has ever faced. It is also a reminder to all Americans that what happens in far off corners of the world directly impacts their lives and livelihoods.

In the 20th century, we learned that two massive oceans were not enough to keep distant conflicts from coming to our shores. In the 21st century, we have learned that we cannot rely on geography to protect us from borderless threats such as pandemic disease, terrorism and the impacts of climate change.

During these months of turmoil, U.S. leaders have been rightly focused on the economic and health crisis within our borders. But regardless of how successful we are at fighting this threat here at home, we will never achieve victory unless we are also fighting it around the world. Nor will we succeed without support from leaders of both parties and partnership between both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.

To confront this challenge, we must bring the full scale of American power to the global fight against COVID-19. As we navigate this crisis, there are three areas of our international response that deserve particular attention and bipartisan support: