Republican Sen. John Cornyn (TX) threatened on Monday to block two of President Donald Trump’s anti-LGBTQ+ ambassadorial nominees unless the White House provides proof that it has distributed congressionally pre-approved funds for the President’s Emergency Plan For Aids Relief (PEPFAR), a federal government program to reduce HIV transmissions worldwide. PEPFAR has saved an estimated 26 million lives since its launch in 2003 by former President George W. Bush.
In an interview with Semafor released on Tuesday, Cornyn said he wouldn’t support the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s votes in favor of Jamaica ambassadorial nominee Kari Lake or Slovakia ambassadorial nominee Doug Mastriano unless the White House provides information about PEPFAR funding. Cornyn said he didn’t think he’d be the only Republican on the committee to vote against them; the committee is split between 12 Republicans and 10 Democrats.
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“The only way it seems like you can get the administration’s attention on some of these funding issues is by using the leverage to withhold votes on nominees,” Cornyn told the publication. “We are going to use the committee vote tomorrow as a way to … get the money distributed the way Congress appropriated it.”
Cornyn estimated that $1.3 billion in PEPFAR funds are ready for immediate release, but he wants to learn more about the $10 billion that Congress previously approved for the program to release since the start of Trump’s second term in January 2025.
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While Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed a waiver allowing PEPFAR and other “life-saving humanitarian assistance” funding to continue, even after Trump ended nearly all U.S. foreign aid, numerous groups have cited a discontinuation of PEPFAR funds for forcing them to end medication treatment and testing, close clinics, layoff staff, and leave adults and children with HIV with few healthcare options.
Cornyn told the aforementioned publication that the funds will help save lives and maintain a positive presence for the United States in Africa, where Russia and China are competing for political influence.
“This is one of the really important elements of our soft power too, because America needs friends in Africa,” Cornyn said. “So, not only is it the right thing to do from a compassionate point of view, it’s in our self interest to make sure this money is used to promote American soft power and to make friends.”
Cornyn has more vocally opposed Trump ever since the president endorsed his political opponent, Texas’s anti-LGBTQ+ Attorney General Ken Paxton, in the Texas U.S. Senate race. Cornyn dropped out of the race and will leave Congress on January 3, 2027.
Kari Lake & Doug Mastriano are rabidly anti-LGBTQ+ MAGA devotees
Kari Lake is an unhinged conspiracy theorist who lost the 2022 election for Arizona governor and the 2024 election for U.S. Senate and refused to concede. She has expressed anti-LGBTQ+ viewsand made derogatory comments about the LGBTQ+ community.
During her 2022 campaign, she appeared in an ad with a pastor who called LGBTQ+ people “child molesters.”Lake has previously voiced support for anti-trans policies including sports and bathroom bans. She has also written posts against exposing kids to “drag queens” and “woke” teachers. A local drag queen called her a hypocrite because she once took her child to see him perform in drag.
In February 2022, Lake saidshe would not support legislationexpanding or protecting LGBTQ+ state civil rights protections.
As a state senator, Doug Mastriano supported anti-LGBTQ+ bills including a bill that would ban transgender girls from playing on girls’ teams and a bill that would force trans people to use public bathrooms matching the gender they were assigned at birth. He has also endorsed legislation that would stop same-sex couples from adopting children.
His 2001 college thesis expressed also disgust for anyone who doesn’t hold the view that homosexuality is a form of “aberrant sexual conduct,” according toThe Washington Post.
Trump endorsed both Lake and Mastriano during their campaigns, and they have endorsed and praised Trump as well. Lake currently serves as Senior Advisor for the U.S. Agency for Global Media, and has used the position to censor and shutdown Voice of America and Radio Free Europe, two congressionally funded international media organizations that broadcast uncensored news, analysis, and open debate to countries where a free press is threatened or banned.
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