Part 4 - STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS, AND RELATED PROGRAM APPROPRIATIONS FOR 2023
Summary
Part 4 of the House hearings on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs appropriations for 2023, opening with the subcommittee's April 6, 2022 hearing on U.S. international assistance to combat narcotics trafficking. The witness is James Walsh of the State Department's Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. Chairwoman Lee notes the administration proposed $42.5 billion in fiscal year 2023 for national drug control program agencies and that nearly $439 million in proposed assistance for drug reduction falls to the State Department and USAID. Ranking Member Rogers says the budget request for State and USAID is more than $68 billion, yet $375 million is requested for counternarcotics globally, and calls a cut from the current level not acceptable. The volume also includes a hearing with Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield.
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STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS, AND RELATED
PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS FOR 2023
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6, 2022.
U.S. INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE TO COMBAT
NARCOTICS TRAFFICKING
WITNESS
JAMES WALSH, PRINCIPAL DEPUTY ASSISTANCE SECRETARY, BU-
REAU FOR INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT
AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF STATE
OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRWOMAN LEE
Ms. LEE. The Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and
Related Programs will come to order.
Good morning, everyone. Nice to see everyone today.
I would like to welcome James Walsh, who is our distinguished
witness, to the subcommittee. Mr. Walsh is the principal deputy as-
sistant secretary for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law
Enforcement Affairs at the Department of State. He is responsible
for supporting State Department programs and policies to combat
illicit drugs and organized crime around the world.
Thank you, Mr. Walsh. We really appreciate your time and will-
ingness to testify.
Now, as this hearing is fully virtual, we must address just a few
housekeeping matters first. For today’s meeting, the chair’s staff,
designated by the chair, may mute participants’ microphones when
they are not under recognition for the purposes of eliminating inad-
vertent background noise.
Members are responsible for muting and unmuting themselves.
If I notice that you have not unmuted yourself, I will ask staff to
send you a request to unmute yourself. Please then accept that re-
quest so you are no longer muted.
I remind all members and witnesses that the 5-minute clock still
applies during questions and answers. If there is a technology
issue, we will move to the next member until the issue is resolved
and you will retain the balance of your time.
You will notice a clock on your screen that will show how much
time is remaining. At 1 minute remaining, the clock will turn yel-
low. At 30 seconds remaining, I may gently tap the gavel to remind
members that their time is almost expired. When your time has ex-
pired, the clock will turn red and I will begin to recognize the next
member.
After the panel presents their testimony, we will follow the order
of recognition set forth in House Rules, beginning with the chair
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and ranking member, or his designee. Then, members present at
the time the hearing is called to order, will be recognized in order
of seniority. And following that, members not present at the time
of the hearing is called to order.
Finally, House Rules remind me to remind you that we have set
up an email address to which members can send anything they
wish to send in writing for any of our hearings or markups. That
email address has been provided to your staff.
Good morning, again. So, let me just start with my opening
statement before we go to Mr. Rogers. Drug use, and I am so happy
to see how many members are on this, because we know in our own
country and throughout the world, drug use and illicit drug traf-
ficking are problems which have profound impacts on all sectors of
all countries worldwide.
As a former psychiatric social worker myself, I witnessed first-
hand, the devastating effects that drug addiction and trafficking
have on loved ones, colleagues, and community.
While each of our districts are different, the sad fact is that one
common problem is the growing number of constituents, our con-
stituents, who are overdosing on opioids. According to the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health
Statistics, more than 105,000 Americans died due to a drug over-
dose between October 2020 and October 2021, which is an increase
of nearly 30 percent from the prior year.
The most abused, illicit substances in my congressional district
in California are heroin and prescription opioids. My 13th Congres-
sional District registered an increase in opioid overdose deaths of
40 percent from 2019 to 2020, largely driven by Fentanyl. On aver-
age, emergency medical services respond to about four overdoses in
Alameda County, my county, per day.
I know Ranking Member Rogers knows these statistics all too
well. He has long been a leader in Congress on combatting the
opioid public health emergency and has worked with both Repub-
licans and Democrats to expand treatment options, reduce the sup-
ply, and develop alternatives for life-saving efforts for those im-
pacted by the epidemic, and so I thank him for his work and look
forward to working with him to strengthen our efforts to com-
prehensively address this problem.
I also commend the Biden-Harris administration for actions
taken to address the addiction and overdose epidemic. The admin-
istration recently proposed $42.5 billion in fiscal year 2023 for all
of our national drug control program agencies. The increased fund-
ing will support a comprehensive, whole-of-government approach to
drug reduction, which includes the expansion of evidence-based
prevention and treatment, harm-reduction, and recovery-support
services. It also includes an increase in funding for international ef-
forts to reduce the supply of illicit drugs like Fentanyl and to com-
bat drug trafficking.
This is where the State and Foreign Operations budget comes in.
Last December, President Biden stated that international drug
trafficking, including the illicit production, global sale, and wide-
spread distribution of illegal drugs, the rise of extremely potent
drugs, such as Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, as well as the
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growing role of internet-based drug sales constitute an unusual and
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extraordinary threat to national security, our national security, our
foreign policy, and the economy of the United States.
He went on to say that transnational criminal organizations and
their facilitators are the primary sources of illicit drugs and pre-
cursor chemicals that fuel the current opioid epidemic, as well as
drug-related violence that harms our communities.
Part of any comprehensive approach to combatting the illicit
drug problem and strengthening our national security is assisting
partnered governments to reduce the supply of and demand for il-
licit drugs. For the United States, this means working with key
global partners, such as China, Colombia, and Mexico, to curb il-
licit drug production and trafficking in a manner that upholds the
rule of law, respects human rights, protects the environment, and
promotes licit and equitable economic opportunity. It means that
we are using all of our tools to tackle this problem, including law
enforcement, providing alternative livelihoods and economic devel-
opment, and supporting vulnerable individuals that are both,
caught up in, and exploited by, drug trafficking networks.
Our witness today is at the forefront of the State Department’s
work in this area. Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Walsh,
along with his colleagues at the State Department and USAID, are
responsible for nearly $439 million in assistance proposed in the
President’s fiscal year 2023 budget for drug reduction activity.
I am hopeful that today’s hearing will help us better understand
the evolving drug trafficking landscape, the link between the illicit
drug trade, transnational criminal organizations and corruption,
how international assistance supports the administration’s overall
drug reduction strategy, how you coordinate with other federal
agencies in implementing the President’s whole-of-government,
drug reduction strategy, and what methods are being used to meas-
ure the success of programs, and what steps are being taken to en-
sure the protection of human rights, indigenous communities, and
the environment.
So, before turning to our witness for his statement, let me yield
to Ranking Member Rogers for any opening remarks he may have.
Ranking member Rogers.
OPENING STATEMENT OF RANKING MEMBER ROGERS
Mr. ROGERS. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you for using
your gavel to host this very important hearing on a very important
subject. You have been a trooper in this fight against narcotics and
I appreciate your service in that regard.
Welcome to the subcommittee, Mr. Secretary Walsh. It is good to
see you, again. I understand the Assistant Secretary had pressing
matters in Europe related to Ukraine, so I appreciate your willing-
ness to be here in his stead.
It is unfortunate that House Rules still require us to have these
hearings conducted in a virtual setting, but nonetheless, it is good
to see you and we will carry on.
I started an organization about 10 years ago in my district called
UNITE, which stands for Unlawful Narcotics Investigations, Treat-
ment and Education; a holistic approach to the problem at the
same time. It has had phenomenal success and now, well, 10 years
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ago, we took it nationwide. So, we have an annual summit of opioid
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abuse and heroin, a national get-together. We will have probably
4,000 or 5,000 people again.
And you were there, Mr. Secretary, in 2018, the last time we had
an in-person summit, and we will get back to that this year, thank
goodness, but you were there representing the Department of State
at our national Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit. The President
comes. Every President we have had since this organization started
this summit, we have had the President, attorneys general, gov-
ernors, senators, nurses, people of all pieces of the problem under
one roof and that is for 3 or 4 days and that is phenomenal and
it has had a tremendous effect, because it gives us a chance to see
what somebody else is doing toward the same problem that we are,
that you are, and that is wholesome and I encourage—Madam
Chair, we would love to have you there, as well, to say some words
of encouragement to the community.
Each year, that summit brings together the global community of
opioid and addiction stakeholders through a share of best practices,
strategies for prevention, treatment, recovery, and I appreciate the
Department’s willingness to take part each year. It is important,
the Department of State be in leadership of the fight.
Today’s hearing on United States International Assistance to
Combat Narcotics Trafficking could not be more timely and I thank
the chair for making this happen. The statistics are shocking and
historic with a record-breaking 100,306 drug overdose deaths of
April 2020 to April 2021, just one year. That is an increase of 28
and a half percent from the year before.
Opioids caused more than 75,000 of those deaths, up from 56,000
the prior year. The CDC noted that cocaine deaths also increased.
This year’s report from the CDC is expected within weeks and the
numbers are likely to be even higher.
Many of us are familiar with these numbers, but as Members of
Congress, we also know many of the names and faces of those peo-
ple lost to drug overdoses, either through professional connections
or personal connections or from the family members who have
come to us as their representatives, asking for us to do more. They
want us to do more to prevent other families from experiencing the
agonizing pain and grief of losing a loved one to drugs. No district
has gone unscathed; we are all affected and we must all be a part
of the solution.
This subcommittee plays an important role by funding a good
portion of our international efforts to curb the flow of drugs into
our country. I look forward to hearing how the State Department,
through the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforce-
ment Affairs, is prioritizing and carrying out those efforts. How-
ever, it could not be more clear that each agency in the United
States government needs to be doing more and better if we are
going to start bending the curve and making real progress on the
problem.
This year’s budget request for the Department of State and
USAID is more than $68 billion and yet $375 million is being re-
quested for counternarcotics globally. Money, alone, is not the an-
swer, of course, but proposing a cut from the current level is not
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acceptable and I would like to work with the chair on how we can
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ensure this funding, this critical funding receive the support it de-
serves.
In 2019, the Department of State released a 5-year global plan
of action to combat emerging synthetic drug threats. I don’t believe
this is addressed in your testimony, but now that you are more
than halfway through the strategy, I would like to know and hear
how things are going: what is working and what is not. We want
to put our resources to good use and ensure that measures dem-
onstrating success have the funding needed and that efforts that
are failing, or having limited success, are modified or even ended.
We know the majority of synthetic opioids in the United States
originate from the People’s Republic of China and that Mexico is
a key secondary route.
Secretary Walsh, as you discuss the administration’s efforts with
these two countries, I would also like to know what the Depart-
ment is doing to prevent other countries from becoming part of the
next wave of producers and transit countries. Many of the inter-
national organizations funded in the State, Foreign Operations bill
also have a significant role to play in combatting narcotics traf-
ficking. This hearing provides us an opportunity to hear how they
are doing and what more they can be doing and should do to help
them.
The majority of counternarcotics funding provided in this bill
goes to countries and regional programs. I look forward to receiving
an update today on many of these programs from the progress
being made by the Colombians against the coca production to the
implications of the Taliban-run Afghanistan on the poppy trade.
In closing, I would like to thank the men and women of the Bu-
reau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs and
State, as well as the many other interagency partners for their
work and commitment to stopping the flow of drugs into this coun-
try. It is, quite literally, life-saving work.
I thank the chair and I yield back.
Ms. LEE. Thank you very much, Mr. Rogers.
Now, I will yield to our witness this morning, our principal dep-
uty assistant secretary, Mr. Walsh. Mr. Walsh, if you could sum-
marize your oral remarks in less than 5 minutes, I want to make
sure that we leave enough time to get to our questions. Your full
statement, of course, will be included in the record.
After your testimony, I will be calling on members based on the
seniority of the members who were present when the hearing was
called to order, alternating between majority and minority mem-
bers. I will then recognize any remaining members in order of their
appearance.
Each member is asked to keep their questions to within 5 min-
utes per round. I understand a couple of members need to get to
Rules, so if we need to make adjustments accordingly, we will.
Mr. Walsh, please proceed.
Mr. WALSH. Thank you.
Chairwoman Lee, Ranking Member Rogers, distinguished mem-
bers of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify be-
fore you today regarding the State Department’s efforts to combat
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narcotics trafficking.
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Let me stress that the Department is committed to ensuring our
diplomacy and foreign assistance to leverage for the American peo-
ple. The Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement
Affairs’ top priority is to address the overdose crisis that impacts
American lives.
As you and too many of your constituents know, opioids, particu-
larly the synthetic opioids, continue to ravage our communities.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicted a
starting 105,000 drug overdose deaths in the 12-month period end-
ing in October 2021. And to this bureau, that is more than just a
number; those are human lives and families that are being dev-
astated.
Seventy-five percent of the most recently reported fatal drug
overdoses in the United States involved opioids, and the majority
of which were synthetics. The drug supply is increasingly evolving
and drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamines now serve as
vehicles for potential fatal exposures to Fentanyl.
And with criminals modifying their business models to include
more lucrative or synthetic drugs, and so, too, has the administra-
tion evolved to counter this deadly threat. It is taking a more holis-
tic approach and the State Department supports our international
and interagency partners, through our diplomacy and foreign as-
sistance to reduce the synthetic drug supply with greater focus on
disrupting the transnational criminal organizations’ finances and
supply chain.
And since the People’s Republic of China scheduled fentanyl-re-
lated substances, U.S. law enforcement now assesses most fentanyl
seized in the United States is manufactured in Mexico and traf-
ficked across the southwest border by transnational criminal orga-
nizations. And many precursor chemicals used to create the illicit
fentanyls are shipped from the PRC to Mexico, and some of these
chemicals are neither scheduled under international conventions,
nor regulated nationally by Mexico or the PRC, and are thus, legal
to sell and ship within and between those countries.
We continue to press and are committed to working with the
PRC and others to expand information sharing, strengthen customs
enforcement, and implement ‘‘know your customer’’ laws and stand-
ards to restrict sales of precursor chemicals.
In October, the United States and Mexico established a bicenten-
nial framework for security, public health, and safe communities.
This new framework advances three shared goals: protect our peo-
ple, prevent transborder crime, and pursue criminal networks. And
this framework, let me be clear, elevates our joint focus on syn-
thetic drugs.
INL still supports and will continue to support to Mexico’s efforts
to interdict illicit drugs and monitor precursor chemicals and pur-
sue criminal cases. In April, Mexico’s General Health Council ap-
proved adding four new fentanyl precursor chemicals to Mexico’s
precursor list and established a new watchlist of 14 chemicals of
concern.
Now, we also must reduce drug demand and we also must focus
on preventing weapons from getting into the hands of criminal or-
ganizations. We look to modernize our approach to collaborate and
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manage the U.S.-Mexico border and deny criminals their profits.
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Now, transnational criminal organizations use the traditional fi-
nancial system and other means, such as digital assets and bulk-
cash smuggling to launder proceeds from drug trafficking and
INL’s strengthened anti-money laundering capacities of our part-
ners to deter, detect, and disrupt these illicit financial flows.
So, beyond bilateral efforts, the Department and INL are hard at
work to find global solutions with our international organization
partners. We have provided support to the World Health Organiza-
tion to accelerate the rate in which the Expert Committee on Drug
Dependence can review new psychoactive substances and make rec-
ommendations for international control.
Just last month at the sixty-fifth U.N. Commission on Narcotic
Drugs, the United States led an international effort to place three
fentanyl precursors under international control. And the Commis-
sion also adopted a U.S. resolution on addressing the diversion and
trafficking of uncontrolled chemicals and designer precursors.
So, there is no simple solution to reduce the number of fatal drug
overdoses in the United States and we cannot do this alone; every
country must do their part. INL will continue to engage our foreign
partners for impactful counternarcotics and law enforcement out-
comes through foreign assistance, diplomacy, and deterrence tools.
Reducing illicit drug supply is just one component of ending this
epidemic and saving American lives.
So, we are committed to working with Congress to develop solu-
tions for a safer and more secure future. I thank you again and I
do look forward to your questions.
[The information follows:]
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Ms. LEE. Thank you very much, Mr. Walsh.
Now, we will start our questions and I will start with my first
question. In the final report of the Western Hemisphere’s Drug Pol-
icy Commission last December, they stated, with respect to the il-
licit drug trade that throughout our hemisphere, the poor suffer
most. Those who are socially and economically marginalized are
more likely to develop drug use disorders and are more likely to be
recruited or victimized by criminal gangs. We see this, in fact,
borne out in communities in Colombia and Mexico, where the high
level of violence disproportionately impacts poor, vulnerable, and
indigenous populations.
Now, I remember a time in this country when readily available
and cheap crack cocaine poured into many poor, Black and Brown
communities, devastating lives and driving up crime and violence.
And at that time, the answer of many members of Congress, mind
you, was: lock them up. And less than a quarter of the federal drug
control budget was spent on prevention and treatment.
Sadly, it has taken far too long to wake up to the importance of
treatment and prevention and not just lock them up. We see now
the prisons and the jails are filled with victims of the drug war of
primarily African-American, Black, and Brown, young men and
women. And so, we need to look at the history also of what has
happened in our own country to understand that that has got to
change.
How does the Department ensure that its programs appro-
priately address this fact and do not make matters worse for the
most vulnerable to become a victim of the drug trade and what
steps are taken to involve leaders from affected communities in the
design and execution of counternarcotics programming, and finally,
how do you evaluate the second and third order of effects, such as
increased gang violence and environmental degradation associated
with both, drug trafficking and law enforcement efforts at each
point of the drug supply chain and are ecological and social harms
factored in when considering the cost benefit of such programs?
Mr. WALSH. Thank you, Congresswoman Lee.
A very good question. I will try to do this within 5 minutes, but
you addressed a lot of issues in that question. I also have the ben-
efit of being involved in this issue and being an expert for the last
25, 30 years, so I have seen, Congresswoman Lee, the evolution of
our policy since we have had that, those, I would argue, ‘‘not very
good’’ policies in the 1970s and 1980s, where it was: lock them up.
And I think, in particular, now, and especially the lessons we
have learned as a result of the fentanyl and synthetic opioid crisis,
we have modernized and updated our policies to the point where
it is, the policies, the drug policies are focused on the individual
now. Before, it was focused on the criminal’s intent. And that is
why if you start with the focus of the individual, and I will defer
you to our own CND policy and strategy, which will be coming out
pretty soon, the number one priorities are the prevention and treat-
ment. And we are taking those policies overseas, as well.
Second, I would say that as we look into implement that policy
overseas, we want to follow the same policy overseas, which we fol-
low here in the United States and those same lessons learned. And
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that is why if you look at the Bicentennial Framework in Mexico,
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you know, one of the aspects is looking at focusing on safer commu-
nities, working with the USAID on the violence prevention. We also
are incorporating best practices in our criminal justice reform over-
seas to ensure that, you know, our corrections programs are not all
about incarcerations, but also about rehabilitation.
So, the State Department is playing an important role of taking
those hard lessons learned of what doesn’t work to what we think
is more effective, which is focusing on an individual and applying
those best practices to overseas, as well.
Ms. LEE. Thank you.
I will yield now to Mr. Rogers.
Mr. ROGERS. Well, thank you, Madam Chair.
Mr. Secretary, you are about 3 years into the Department’s 5-
year global plan to combat synthetic drug threats. The plan was re-
leased in 2019 and noted that synthetic drugs represent the most
significant drug threat of the next decade; unfortunately, that has
proven correct.
The strategy describes the complexity of attacking the problem
and recommends the following goals: one, reducing diversion and il-
licit production of synthetic drugs; two, strengthening capacity to
detect, interdict, and share information on synthetic drug threats;
three, building capacity to target online synthetic drug sales; four,
shrinking the drug market by reducing global drug demand; and,
five, developing and enhancing partnerships with governments, in-
dustry, and international organizations.
What has been achieved so far and what recommendations are
you considering going forward? Please talk about that, plus these
five goals.
Mr. WALSH. Yeah, thank you very much, Ranking Member Rog-
ers and also, thank you for your leadership on this issue, as you
mentioned in your statement.
Yes, we launched this plan 3 years ago and that plan, as you
mentioned, focuses on very many things, which are very new to
this bureau, quite frankly. It was, and it still is, a good plan. So,
we think the plan is right, but the plan, which focuses on that
manufacturing aspect, focuses on the movement, also focuses on
the money, it forced this bureau, and actually, the rest of the U.S.
Government, to look at areas and change and adapt its strategy,
which is based on plant-based developed drugs.
And because we had to adapt and adjust this strategy, we had—
we didn’t recognize how much work needed to be done, and I will
start in the multilateral arena. There is, the fact that because this
new synthetic drug trade can be basically produced anywhere, it is
trafficked with a very small amount. We also have the evolution of
the internet and digital currencies, encrypted applications. It has
made it much more difficult for law enforcement and governments
to monitor and control.
And so, our strategy had to adapt and focus on supply and going
after that supply and disrupt and attacking the money. And that
is, I think, was one good thing was we had that strategy right.
One of the challenges I think we are facing now, Ranking Mem-
ber Rogers, is the data and the legislation and the regulations con-
trol that other countries have. I mentioned in my opening state-
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ment that we successfully got Mexico to schedule precursor chemi-
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cals on fentanyl. They just did that last year. So, these things take
time.
We haven’t been successful in scheduling many of these pre-
cursor chemicals in fentanyl in the international community, but
we can’t schedule that as a class, which is, as you well know, is
a challenge, even in this country. How do we regulate and control
these chemicals that are now being developed in various analogs by
the criminals and can’t be controlled? So, that is the other chal-
lenge. And so, data, the challenge of getting these governments to
better regulate and then getting them the capacity is also some of
the other challenges there, as well.
We have been very successful, I think, diplomatically, of raising
the alarm bell with other countries about the threat of synthetic
drugs. To this day, the United States and Canada, quite frankly,
are still the two primary countries that are facing the threat with
fentanyl.
Our European allies are facing much broader threats with co-
caine, but not seeing this scourge. We need our European allies to
work on this issue. We obviously need China to work on this issue
and the PRC has made progress in the past, but the challenge is
to get them to continue to evolve, especially as we focus on these
precursor chemicals.
So, there is a lot of work left to be done. We have made some
progress. We know what is still left, but we think we still have the
right strategy.
Mr. ROGERS. The fifth goal focuses on the partnerships. We know
the private sector needs to be an integral part of the solution on
fentanyl. What can you tell us quickly about your efforts to work
with the private sector and, specifically, the industries connected
with precursors?
Mr. WALSH. Yes. And I know I am short on time, but I will very
quickly say that we have established a resolution, the Commission
on Narcotic Drugs, to highlight this issue. So, now all nations are
focusing on the private sector involvement with this issue.
And, second, we have also launched a very successful webinar
where we have had close to 300 participants talk and work with
the United States Government, DEA, HHS, on the importance of
being very much aware of the diversion of their legitimate products
going towards these criminal organizations.
Mr. ROGERS. Thank you.
Ms. LEE. Thank you very much.
I will yield now to Ms. Meng.
Ms. MENG. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.
And thank you for being here today. I wanted to ask a question
about online trafficking. I am glad to see in the Department of
State’s 5-year global plan of action to combat emerging synthetic
drug threats, State recognizes that the broader U.S. Government is
not currently equipped to effectively address the illicit financing
and cybercrime that facilitates these illegal, online activities.
It is encouraging to see that State is targeting the use of virtual
currencies, as well as supporting ongoing U.S. interagency efforts
to synchronize global anti-money laundering responses with those
targeting the illicit financing methodologies fueling online drug and
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wildlife trafficking.
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A key tool to address global crime networks is the U.S.
Transnational and High Tech Crime Global Law Enforcement Net-
work, which deploys experienced U.S. law enforcement experts
abroad to deliver sustained training to foreign counterparts.
Which countries have received training as a result of the GLEN
program and how is INL working to ensure GLEN training ad-
dresses all forms of cybercrime, including wildlife trafficking?
Mr. WALSH. Thank you, Congresswoman Meng.
Cybercrime, as you identified, and elevating this issue within the
Department, is not only a priority for INL, but obviously, a priority
for the Secretary of State, who just made a big effort to launch a
new cyber bureau on this issue.
INL will certainly retain many of its responsibilities in tackling
the cybercrime. One, in particular, we are in the process of negoti-
ating a new cybercrime treaty and the State Department is taking
this very seriously to the point where I am currently a vice chair
on the U.N. committee to conduct these negotiations.
But getting back to your question about the Global Law Enforce-
ment Network, that is a prime example of where we think expand-
ing this network of our law enforcement, our Department of Justice
prosecutors and sitting them side-by-side with other countries to
work on this issue has been a very successful model. We have law
enforcement networks in South America. We have one in Brazil
and also in the Caribbean, also in Europe, Bucharest, as well as
Belgium, and then we also have them in Asia. We can certainly
provide you a list of where those law enforcement professionals are.
In addition, thanks to this committee’s generosity, we are dou-
bling our efforts. So, the current account—account is now increased
to $20 million. So, we saw such success with this effort that we
plan on expanding it and we will be happy to work with you and
your staff on discussing how and where we will expand that effort.
Ms. MENG. Great. And if I could quickly switch gears to Afghani-
stan, on Sunday, the Taliban announced a ban on harvesting pop-
pies. The order also bans the manufacturing of narcotics and the
transportation, trade, export and import of heroin, hashish, and al-
cohol.
Washington spent more than $8 billion trying to eradicate poppy
production in Afghanistan during its nearly 20-year war. It is clear
to me that our efforts there did not stop the growing of this lucra-
tive crop and now, I am more concerned that this crackdown on
poppy production will only lead to a worsening humanitarian crisis
for the people of Afghanistan.
What steps can the U.S. take to both, support our goal of reduc-
ing poppy cultivation, while also ensuring Afghanistan’s economy
does not enter economic freefall and are there any efforts underway
to support alternative farming practices in Afghanistan?
Mr. WALSH. Yes. We were delighted, actually, pleased to see the
announcement from the Taliban on their plan to schedule control
of poppy production. With that said, Congresswoman Meng, you
have correctly highlighted that it is intricately linked to the econ-
omy. And so, we are going to be watching carefully and cautiously
on the effects and whether they can actually successfully do this
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For now, we do not work with the Taliban on narcotics issues.
We are exploring ways we can support them, particularly with con-
tinuing maybe alternative livelihood or with demand reduction. But
right now, our strategy will also focus primarily on addressing
some of the trafficking routes, particularly, coming up through
Central Asia and Europe and, as well, into Africa, because our con-
cerns are not only with the destabilization and the impacts of this
to Afghanistan, but this opium trade, which is 80 percent of the
world’s opium, also, it is a destabilizing effect for within the traf-
ficking routes and we are watching closely how that impacts some
of these trafficking routes, these countries and provides illicit fund-
ing for some terrorist groups, as well.
Ms. MENG. Thank you.
Ms. LEE. All right. Thank you.
Now, I will yield to Mr. Diaz-Balart.
Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Thank you very much, Madam Chairwoman.
And, Mr. Secretary, good to see you, sir. I appreciate that in your
testimony, you acknowledge that we must, in essence, do better at
the southern border. You also state that most fentanyl in the
United States is produced in Mexico and trafficked across the
southern border. In addition, the Western Hemisphere Drug Policy
Commission report of December 2020 repeatedly discussed and de-
scribes that illicit drugs originate and are processed at various lo-
cations outside the U.S. and that often malign states and organiza-
tions, such as China, Syria, Hezbollah, the FARC, and other bad
actors throughout the world are funded by this illicit drug trade.
And, obviously, I mention again that most of it is entering through
the southern board. As Mr. Rogers mentioned, fentanyl now is the
number one killer of Americans between the ages of 18 and 45.
Here’s my dilemna or my confusion. On one hand, we are spend-
ing billions of taxpayers’ money fighting the production, trafficking
of these lethal drugs, which are, produced entirely overseas or
mostly overseas, and on the other hand, we have ceded the board
to the drug cartels. We have a wide-open border, and, frankly, we
are just flushing the taxpayers’ money down the toilet, Mr. Sec-
retary.
Here are some questions. Is not that a crucial, but missing
component to reducing drug overdoses in this country. In addition
to harming Americans directly be overdoses, doesn’t this directly
contradict U.S. policy by failing to prevent revenue streams to
some of the world’s most dangerous actors? And number three,
have you and your colleagues advocated to the President and oth-
ers in the administration, the importance of securing the border,
not ceding the border to the cartels, in order to protect Americans’
lives and to stop this illicit inflow at record levels coming in from
the southern border?
Mr. WALSH. Congressman Diaz-Balart, I actually would argue
that we are paying attention to the border; in fact, my bureau, in
particular, because of the Bicentennial Framework is taking a lead-
ing role working with the government of Mexico, how do we
strengthen our border management?
Mr. DIAZ-BALART. And Mr. Secretary, I apologize for the inter-
ruption, but you are aware, right, that, again, we have, what is it,
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a 25 percent increase in deaths of Americans, again, fentanyl com-
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ing from the southern border. Record levels of fentanyl coming
from the southern border. The cartels controlling the southern bor-
der. So, with all due respect, sir, the one thing that nobody can
claim is success in the southern border.
And so, here is the question, are you saying that you are satis-
fied with the situation in the southern border, and, again, my ques-
tion, you know, let’s not sugarcoat the situation. We have a crisis
of historic proportions. A hundred thousand Americans are dead,
most of the stuff coming from the southern border and it is the pol-
icy of the administration to open up the borders and to cede it to
the cartels. So, again, with all due respect, sir, we are adults here,
let’s not try to sugarcoat this.
Mr. WALSH. Well, to answer your question, I am not saying that
we are successful at the border; in fact, you correctly highlighted
that we have a lot of drugs and we have a migration problem, as
well.
That is why, the point I am trying to make is that this is why
we made this one of the important pillars within the Bicentennial
Framework of Mexico is strengthening that border management.
And what my bureau is doing is looking at how we can do this bet-
ter and there are a couple of things that come to mind. One, cor-
ruption is a problem and we have to acknowledge that and, two,
we have to be smarter with our border. We have a lot more ad-
vanced technology, and so we have actually, are undergoing a study
to how do we better integrate the cooperation between our U.S.
Customs and Border Protection enforcement officials and the Mexi-
can officials.
And so, our focus there is to not only leverage the technology, but
integrate the knowledge so that we can both, better control the il-
licit drugs, the irregular migrants coming into the United States,
but on the Mexico side, very interested in the weapons that are
coming from our border into Mexico. So, it is a combined effort.
And so our approach is, we just need to be smarter about it and,
second, we need to ensure that there is a plan to root out the cor-
ruption. I would also add that the border is not just the land bor-
der. We have to look at the ports. We have to look at the sea and
air, as well as other maritime trafficking arrests that are going in
the Pacific.
So, it is a comprehensive approach. We are committed to working
on this issue and we recognize the importance of having a con-
trolled border.
Mr. DIAZ-BALART. My time is up.
Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
Ms. LEE. Okay. Thank you.
I now would like to yield to Mrs. Torres.
Mrs. TORRES. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Mr. Walsh, you have shared with us compelling testimony on the
terrible price Americans pay due to the opioid epidemic and drug
trade in this country. In my community, LA County and in San
Bernardino County, we are devastated as a result of this addiction
and our law enforcement partners are overwhelmed with calls for
service to deal with violent individuals and overdoses.
I know that your bureau has an important role to play in ad-
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dressing this issue. As you are well aware, international criminal
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organizations and other corrupt actors, former Presidents, for ex-
ample, an American former President, in this town are profiting off
the pain that too many American families are facing and we need
to do more to stop these fatal drugs from entering our country.
It is not just the drugs themselves that harm American commu-
nities. Transnational gangs also increase violence and deaths in
our communities.
Mr. Walsh, how is the bureau coordinating and communicating
with federal and, most importantly, local law enforcement agencies
when transnational crime spills over into the U.S. and how is the
Bureau ensuring that all of the important work that it does inter-
nationally is put to use protecting local communities?
My concern is our law enforcement agencies don’t have the op-
portunities that foreign police departments have to train with you
and to have knowledge of some of the trends that you are seeing.
Mr. WALSH. Yes, Congresswoman Torres, I would argue that one
of my most important jobs in this Bureau is to strengthen the col-
laboration of our host nation partners and within that, to expand
and strengthen our networks of our law enforcement, our U.S. law
enforcement so that they can work collaboratively with them on
these cases.
As you correctly highlighted, this is a transnational issue and it
crosses borders, especially with the online threats. I will add that,
especially the local, with working with the local law enforcement,
and you made a very important point, because this is such a multi-
disciplinary issue, this opioid threat, we have to have law enforce-
ment being knowledgeable of the trends and they have to be work-
ing closely with the public health officials in the local communities.
So, one of the initiatives we started a few years ago was working
with our state and local partners and this is a successful initiative.
Actually, I would argue that Miami-Dade is one of our more suc-
cessful state and local partnerships where we work with, where we
bring our international law enforcement and work with them hand-
in-hand with state and local, so they build those relationships.
As you well know, law enforcement is effective when there is
good networks and so I would——
Mrs. TORRES. I represent an inland port, not in Florida, but in
California, so I am about 2 hours north of San Diego and, you
know, 30 to 40 miles from, you know, our California shore. So, for
me, what my law enforcement officers are seeing and facing with,
you know, Mexican Mafia is really important for me to hear from
you that my law enforcement agencies have an opportunity, you
know, to work with you, to gather and share information and to
have the tools readily available to punish the people that are traf-
ficking in drugs and humans in our community.
I don’t have very much time. I am going to leave you with this
thought. Prior to the pandemic, I spent a lot of time, more than I
wish, in the jungle of both, Peru, Colombia visiting with very, very
small farmers who had really no access to law enforcement that,
you know, we are working with to try to get them to grow some-
thing other than coca. You know, some of those efforts were very,
very successful during the time, but in the last 4 years with the
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Trump administration, we have had, you know, a lot of these pro-
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23
grams cut. So, the impacts, you know, on these small farmers that
were getting the help in the past is no longer there.
I hope that we can follow-up. My time is up, but I hope that we
can follow-up with this conversation, because we do need to con-
tinue to fund those programs and reach out to those people.
Mr. WALSH. And I agree, we need to have a holistic approach
that is working on all aspects of this problem.
Mrs. TORRES. I yield back, Madam Chair.
Ms. LEE. Thank you.
Now, I will yield to Ms. Wexton.
Ms. WEXTON. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman, and thank you to
the ranking member, as well.
And thank you, Mr. Walsh, for joining us today and for talking
about this very important topic, which really does affect every sin-
gle congressional district in the country, and all of us differently.
I am just curious, you know, how do the U.S. deaths, which were
about 93,000 over those deaths in 2020, how do we compare with
the rest of the world in terms of our numbers of overdose deaths?
Mr. WALSH. Unfortunately, we are setting the bar very high
which is very disappointing and I think this is a product of, as
many of us know on this call, we made availability of prescription
opioids accessible to many of our citizens early in the 1990s and
it just grew into now a place where the cartels have taken over the
market and making the availability of fentanyl, which is causing
a lot of deaths.
Ms. WEXTON. So, we have way more overdoses, opioid overdoses
overall, but also more per capita, way more per capita than any
other country in the world; is that correct?
Mr. WALSH. I believe that is correct, yes.
Ms. WEXTON. Okay.
Mr. WALSH. Canada is also having a phenomenal issue.
Ms. WEXTON. But this is mainly a U.S.-only problem, right?
Mr. WALSH. U.S. and Canada.
Ms. WEXTON. Okay. So, that makes it extra-challenging, does it
not, to get our international partners to cooperate with us on this
issue?
Mr. WALSH. It does, and this is why we have been making the
argument that they don’t want to have this problem. And I think
we also made the argument that the business model has changed
for the criminals. They see the value of how cost-effective it is to
produce synthetic drugs, and synthetic drugs is a broader issue
that is impacting other countries.
Ms. WEXTON. And then—okay. So, given that fentanyl is not traf-
ficked in the same way as traditional trafficking, right, like with
marijuana or cocaine, I mean, people don’t put it in their car tires
or in the panels of their doors, right, generally?
Mr. WALSH. They still are using those trafficking routes, but be-
cause it can be produced in such small amounts, it can be, it has
been shipped via mail, it has been shipped by just individuals in
their pocket, or it has been shipped by large truckloads.
Ms. WEXTON. And so, that makes it extra-challenging to stop
that trafficking from taking place, right?
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Mr. WALSH. That is correct.
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Ms. WEXTON. Okay. So, you know, according to a recent unclassi-
fied DEA intelligence report, the Sinaloa Cartel is working with
Chinese nationals to shift production from China to India.
You are aware of that, obviously?
Mr. WALSH. I am, correct; yes, I am aware of that.
Ms. WEXTON. Reportedly, in response to China’s regulation of
certain precursor chemicals, what do you know about this China-
India-Mexico link and are you working with the government in
India to stop that from taking place?
Mr. WALSH. We are working with the government in India. We
have identified the fact that criminals will look anywhere for their
precursor chemicals. India has a large market of chemical industry
and we started working with them on establishing a counter-
narcotics working group and that has been a very effective opening
to elevate this issue with the government in India so they can bet-
ter regulate their chemical industry.
Ms. WEXTON. Given how dangerous fentanyl is, do you think it
should be labeled as a weapon of mass destruction as some na-
tional security experts have called for? Do you think it should be
labeled as a weapon of mass destruction?
Mr. WALSH. I don’t work in that area and I will defer to the ex-
perts on calling it a weapon of mass destruction. What I do know
is it is killing 105,000, well, 75 percent of the 105,000 that are dead
are a result of the synthetic opioids and so it is a national security
threat, which has been mentioned by the President.
Ms. WEXTON. Do you know what kind of leverage that we actu-
ally have to stop the PRC from letting this trafficking take place
and the production and to implement ‘‘know your customer’’ re-
quirements and precursors, what leverage do we have to make that
happen?
Mr. WALSH. So, our leverage is that the PRC does not want to
be known as a state that cannot control their chemicals or their
drug traffickers. And so, we work within the global community to
reinforce that it is important that China upholds their standards
to the conventions.
Second, we are asking other countries to do that, so that is also
our leverage. They have, and the third, they have a problem in
Burma with methamphetamines and being produced there. It is the
chemical industry that is producing the precursor chemicals for
those methamphetamines.
So, better regulation control within that industry is important for
China’s interests, as well. So, we find that there is mutual ground,
a win-win opportunity for them to strengthen their controls on the
chemical industries, the precursor chemicals coming out, and also
working on their money laundering issues.
Ms. WEXTON. Thank you.
I see my time has expired, so I yield back.
Ms. LEE. Thank you.
Ms. Frankel, do you have a question? I will yield to you next.
[No response.]
Ms. LEE. Ms. Frankel, do you have a question? I would yield to
you.
[No response.]
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Ms. LEE. Mr. Espaillat.
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We will come back to Ms. Frankel. There may be some technical
problems that she is having right now.
Mr. ESPAILLAT. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Walsh, for being with us today. My first question
is regarding the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative. As you know,
this has been funded by Congress since 2010 and it is a vital tool
to combat illicit drug trade, promote good governance, and improve
civil society in the Caribbean.
For fiscal year 2022, Congress provided $80 million for CBSI.
Can you describe how CBSI advances our national security inter-
est, while also helping our allies in the Caribbean to counter illicit
drug trade and what impact does it have for our nation and Carib-
bean nations, what is your assessment of the program and how it
is doing?
Mr. WALSH. Yeah, thank you, Congressman Espaillat, for high-
lighting the Caribbean issue and our partnership with them. I
wasn’t able to put it in my opening statement, but it is an impor-
tant issue, nonetheless.
And we also appreciate this committee’s assistance for this pro-
gram. My Bureau’s account includes about $135 million focusing on
that security effort and we have had a lot of success and I think
the approach that we have made, taken is to take more of a re-
gional approach and how do we integrate these various countries
and islands into more of a regional law enforcement operation, a
group that can share that knowledge and then counter the criminal
intent.
And we have been pretty successful in that. A case in point is
there is this group called the IMPACS within the Caribbean
CARICOM and that is an element that works on the crime security
aspect and this is a place where they come together and share that
information.
I want to also add that we have had a growing threat within the
Caribbean because of what is taking place in Venezuela, a signifi-
cant narco-trafficking state at this point, and then that trafficking
routes have been increased in that Caribbean region and also
through the financial flows.
And so, we have taken a much greater focus on the financial
flows and one of the things that we have been working on is get-
ting their laws and regulations in better standings. We actually re-
cently had six countries establish new asset recovery laws.
So, it is an important region. They are important partners. They
are our neighbors and we work closely with them to address this
drug trafficking trade, but also the destabilizing factors from that.
Mr. ESPAILLAT. So, would you say that with the increase drug
trade going towards the Caribbean, that CBSI needs to be, the
funding for CBSI needs to be increased?
Mr. WALSH. I think the budget that the President submitted sat-
isfies and addresses a lot of the requirements within the account.
If more funds are made available for that region, we could certainly
put them to good use and I would also suggest that because of
what is going on in the drug trade, and especially the cocaine, we
are seeing mostly about a third of the cocaine going through that,
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the rest is still going through the Pacific, that it is an important
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region, and as I mentioned, the Venezuela issue is something we
are watching, as well.
Mr. ESPAILLAT. My second question, real quick, is in 2019, the
Government Accountability Office recommended the Department of
State improve its ability to monitor initiatives on the CBSI. They
specifically recommended that INL develop and implement the
data management system for centrally collecting reliable CBSI
data.
What is INL doing to implement the GAO’s recommendations on
CBSI?
Mr. WALSH. Congressman, I am aware that we are working on
a project to strengthen the data. I would have to get back to you
on the specifics of where we are at on that project, but we are in
process of implementing it.
Mr. ESPAILLAT. I would love to work with you on that, because
I know that to really measure the effectiveness of CBSI, you have
to be able to look at the full metrics of the data, as opposed to look-
ing at each program in a silo, right, and not really evaluate the full
gamut of its impact. So, my office looks forward to working with
you to see how we can accomplish that.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I yield back.
Ms. LEE. Thank you.
Now, Ms. Frankel, I will yield to Ms. Frankel. Does she have a
question?
[No response.]
Ms. LEE. Ms. Frankel.
[No response.]
Ms. LEE. Okay. I will go, then, to a second round of questions,
with a 3–minute time frame, if that is acceptable to the members.
Let’s see. We have a little bit of time. Mr. Reschenthaler had to
go to Rules, so he may be back. If he does, I will go right to him.
My second question builds upon what Congressman Espaillat
was asking with the CBSI, the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative,
but also, I would like to add the Merida Initiative and the Central
American Regional Security program. We continue to assist these
countries, yet the drug problem persists throughout our hemi-
sphere. The cartels have more of a hold in Mexico and Colombia
with coca cultivation and, of course, the violence accompanying il-
licit drug production remains high, and, sadly, in the United
States, deaths from overdoses are at a record level once again.
And so, I guess I want to know, since it doesn’t make sense to
do the same thing over and over and over again, what kind of new
efforts has the administration embarked upon to reverse these
trends? Because additional resource is fine, but what goes along
with additional resources, because when you look at the deaths in
our own country and our own districts, it is terrible. It is sad. Lives
are being shattered and we are funding a heck of a lot in terms
of interdiction efforts, in terms of trying to address the illicit drug
production, but yet nothing seems to change.
And so, what do you see now as new directions for U.S. tax dol-
lars to begin to really make an impact in this?
Mr. WALSH. Chairwoman Lee, you made a good point and I
would second that point, that foreign assistance alone cannot solve
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this problem. And so, at the State Department, we recognize that
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diplomacy is an important tool and part of that is trying to get
these countries to collaborate more and have the political will and
commitment to address this problem.
And so, as noted in my testimony and somewhat in my state-
ments, the State Department and this administration has really
been focused at ensuring that we have that commitment and polit-
ical will and this is why we have the Bicentennial Framework. We
put a lot of effort into getting an agreement where the government
of Mexico and the United States agree that this is a shared prob-
lem that we can work together on.
I would also look at and talk about Central America. I think
Central America is unique because we actually have some chal-
lenges, as you well know. We have some democracy backsliding in
Central America.
So, we look at those opportunities where we can work, but also,
I think the important strategy, which is part of this administration,
is going after the root causes. And these are just some of the things
I mentioned about tackling corruption and fighting the impunity of
some of these government officials that enables these criminals to
thrive.
Ms. LEE. Well, let me just say, I hope you have the flexibility to
halt the programs that are not working and redirect those re-
sources to those that are successful, especially at addressing the
underlying and root causes of this war, which is really what it is.
Let me now yield to Mr. Rogers.
Mr. ROGERS. Thank you, Madam Chair.
For years, China has been the principal source of the fentanyl
flooding the U.S. coming up through Mexico. In 2019, Beijing fi-
nally cracked down on the supply of fentanyl from China to the
U.S. with China enacting new laws prohibiting the production and
sales and export of most fentanyl-classed drugs.
So what extent is China actually enforcing that law? For exam-
ple, has China, in recent years, acted on U.S. and U.S. provided in-
telligence on traffickers from the PRC and, secondly, is it true that
Beijing rarely acts against Chinese criminal syndicates unless they
specifically cross a narrow set of government interests? To what ex-
tent are Chinese criminal groups in Latin America actually helping
to advance Beijing’s interests in the region? And, finally, what do
we know about Chinese cooperation with Mexican authorities? As
with the U.S., does China reject responsibility, even as the pres-
ence of Chinese criminal actors in Mexico are expanding rapidly?
Mr. WALSH. Yeah, Ranking Member Rogers, let me answer that
latter part of that question first. To date, we do not have any evi-
dence that shows that the PRC is actually involved or leveraging
criminal elements within China to their gain.
And to the first part of your question, I would argue that we ac-
tually saw, in effect, immediate effect of PRC enforcing some of
these laws when they asked them to schedule fentanyl class-wide.
We saw within a year, within a year’s time frame, an immediate
shift of the trafficking routes going direct from China into the
United States to a diverted route, which goes through Mexico or
Canada. And now, we have actually, as you know, precursor chemi-
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cals.
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So, there is evidence that China can, if we ask them to do some-
thing, they will and they can enforce it. The challenge we have
now, as I have mentioned, is that we need them do more and we
need them to do particularly more on controlling their chemical in-
dustry.
And we ask asked them to do that. They have not given us a sat-
isfactory answer, so our efforts are to continue to press them to do
so.
Mr. ROGERS. If they want to act after we ask them to do some-
thing, for God’s sake, ask now.
Mr. WALSH. And this is one thing that we discovered. This is one
thing where you all can help. We found that congressional engage-
ment on this issue actually influences their decision-making.
Mr. ROGERS. Well, I thank you for that and we hope that you will
continue this effort.
I yield.
Ms. LEE. A final question now comes from my yielding to Con-
gressman Diaz-Balart.
Mr. Diaz-Balart.
Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Thank you, Chairwoman. Thank you very
much.
Mr. Secretary, you mentioned Venezuela in your answer to an-
other question about it being, basically, a narco state. Let me first
go to its neighbor. Colombia, as you know, has made enormous
strides since it continues to fight narco trafficking and narco ter-
rorism, but that struggle has been made much more difficult be-
cause of transnational criminal organizations, at times, assisted by
malign actors and states, such as Russia and, Maduro that you
mentioned.
Can you explain the roles of the FARC, Hezbollah, Russia, Com-
munist China, Iran, and the Maduro regime in engaging in drug
trafficking in the region, what is their role, how active are they?
Mr. WALSH. Congressman, the FARC dissidents are still very ac-
tive. Venezuelan groups are working hand-in-hand with the FARC
dissident to work with the coca producers and farmers and is con-
tinuing to produce significant amounts of cocaine. And so, Colombia
has had a lot of external factors that has made it very difficult for
them to do their job.
We have seen some signs of Hezbollah involved in the region. I
cannot comment or have any knowledge of Iranian engagement,
but there is a lot of bad actors involved. And I would say that be-
cause of this reason, we find our partnership and work with Colom-
bia in that more important.
Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Let me ask you, are you familiar with Project
Cassandra is still operational?
Mr. WALSH. I am not familiar with that project. I don’t think I
can comment on it.
Mr. DIAZ-BALART. If you could—maybe I will put that in the
question if that is still operational or not.
What, in your opinion, are the biggest threats to the progress
made over the past 2 decades in Colombia, and not only Colombia,
but the surrounding region? Is it these transnational organiza-
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tions? What is the largest threat?
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Mr. WALSH. I think that transnational organizations still remain
the largest threat. Taking a broader scope, let’s not forget about
the impact of COVID. This whole region has had, like the rest of
the world, a devastating impact from COVID and we saw that in
Colombia with some of the protests just a year ago.
And so, I think if we watch this region, watch the economic con-
cerns as we are witnessing what is taking place with some of the
protests in Peru, destabilizing factors are going to have an impact
on other groups that wanted contact so, that is a space we have
to watch.
And, unfortunately, because of the drug trade, there is a lot of
illicit money in the region that can fuel these ill-gotten gains or
these bad groups that want to take advantage of this environment.
Mr. DIAZ-BALART. And you did mention Venezuela. Do you want
to elaborate a little bit more on that, as to how, I forget the term
that you used, I don’t know if you called it, a potentially narco
state, is it? Just give me a little bit more information on Venezuela.
Mr. WALSH. Well, we certainly, within our controls and our Inter-
national Narcotics Control Strategy Report, INCSR, we have high-
lighted the concerns of Venezuela. We have labeled them, in 2021,
they were labeled as failed demonstrably to their efforts.
We have used our top rewards and narcotics awards programs
and our sanctions, visa sanction programs to highlight the bad ac-
tors within the Maduro regime that are involved in the drug trade.
So, our plan is to continue to keep the pressure on the Maduro re-
gime and highlighting their involvement in the drug trade, which
involves much of the cocaine going into the Venezuelan border and
Venezuelan groups trafficking it, either through back into Central
America through the Caribbean or also into West Africa and into
Europe.
And now we have Europe involved because they have a cocaine
problem. And so, part of our diplomatic efforts is to highlight the
involvement of Venezuela in this as well.
Mr. DIAZ-BALART. And Madam Chairwoman, thank you. I know
that I have exceeded my time a bit, so I thank you for your indul-
gence. Thank you.
Ms. LEE. Thank you.
I will yield now. I see Mr. Reschenthaler is back.
Mr. Reschenthaler.
Mr. RESCHENTHALER. Thank you, Chairwoman Lee.
And I just want to say thank you for your flexibility. As you
know, we had a Rules Committee meeting, so I appreciate your
willingness to let me jump on and off. So, thank you.
So, as folks know, I am from Pennsylvania and we are the fifth-
largest state. It is not a coincidence that we have the fifth-largest
death count of fentanyl poisoning. It is a huge issue. It cannot be
overstated.
So, to prevent Americans from losing their lives due to fentanyl
overdoses, I offered an amendment in fiscal year 2022’s National
Defense Authorization Act which required countries that are sig-
nificant sources of illicit fentanyl to be included on the majors list.
So, the U.S. can withhold certain foreign aid to countries on that
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list if they don’t work to stem the tide of illicit fentanyl exports.
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Deputy Secretary Walsh, what is your status of implementing my
provision to adding countries that are significant sources of
fentanyl to the majors list?
Mr. WALSH. Thank you, Congressman.
Yes, we are in the process of implementing that law. And, you
know, unfortunately, because of the time we had to do the report
this year, we didn’t have the time to go through the full scope of
looking at all the countries that are fentanyl producers or traf-
fickers.
With that said, we highlighted, we identified this issue and so we
actually have a section in our INCSR, if you have had a chance to
read it that highlights the countries and the fentanyl-trafficking
routes. So, our intent is to fully implement this in the next year’s
report and use this as a diplomatic tool, as well.
Mr. RESCHENTHALER. Do you feel like you have sufficient re-
sources to do this or do you need new requirements at all?
Mr. WALSH. We believe we have the sufficient resources do this,
yes.
Mr. RESCHENTHALER. Okay. I know in your opening statement or
one of your earlier questions, you had mentioned Mexico as pro-
ducing illicit fentanyl, but I would submit that China is still a
major issue with this. I know that China was absent from the list.
What is the justification for not including China here?
Mr. WALSH. I’m sorry, Congressman, can you clarify your ques-
tion? Including them in what?
Mr. RESCHENTHALER. In the majors list. So, I know China is not
included on the majors list.
Mr. WALSH. That was a legal argument. The legal requirements
for who we could look at. It was not updated in time for us to look
at them, so we will take a look at that over the next year, with
the new law.
Mr. RESCHENTHALER. So, you plan to include China on this
year’s?
Mr. WALSH. The majors list is a decision of the President, so I
would have to defer to the process before I can make any rec-
ommendations.
Mr. RESCHENTHALER. All right. Thank you, I appreciate it.
Chairwoman Lee, thanks, again, for your flexibility, and I yield
back.
Ms. LEE. Thank you again.
Okay. I don’t see Ms. Frankel, so having no additional questions
from any members, I will now just thank you, again, Mr. Walsh,
very much for your time and for your very important testimony
today. You gave us, really, a much better understanding of the
work being done around the world to address the illicit drug trade,
the accompanying corruption and the State Department’s work
with key partners to reduce the supply of illicit drugs, to combat
corruption, also, to improve the security and economic opportuni-
ties for communities affected by transnational criminal organiza-
tions, which, of course, is what we talked about today. When you
look at its impact, it impacts all of our communities in a very dead-
ly way, especially when you look at the deaths as a result of opioid
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overdoses.
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I also want to tell you how much I appreciate the work of the
people at the State Department, your employees, and those at
USAID to address these issues. And I urge that as you work with
partner governments to reduce the supply of illicit drugs that you
consider how we are going to achieve long-term sustainable gains
which appropriately factor in the human and ecological effects of
our programs.
And once again, if it is not working, we need to look at new ways
to address the root causes of this real drug war that is taking
place. So, hopefully, we will see some new ideas, new strategies,
and our resources invested in strategies that will work.
You know you have a willing partner in this committee. We work
on this issue in a bipartisan way, and I want to thank Mr. Rogers
again and hope that you keep us apprised of your progress and
your needs and maybe, you know, we will see a new day if, in fact,
we do this differently. So, thank you again.
If members have questions that they would like to submit for the
record, please submit them to the subcommittee within the next 7
days.
This concludes today’s hearing. The Subcommittee on State, For-
eign Operations, and Related Programs stands adjourned.
[Questions and answers submitted for the record follow:]
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THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2022.
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
WITNESS
HON. ANTONY BLINKEN, SECRETARY, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRWOMAN LEE
Ms. LEE. Good morning, and welcome to today’s hearing with
Secretary of State Antony Blinken regarding the President’s pro-
posed fiscal year 2023 budget request for the State Department,
Foreign Operations, and Related Programs. On behalf of my col-
leagues, I want to thank you, Mr. Secretary, for joining us today
and for your ongoing leadership and service to our country and our
global community.
The international challenges we face today are obviously im-
mense. The COVID–19 pandemic still ravages the world. Funda-
mental democratic values are under threat—not least in Russia’s
unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, but also in many countries in Af-
rica, Asia and Latin America. Climate change is fueling a looming
food crisis. And division, violence, poverty, and natural and man-
made disasters seem on the rise on just about every single con-
tinent.
Your budget for the State Department, the U.S. Agency for Inter-
national Development, and our international agencies, is tasked
with responding to all of these challenges. That is why I have long
argued that our international affairs budget should be equal to, if
not greater than, our military budget. Our military tools should be
used as the last resort, whereas the resources we provide to diplo-
matic, development, and humanitarian efforts are the front lines
every single day working to save lives, promote stability, increase
engagement, and prevent wars.
Congress must work harder to provide an international affairs
budget that addresses today’s global problems from the climate cri-
sis to unprecedented levels of human suffering, while at the same
time working to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)
by 2030. The SDGs are an important opportunity to frame the
work the United States does around the world in support of these
consensus goals such as gender equality, ending extreme hunger
and poverty, and improving public health. This Subcommittee will
continue to push all of the agencies under our jurisdiction recog-
nizing we will only succeed on the SDGs with U.S. leadership and
our partners working together to our common purpose.
While I hope we can improve on what we were able to secure in
fiscal year 2022, we are likely to continue to face limited and over-
stretched resources. So today we will discuss the Administration’s
request for $65.77 billion for fiscal year 2023, which is a very mod-
est $7.8 billion increase over the enacted fiscal year 2022 level.
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The request includes notable increases for humanitarian, global,
health, climate, and democracy programs. It also recognizes that
these and our other development and diplomatic goals can only be
achieved with a workforce that is fully-staffed, well-trained, com-
mitted to the mission, and representative of the diversity of the
American people. I’m pleased that the request increases funding for
diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility efforts at the Depart-
ment of State and USAID, and much-needed increases in staffing
positions and operating expenses.
I also want to commend you, Mr. Secretary, for naming Ambas-
sador Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley as the Department’s first
Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, and for your work to
prioritize diversity in our Diplomatic Corps as well as systemic
changes that will hold the Department accountable to its commit-
ments. And, yes, Mr. Secretary, today’s hearing will provide mem-
bers of our subcommittee a timely opportunity to hear directly from
you on the latest efforts by the Biden-Harris Administration to pur-
sue an end to the vicious, gratuitous, and bloody assault on
Ukraine by Russia.
I also hope you will provide an update on our response to the
COVID–19 pandemic around the world, including vaccine develop-
ment and distribution, and helping developing countries recover
from the pandemic’s devastating impacts across all aspects of life
and livelihood. You’ve heard me say that I think our response was
too slow, and now we face a situation where funding for inter-
national efforts has either be de-prioritized or deleted from the dis-
cussion altogether. This is unacceptable and short-sighted. I have
always said that what affects one, affects all. We will not turn the
page on this pandemic without helping the rest of the world re-
cover while we in the United States do so as well.
At the same time, we should all be working as hard as possible
to avoid a global food crisis, which experts warn is increasingly
likely after so many compounding crises, including the pandemic,
supply chain shortages, high energy costs, climate shocks, and, of
course the war in Ukraine. The United States has always been a
global leader in delivering lifesaving assistance, but averting a
global food disaster will require our allies and other donors to step
up as well.
It is evident, Mr. Secretary, that the Administration has worked
very hard over the last year and a half to restore America’s global
reputation, promote engagement and dialogue with international
organizations and partners, and return to policies that were mak-
ing progress and producing results before the previous Administra-
tion took us in another direction. I applaud you in your efforts to
bring the United States and Iran back into compliance with the
JCPOA, and I know that the ongoing negotiations are extremely
difficult given how much time and trust has been lost. But I urge
the administration to continue to engage with Congress on the de-
velopments in Vienna.
I am also eager to discuss this Administration’s ongoing ap-
proach to continually under-prioritized regions in the world, includ-
ing Sub–Saharan Africa and the Caribbean, both of which rep-
resent untapped potential in terms of partnership and economic op-
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portunity. Also, on the migration issues from Central America, we
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want to make sure that it is just and it is humane and sustainable.
Of course, you know we lost time and progress during the previous
Administration’s suspension of assistance to the region, and yet we
still face challenges supporting locally-led efforts to end endemic
corruption and impunity while investing in human security and du-
rable development outcomes.
These are just a few of the many issues, Mr. Secretary, that are
on the top of mind and others. Our appreciation, I want to express,
for the strong support for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and
Malaria for their replenishment cycle. And now, I would like to
once again thank you for your tireless work on behalf of our coun-
try and look forward to your testimony.
But first, I would like to yield now to my colleague, our Ranking
Member, Mr. Rogers. Thank you, again, Mr. Rogers, for your open-
ing statement.
OPENING STATEMENT OF RANKING MEMBER ROGERS
Mr. ROGERS. Thank you, Madam Chair, and, Mr. Secretary, wel-
come back before the subcommittee. Thank you for taking the time
to be with us. In these extraordinary times, I want to convey my
gratitude to you for your service and for taking time to share with
us today.
It was not long after our hearing with you last year that things
began to deteriorate rapidly in Afghanistan. The manner in which
the United States left Afghanistan sent messages to everyone
around the world, for our allies and partners, that raised legitimate
questions about whether the United States is a reliable partner.
For our adversaries, it signaled weakness and a lack of resolve.
The most dangerous regimes around the globe were watching close-
ly. Iran, North Korea, China, Russia have increased their capabili-
ties and hostile actions since last summer’s debacle. I do not be-
lieve this is a coincidence.
The withdrawal from Afghanistan was made up of many failures
that, taken together, will have lasting consequences for U.S. secu-
rity. I hope you and other senior leaders in this administration are
committed to restoring the reputation of the United States fol-
lowing those dark days last summer. You have a tremendous op-
portunity to begin doing so by continuing to support Ukraine’s he-
roic resistance to Russia’s unprovoked, brutal invasion, which is in-
spiring the world. We and our allies must continue to provide the
assistance critical to defeat Russian aggression and help preserve
Ukrainian independence.
Here I should note that the strong and unified response of our
allies and partners to Putin’s campaign of conquest has been both
striking and deeply welcomed. For European republics who thought
that war was a 19th or 20th century concern, who perhaps believed
that the environment was the preeminent challenge of our times,
this crisis has underscored the importance of capable military alli-
ances, the centrality of NATO, and the critical importance of Amer-
ican leadership in the Transatlantic Alliance. I know this impres-
sive marshaling of resolve does not happen by accident, and that
it is due in no small measure to the tireless work of our diplomats,
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soldiers, and intelligence community.
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As we think about the work of this committee, how are we to
make sense of the challenges of our time, and how should that un-
derstanding inform the Department’s budget? Historical analogies
can be misleading, but if we look to the past, there are many dis-
turbing parallels to the late 1930s. In the heart of Europe, an au-
thoritarian Russia has brutally assaulted the people of Ukraine, at-
tempting to dismember that state and decapitate their government.
To the East, Putin’s partners in Beijing are not only supporting the
invasion of Ukraine, but, more ominously, accelerating efforts to
dominate the Indo-Pacific and overturn the rules-based inter-
national order.
In this circumstance, America’s priorities should be clear. The
centerpiece of American strategy needs to be rallying and defend-
ing our fellow democracies as well as other supporters of the rules-
based system against this axes of autocrats. If we and our allies
are to prevent the emergence of an era in which the strong do what
they will and the weak suffer what they must, then investments
and the tools of hard power are essential if we are to deter and
shape the imperial aspirations of our great power rivals. As one
American historian notes, ‘‘The invasion of Ukraine signals a new
phase in an intensifying struggle to shape the international order.
The democratic world won’t have a better chance to position itself
for success.’’
Mr. Secretary, before I close, I want to note that this year’s budg-
et request for State, Foreign Operations looks fairly similar to what
was requested last year. It represents significant increases that are
not attainable and misaligned with the urgent priorities of our Na-
tion’s foreign policy. I encourage you to focus on what really mat-
ters and proceed with caution when considering funding commit-
ments that are above and beyond the resources that you already
have at hand. The credibility of the United States will be further
diminished if checks are written that cannot be cashed.
Once again, Mr. Secretary, thank you for your time. Thank you
for being with us for these few moments. I look forward to your tes-
timony.
Ms. LEE. Let me now yield to the Ranking Member of the Appro-
priations Committee, Ms. Granger, for any opening statements you
may have before the Secretary’s presentation.
OPENING STATEMENT OF MS. GRANGER
Ms. GRANGER. Thank you, Madam Chair. Secretary Blinken, we
appreciate your being with us during this very busy time, and
thank you for your service.
Threats to our own security as well as the security of our part-
ners and allies dominate the headlines every single day. I look for-
ward to your testimony in order to better understand how the
United States is continuing to assist Ukraine, strengthen the
Transatlantic Alliance, and respond to the ongoing humanitarian
crisis. Please speak to how the budget request would address the
threat from China as we continue to watch them try to increase
their power and influence around the world.
Mr. Secretary, as we face these threats in Europe and Asia, we
must also focus on the dangerous situation at our Southern border.
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I have been engaged in this issue for many years, and what we see
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today is absolutely startling. In just the past 6 months, Border Pa-
trol agents have encountered 1 million migrants crossing the bor-
der illegally. When I chaired this subcommittee, we could not have
imagined reaching numbers this high in a 12-month period, much
less 6 months. Due to this administration’s failed border policies,
illegal crossings have skyrocketed, and it is only getting worse. We
are on track to have an enormous surge of migrants this summer
that will crush our already overwhelmed Homeland Security agen-
cies. The administration’s request to increase aid to Central Amer-
ican countries is shortsighted when your current border policies are
enticing people to illegally enter the United States. We can’t expect
these countries to use our assistance effectively, to uphold the rule
of law, and improve living conditions if we are not doing our own
part to enforce the law at our border.
Now to the Middle East. I just returned from the region and had
the chance to visit Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and Turkey. The region
continues to face the growing threat of a hostile Iran and its ter-
rorist proxies. I want your assurance that the current negotiations
with Iran will not result in a flawed deal. Honestly, Russia and
China’s involvement does nothing to give me confidence in the out-
come. It is also crucial that any talks address Iran’s destabilizing
role in the region, including its ballistic missile capabilities.
Mr. Secretary, you have a very difficult job, and we all wish you
success as you work to advance America’s interests abroad. I hope
you will consider the issues I raise today going forward. Thank you
for your time today, and, Madam Chair, I yield back.
Ms. LEE. Thank you very much, Ranking Member Granger.
Secretary Blinken, if you could summarize your oral statement
in less than 5 minutes. I want to make sure that we leave time
enough to get to our questions, and I realize you have a hard stop,
I believe it is 12:15. Your full statement will be included in the
record. After your testimony, I will be calling on members based on
seniority of the members that were present when the hearing was
called to order, alternating between majority and minority mem-
bers. I will then recognize any remaining members in order of their
appearance. Each member is asked to keep their questions to with-
in 5 minutes per round.
Mr. Secretary, please proceed.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SECRETARY BLINKEN
Secretary BLINKEN. Thank you very much, Chairwoman Lee. It
is great to see you. Ranking Member Rogers, Ranking Member
Granger, thank you for being here today as well. It is very good to
be with you, and I am really grateful for this opportunity to speak
to you about the administration’s proposed budget for the State De-
partment.
As you know, I recently returned from Kyiv with Secretary of De-
fense Lloyd Austin, where we sought to demonstrate, by our pres-
ence as well as by our actions, the United States’ commitment to
Ukraine and its people. This brutal war of aggression being com-
mitted by Russia against Ukraine has brought into sharp focus the
power and purpose of American diplomacy. Our diplomacy is ral-
lying allies and partners around the world to join us in supporting
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Ukraine militarily, economically, and with humanitarian assist-
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ance, to impose massive costs on the Kremlin for its aggression,
while strengthening our collective security and defense, and ad-
dressing the war’s mounting global consequences, including the ref-
ugee and food crises that you have alluded to. We have to continue
to drive that diplomacy forward, to also seize the strategic opportu-
nities and address the risks presented by Russia’s overreach as
countries are reconsidering their policies, their priorities, and their
relationships. The budget request that you have before you actually
predates the crisis, but fully funding it is critical to ensuring that
Russia’s war in Ukraine is a strategic failure for the Kremlin, and
also serves as a powerful lesson for those who might consider fol-
lowing the same path.
As we are focused on this crisis, the State Department continues
to carry out the missions traditionally associated with diplomacy,
particularly responsibly managing great power competition with
China, also facilitating a halt to fighting in places like Yemen and
Ethiopia, pushing back against the rising tide of authoritarianism
and the threat that it poses to democracy and human rights. We
also face evolving challenges that require us to develop new capa-
bilities: the emergence and reemergence of infectious disease, an
accelerating climate crisis, and a digital revolution that holds both
enormous promise but also peril if not managed correctly.
A few months ago in the fall, I had a chance to set out a mod-
ernization agenda for the State Department and for U.S. diplomacy
to respond to all of these demands and all of these needs. And in
no small part thanks to the significant fiscal year 2022 budget that
was approved by Congress, we have been able to make real
progress on this agenda, but much remains to be done. Just to give
you a few quick examples, we have strengthened our capacity to
shape the ongoing technological revolution so that it protects our
interests, it boosts our competitiveness, it upholds our values. With
bipartisan Congressional support and encouragement, we recently
launched a new Bureau for Cyberspace and Digital Policy with 60
team members to start, and this is something that was done very
much in collaboration and with the counsel of Congress.
We are also making headway on ensuring our diplomats reflect
America’s remarkable diversity, which is one of our greatest
strengths. As the chairwoman said, our Department’s first ever
chief diversity inclusion officer, Ambassador Gina Abercrombie-
Winstanley, has spearheaded an effort to analyze and address the
obstacles that prevent underrepresented groups from joining and
advancing at the Department. We have expanded the Pickering
and Rangel Fellow Programs, and we have paid internships at
State. Again, strong congressional input and support for these ini-
tiatives. We recently welcomed a new cohort of 179 exceptional For-
eign Service professionals. That puts us on track for our largest an-
nual intake in a decade.
These first 15 months on the job for me have only strengthened
my conviction that these and other reforms are not just worth-
while, they are essential to delivering for the American people. To-
day’s meeting, by our count, marks the 103rd time that I have had
the opportunity to brief Congress in one way or another—meetings,
calls—which is one of the ways that I have worked to meet the
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commitment I made in my confirmation to ensure that Congress’
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role as a partner, both in our foreign policymaking and in modern-
izing the State Department, is realized. Ensuring that we can de-
liver on this agenda requires sustained funding. It requires some
new authorities. Most importantly, it requires our partnership.
If we want to deepen our capability in areas like climate, like
public health, like multilateral diplomacy, if we want to expand on
Secretary Powell’s vision of a Foreign Service float, if we want to
strengthen global health security to prevent, detect, and respond to
future outbreaks, we need these additional resources. If we want
to be able to swiftly stand up new missions to deploy diplomats
when and where they are needed and make these decisions based
on risk management rather than risk aversion, we need to reform
the Security Embassy Construction and Counterterrorism Act and
the Accountability Review Board statute. If we want to rapidly
scale up the response to crises, like refugee surges and epidemics,
while also avoiding costly overhead, we need more flexible domestic
hiring authorities. These are just a few examples.
And I just want to stress in closing, this is not about advancing
the goals of any one administration or any one party. It is about
refocusing our mission and our purpose on the forces that are af-
fecting the lives of all of our fellow citizens—their livelihoods, their
security—for decades to come. So I really appreciate the oppor-
tunity to speak today about why this matters and look forward to
working with this committee, the subcommittee, Congress as a
whole, as a partner in these efforts.
Thank you very much.
[The information follows:]
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Ms. LEE. Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary. I will start and
will try to ask my questions as consolidated and concise as pos-
sible, because I have many.
One, the failure of the emergency COVID funding package last
month and the imminent exhaustion of funds of global vaccination
campaigns is deeply, deeply concerning. Can you describe the con-
sequences of not being able to deploy vaccines that the United
States has already purchased and not reaching the 70-percent vac-
cination goal target? And also, I know next month you will be co-
hosting another global COVID summit with international partners.
What do you expect to come out of those discussions, and how will
uncertainty around COVID, Global VAX, and U.S. efforts impact or
limit our leadership?
My second question is, as it relates to the Eastern Caribbean, I
just returned from a conference with parliamentarians from Bar-
bados and other Eastern Caribbean countries. One concern that I
heard over and over again was their inability to access global cli-
mate assistance and additional development assistance due to
being classified upper-to-middle income countries by the World
Bank, even though they repeatedly are in both the ‘‘bulls eye’’ of
hurricane after hurricane, and they are impoverished countries.
They face serious threats to their lives, their homes, and their live-
lihoods from these storms, and much of the impact hits the poor
the hardest, of which there are many.
I want to know what we could do because I know the United
States, quite frankly, has been missing in action in terms of the
Caribbean. So what can we do to address these needs of our neigh-
bors right next door, to address these barriers, and to combat the
effects of the storms and the climate crisis, recognizing how vulner-
able they are. I mean, we talked a little bit about a vulnerability
index. And also, just how can we demonstrate to the people of the
Caribbean that the United States values their partnership and will
help better increase our bilateral relations, and that we recognize
them as a region worthy of our friendship and partnerships? They
are our closest neighbors, and they deserve to be seen and be part
of our foreign policy and funding priorities, which, in the past, you
know, we talk about China and other outside actors. We have been,
quite frankly, missing in action.
Secretary BLINKEN. Madam Chairwoman, thank you very much
for both questions, and thank you for your consistent focus on
COVID and in trying to ensure that we have the funding to pursue
this.
Look, this has been, I think, a very significant and important
success for us in two ways, first, of course, substantively. The
President’s commitment to get 1.2 billion vaccine doses around the
world is making a big difference in being able to address the imme-
diate challenge posed by COVID. And as you said in your own
opening statement, we know that unless we get to this everywhere,
no one, including Americans, will be fully safe. We always run the
risk that as long as this is moving around even in distant shores,
that a new variant could emerge and undo much of the progress
that we have been able to make at home. So we need to stamp this
out, and we need to try to do the best that we can in getting to
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the goal that was set for the entire world, which is getting to 70–
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percent vaccinations by the end of this year. That is a tough goal
to meet, but we have got to drive toward it.
The other way, though, this has been important and a success is
our standing in the world. Our diplomacy has been enhanced by
the fact that we have committed to donate these vaccines, to do it
through COVAX so that they are distributed equitably, to do it
with no political strings attached. This is in stark contrast to
China, which has been selling vaccines and been using them as a
cudgel to get countries to do what it wants in a variety of ways.
And as I go around the world, I am hearing in virtually every place
gratitude for what we have done and appreciation for the fact that
we are doing it in a way that is in stark contrast to the way the
China is doing it.
Now, the challenge we have immediately is that we do have a
sufficient supply of vaccines. The problem is getting shots into
arms. It is the last mile, particularly in Africa, but also in other
parts of the world, including in our own hemisphere, and we have
a program where we have gotten other countries to stand up. It is
called the Global Action Plan, to stand up, to take responsibility,
geographically and functionally, for dealing with these last-mile
challenges, getting shots into arms, cold chain storage, making sure
that there are distribution routes, healthcare workers to administer
shots, support for those healthcare workers, other things that go
into this, including therapeutics, PPE, et cetera.
And we have countries that have stood up to do this with us, to
take responsibility, but we need to continue to engage and show
the way, and the money that we have to do this is running out.
If we do not get additional resources to do this, we won’t be able
to get the job done, and I think that would be a big mistake sub-
stantively, and it would set us back in terms of our standing in the
world.
Quickly on the Caribbean, the President met with the leaders of
virtually all of these countries at the COP25 and talked at great
length about the climate challenge that they are facing as well as
other challenges. And I very much agree with you that we have an
issue with this middle-income trap of another kind, which is the
fact that, as you said, some countries classified as middle income
nonetheless are bearing the brunt of COVID and bearing the brunt
of climate, and we need to find ways to more effectively help them
as they adapt and build resilience with regard to climate change.
We are talking to the international financial institutions about
that. We are looking ourselves at what we might be able to do. We
have significant resources dedicated to climate and, particularly,
that go to building adaptation and resilience in countries that need
help. That is in the budget, and I hope we can get that done.
Ms. LEE. Thank you, Mr. Secretary, and we will follow up with
you. We have some specific recommendations out of the last visit
led by Chairman Price of the bipartisan House Democracy Partner-
ship. And so we will follow up with you on this.
I will yield now to Mr. Rogers.
Mr. ROGERS. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. Mr. Secretary,
while we and our partners have made strenuous exertions to sup-
port Ukraine against Putin’s brutal invasion, more challenges lie
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initial supplemental largely exhausted, I look forward to reviewing
the supplemental request we have just now received just a few mo-
ments ago. What specific new security assistance resources, includ-
ing the additional presidential drawdown and other military assist-
ance, what are needed over the next 3 to 6 months to sustain
Ukraine and bolster NATO’s deterrence against Russia?
Secretary BLINKEN. Thank you very much, and, yes, I am glad
the supplemental request is now before you, and this is critical to
sustaining our efforts in a variety of ways: sustaining our efforts
in terms of security assistance to Ukraine but also vital in helping
partners and allies continue to bolster their own security. A num-
ber of these countries, for example, have themselves supplied
equipment to Ukraine. They now have some gaps as a result, but,
in short, the request, and I speak just based on what I had last
night, and it is possible that what you have before you has some
modest changes to it, so I want to make sure that what I am say-
ing reflects exactly what you have.
But more or less, the supplemental request would provide for
$15.5 billion in security assistance, some of that through foreign
military financing, some of that through presidential drawdown au-
thority, some of that through the Pentagon’s equivalent of FMF, as
well as programs like INCLE and NADR for things like demining.
The is the bulk of the request that is before you, and it would ad-
dress the needs that Ukraine has now for the equipment that it
needs to continue to repel this Russian aggression, as well as sup-
porting allies and partners.
Mr. ROGERS. With respect to Ukraine’s economic and fiscal chal-
lenges, what mix of bilateral and multilateral assistance is being
considered to help support the resilience of these people and sus-
tain the government? As you know, the needs are immense.
Ukraine’s finance minister projects that the country needs $5 bil-
lion a month just to cover its own budget purposes, an amount that
doesn’t include the eventual cost of reconstruction. Where will this
funding come from?
Secretary BLINKEN. You are exactly right, Ranking Member Rog-
ers. So the supplemental that we have before you includes about
$8-and-a-half billion in economic support. Seven and a half billion
of that would be for direct budget support to Ukraine and via ESF,
and that would account for about $1.5 billion a month of the deficit
you rightly point to that Ukraine has. Other countries, with our
leadership and encouragement, are coming together as well, along
with international financial institutions. To help fill the rest of that
gap, there are various pledging conferences that are taking place
in the weeks ahead that we are very much engaged in, including
with European partners, but the objective is to get to that goal of
making sure that Ukraine can meet its needs.
Most of this is most effectively done through direct budget sup-
port, at least over the near term, to make sure that the resources
can get to the Ukrainians and they can use them quickly. There
are some other things in the supp that you have before you, but
the bulk of it is direct budget support.
Mr. ROGERS. On the humanitarian side, what are your estimates
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well as refugees, and how closely are you coordinating with Kyiv
in the development of relief plans?
Secretary BLINKEN. There is an extraordinary need, and it is re-
flected in two ways. It is reflected, of course, in the huge number
of refugees, more than 5 million who are outside of Ukraine. Now,
most of them hope very much to be able to go home. They have left,
in many cases, sons, husbands, fathers behind who are fighting, so
they want to go home. And, in fact, we have seen in the West a
change where there are more people going back into Ukraine than
going out. However, in the South and the East, I think we can an-
ticipate more refugee outflows, which is where the fighting is fo-
cused.
And so we have resources both in the budget and in the supple-
mental request to address the needs of the populations both inside
of Ukraine that are displaced as well as outside, and also to help
the countries that have taken in so many refugees be able to sup-
port what they are doing. The Europeans have been incredibly gen-
erous with this. Refugees who are in Europe now have the ability
to be there for 2 years and to get benefits and support for those
2 years. So this is, of course, a burden on some of our partners. We
are working to address that, but the primary focus of the request
that you have before you is focused on making sure that humani-
tarian assistance can get to people who need it in Ukraine as well
as the refugees who are immediately outside Ukraine.
Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Secretary, thank you for your service. Stay safe.
Secretary BLINKEN. Thank you.
Ms. LEE. Now I will yield to Ms. Meng.
Ms. MENG. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. Thank you, Sec-
retary Blinken, for your testimony here today. And I am pleased
to see that the State Department’s budget justification supports
$2.6 billion to advance gender equity and equality. I was particu-
larly excited to see a 400 percent increase in funding for the Office
of Global Women’s Issues at State. However, what is not clear in
the administration’s budget justification to Congress is how the ad-
ministration accounts for the $2.6 billion. The administration has
previously stated prevention and response to gender-based violence
is a top priority with a newly-updated strategy on preventing and
responding to gender-based violence globally. Does this doubling of
funding for gender equity and equality include increased funding to
prevent and respond to gender-based violence, including the Safe
From the Start Program, and how will the Department uphold pro-
tections against gender-based violence as a core pillar of diplomatic
efforts, programming, and operations?
Secretary BLINKEN. Thank you, and let me first thank you for
your leadership on this issue for a long time. It is greatly appre-
ciated, and it has also inspired our own efforts. Yes, the focus of
the budget request in this area, first, the overall number, the $2.6
billion to advance gender equality to prevent and respond to gen-
der-based violence and to promote women peace and security, is
vital and critical. And within that, for gender-based violence, the
request is $252 million. That is a $77 million increase from fiscal
year 2022.
As you know very well from all the work that you have been
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lem, especially during COVID as a result of lockdowns, mobility re-
strictions, economic insecurity, the shadow pandemic. So we have
in this budget various programs to offer support services and to use
our foreign assistance and our diplomatic action to address the
challenge. One critical aspect of this, from my perspective, is some-
thing we focused on, which is making sure that we have a gender-
based approach to water, sanitation, health, and hygiene in refugee
and displaced person situations because, again, as you know very
well, this is critical, making sure that things are accessible, sex
segregated, safe supplies.
This is very much part of our focus, and the resources that we
have will help us advance that, including in our work with inter-
national organizations. And we anticipate that some portion of
these resources will support Safe From the Start to prevent and re-
spond to GBV at the start of emergencies. I agree with you that
that is critical because if we can get ahead of this, we wind up not
having to play catch-up with the problem as it evolves.
Ms. MENG. Thank you so much for that. My second question is,
with the Taliban now in control in Afghanistan, many Afghani
women and girls are now being denied access to secondary edu-
cation. I appreciated your March 23rd statement decrying the
Taliban’s actions to limit educational opportunities for girls and
women saying education is a human right. Yet a few days later,
the administration released a budget that would reduce inter-
national basic education funding below congressionally-approved
appropriated levels, which included a reduction in funding for vital
bilateral education programs and multilateral programs where U.S.
leadership is so important. For example, the Global Partnership for
Education and Education Can’t Wait.
Secretary Blinken, can you outline the administration’s views on
these programs and plans to increase funding for education pro-
grams, including GPE and ECW?
Secretary BLINKEN. Thank you. Let me say first just to your
point about Afghanistan, this is something that we are intensely fo-
cused on, particularly the denial of basic rights to all Afghans, but
also and especially to women and girls, and within that, this focus
on education. One of the things that we have worked to do was to
make sure that as long as the Taliban was actually making good
on commitments it made to ensure that girls could go to school,
that we could and the international community could find ways to
support teachers, including with stipends. But as you know very
well, some weeks ago, they reneged on that commitment, and girls
above the 6th grade, for now, at least are not able to go to school.
This is a grievous violation of commitments that the Taliban had
made, as well as, I think, a disastrous development for the future
of the country. So we have the resources if the Taliban reverses
this decision to support, for example, teachers in Afghanistan to
make sure that once girls go to school, there is actually someone
to teach them. But I focus on this because it is one example of
places where we have seen a tremendous backsliding on the basic
upholding of rights, especially for women and girls.
As I said, we are intensely focused on this. I created two senior
positions in the Department focused exclusively on Afghan women
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and girls as well as human rights. We have a special envoy for Af-
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ghan women and girls and human rights, Rina Amiri. I think she
is known to a number of you, and she and her team have been en-
gaged on these issues on a daily basis as well as with the Hill.
More broadly, on education and resources, this is something I am
strongly committed to. We have to make assessments on, of course,
tradeoffs across the entire budget, which is always difficult, and an
evaluation of how we think we can effectively use the resources
and where they can be most effectively dedicated.
So the budget you have before you is our best judgment, includ-
ing in the area of education, of what we need and what we think
is effectively possible to advance the mission. Having said that, we
welcome working with you to look at ways to refine that if, you
know, we believe that we need to do more and focus more in that
area.
Ms. LEE. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. I will now yield to Ms.
Granger.
Ms. GRANGER. Thank you. Mr. Secretary, I just returned from
Israel, as I mentioned, and I am very concerned about the increas-
ing violence. I remember the last time when Israel was being
bombarded with rockets, the loss of life would have been much
worse had we not invested in the Iron Dome Program, which I
strongly support. The United States should be using assistance to
the Palestinians as leverage for deescalating tensions and pre-
venting violence. Are you using this assistance as leverage, and if
not, why not?
Secretary BLINKEN. Thank you, and I am very glad you were
there. I just returned a couple of weeks ago as well from Israel as
well as other countries in the region. And we have been intensely
focused on exactly what you are talking about because we didn’t
want to see a repeat of last year. We were able to get that back
in check relatively rapidly, but damage was done and lives were
lost. And we have been very focused on trying to make sure that
this doesn’t happen again. I sent a senior team to Israel to work
with the Israelis, to work with the Palestinians, to work with the
Jordanians and others to try to help everyone avoid taking actions
that could precipitate more violence. And I think this has been
largely for now—I am knocking on wood—largely successful.
Second, thanks to Congress and your leadership, we were able to
replenish Iron Dome in a significant way, which means that if
there were to be attacks against Israel coming from Gaza and rock-
ets, the Israelis would have, once again, the means they need to
defend themselves. When it comes to Palestinian assistance, we
have increased that assistance. We have it in our budget. We think
it is vital that the Palestinian Authority, for all of its shortcomings,
be supported because the alternative is Hamas, and that is in no
one’s interest, well, I would say starting with the Palestinian peo-
ple, but also starting with Israel, never mind us.
So we are making sure at the same time that, of course, all of
the assistance that we do provide is fully consistent with things
like the Taylor Force Act. We are working very hard with the Pal-
estinians to get them to end the so-called martyr payments that go
to those in prison for terrorism or their families, and using assist-
ance in a variety of other ways to try to make progress with the
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Ms. GRANGER. Thank you. I have a second question. Just last
month, Iran fired as many as a dozen missiles at the capital of
Iraq’s Kurdistan region. This is the latest in a string of attacks by
Iran and its proxy forces. First, how is the U.S. Government assist-
ing our partners so they can push back at Iran, and second, can
you commit today that you will not sign onto a new nuclear agree-
ment with Iran unless they stop their destabilizing actions in the
region?
Secretary BLINKEN. Thank you. We are working very closely with
all of our partners in the region to help give them the means as
well as our own means to push back against myriad destabilizing
actions by the Iranians, including things like missile attacks, sup-
port for terrorist proxies, et cetera. For example, we are trying to
ensure that countries have the defensive capacity to deal with in-
coming missiles via proxies like the Houthis against the United
Arab Emirates and against Saudi Arabia. We are working to inter-
dict the movement of weaponry, to sanction various entities in-
volved in that, and doing that in a way that is very collaborative
with all of our partners in the region—Israel, the Arab countries,
et cetera. And, of course, we are taking necessary measures to pro-
tect our own forces.
I will say two things. First, when it comes to the Iran Nuclear
Agreement, that is still something that is being engaged in to see
if we can get a return to mutual compliance. I would tell you this
is no longer a hypothetical exercise because we have seen what the
situation looks like with the agreement when it was enforced. We
have seen what it looks like without it. And I can tell you that from
the perspective of American interests and American security, we
have clearly been better off with it than without it, not only with
regard to Iran’s nuclear program, but indeed with regard to its de-
stabilizing and dangerous activities. From 2012 to 2018, when we
started to negotiate the original agreement to the time the previous
administration pulled out of it, there were virtually no attacks on
Americans in the region: Iraq, Syria, you name it.
Since then, those attacks have gone up dramatically. Since we
pulled out of the agreement, since we designated IRGC as a foreign
terrorist organization, since Soleimani, for whom no one is shed-
ding any tears, was killed, those attacks have gone up dramati-
cally. From 2019 to 2020, the attacks against Americans in the re-
gion went up 400 percent. At the same time, despite the maximum
pressure effort, Iran’s nuclear program has gone full steam ahead,
and whereas we had a breakout time of more than a year for Iran
to produce fissile material for a nuclear weapon under the agree-
ment, now that breakout time is down to a matter of weeks.
So the question is not one of, you know, the theoretical. The
question is what is the most effective way for us together to deal
both with the Iranian nuclear program but also with its desta-
bilizing activities and the threats that it poses to us, and to our al-
lies and partners. And one way or another, we are going to do that.
If there is an agreement, that agreement takes, in no way, away
from us any of our abilities to deal with Iran’s other dangerous ac-
tions: the ballistic missiles, the support for terrorism, et cetera. If
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that we are doing everything we can with allies and partners to ad-
dress these challenges.
Ms. GRANGER. Thank you very much.
Ms. LEE. Now I will yield to Mr. Price.
Mr. PRICE. Thank you, Madam Chair, and welcome, Mr. Sec-
retary. We are happy to have you with us and commend you and
your colleagues for the hard work you are doing. And you are fac-
ing this daunting array of challenges around the globe with
prioritization required, but also an attentiveness to areas that we
must make sure we don’t let slip and let slide because we must re-
main attentive.
I have a particular lens on this by virtue of chairing the House
Democracy Partnership, which works cooperatively with par-
liaments in emerging democracies around the world in a kind of
mutual effort to share best practices and offer encouragement and
support. And that leads us to focus on democratic progress, or
democratic backsliding, or worse, which is going on in the countries
we work with. We, of course, are distressed with the ongoing coup,
the persistence of the situation in Burma. We keep a close eye on
Sri Lanka, Kyrgyzstan, other countries, and I should say Ukraine.
I mean, our partnership with Ukraine has been very, very solid,
especially since Maidan, and we knew our Ukrainian colleagues
were striving to build a democratic institution and to determine
their country’s course. But, of course, we had no idea what bru-
tality Russia was capable of or what courage and resilience the
Ukrainians would exercise. So we, of course, support every effort
to back our colleagues in Ukraine. And by the way, the Ukrainian
parliament has managed to meet in the midst of all this and itself
has shown great courage.
I want to focus today on Tunisia, a country that is widely de-
scribed as the only democratic success story of the Arab Spring. I
think that is probably accurate. And it is a country that, over a
decade, managed to keep democratic development going. Leaders of
the country received a Nobel Peace Prize for extraordinary efforts
at one juncture. But now there has been a turn for the worse, and
it is not getting better. Since the middle of last year, Tunisian
President Saied has dissolved parliament. He shuddered the inde-
pendent National Anti-Corruption Authority. He seized control of
the Independent High Authority for Elections. He has consolidated
his power over the judiciary, and he stated his desire to outlaw for-
eign funding for civil society. And as you are well aware, the Na-
tional Democratic Institute and International Republican Institute
have had a significant presence in Tunisia.
The Biden administration has spoken out against this, has said
that it ‘‘shares the Tunisian people’s goal of democratic government
responsive to the country’s needs.’’ The question is, what can we
do? What are we doing? Are we doing enough? I think a lot of us
have thought that this was a situation that wasn’t quite as des-
perate as some others, that it was subject to diplomatic influence.
What does our toolbox look like here, and are we fully utilizing it.
And then just quickly, of course, the budget is part of that and are
cutting the aid to Tunisia in this budget by a good amount. I am
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ing to influence the movement of that country back into the demo-
cratic family of nations.
Secretary BLINKEN. Well, thank you, and can I just first thank
you for an extraordinary 34 years of service in Congress and for
your leadership on issues of democracy? It is greatly appreciated,
and it is making a difference around the world.
I share the concerns that you have just expressed. Tunisia had
been a relative success story in the region, one that we long sup-
ported through a couple of administrations. I share your deep con-
cern about the unilateral dissolution of the parliament. I have spo-
ken to President Saied myself a number of times on this. We are
pressing for a transparent, inclusive, to include political parties,
labor, civil society reform process. He is committed to holding a ref-
erendum in July and holding parliamentary elections in December.
Ideally, that would have moved a lot faster, but, at the very least,
Tunisia needs to hold to that. They have had a consultative proc-
ess, as you know, for the reform agenda and for the constitution.
A very small percentage of eligible Tunisians have actually partici-
pated in that. It was online, and I think about 6-and-a-half percent
of Tunisians actually participated. That does not augur well for
something that is really an inclusive process of reform. Also, we
have seen the use of military courts to prosecute civilians, particu-
larly for political speech. That is something we have been pressing
back against, and infringements on civil society, on judicial inde-
pendence.
All of these factor into our assistance. And so part of what you
have in the budget before you is an assistance plan that is cali-
brated on the realities that we face in Tunisia now, but with the
ability, if President Saied moves the country back on to a better
track, to provide additional support for Tunisia going forward. At
the same time, I think the most important thing that they need to
do is to make themselves fully eligible for support from the inter-
national financial institutions. And, again, what has happened now
has gotten them off track on that, so they have a tremendous, as
you know, crisis. They have an immediate budget crisis, and then
they have a long-term economic sustainability crisis.
The long-term economic sustainability crisis is best met by work-
ing with the international financial institutions. Others potentially
could provide some direct budgetary support, but, honestly, that is
dependent on the president moving the country to a better track.
We have been urging that. We have been making clear that our
support can be there, but we need to see Tunisia return to the
track that it was on.
So we are looking at all of these things that I just described as
indicators of whether things are moving back on track. If so, our
support can increase.
Mr. PRICE. Thank you very much.
Ms. LEE. I would yield to Mr. Diaz-Balart, and I am trying to ask
to stay within our 5-minute time frame. Mr. Diaz-Balart.
Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. Mr. Sec-
retary, let me first thank you for what I thought was a very impor-
tant visit to Ukraine in a pivotal moment. I thought that was a
very important thing that you did, and I thank you for that, and
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I appreciate it.
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Secretary BLINKEN. Thank you.
Mr. DIAZ-BALART. I don’t expect you to know, these are folks that
have rewards over their heads. These are major narco-traffickers,
murderers. The Department of State has rewards—$5 million, $5
million—over their heads, but I do know that you know this indi-
vidual that has a $15 million reward over his head.
Secretary BLINKEN. I can’t see. Can you tell me who —
Mr. DIAZ-BALART. I am sorry. Yeah, this is a smaller picture.
This is the narco-terrorist individual, Maduro of Venezuela, a $15
million reward over his head. There is also here another major,
Maduro ally who has also a $10 million dollar reward. So let me
tell you what was hard to understand when high-level members of
this administration, Department of State, met with Maduro in Ven-
ezuela, by the way, without even telling the legitimate recognized
president of Venezuela that that meeting was taking place. You
know, you might as well have met with El Chapo, right, I mean,
or these other individuals.
The Department of State has now decided to meet with Maduro,
his cronies, or his other thugs. Can you reassure me that there are
no meetings taking place with Maduro or other narco-terrorists
that have these rewards over their heads or others between this
administration, your administration, and these thugs in Venezuela?
Secretary BLINKEN. Thank you. Thank you for the question. Let
me just say two things quickly. First, we continue to recognize the
interim presidency of Juan Guaido and the 2015 democratically-
elected National Assembly as the representatives of the Ven-
ezuelan people, and we are doing a number of things to support the
democratic aspirations of Venezuelans. The trip that you ref-
erenced was focused on two things. It was focused on securing the
release of detained Americans. This is something that we and I are
focused on around the world. When we have arbitrarily-detained
Americans, people being used as political pawns, we are working
around the world to get them home, and the trip was focused on
getting them home. We managed to get two of those arbitrarily-de-
tained Americans home, and I am very pleased about that fact. We
are going to continue to get the remaining Americans home.
The other aspect of this trip was focused on pressing the Ven-
ezuelan regime to get back into talks in Mexico City with the uni-
tary government to move forward on trying to get democracy and
human rights back on track in the country. That was the purpose
of the trip. There are currently no other engagements. The Maduro
regime made some commitments about getting back to these talks,
but we haven’t seen that develop yet.
Mr. DIAZ-BALART. All right. So right now, there are no talks.
That is correct?
Secretary BLINKEN. That is correct.
Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Okay. Good. You are not new at this, Mr. Sec-
retary. You are well aware that the Castro regime has used mitiga-
tion to extort concessions from the U.S. governments when they
perceive to be weak over the years. They did so with President Car-
ter. They did so with President Clinton. They did so with President
Obama, and no surprise they are now trying to do it as well. By
the way, this was forewarned. Many folks talked about that. Sen-
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ator Marco Rubio warned about that, a lot of us did. I have men-
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tioned that this year it was very unlikely that the Castro regime
would not try to do it with this administration, and they are doing
it now with this administration.
And so I know that there, again, have been meetings between
members of your team and the Castro regime. The irony, though,
is that, we have seen this pattern before when the Castro regime
detects weakness, they use migration to try to extort concessions.
In a hearing in front of the Foreign Affairs Committee you said
that no such talks would take place without first notifying and con-
sultation with the Cuban-American community. Mr. Secretary, you
said that publicly, and yet that is not what happened. So I just
want to remind you that you made a commitment which you have
not kept, which I think is, well, unfortunate.
Are those conversations still taking place? What is the nature of
those conversations, and is the United States looking at potentially
giving concessions to the Castro regime in order to, placate this lat-
est attempt to blackmail who they perceive to be a weak adminis-
tration?
Secretary BLINKEN. Congressman, a couple of things. First, as
you know, and we have the same objectives, we are focused on two
basic principles when it comes to Cuba—the establishment of de-
mocracy and human rights and empowering the Cuban people to
actually determine their own future—so same objectives. There are
good faith judgments among many about the best way to do that,
but those are the objectives. We, like you, have been deeply con-
cerned by the worsening human rights situation in Cuba, and, you
know, that really means going from bad to worse, including the un-
relenting crackdown that we have seen since last July and as well
as an economic crisis that is, I think, having very challenging ef-
fects on the Cuban people.
There are, by our count, about 740 political prisoners currently
in Cuba. That includes Afro-Cubans. It includes——
Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Including children.
Secretary BLINKEN. Yes, and minors, and extraordinary sen-
tences, 30 years in some cases, so we share these concerns across
the board. When it comes to the talks, there have been many over
the years with many administrations, talks with the Cuban Gov-
ernment on specific issues where there is a mutual concern, and,
yes, we have had migration talks with them just about a week ago,
and this is to deal with a very specific challenge. We have, as you
know, across the board a historic migration challenge around the
world but also in our own hemisphere. And, of course, it is not just
Cubans. It is Haitians. It is people from Northern Triangle coun-
tries—Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador. It is Nicaraguans, it is
Venezuelans, et cetera, et cetera. But the Cuban piece of this could
exceed the arrivals that we saw from the Mariel boatlift back in
the 1980s.
So from our perspective, these talks are necessary to address our
own interests in making sure that there is safe, legal, and orderly
migration, including when it comes from Cuba. I think this is a
double-edged sword for Cubans, and you have probably gotten more
about this than I will know. But the double-edged sword is that
there is also a tremendous flight of talent from Cuba that the
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Cuban regime has some interest in also keeping at home for the
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future of the country. But the long and short of it is, I think these
talks are important to address our interests in making sure that
we have a handle on extraordinary migration.
Ms. LEE. Mr. Secretary, I am going to yield now to the chair-
woman——
Mr. DIAZ-BALART. I thank you for that, but there is no coinci-
dence. It shouldn’t surprise us that you are right. It was during the
Carter administration and now during this administration be-
cause——
Ms. LEE. Okay. I have got to yield now to the Chair of the Appro-
priations Committee, Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro. Also, I am going
to ask members to please remember we have to leave time for the
Secretary to respond to your questions. We only have 5 minutes for
each block of time. Thank you.
Chairwoman DeLauro.
The CHAIRWOMAN. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I appre-
ciate the time, and I appreciate my colleagues allowing me to move
forward in trying to deal with several hearings this morning and
to be at as many as I can.
Secretary Blinken, thank you for your testimony today, and for
your unwavering commitment to Ukraine, and the bravery that you
and Secretary Austin showed during your recent visit to Kyiv. You
have my word that myself and this committee will continue to sup-
port Ukraine as they battle for democracy and freedom. If Ukraine
is defeated, so, too, with democracy. I am proud that in coordina-
tion with the White House, the State Department, and with the
Chairwoman of the Committee and the Appropriations Committee,
we responded to the Russians’ unprovoked war of aggression with
$13.6 million dollars in emergency assistance to support the people
of Ukraine and its neighbors. We need to do more, and we must
do more.
To the extent it is possible, can you share with us what you saw
on the ground during your visit to Ukraine? I know we just re-
cently received a formal request for a Ukraine supplemental pack-
age a few moments ago. How did your visit to Ukraine inform that
request? What in your mind are the top priority items that have
been included in this supplemental request?
Secretary BLINKEN. Thank you very much, and thank you for
your very strong support for Ukraine and for all of the efforts that
we are undertaking there. A couple of things, we had this extraor-
dinary train ride from the Polish border into Kyiv, about 12 hours,
and I was extremely comforted in the fact that I was with the Sec-
retary of Defense Lloyd Austin, and I figured if anything bad hap-
pened, I would just get behind him and everything would be fine.
But what we saw were two things.
First, as you are going through the countryside in Western
Ukraine and then as you get to Kyiv itself, the country there right
now looks remarkably normal. Kyiv itself, as best we could tell in
the time we were driving in the city to get to President Zelensky,
looked like it was, you know, back to something approaching a nor-
mal life: people on the streets, even sitting at cafes. It was their
Easter Sunday, so there is that to factor in, but it looked relatively
normal, and most of the destruction that was done in the Kyiv area
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the Russians and forced their retreat. That is in stark contrast,
however, to what is going on right now in Eastern Ukraine and
Southern Ukraine where the brutalization of the country by the
Russians is going on full force.
The Ukrainians have done an extraordinary job, because of their
courage, in pushing Russians back, but also because they had the
means in their hands to do it. And a big part of the reason that
is the case is because well before this aggression, as we saw it com-
ing, we tried everything we could to prevent it, but we also pre-
pared to make sure that everyone would be ready, including
Ukrainians. The President initiated a drawdown for security assist-
ance to Ukraine last Labor Day. We did another very big one
around Christmas time of more than $200 million. The result of
those drawdowns before the aggression was that the Ukrainians
had in their hands the anti-armor, the anti-air, and other systems
that they needed to deal with the Russian attack in and around
Kyiv.
What has happened now, though, is the battle has shifted East
and South. So has the terrain and so have the needs of the Ukrain-
ians. Secretary Austin and I spent about 3 hours with President
Zelensky, his defense minister, his chief of the armed forces, for-
eign ministry, et cetera, and a big part of the focus was on what
is it that the Ukrainians need now to deal with the specific chal-
lenge they are facing from Russia in East and Southern Ukraine.
And, among other things, what they need are longer-range artillery
of a heavier caliber. They need armored vehicles, tanks. They need
shore-to-ship weapons to deal with the Black Sea and a number of
other things. So we spent a lot of time on that.
Much of this is already in the most recent drawdown that the
President has done, but as well, European partners and allies are
providing this equipment. The day after our meeting, the Secretary
of Defense went on to Germany where he convened 40 defense min-
istries, an extraordinary thing, to focus in on making sure we were,
together, providing what the Ukrainians needed. The supplemental
request that you have before you has the resources that we would
need in a variety of ways to actually get this job done, and it in-
cludes about $15–and-a-half billion in security assistance, much of
it for foreign military financing and the Pentagon’s equivalent of
that program, as well as significant funds for additional
drawdowns from our stocks.
It also gives us the means to help allies and partners, who have
given their weapons to Ukraine, to backfill.
The CHAIRWOMAN. To backfill.
Secretary BLINKEN. And that is really critical. I know you know
this. You have heard this. That is in the supplemental as well, as
well as in our budget request. Foreign military financing is the best
way to be able to do this, and that is in the budget, and it is in
the supplemental.
The CHAIRWOMAN. Thank you very much, and the backfill piece
is very, very important because it looks as if, in all probability, al-
most $20 billion for defense in this supplemental, but that means
coming from the U.S., so that backfill piece is very critically impor-
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Madam Chair, thank you very, very much, and thank you for,
you know, chairing this subcommittee. And I think it is fair to say
that, in a bipartisan way, we are committed to making sure that
we can help Ukraine sustain its democracy because it means de-
mocracy worldwide. So thank you very, very much.
Ms. LEE. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for being with us
this morning. I will yield now to Mr. Reschenthaler.
Mr. RESCHENTHALER. Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate it,
and, Secretary Blinken, thanks for being here this morning. I
wanted to just revisit some of the responses you gave to Ranking
Member Granger. I don’t want to put words in your mouth, but you
basically indicated that it was your belief that Iran and its proxies
have been relatively well behaved since the Iran nuclear deal. I
just got to push back on that a little bit because I think it might
be myopic just to focus on Iran itself when Iran is funding proxy
wars, the Houthi rebels, for example, in Yemen, propping up the
Assad regime, money to Hamas in Israel, Hezbollah in Lebanon.
So do you still stand behind that statement that Iran has been
relatively well behaved since 2012?
Secretary BLINKEN. Congressman, you are right that would be
putting words in my mouth because here is what I said, and if I
didn’t express myself as clear as I should, let me try again. What
I said was that in terms of Americans—diplomats, military, et
cetera—in the Middle East, from 2012 when we started to nego-
tiate the original agreement to 2018 when the previous administra-
tion pulled out, there were virtually no attacks on our immediate
interests—diplomats, forces—in the region. There were absolutely
attacks against allies and partners, and that is a problem that we
have been focused on during the pendency of the agreement. Noth-
ing in the agreement took away from our ability to work with them
to push back on that, but I was talking about Americans. And what
we saw after pulling out of the agreement, after the designation of
the IRGC as an FTO, after the killing of Soleimani, again, for
whom no one is shedding a tear, we saw those attacks go up dra-
matically against Americans 400 percent from 2019 to 2020, de-
spite maximum pressure.
And so the question is, how can we be most effective in two
things. How can we be most effective in dealing with the Iranian
nuclear program, which also has galloped forward under maximum
pressure after we pulled out of the nuclear agreement where they
are now on the verge of having the capacity to produce fissile mate-
rial for a nuclear weapon within in the space of a couple of weeks
as opposed to more than a year under the agreement, and they con-
tinued to act even more aggressively. This policy that has been fol-
lowed the last few years has not deterred them. On the contrary,
they are doing worse in all areas, nuclear and the destabilizing ac-
tivities. So I think the question all of us have to ask ourselves, be-
cause we have the same objective, is how can we be most effective
in dealing with both of these problems.
Mr. RESCHENTHALER. Well, thanks for clarifying. I still have to
push back because I think we are still not looking at the Shia mili-
tia groups in Iraq, which are clearly being led by the IRGC, but
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my time——
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Secretary BLINKEN. Well, now they are. That is my point. You
are exactly right. What we have seen the last few years is an abso-
lute increase in attacks by these groups. You are exactly right. But
that was after we got out of the agreement, after the designation
of the IRGC, after Soleimani, et cetera. So you are right, and we
are deeply, deeply not only concerned about that but acting against
it. But my only point is none of this is a hypothetical exercise. We
have seen what the world and the region looks like when we have
the agreement. We have seen what it looks like without the agree-
ment. We need to take stock of that and deal with that effectively.
Mr. RESCHENTHALER. I am still incredibly concerned that if we
do get an agreement, we are not going to be able to do anything
to protect our allies in the region, specifically Israel. And also, we
are not going to be able to control Iran to use the proxy groups in
Iraq, the Shia militias, to attack our bases in Iraq. But I only have
a minute left, Mr. Secretary, and I would really like to talk about
Taiwan.
I think that Dictator Xi is looking at the disaster that was the
withdrawal in Afghanistan, the weakness I think we have shown
vis-a-vis supporting Ukraine. I think we should be much more ro-
bust in our support, and we should have done more earlier. But be
that as it may, I am very concerned that the CCP will invade Tai-
wan. Do you think that we should just affirmatively right now say
that we will militarily defend Taiwan, and additionally, what can
we be doing now to give Taiwan the weapons they need to defend
against an invasion?
Secretary BLINKEN. I share your concerns about Taiwan. We
have seen Beijing act increasingly aggressively toward Taiwan over
the last few years. I would say two things. First, I think that Bei-
jing does and is looking very carefully at what is happening in the
response to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, and is seeing this
extraordinary response that American leadership helped produce in
terms of the massive consequences we made clear would follow if
Russia committed the aggression. And the unprecedented sanc-
tions, the unprecedented export controls against Russia are having
a devastating effect. In the near term, on its economy, we are look-
ing at a 15–percent contraction of the Russian economy, all of the
gains of the last 15 years wiped out. We are looking at Russia
being unable to modernize key industries, including defense, in-
cluding energy exploration, all of this, and we have seen the exo-
dus, as you know, of something like 800 companies from Russia be-
cause of reputational risk.
So quickly put, the response that we have given to Ukraine, I
think, is concentrating some minds in Beijing. But second, and to
your point as well, it is vital that we continue to do everything that
we have been doing over many years and are continuing to do now
to make sure that Taiwan has the means to defend itself. And we
have seen significant transfers of defense articles to them. We have
had about $18 billion in foreign military sales since 2017. That
pace continues. We have had about $2–and-a-half billion in direct
commercial sales, and we are looking to do a number of things, in-
cluding improving delivery timelines, an intense focus on that, but
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defense to any kind of potential aggression from Beijing, and work-
ing closely with them on that.
So I think we need to be continuing down that track. We have
had on Taiwan, for many decades, a success in making sure that
it its democracy could thrive and emerge while the status quo was
preserved, both by Beijing and by Washington. The challenge to
that status quo is coming from Beijing, and we need to make sure
the Taiwan has the means to defend itself so that it deters any pos-
sible——
Mr. RESCHENTHALER. Well, what about just affirmatively saying
that we will——
Ms. LEE. We will have to yield to Ms. Frankel now, Mr.
Reschenthaler. Your 5 minutes——
Mr. RESCHENTHALER. I know, but, Madam Chair, the question
wasn’t answered. I mean, the question was, can we just affirma-
tively say that we will defend Taiwan militarily. It wasn’t an-
swered.
Ms. LEE. We are going to try to have a second round where you
can follow up.
Mr. RESCHENTHALER. Okay. Thanks.
Ms. LEE. Thank you.
Mr. RESCHENTHALER. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Thanks, Madam
Chair.
Ms. LEE. Ms. Frankel now.
Ms. FRANKEL. Thank you, Mr. Secretary, for being with us today.
Reports of sexual violence and rape as a weapon of war against
Ukrainian women are deeply appalling. It is horrendous the stories
that we are hearing, so I have a couple questions related to that.
Are there any realistic efforts that can be made to stop that par-
ticular kind of violence? What kind of efforts are you making in
terms of the supplemental emergency funding to support survivors
of sexual violence, including many who are becoming pregnant, and
is there any extra accountability that Russian can be held to?
Secretary BLINKEN. Thank you, and I share your view that these
reports are appalling, and we continue to get new ones every day.
As this Russian tide has receded from parts of Ukraine, we have
seen what has been left in its wake, and one of the things that has
been left in its wake is clear evidence of gender-based violence and
other atrocities. So two things on this. First, we are very focused
on supporting efforts at accountability.
Ms. LEE. I am getting some feedback from someone who is not
muted. Okay. Continue.
Secretary BLINKEN. Thanks. There are a number of efforts that
are going on to try to ensure that there is accountability, and ac-
countability, especially when it is visible, may serve as something
of a deterrent going forward, but we want to, regardless, make sure
that there is that accountability. We are directly supporting the ef-
forts of the Ukrainian prosecutor general and her team to accumu-
late evidence and to be able to prosecute war crimes of one kind
or another, and we have our experts who are working with them
every single day.
Second, because we were able to get back on the U.N. Human
Rights Council, one of the things we were able to do was get it to
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stand up a commission of inquiry into abuses of human rights, in-
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cluding gender-based violence in Ukraine, and we are supporting
that effort. Third, we have welcomed the International Criminal
Court opening an investigation, and I believe we can find ways to
support that investigation going forward. And a piece of each of
these investigations will be the crimes committed against Ukrain-
ian women and girls. At the same time, we are looking at how our
assistance programs can provide support to victims, to survivors.
The funds that you have as a request before you, both in our budg-
et but also in the supplemental, I think some of that can be used
to address that aspect of humanitarian concern that we have.
Ms. FRANKEL. Thank you. I would just urge you to keep talking
loud and at the top of your lungs on this violence on the women
in Ukraine. I wanted to say just a quick statement on Grace
Meng’s question, on education. There are still 130 million girls out
of school internationally, and 11 million of them who had been in
school before COVID, and are predicted will not go back. I just
want to say that education is a game changer for girls and for their
communities. So I hope that you will pursue efforts to try to reduce
the barriers around the world that are keeping girls from school.
So on the Iran agreement, I think, listen, we all agree we don’t
want Iran to have a nuclear weapon. Two quick questions on that.
What do you see as the current role of Russia, and what do you
see as the current role of Congress?
Secretary BLINKEN. Thank you. So with regard to Russia, as you
know, it has been a member of the group who helped negotiate the
original agreement along with the European Union—France, Ger-
many, the U.K., and China. It remains part of that group. Since
the aggression, it took some steps within the negotiations to make
life more complicated. But the other parties in the group pushed
back against that, and, at least as we speak, they are not currently
an obstacle to seeing if we can get back into mutual compliance
with Iran. But they would also have an important role to play in
any such return to the agreement in terms of taking out of Iran
the excess enriched materials and getting them out of the country
so that the stockpile in Iran is kept at a level that doesn’t allow
them to break out and produce fissile material for a weapon on
short order. So we would have to see if they would actually cooper-
ate with that. There are no indications they wouldn’t but some-
thing that we would be looking at very carefully.
And, of course, when it comes to Congress, it is vital that Con-
gress continue to be a full partner in this. Of course, during any
actual negotiation, negotiations have to take place to preserve the
ability to actually negotiate, but we have had our envoy and nego-
tiator, Rob Malley, as well as his team engage in a series of brief-
ings and meetings with members of Congress. If this were to go for-
ward, of course, we would be in ongoing close consultations with
you on the details of any agreement. We are not there right now,
but if that happens, we will be.
Ms. LEE. Okay. I want to yield to Mrs. Torres. Let me remind
members that you may submit your questions for the record to get
a more thorough response if you feel that you haven’t been able to
complete your response, the answer to your question during this
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round. Mrs. Torres.
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Mrs. TORRES. Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Secretary, I want
to begin by thanking you and your incredible team for the work
that you are doing unifying the world to save the people of Ukraine
and their democracy.
When you came before this subcommittee last year, we spoke
about the administration’s goal in Central America to help stem
the tide of migrants to the U.S. by ensuring that they have safety
and the opportunity to thrive within their own borders. I am glad
to see the steps that you have taken in the Northern Triangle, in-
cluding progress on diplomatic appointments, publicly naming cor-
rupt and undemocratic actors, and funding civil society instead of
government actors who seek only to advance their own personal in-
terests. Thank you for your commitment to the fight against cor-
ruption in the region. We cannot give taxpayers’ money in foreign
assistance to governments that continue to misuse it.
Unfortunately, in the last year we have seen civil society actors,
journalists, independent prosecutors, and judges, under attack in
both El Salvador and Guatemala. El Salvador declared a state of
exception that bypasses citizens’ rights and exempts security fund-
ing from regular oversight. And in Guatemala, there are concerted
attacks against the independent judiciary. Some are in jail afraid
for their lives or seeking asylum in our country. We can’t trust
these governments to administer aid to fight corruption and the
rule of law when they are doing everything in their power to work
against those very issues.
At the same time, the Northern Triangle is at a pivotal moment,
and I believe the increased funding requested in your budget is ur-
gently needed to support good actors who are continuing to fight
corruption and upholding the rule of law.
So, Mr. Secretary, given the lack of political will we have seen
from some governments in the region, what clear and effective con-
ditions will be required for funding our efforts to address the root
causes of migration from Central America?
Secretary BLINKEN. Thank you, and I share the concerns that
you have raised as well as the need to make sure that our assist-
ance is channeled in an effective way and deals with this issue.
And just quickly, I very much share the concerns about the coun-
tries that you mentioned. For example, in Guatemala, we have
seen efforts to strip judges of immunity, expose them to retribution.
We have seen meritless cases against media that was trying to ex-
pose corruption. We have seen the arrest of anti-corruption pros-
ecutors, et cetera. And similarly in El Salvador, we have real con-
cerns about some of the steps that have been taken as they have
been backsliding from democracy.
Having said that, two things. First, one of the things that we
have been able to do is work effectively as necessary around prob-
lematic potential partners, including directly with civil society, di-
rectly with local government, directly with the private sector. And
by the way, the Vice President, as you know, last year did a call
to action to raise investment resources for the Northern Triangle
countries, and companies came forward with about $1.2 billion in
new investments, and those private sector investments will go to
creating opportunity and jobs for people in these countries in ways
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that will actually give them a choice between staying at home or
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trying to make the hazardous journey to a country where they
won’t get in if they don’t have an asylum claim. So that is a big
focus.
Second, we continue to take real action against corruption. In
Honduras, we brought a case against the former President Her-
nandez. We listed him first in a classified way, then we did that
publicly. We just, I think about a week ago, had him extradited to
the United States obviously by the new Honduran Government. So
this is a very clear sign and a very clear message that not only do
we take it seriously, we act on it.
Mrs. TORRES. Thank you. You know, I agree with all of the ef-
forts. It is just very difficult for me to look at a company that is,
you know, wanting to expand and provide an opportunity for jobs
in the region without, you know, the warning label that these are
very corrupt actors and it will be very difficult to do business. But
my time up, and I want to be respectful to the rest of my members.
And, Madam Chair, I yield back.
Ms. LEE. Thank you. Now I will yield to Ms. Wexton.
Ms. WEXTON. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman, and thank you,
Secretary Blinken, for your service and for your testimony. And
thank you, Representative Torres, for being so gracious about yield-
ing
Secretary Blinken, you know, I know a lot has happened since
you were last before us, but I do want to follow up on a couple of
the things that we spoke about when you were last here before us.
First of all staffing. I want to just commend the State Department
on your efforts to make a dent in the 800 positions that you lost
over the last 4 years. I also want to commend you on your efforts
in hiring the new 179 Foreign Service and in making them more
diverse than they have historically been. So I just want to say
thank you for that.
Now, I also want to talk a little bit about the transnational
threats to Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities who are fleeing per-
secution in China. We have heard reports from Turkey, Saudi Ara-
bia, Morocco, and other countries about Uyghurs being forcibly re-
turned to China where they are likely to face, at the very least, vio-
lations of their human rights and even imprisonment or death. So
I know how much you care about this issue, and I would like to
work with you to address this growing problem because I think we
need a larger strategy involving international partners rather than
just dealing with it on a case-by-case basis. So I hope that this will
remain a priority for the administration, and I would like to work
with you in order to make that a reality because I think that we
can explore better ways to make sure that these countries know
that they should not be violating these non-refoulement principles,
and I think a lot more can be done on that. So thank you very
much for that as well.
The first question I have for you is about opening of a consulate
in Jerusalem. I do appreciate the budget’s commitment to advanc-
ing security and prosperity for both Israelis and Palestinians, and
consistent with that, President Biden promised that he would re-
open a consulate in Jerusalem specifically designated for Pales-
tinian affairs as a part of his pledge to restore economic and secu-
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rity assistance to the Palestinian people. And I know that that has
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not yet happened, and a lot of people are clamoring for to happen.
I understand that you have put in a request in this budget in order
for funding in order to make that a reality. How would you assess
the likelihood of that happening?
Secretary BLINKEN. Thank you. By the way, thank you for your
initial comments, including, I think, the very good and important
idea on dealing with non-refoulement obligations that countries
have with regard to Uyghurs and others who would be persecuted
if sent back to the countries that they came from. We have been
working very closely on that and engaging a number of countries
where there was a risk of Uyghurs being sent back against their
will to China. But I like your idea——
Ms. WEXTON. If you could address the question about the con-
sulate, that would be really——
Secretary BLINKEN. Yeah, yeah. No, no, I will. I will come to
that. I just wanted to thank you for raising that because I also
think the idea of working more collectively on that issue is a good
one, so just to say that. On the consulate, we are committed to re-
opening the consulate. That remains very much a part of our plan.
We are consulting with the Government of Israel on that. Their
support ultimately is needed for that because they, for example,
would have to give privileges and immunities to those serving in
the consulate. So it is important that we do this, of course, with
them and in consultation with them.
I want to point out that it is important for everyone to recognize
that the reopening of this consulate, which was there for well over
100 years before it was closed, would not affect in any way U.S.
Embassy Jerusalem or change our recognition of Jerusalem as
Israel’s capital. But we are committed to moving forward on this,
and we are working with Israel on that.
Ms. WEXTON. Very good. I am glad to hear that, and I hope it
will reopen, but I understand that the Israelis are very opposed to
it. And since we will need their agreement, I hope that you would
at least consider perhaps appointing a special envoy to the Pales-
tinian people in order to be able to more and better engage with
them diplomatically, because my understanding is that they are
feeling very ignored and very, you know, shunted off to the side at
this time.
Secretary BLINKEN. I was just in Ramallah with President Abbas
3 weeks ago, I think. Despite the Ukraine crisis, I was in Israel,
the West Bank, met with a number of Palestinian civil society lead-
ers, and we have been engaged with the Palestinian Authority
across the board.
Ms. WEXTON. Thank you, Secretary Blinken. And then my final
question for you is, you know, I also serve on the Congressional Ex-
ecutive Commission on China.
Secretary BLINKEN. Mm-hmm.
Ms. WEXTON. And as you are probably aware, that is a bipartisan
and bicameral commission that really focuses on human rights vio-
lations in China. And during the last administration, there were no
executive appointees to the commission, and there still hasn’t been
an appointee from the Biden administration. So I hope that you
will make it a priority to make sure that you guys get someone ap-
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Secretary BLINKEN. I will follow up on that.
Ms. WEXTON. Very good.
Secretary BLINKEN. I will follow up on that.
Ms. WEXTON. Thank you so much. Thank you.
Secretary BLINKEN. Thanks.
Ms. WEXTON. And I am going to yield back with 8 seconds to
spare, Madam Chair. Thank you. [Laughter.]
Ms. LEE. I want to thank you and Mrs. Torres for helping us
make up our time, and hopefully we will be able to get to the sec-
ond round. Thank you again. I will yield now to Mr. Espaillat.
Mr. ESPAILLAT. Thank you, Madam Chair. I will claim those 8
seconds. [Laughter.]
Thank you, Secretary, for your appearance here today. Yester-
day, we passed H.R. 4133, the Caribbean Basin Security Authoriza-
tion Act that allocates $75 million from 2022 to 2026. Could you
highlight, Mr. Secretary, the benefits of the Caribbean Basin Secu-
rity Initiative for that region?
Secretary BLINKEN. So, first, let me just thank you for your lead-
ership on this, and one of the things we are trying to do more, and
I had an opportunity to talk to the chairwoman about this as well
yesterday, is to focus more on the Caribbean Basin across the
board. Of course there is the climate challenge which is, as you
know very well, acute, and helping to make sure that our nearest
neighbors have the means to engage in adaptation and building re-
silience to that. We talked about this challenge that is this middle-
income trap, another way by which some countries, because they
are classified as middle income, don’t qualify for some of the assist-
ance that is given to countries that are classified as lower levels,
and yet they are on the immediate receiving end of both COVID–
19 and climate. So we are working on that and looking at that.
I look forward to seeing your legislation and to looking at how
we can work together more effectively, both to address resources to
the Caribbean Basin but also to engage. We are going to have a
Summit of the Americas in just about a month-and-a-half’s time.
Our CARICOM colleagues will be critical participants in that.
President Biden has already had a couple of opportunities to en-
gage with them directly, but I think the summit will be an impor-
tant opportunity to look at how we can continue to deepen our en-
gagement with them. I have had senior colleagues from the Depart-
ment who have just recently been working directly with CARICOM
to look at what are the needs and opportunities for deepened co-
operation between us and them. All of that we are factoring in, and
there are different parts of the functional budget that can be used
to address some of these needs. But also very happy to pursue that
with you and your team as we focus in on this in the months
ahead.
Mr. ESPAILLAT. Thank you. I look forward to that. Last year, this
committee passed language that addresses the needs of pregnant
Haitian women that cross the border to the Dominican Republic. So
services with the near collapse of the health system there, and, of
course, that places tremendous economic burden on the Dominican
health system itself. And the language calls for our assistance in
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Haitian women. Can you elaborate on perhaps how we can go
about that.
Secretary BLINKEN. Well, this is something, if it is all right, I
would love to come back to you on because I have to acknowledge
I wasn’t aware of that specific provision, but it obviously identifies
an important need. So give me an opportunity, if you will, to just
talk to colleagues about that and then come back to you on it.
Mr. ESPAILLAT. It was followed by a bipartisan letter led by Con-
gressman Diaz-Balart and myself. We will send you a copy of that.
Finally, Mr. Secretary, as you know, the cost of energy, oil, has
put tremendous strains on Caribbean and Latin American coun-
tries, and many leaders feel what they call [Speaking foreign lan-
guage], which is civil unrest because the price of essential goods
and [Speaking foreign language], the family breadbasket has gone
up tremendously. And yet these nations have difficulty accessing
the dollars that we may provide through the U.S. Development Fi-
nance Corporation, the board on which you sit on. What can we do
to help them? Otherwise, they are going to go to China. It is very
simple. They will go to Venezuela or they will go to China because
they have to survive, and the price of oil is just going through the
roof. What can we do to assist them and exert our leadership in
the region?
Secretary BLINKEN. Two things. First, you are exactly right that
we have seen, as a result of COVID, as a result of climate, and now
as a result out of the Russian aggression in Ukraine, a number of
dramatic consequences for countries around the world, but not the
least, in our own hemisphere and closest to us, in the Caribbean,
in terms of food security, both the availability and the prices, and
energy, and we are working intensely on both. And I am happy to
get into more detail, but broadly speaking, when it comes to food,
we are making sure that the World Food Program Food, Food and
Agricultural Organization, have the resources they need to engage
in their programs. We are incentivizing our own producers of fer-
tilizer to produce more. We are getting countries that have stock-
piles of food to release them and not to put export restrictions on
them. And I will be focusing our presidency of the Security Council
at the U.N. next month on food security, and similarly, a number
of steps on energy.
But this comes back again to the point you were making before
and we were talking about before, which is we want to make sure
that, for example, the various financing programs that we have
available, that countries are not sort of statused out of those pro-
grams because of the income level at which they are they assessed.
This is something I am looking hard at. It is very challenging, but
I recognize this problem. I heard it directly from Caribbean coun-
terparts. I spent some time meeting with the prime minister of Ja-
maica just a few weeks ago, and this was one of the things that
we focused on.
Mr. ESPAILLAT. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Mr. Sec-
retary.
Ms. LEE. Thank you. We will have a 3-minute round now so ev-
eryone can have at least second round of questions.
Let me just follow up, Mr. Secretary, on what Mr. Espaillat has
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tive, and when I was in the Caribbean, we talked a little bit about
that. But one of the issues was in terms of what is broadening the
definition of ‘‘security’’ as it relates to the Caribbean Basin Security
Initiative, and how perhaps resilience could be a part of that and
some redefinition of what ‘‘security’’ means under the context,
under the rubric of the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative. So that
is just another issue that was raised.
But let me ask you with regard to the treatment of black and
Asian refugees, African and Asian refugees, fleeing Ukraine being
denied and detained at the border crossing. We talked about this,
and the International Organization for Migration characterized
these reports as verified and credible. And so we did put into the
omnibus bill a statement directing USAID and yourself to inves-
tigate such reports and to ensure that all individuals fleeing the
conflict were treated humanely and provided equal access to hu-
manitarian assistance. So I am just asking you to be sure to report
back to us based on what is in the report so that we get a good
handle. We are still getting reports. We believe it has been reduced
in terms of the mistreatment, in terms of acts of mistreatment, but
we are still hearing quite a bit.
And with my 1 minute left, I want to just ask you about the di-
versity efforts of the Department of State, and what can we do to
help escalate your efforts. I don’t want to see it taking 5 or 6 years.
We need to do this quickly, and we need to do whatever it takes
as it relates to inclusion in the State Department because we have
to repair the damage of the lack of inclusion of diversity forever,
since the State Department has been in existence. And so I don’t
want to see us taking a long time to correct these unfortunate dis-
criminatory practices, so what can we do to help move this quicker?
Secretary BLINKEN. Well, first, I am grateful for your leadership
on this for a long time. Second, we are not waiting, we are acting,
and we are acting in a number of ways that I think are genuinely
historic. You referenced the appointment of the first chief diversity
and inclusion officer, Ambassador Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley,
and her entire team that report directly to me on the 7th floor. We
have senior officials now in each of our bureaus responsible for
tracking the diversity, and inclusion, and accessibility efforts that
we are making. As a result of the work of this office, we now have
a 5-year strategic plan that will hold us to account on whether we
are actually succeeding in creating a Department that actually
looks like the country that it represents. And the plan was the
product of intense work by the new CDIO but also reflected com-
ments before we put it out, I think, of more than 700 of our Foreign
Service and civil service officers.
Next, we are instituting a program to focus on retention because,
as you know very well, part of the problem we have is not simply
getting people through the doors of C Street to join. It is making
sure that once they are in, they stay, and we have had real prob-
lems there, too, and underrepresented communities in the Depart-
ment have left disproportionately. So clearly, there are challenges.
Ms. LEE. Mr. Secretary, my time is up and I want to yield to Mr.
Rogers, and so I will follow up with you——
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Secretary BLINKEN. Sure.
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Ms. LEE [continuing]. To submit the rest of my questions, or you
can respond to it in writing, but I want to get——
Secretary BLINKEN. I am happy to do that.
Ms. LEE. Thank you again.
Secretary BLINKEN. Thank you.
Ms. LEE. Mr. Rogers. Okay. Thank you.
Mr. Rogers.
Mr. ROGERS. Madam Chair, thank you. Mr. Secretary, 7 months
into Taliban rule, the world is witnessing an alarming increase in
human rights violations against Afghans as the Taliban continue
to show blatant disregard for international interests and norms. As
you know, the fiscal year 2022 State, Foreign Operations bill pro-
hibits funds from going directly to the Taliban. I have several ques-
tions. How are you ensuring compliance with that requirement,
why are you seeking a national interest waiver to this prohibition
in your budget request, and what circumstance do you believe it
might be in the U.S. national interest to provide taxpayer resources
to the Taliban, and, then more broadly, what is the administra-
tion’s strategy to address the human rights and humanitarian cri-
ses facing Afghanistan, including steps to support and protect oppo-
nents of the regime?
Secretary BLINKEN. Thank you. First, broadly, you are, of course,
exactly right that the Taliban have far from lived up to both public
and private commitments that they have made to respect the rights
of all Afghans, including particularly women and girls. There is
widespread reporting of human rights backsliding and violations.
And, of course, the inability of girls to go to school above the 6th
grade is one egregious example of that, a commitment the Taliban
had made and that it reversed itself on. We will see if that
changes. At the same time as we have been keeping countries to-
gether around the world to insist that the Taliban make good on
the clear commitments that they have made as well as the criteria
that the international community has set in terms of respect for
human rights, in terms for freedom of movement and the ability to
leave the country, in terms of making good on counterterrorism
commitments they have made, in terms of having an inclusive gov-
ernment, that not only the United States but the international
community hold them to that, and, for example, not recognize the
Taliban as a government unless and until it actually makes good
on these commitments and on these requirements.
With regard to assistance, though, our focus has been on human-
itarian assistance because the situation for Afghans is dire. A huge
percentage of the population is food insecure. A huge percentage of
the population needs humanitarian assistance just to survive. And
so we have done that work, including the resources we provided
through NGOs, through United Nations’ agencies that have tried
and true means and methods of making sure that the assistance
gets to the people who need it, not to the Taliban Government, and
that has been our focus. At the same time, we think that we do
have to find ways to allow the basics of the economy to function.
Otherwise, we will continue to put a humanitarian band-aid on
something that will not hold back the trauma that Afghanistan is
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And so ultimately, some ability to have teachers paid, civil serv-
ants paid, healthcare workers paid, some basic ability to have a
functioning banking system, these are necessary. We are looking at
mechanisms to do that. We want to make sure that we have the
flexibilities to do that if we can find the right mechanisms and
ways that don’t benefit the Taliban directly but do benefit the Af-
ghan people. So the flexibilities that we look for in the law would
be to enable us to do things of that nature. We are still working
on the most effective way to do it.
Mr. ROGERS. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Thanks for your service.
Secretary BLINKEN. Thank you.
Ms. LEE. Thank you. Now I will yield to Ms. Meng.
Ms. MENG. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. I want to thank the
State Department and its staff for its ongoing efforts to evacuate
U.S. citizens, their family members, as well as our Afghani allies
and partners from Afghanistan, and relocate those who are eligible
to the U.S. As you are likely aware, I had many constituents and
their loved ones in Afghanistan at the time of the Taliban’s take-
over, some of whom were stuck on lily pads for months and who
have only just been able to return to the U.S. Again, I appreciate
the continuous support of the coordinator for Afghanistan reloca-
tion efforts, but I just have a few questions.
It was recently brought to our subcommittee’s attention by the
CARE team that the Biden administration assigned a gender advi-
sor to each of the lily pads used to evacuate American citizens, al-
lies, and partners. This caught my staff off guard as the State De-
partment never shared such information, previously. Secretary
Blinken, can you confirm that the State Department deployed gen-
der advisers to all lily pads? From when and for how long were the
advisers deployed, and is it State Department’s policy to deploy a
gender advisor in all humanitarian contexts, and if so, approxi-
mately how much funding is going toward the additional training
and technical assistance required for the staff that serve in the role
of gender advisor?
Secretary BLINKEN. Yes. Thank you for focusing on that. So as
I recall, yes, we sent gender and protection advisors to the Oper-
ation Allies sites in the United States. Not at the lily pads, in the
United States. One of the things we have been concerned about
were reports of gender-based violence and abuse being committed
against Afghan women and girls who had left the country, includ-
ing potentially in relocation places. So we wanted to make sure
that we had done that as well as making sure that we had people
who could give them expert dedicated support. So that is where we
did it.
This is not something that we do in other places around the
world. The way we focused on this more generally is all of the staff
in the Population, Refugee, and Migration Bureau, including folks
in the field, are trained on protection from sexual exploitation and
abuse, protection of women and children in humanitarian situa-
tions, and they are the folks who are often deployed in different
places. They have that training. They have that expertise. But the
gender and protection advisers were deployed specifically to the
OAW sites in the United States.
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Ms. MENG. Thank you. I yield back.
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Ms. LEE. Thank you. Now I yield to Mr. Diaz-Balart.
Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. Mr. Sec-
retary, we have very little time, so let me ask two questions, if I
may. You talk about the horrors that are taking place in Afghani-
stan, particularly to women and girls. So let me ask you, were you
surprised that the Taliban would backtrack on their commitment,
something they have always done? Were you surprised at that? Did
it catch you off guard, or did you know that they would do what
they always did, which is backtrack on all their deals and then do
what they are now doing and they have done before to women and
children? So were you surprised or did you know and you just
thought, it is okay, we will pretend it didn’t happen? That is ques-
tion number one.
Number two is, there have been press reports about how three
folks of the negotiation team on the Iran deal have stepped back.
That is not usual. It is not something that happens every day. And
so you can understand why there is so much concern, about what
may be or may not be in this deal when you even have folks from
the negotiation team stepping back. Reports say they were con-
cerned about too many concessions been given to Iran. If it is a
good deal, then you would have no reluctance to bring it to Con-
gress for an actual vote, an actual ratification vote, not just a fake
one, but an actual ratification vote. So you anticipate that you
would bring it to Congress, not for a fake dog and pony show that
doesn’t have any teeth, for an actual vote for Congress ratifying or
not ratifying it?
So two questions. Were you surprised or did you know what was
going to happen and would bring it to Congress on the Iran deal?
Secretary BLINKEN. Thank you. The second question first. We
were, of course, looking at the law, including INARA, to make a de-
termination that if there is an agreement under the law, it needs
to come before Congress in that way. We take that very seriously.
We will follow the law, so that is clear.
Second, with regard to Afghanistan, no, we were prepared either
way. We were extremely clear-eyed about the challenges posed to
Afghanistan by Taliban rule, particularly with regard to human
rights for all Afghans, but especially for women and girls. There
are a number of very clear incentives that the Taliban would have
to act in a way that actually upholds rights, including the signifi-
cant support that they seek from the international community. We
have led a very widespread effort to make sure that country after
country would not provide that support unless the Taliban makes
good on the basic commitments that it has made. And by the way,
we led an effort to get a U.N. Security Council resolution laying
those out. We succeeded in that. We got more than 100 countries
to sign on to clear statements of expectations of the Taliban.
And so the question is really before the Taliban. If they expect
to be treated in any form or fashion as a government by the inter-
national community, there are basic things they have to do. If they
are not doing them, they are not going to get that treatment. So
a lot depends on how they see their own interests on a number of
fronts that are important to us. We have seen an absolute failure
to make good on commitments they have made. Some other areas,
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the commitment to allow people out of the country. That has actu-
ally gone forward. It is challenged by the lack of transportation
means to get out of the country, but, for example, we have had——
Ms. LEE. Mr. Secretary, can you complete the answer in writing
so I can yield to Ms. Frankel and Mrs. Torres?
Secretary BLINKEN. Certainly.
Ms. LEE. If we have a few more minutes, we will come back
around to complete it during this hearing.
I will yield now to Ms. Frankel.
Ms. FRANKEL. Thank you. Thank you again for your testimony.
Secretary Blinken, I am going to try to ask just two questions. One
has to do with the Abraham Accords. We know that at least be-
tween Israel and UAE, there has been a big boost in their commer-
cial interaction. Can you tell us how you envision the expansion
and whether you think it is successful? I know the UAE, Bahrain,
Sudan, and Morocco have become the first Arab nations since
Egypt and Jordan to officially recognized Israel. That is the first
one. The other one has to do with antisemitism, which, as you
know, globally, is increasing all over the world, and what kind of
efforts are going to be put forth in that regard.
Secretary BLINKEN. Great. Thank you. With regard to the Abra-
ham Accords, it is an absolute focus of the State Department and
my focus to deepen them and expand them. We think this is a very
important initiative in terms of Israel normalizing relations with
various neighbors and the countries close to it. I recently took part
in the Negev Summit with the foreign ministers from Israel, from
Bahrain, from the United Arab Emirates, from Morocco, from
Egypt, so either early partners of Israel or new ones as a result of
the Abraham Accords. And we are pushing forward on a shared
agenda for cooperation and integration on everything from energy,
to water, to food, to tourism, to healthcare. I had previously con-
vened an economic a partnership group between Israel, the UAE,
and India, to do joint infrastructure investments. That is some-
thing that we created coming out of the Abraham Accords as well.
We have launched working groups with Israel and the UAE on reli-
gious coexistence, on energy and water.
Now, none of this is a substitute for resolving the challenges be-
tween Israelis and Palestinians, but it is profoundly important, and
it is something that we are driving forward.
Ms. FRANKEL. I am sorry to interrupt you, but on that point, how
do you feel that the Abraham Accords can actually advance Israeli-
Palestinian peace?
Secretary BLINKEN. At our Negev Summit, we spent some time
talking with all of the participants about how we could collectively
help address some of the needs of the Palestinian people, including,
for example, supporting projects in the West Bank, 4G, solar
projects, which would improve lives, supporting the Palestinian
hospital network. And this is going to be very much a part of what
the Abraham Accord countries actually do with Israel. So I think
this can be, in that sense, a win-win because it is profoundly im-
portant to Israel and, I think, to countries in the region and beyond
to have a very new relationship, and at the same time make sure
that we are not leaving the Palestinians behind.
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Ms. LEE. I will yield now to Mrs. Torres.
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Ms. FRANKEL. Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair.
Ms. LEE. Mrs. Torres.
Mrs. TORRES. Thank you, Madam Chair. Secretary Blinken, on
the topic of sanctions, I want to make you aware of a bipartisan
bill that I introduced with Ranking Member Crawford on the Intel
Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, requiring the State Depart-
ment to look into the impacts of El Salvador’s embrace of
cryptocurrency on U.S. national security interests, including the ef-
fectiveness of sanctions. You know, I am very concerned with the
communication, or lack of communication, between Treasury and
State around sanctions.
I received some very important reports from you about corrupt
and undemocratic actors in the Northern Triangle, and I under-
stand that you revoked individuals’ visas to the U.S. But the Treas-
ury Department has not sanctioned them, even though the State
Department has determined them to be working against U.S. inter-
ests. And in fiscal year 2022, I supported funding increases for the
offices that deal with sanctions at both Treasury and State. So
given, you know, this new bill that we have introduced, and given
the lack of coordination between State and Treasury, how can we
improve communications between Treasury and State to ensure
that, you know, we are maximizing all of our tools to bring atten-
tion to these bad actors?
Secretary BLINKEN. I am happy to follow up on that, but let me
just say quickly two things. One is my sense is we have increas-
ingly strong coordination between our departments. It took a while,
but we just recently got confirmed by the Senate our sanctions co-
ordinator, Jim O’Brien, a deeply experienced person who, again, re-
ports directly to me. He is part of my larger office. He is going to
be a terrific addition now, including making sure that we are well
coordinated. At the same time our assistant secretary for economic
affairs, Ramin Toloui, is deeply expert in these issues. He was, dur-
ing the Obama administration, the assistant secretary of the Treas-
ury for international, including sanctions policy, and, of course,
knows his former Department very, very well. So I think we have
what we need to be fully coordinated.
Now, of course, most important, I suppose, I am in regular touch
with my counterpart, the Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, as well
as the deputy secretary, Wally Adeyemo. Having said that, if you
are seeing specific instances where you think something is not hap-
pening that should be happening, please let me know.
Mrs. TORRES. Yes, and I recently wrote her a letter addressing
the specific issue and asking her to do more to coordinate with
State. Thank you so much, and I yield back, Madam Chair.
Ms. LEE. Thank you. Well, first, let me thank you, Secretary
Blinken, for your time and your testimony today. You gave us a
very comprehensive understanding of the work being done around
the world by the State Department to preserve U.S. leadership and
support our global engagement. And so let me just say on behalf
of this committee how much we appreciate the work of the people
of the State Department to address these very complex issues and
needs.
And also, I was very heart warmed last year when we received
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over 6,500 requests for our bill, the State, Foreign Operations Sub-
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committee’s bill, which really, I think, showed me, surprisingly,
that it is not only this committee that has a keen interest in the
work of the State Department and global affairs, but it is the entire
Congress on a bipartisan basis. So you have a partner in this com-
mittee in this important work discussed today, but you also have
a partner in the entire House of Representatives, which I am tell-
ing you was quite remarkable to see. So it really was very heart-
warming, though, to see that.
And so just know that we want you to keep us apprised of both
the progress and your needs, and that we will work together as we
move forward in this year’s efforts with regard to the budget. So
thank you again.
Secretary BLINKEN. Thank you so much.
Ms. LEE. Mr. Rogers, do you have any closing remarks? Mr. Rog-
ers, you don’t have any closing remarks?
Mr. ROGERS. No. We wish the Secretary well. Godspeed.
Secretary BLINKEN.Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair and
Ranking Member Rogers. We really appreciate working with both
of you and working with every member of this of the subcommittee
and the larger committee. Thank you.
Ms. LEE. Thank you. Mr. Secretary, I know that you will be sub-
mitting, and I want members to know if they have questions, to
submit for the record. Please submit them to the subcommittee
within the next 7 days, and I am sure we will get the responses
to the questions that are asked by the Secretary.
Ms. LEE. So thank you all again very much.
This concludes today’s hearing.
[Questions and answers submitted for the record follow:]
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WEDNESDAY, MAY 11, 2022.
U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
WITNESS
AMBASSADOR SAMANTHA POWER, ADMINISTRATOR, U.S. AGENCY FOR
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRWOMAN LEE
Ms. LEE of California. The Subcommittee on State, Foreign Oper-
ations, and Related Programs will come to order.
Good morning. First of all, let me start by welcoming our Admin-
istrator, Samantha Power, back to our subcommittee.
Nice to see you today.
The hearing is fully virtual, and so we need to first address a few
housekeeping matters.
For today’s hearing, the chair or staff designated by the chair
may mute participants’ microphones when they are not under rec-
ognition for the purposes of eliminating inadvertent background
noise.
Members are responsible for muting and unmuting themselves.
If I notice that you have not unmuted yourself, I will ask if you
would like the staff to unmute you. If you indicate approval by nod-
ding, staff will unmute your microphone.
I remind all members and witnesses that the 5-minute clock still
applies during the Q&A. And we are going try to stick with our 5
minutes. If there is a technology issue, we will move to the next
member until the issue is resolved, and you will retain the balance
of your time.
You will notice a clock on your screen that will show how much
time is remaining. At 1 minute remaining, the clock will turn to
yellow. At 30 seconds remaining, I may gently tap the gavel to re-
mind members that their time has almost expired. When your time
has expired, the clock will turn red, and I will begin to recognize
the next member.
After Administrator Power presents her testimony, we will follow
the order of recognition set forth in the House rules, beginning
with the chair and ranking member; then, members present at the
time the hearing is called to order will be recognized in order of
seniority; and, finally, members not present at the time the hearing
is called to order. That is in terms of how the lineup will happen.
Finally, House rules require me to remind you that we have set
up an email address to which members can send anything they
wish to submit in writing at any of our hearings or markups. That
email address has been provided to you in advance and also to your
staff.
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I will start by once again welcoming our Administrator,
Samantha Power, to our Subcommittee on State, Foreign Oper-
ations, and Related Programs.
Your agency, the USAID, is America’s lead international develop-
ment agency, supporting people around the world to build safe,
prosperous, equitable, and inclusive societies.
The talented and knowledgeable and passionate people at USAID
are on the front lines each and every day, helping to save lives and
advance human rights and dignity, and their sense of profes-
sionalism and duty and patriotism is unmatched by anyone.
And so we are very grateful to have your leadership and exper-
tise at the helm of USAID and that you are joining us today.
This morning, we will discuss the administration’s fiscal year
2023 budget request for USAID. And, as I said to Secretary of
State Blinken during our recent hearing, I believe our international
affairs budget should be equal to, if not greater than, our military
budget. That is my personal opinion.
Our military tools should be used as the last resort, whereas for-
eign assistance resources that we provide are the best and most ef-
fective tools we have to address today’s most pressing challenges,
as well as to build a more just and inclusive and peaceful world.
I have long argued that our foreign assistance is critical to
achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially in
terms of eradicating poverty, protecting the planet, and promoting
peace and prosperity. The COVID–19 pandemic and its many sec-
ondary effects have made achieving these goals by 2030 all the
more difficult, while ongoing climate shocks and disasters threat-
ened our development goals even before the pandemic.
And so I am eager to hear from you, Administrator Power, on
how we will achieve the SDGs this decade and how USAID’s pro-
grams are both contributing to and measuring progress toward
them.
The fiscal year 2023 request includes notable increases for hu-
manitarian, global health, climate, and accountable governance
programs. It also makes bold commitments to gender equity and
equality, recognizing ongoing injustices felt by half of the popu-
lation, who disproportionately bear the burden from poverty, poor
health, violence, and climate change.
The request also includes a modest increase in food security, but
I fear it will not be enough to avert a global food crisis, which ex-
perts, including yourself, Administrator Power, have warned is an-
other catastrophic effect of Russia’s devastating war in Ukraine.
I know you have made several trips to the region, and I have re-
cently returned from Poland myself and, like you, heard firsthand
about the devastating impact this inexcusable war is having on in-
dividuals and communities.
Given the scope and the scale of the crisis, it is clear that there
is no quick fix. Our NGO partners and the United Nations commu-
nity are doing heroic work and scaling up quickly. Most had no
presence in Ukraine outside of the Donbas and neighboring coun-
tries before February.
While there is already more to do and improvements to be made,
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this is a humanitarian response like no other, and it presents both
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an opportunity and a challenge to think differently and work in full
partnership within structures that already exist.
And with your background and decades of experience in advo-
cating for human rights, you are uniquely qualified to assess and
report on the human cost of this crisis and other conflicts around
the world. I would appreciate hearing your perspective on the
never-ending demands on our humanitarian assistance and what
changes you have implemented at USAID that have improved our
response.
As Congress works through our fiscal year 2023 bills and con-
siders additional emergency resources, such as those passed by the
House yesterday, or last night, for Ukraine, we want to know if you
have the tools and authorities you need to stretch resources beyond
the emergency response and what the U.S. is doing to urge other
countries to step up as well.
During your short but impactful time thus far at USAID, you
have also prioritized locally led development by supporting leaders
in partner countries to play the lead role in shaping and imple-
menting assistance. I agree that, to be enduring, our development
efforts must be designed and led by those local actors. I am eager
to discuss the targets that have been set to put local organizations
in the driver’s seat. We will be watching for evidence of significant
progress in this effort over the next few months.
Also, you have instituted an agency-wide focus on diversity, eq-
uity, inclusion, and accessibility both in Washington and USAID
missions and programs. And you have named a new chief diversity
officer to oversee policy changes and hold the agency accountable.
And so I applaud these efforts, and I look forward to hearing an
update on the progress you have made so far toward a more di-
verse and inclusive USAID workforce.
Last but certainly not least, I also hope you will provide us an
update on our response to the COVID–19 pandemic around the
world, especially vaccine delivery and distribution.
Last week, the World Health Organization released its new esti-
mate of coronavirus deaths globally, 15 million, which is a stunning
figure.
As a fierce advocate for additional funding for international ef-
forts, like you, I am outraged by the partisan refusal to help the
rest of the world recover, as we in the United States try to do so
in our own country. This is not only morally unacceptable but also
strategically counterproductive. We have ample evidence that new
variants do not respect borders or political beliefs.
And so, Administrator Power, I hope in your testimony you will
remind the members of this subcommittee just how dire the situa-
tion will become if the United States suddenly stops leading the
world in combating COVID–19.
I will now turn to our ranking member, Mr. Rogers, for his open-
ing statement, and I want to thank you again, Administrator
Power, for being here today.
Mr. Rogers.
OPENING STATEMENT OF RANKING MEMBER ROGERS
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Mr. ROGERS. Thank you, Madam Chair.
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And welcome, Administrator Power. Good to see you again. I ap-
preciate your being here to provide testimony and to answer ques-
tions on the fiscal year 2023 budget request for USAID.
Let me start by once again acknowledging the good work being
done by the foreign and civil servants at USAID. In particular, I
want to express my appreciation to you and your colleagues for
your robust response to the crisis in Ukraine and its ripple effects
around the region and, indeed, around the world. In these extraor-
dinary times, it is important that we acknowledge your dedicated
cadre of development professionals that too often are working in or
near dangerous circumstances.
Turning to the matter at hand, the President’s budget request for
fiscal year 2023 for the State-Foreign operations bill is $65.77 bil-
lion, which is an increase of $9.678 billion over enacted. The re-
quest for USAID-administered accounts is $29.4 billion.
In broad strokes, the State-Foreign operations budget looks fairly
similar to what was requested last year. As I noted during our
hearing with Secretary Blinken, it represents significant increases
that we cannot afford and that are not realistic.
In my judgment, it is important that the administration focuses
on matters that are essential to U.S. national security and avoids
funding commitments that are above and beyond the resources the
Congress can provide. The credibility of the United States will be
further diminished if our commitments outstrip our means.
Madam Administrator, I urge you to keep this in mind as you
work with your interagency colleagues on what new initiatives and
funding commitments will be announced this year.
There are more priorities that I will get to in my questions, so,
in closing, let me thank you for your time today and for your con-
tinued service to our country.
I thank the chair and yield back.
Ms. LEE of California. Thank you very much.
Administrator Power, now, if you could summarize your oral
statement in less than 5 minutes. I want to make sure we have
enough time to get to our questions. Your full statement, of course,
will be included in the record.
And, after your testimony, I will be calling on members based on
seniority of the members that were present when the hearing was
called to order, alternating between majority and minority mem-
bers. I will then recognize any remaining members in the order of
their appearance.
Each member is asked to please keep their questions to within
5 minutes per round. And if, in fact, the chair of Appropriations or
ranking member arrive, I will definitely yield to them, because they
are in several hearings themselves.
So, good to see you again, Administrator Power. Please proceed.
OPENING STATEMENT OF MS. POWER
Ms. POWER. Thank you so much, Madam Chairwoman, Ranking
Member Rogers, and distinguished members of the subcommittee.
It is good to be back.
Just to sort of frame the discussion I hope we can have over the
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next couple of hours, I would just like to start by saying that I
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don’t think it is an overstatement to say that we are gathered here
at a profound juncture in history.
For 16 straight years, we have seen the number of people living
under democratic rule decline. The world is now less free and less
peaceful than at any point since the Cold War. And for several
years, as we are seeing vividly and graphically and horrifically
right now, autocracies have grown increasingly brazen on the world
stage, claiming that they can get things done for their people with
a speed and effectiveness that democracies cannot match.
Today, we see just how empty that rhetoric is and just how dark
the road to autocracy can be, from Vladimir Putin’s brutal war on
a peaceful neighbor in Ukraine to the People’s Republic of China’s
campaign of genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang.
Now, when autocracies are on their back heel, is the moment for
the world’s democracies to unite and take a big step forward after
so many years of losing ground. If the world’s free nations, with the
United States in the lead, are able to unite the efforts of our allies,
the private sector, to mobilize our multilateral institutions and
marshal the resources necessary to help our partner nations, we
have a chance to extend the reach of peace, prosperity, and human
dignity to billions more.
This has been USAID’s mission since its inception six decades
ago. And I am truly grateful to you for your continued bipartisan
support for our efforts to save lives, to strengthen economies, to
prevent fragility and conflict, to promotion resilience, and to bolster
freedom around the world.
USAID’s work is a testament to the fact that America cares
about the plight of others, that we can competently accomplish
mammoth goals that no other country can, and that the work we
do abroad also matters to Americans here at home. It makes us
safer, it makes us more prosperous, and it engenders goodwill that
strengthens alliances and global cooperation and creates a better
future for the generations to come.
Thanks to your past support, the United States has helped get
more than half a billion COVID–19 vaccinations to people in 115
countries. We have led lifesaving humanitarian and disaster re-
sponses in 68 countries, including Haiti, Ethiopia, and Ukraine. We
have helped enhance pathways for legal migration to the U.S.,
while working to strengthen worker protections. And we have as-
sisted the relocation and resettlement of Afghan colleagues and ref-
ugees under the most dire of circumstances, while pivoting our pro-
gramming in Afghanistan to address ongoing food insecurity and
public health needs and continuing to push to keep women and
girls in school.
We are also making strides to become much more nimble at a
time of immense demands, shoring up a depleted agency by wel-
coming new recruits and operating with greater flexibility. The
Biden-Harris administration’s fiscal year 2023 discretionary re-
quest of $29.4 billion will build on these steps forward, giving us
the ability to invest in the people and systems to meet the world’s
most significant challenges so the United States can seize this mo-
ment in history.
Last night, thanks to your bipartisan leadership, the House of
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Representatives took a major step in that direction by passing a
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nearly $40 billion package for Ukraine. Yet the challenges we face
are significant. Putin’s war has displaced more than 13 million peo-
ple, including two-thirds of Ukraine’s children. It has led to serious
disruptions to global food, fuel, and fertilizer supplies around the
world, further taxing an already overwhelmed international hu-
manitarian system.
Two difficult years of the COVID–19 pandemic have set back de-
velopment gains. And, despite U.S. leadership in vaccinating the
world, the job remains unfinished. Multibillion-dollar climate
shocks appear each year with more frequency. And continued hu-
manitarian crises remain in Ethiopia and elsewhere.
Yet, as grave as the challenges are, I sincerely believe the oppor-
tunity before us is even larger. By providing the resources nec-
essary to seize this moment, the United States can galvanize com-
mitments from our allies and private-sector partners, demonstrate
to the world that democracies can deliver in a way that autocracies
cannot. And these actions are the key to reversing years of demo-
cratic decline and creating a more stable, peaceful, prosperous fu-
ture for people at home and abroad.
With your support, USAID will move aggressively to grasp this
opportunity to build a brighter future for us all.
Thank you so much.
[The information follows:]
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Ms. LEE of California. Thank you very much, Administrator
Power.
I will start now. And I will try to summarize my questions very
quickly.
First of all, until the world is vaccinated, American citizens will
continue to be faced with the possibility of future and more deadly
viruses, in terms of deadly variants. It is essential that we ramp
up the deployment and delivery of vaccines in Africa and around
the world.
So what do you see as the consequences of Congress not pro-
viding an emergency supplemental to deploy vaccines already pur-
chased and not reaching the 70-percent goal vaccination target?
What do you expect to come out of the discussions in terms of the
second global summit? And how will uncertainty around Global
VAX and U.S. efforts limit our leadership?
And with regard to the Caribbean, I just want to ask you—be-
cause I just returned from a conference with parliamentarians in
the Caribbean, and they voiced over and over their inability to ac-
cess global climate assistance and financing due to being classified
as upper- to middle-income countries. And, of course, they feel very
left out, and our partnerships have not been strengthened in the
eastern Caribbean like they should have been with U.S. support
and alliances.
So what more can USAID do to help our Caribbean neighbors ad-
dress the barriers to assistance and financing and better combat
the effects of these storms and the climate crisis, recognizing their
specific vulnerability as small island nations, which really are very
low-income and poor, given the devastation of the hurricanes and
the climate crisis? And how do you think we can better dem-
onstrate to the people of the Caribbean that the United States val-
ues their partnership?
Ms. POWER. Thank you so much, Madam Chairwoman. Let me
take the questions in reverse order, if I can.
First, let me just say that, just in the last month, I have had the
chance to meet with the Prime Minister of Barbados and the Prime
Minister of Jamaica, touching on exactly this kind of structural as-
pect of your question, namely that these countries, by and large,
fall into categories that render them ineligible for, for example, in-
vestments by the Development Finance Corporation and out of the
reach of the kind of scale of investment by the World Bank and
other international financial institutions.
So I think, with the Summit of the Americas coming up, we are
deliberating, I think, internally about what more can be done.
USAID has increased—as you know well, thanks to you and
some of what you have put in past appropriations bills—but we
have increased our investments through CARICOM and through
other kind of regional groupings. And that has a country-by-coun-
try effect—for example, in helping Barbados deal with flooding;
helping ensure the creation of a catastrophe bond in Jamaica,
which I think, you know, helps the country build its resilience to
the kinds of climate shocks that are ever more prevalent in the re-
gion.
But there is no question that USAID financing a loan, without
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some of these other tools, will not give the countries what they
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need to endure what is coming at them, and more and more every
year.
If I could pivot, because I know I don’t have a lot of time, to the
ever-so-important issue of COVID vaccination, first, to step back
and to just say: It is working. We are getting shots in arms.
The statistics are really, really striking. When President Biden
had his last summit on COVID back in September, when he sought
to rally the world around vaccinating the world, when we finally
had supply coming on line, when he announced that we were going
to be donating a billion Pfizer doses, we were, in lower- and lower-
middle-income countries, at 13–percent vaccination coverage.
Today, we are at 52 percent in lower- and lower-middle-income
countries.
Why stop when we have now the vaccines and the supply being
brought on line, arriving in ports? And what we need is the assist-
ance to get those shots in arms. It requires everything from
strengthening cold chain storage to addressing what I think is the
biggest issue that goes even beyond vaccine resistance or vaccine
hesitancy, which is risk perception, people just believing, ‘‘Well, I
have lived for COVID now for 2 years without a vaccine. You know,
I have five bigger problems, including inflation and other issues
that I am sure we will talk about. You know, why go that extra
mile?’’
Well, if we make vaccines more convenient and accessible, it
turns out that people are much more likely to get those shots in
arms. And why does that matter? For the very reason that you put
your finger on, which is the risk of new variants, which we are not
out of the woods on, and specifically the risk of new variants as
they mutate in immunocompromised people.
So, for all of the success in bringing those numbers up, the num-
bers are still woefully low in sub-Saharan Africa. We were just be-
ginning to make a dent, for example, in Uganda through this new
initiative I launched in December called Global VAX, helping bring
the first-dose vaccination rates from 20 percent in November 2021
to 71 percent last month. I mean, that is what we can do just with
a surge of resources.
But our resources are spent. By the end of July, we will have ob-
ligated the American Rescue Plan funds that were dedicated to this
cause. And there could not be a cause more vital for the sake of
the people who have not yet been inoculated and for our own public
health here at home.
Ms. LEE of California. Thank you.
Ranking Member Rogers.
And we will come back to this if we have a second round.
Ranking Member Rogers.
Mr. ROGERS. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Administrator Power, we recently passed the emergency supple-
mental for Ukraine, providing critical resources to many parts of
our government in support of the brave people of Ukraine and our
European allies and partners.
With respect to the humanitarian aid, there have been criticisms
that the U.S. response has been over-reliant on United Nations
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agencies to deliver the assistance to the Ukraine. The supple-
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mental included language emphasizing the need to engage local or-
ganizations and other NGOs outside of the U.N. system.
What can you say about this? Are you trying to prioritize work-
ing through local groups and other nongovernmental organizations,
as well as faith-based groups, to deliver critical aid to Ukraine?
More broadly, what mechanisms have we or our international
partners put in place to guard against waste, fraud, and abuse in
the disbursement of this assistance?
Ms. POWER. Thank you so much, Ranking Member Rogers. I
could not be more grateful for both parts of your question, because
they relate to one another.
I think the rules and requirements that have been put in place
at USAID over the years in order to guard against fraud, waste,
and abuse entails an awful lot of due diligence on the front end.
Sometimes that process, in the past, has taken as long as a year.
I know we don’t have a year; we don’t have a day, in terms of actu-
ally getting resources to the Ukrainian people who need it most.
But I think if you want an account as to why there are some
startup costs in actually moving toward partnering with local orga-
nizations, it is actually the second part of your question. Whereas
with the World Food Programme, with UNICEF, with UNHCR, we
have those systems in place, there is more overhead, of course, that
is associated—and, thus, more cost for those systems—with some
of the local partners we would most like to work with.
We just want to make sure that we are going to be faithful stew-
ards of taxpayer money at the same time that we are looking for
speed and nimbleness. So I think the key is getting the right bal-
ance.
We are shifting both by pushing international organizations to,
themselves, subcontract and provide sub-grants to local organiza-
tions. I think that is going to be a critical part of the solution.
I think when the U.S. Embassy reopens in Kyiv and our DART
team is back where it belongs, in the country, in the field, really
scrutinizing the extent to which these local organizations can be re-
liable stewards, I think we will be able to move more quickly in
that direction.
And we are also looking now at a consortium arrangement with
an NGO that would, in a sense, be a kind of umbrella—we would
offer an umbrella grant, and it would go to some of these very nim-
ble faith-based and other local organizations on the ground.
But the last thing I would say, just if I could—because it is so
important, and it is in what you did for the Ukrainians last night—
we have come back as an administration, not as USAID per se, but
asked for this much larger sum in direct budget support.
And I really do believe, sir, that over time what we really want
to see is Ukrainian Government systems in a position to be pro-
viding, for example, the cash assistance that the World Food Pro-
gramme and UNHCR is doing now. And they are doing it for some
vulnerable groups. But what we would like to see is, whenever
there is this very acute emergency phase, for that direct budget
support to go to the Ukrainians’ ability, through their social service
ministry, to be able to be meeting the needs of displaced persons,
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vulnerable people of all kinds.
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But that requires the kinds of strictures also you put in the sup’
last night and the language around making sure that that is done
transparently, that we have the checks and balances on direct
budget support so that it is actually, again, being expended in the
way that you all had intended.
Mr. ROGERS. Well, I thank you for that response.
I have some questions about Afghanistan that I will put in for
the record, Madam Chair, but, in the meantime, let me yield back.
Ms. LEE of California. Thank you, Mr. Rogers.
I will yield now to Ms. Meng.
Ms. MENG. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman, Ranking Member
Rogers.
And thank you, Administrator Power, for your testimony here
today. It is great to see you again.
Thank you again for inviting me to participate in USAID’s youth
and development policy launch event last Friday. As you know, I
have been focused on making sure that the voices of young people
are integrated into U.S. foreign policy.
Today, there are 2.4 billion young people, ages 10 to 29, in the
world, the largest youth population in history. In countries facing
conflict, it will be young people who will bear the burden of sus-
taining peace over generations, leading society from reconciliation
to prosperity.
We must work to ensure that the U.S. promotes the inclusive
and meaningful participation of youth in mediation and negotiation
processes that prevent, mitigate, or resolve conflict overseas.
I am especially excited to see that youth participation, including
in peace-building, is one of the central policy objectives of USAID’s
updated youth and development policy. However, it is not clear
how USAID accounts for its support of youth and youth participa-
tion in its fiscal year 2023 budget request.
The transparent accounting of international programmatic activi-
ties for youth has always been a challenge. Funding data is not
often broken down in a way to account for children and youth, and
demographics are not always desegregated by age, gender, dis-
ability, minority, location, and other key factors to ensure that we
are reaching youth as intended.
Administrator Power, how will you ensure more clear and public
reporting of U.S.-funded investments in these programs intended to
benefit children and youth?
Ms. POWER. Thank you so much, Congresswoman. And this is ac-
tually the third time I think I have seen you in the last calendar
week—the youth event, and then, also, thank you for participating
in our Asian-American/Pacific Islanders event, which was very,
very powerful.
So, on this score, we just actually launched, as you may know,
our—of course you know, because you were part of the event—the
USAID youth policy. We do think it is very important—you can’t
change what you can’t measure, as the old saying goes—to be in
a position to have indicators that allow us to see the extent to
which we are increasing our youth partnerships.
As I stressed in my comments at the event that we both partici-
pated in, I think that it is one thing to have, kind of, dedicated
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youth programming—which we have, but it is, you know, a very
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modest amount if you look at it against the backdrop of how many
young people there are in the world—but I think the more pro-
found aspect of this is how are we integrating youth into the pro-
gramming that we are doing across the board.
And so, for example, one of the commitments that I have made
that Congresswoman Lee alluded to earlier with regard to our lo-
calization agenda is about, you know, ensuring that 50 percent of
the programming that we do and the assistance that we provide
out in the world is co-designed or evaluated, measured, et cetera,
by local actors. Well, you know, we need to ensure that youth are
at the table and are part of who counts as local, because there is
a temptation to just go back to the well of the more traditional
partners that we have worked with over time.
With regard specifically to your question about indicators—
which, again, you are very, very immersed in this, so I am sure you
are aware already, but we do have indicators for the number of
youth trained in soft skills, life skills in U.S. programs. We have
indicators around the number of laws, policies, and procedures that
USAID engagement helped bring about the adoption of or the im-
plementation of. We have indications—which we need to see those
metrics go up—about youth participation in USG-funded programs,
conferences, et cetera.
So those are just a few of the examples of the indicators. Happy
to work with you and your team if you have other ideas about how
we can get more sophisticated, again, in being better able to meas-
ure that which we intend to change.
Ms. MENG. Thank you very much.
I yield back.
Ms. LEE of California. Thank you.
I am going to yield to Mr. Reschenthaler and then to our Full
Committee chair, Chair DeLauro.
Mr. RESCHENTHALER. Thank you, Chairwoman Lee. I appreciate
it.
Administrator Power, good to see you.
Administrator, as you know, I wrote in February regarding the
recent USAID award of $4.7 million to EcoHealth Alliance, which,
as you know, is a nonprofit based in New York led by Peter
Daszak.
EcoHealth Alliance and Dr. Daszak have a very troubling record
of failing to report findings that they get from our federally funded
research. They also have refused to cooperate with congressional
oversight. And I would submit to you that they have collaborated
with the Chinese Communist Party to obstruct an objective and
thorough investigation of the origin of COVID–19.
And, just to be clear, Peter Daszak and EcoHealth Alliance con-
spired with the CCP to cover up the origins of the pandemic be-
cause they withheld information about the research that was being
conducted at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. At the same time,
they were praising the CCP’s handling of the sham World Health
Organization investigation, and they were parroting inaccurate
CCP propaganda talking points. And by the end of the height of
the beginning of COVID, Peter Daszak was in essence a mouth-
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So, with that said, I appreciate the response you gave me to the
letter, which came in on the 28th of March, but the crux of my
question still remains unanswered, and that question is this:
When awarding the organization EcoHealth Alliance $4.7 mil-
lion, did USAID consider EcoHealth’s compliance failures and re-
fusal to cooperate with congressional oversight as well as Dr.
Daszak’s collaboration with the CCP?
Ms. POWER. Thank you for the question. Thank you for your en-
gagement on this.
First, just because not everybody else might have had the benefit
of reading what we sent back to you, just to stress that the
EcoHealth Alliance award to which you are referring, as you know,
is an award focused not at all on global public health but very
much on conservation, working with the Liberians to ensure more
protected lands, more conservation, training park rangers, creating
economic opportunities, as they seek again to protect public lands.
And so, in terms of the process, which I think you are asking
about, about how that grant came about, which of course we have
looked into, USAID Liberia has had a long and productive history
working with the local chapter of EcoHealth Alliance, has not had
issues related to due diligence or reporting. You know, I think we
have provided pretty substantial grants in the past in sub-Saharan
Africa and in Liberia specifically but also on land-use alteration. As
a driver of disease emergence and climate change, we have had
productive relations.
So, when the due diligence was done in compliance with all Fed-
eral regulations, notwithstanding some of the inquiries and the re-
porting challenges that you are alluding to, again, EcoHealth Alli-
ance, in an open and rigorous process, was chosen. And, again,
those processes have a lot of integrity to them.
Mr. RESCHENTHALER. So I would still argue that the money is
fungible and that there are still issues with the unethical behavior
of EcoHealth Alliance and Peter Daszak as well as the noncompli-
ant behavior.
Would you consider an investigation or more oversight into
EcoHealth Alliance regarding that unethical and noncompliance—
those issues that they have?
Ms. POWER. Well, the issue that you are referring to, again, I be-
lieve it is an NIH grant and that the back-and-forth on reporting
and so forth, you know, is something that is a little bit further, sort
of, out of my domain.
What I can do is certainly assure you that we will be scruti-
nizing, you know, this grant—compliance, reporting, all of the as-
pects that we bring to bear, you know, in our oversight of grants
more generally.
Mr. RESCHENTHALER. Thank you, Administrator.
And, lastly, I just have concerns that USAID is working with leg-
acy partners that are, frankly, inefficient and, just as EcoHealth
Alliance, have questionable behavior and practices, whether it is
vis-a-vis the NIH or USAID. But just focusing on USAID, according
to the 2021 progress report, only 12 percent of the awards were
given to new or underutilized partners. In fact, only 1 percent of
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sub-awards was obligated to new partners.
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So, with that, instead of focusing on the ineffective legacy organi-
zations like EcoHealth Alliance, what steps has USAID taken to
work with new innovative partners that would further the mission
and might be more nimble?
Ms. POWER. I really appreciate that question. Thank you. It is a
big priority area for me; I know it is one, also, for the chairwoman
of the committee.
I think we have made some headway. We have created, for exam-
ple, something called WorkwithUSAID.org, where you now have
thousands of people being able to come and figure out what it takes
actually to be able to partner with USAID, which is no easy task
just given some of the paperwork and administrative requirements,
which have a disparate impact on new partners, as you are sug-
gesting.
I think the localization initiative that I have launched that I al-
luded to speaks to this as well. When we looked at this last year,
5.6 percent of U.S. foreign assistance was going to local organiza-
tions, the vast majority going to large international organizations
or U.S.-based contractors and so forth.
So I am very much on the case. I think, again, it is a lot about
disparate impacts of rules and regulations that some category of or-
ganizations find it very easy to navigate or might have
Pricewaterhouse or whatever as an accounting firm or a GC. And
so part of the reason that we come to you often asking for oper-
ational expense increases is, A, there has been a lot of attrition at
USAID over the years, but, B, we want to work with those organi-
zations to guide them through this laborious process, because the
startup costs are high, but once people have mastered that process,
then they can become the new traditional partner.
But we have a lot of work to do. We did exceed our target, I
think, with regard to contracting with small-business partners.
That is now up to over 15 percent, which is something, but that
is still 15 percent, leaving 85 percent with the larger, more tradi-
tional contracting partners.
So, happy to talk to you or your staff about more that we can
do. But a lot of it is about raising awareness that we are interested
in this, and you can help spread that message, as well, if you——
Mr. RESCHENTHALER. Thank you, Administrator.
And thank you, Chairwoman Lee, on your generosity of the time.
I yield back.
Ms. LEE of California. Thank you.
Okay. Let me yield now to our chair, Rosa DeLauro.
The CHAIR. I want to thank the chair and thank the Adminis-
trator for being here today. It is great to have you before the Ap-
propriations Committee.
Let me just ask about—with the additional Ukraine supple-
mental appropriations, as you know, we passed last evening, we
are providing additional humanitarian aid in the form of about $5
billion for emergency assistance and agricultural development to
people around the world. These are folks who are wondering where
their next meal is going to come from as a result of this war.
According to a May 5th report from USAID, 5.7 million refugees
have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries; 7.7 million people have
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been displaced across Ukraine. And the U.N. has targeted 8.7 mil-
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lion people to receive humanitarian assistance in Ukraine. So far,
it is estimated that we have reached 4.1 million, or nearly half, of
those in need of assistance.
My questions: Will the supplemental funding for humanitarian
assistance that we passed be enough to reach the additional 4.1
million who are in need of assistance? If not, what more can we do?
As the number of displaced individuals in Ukraine and across the
globe continues to grow every day, how is USAID responding to ad-
dress the ever-changing needs? And how is USAID providing over-
sight of the funding we have provided and will provide through this
supplemental?
Ms. POWER. Okay. There is a lot there, Madam Chair.
And, first of all, thank you eternally for the significant contribu-
tion to meeting food needs that the supplemental that you passed
yesterday offers. We are hopeful that that will move through the
Senate and be accessible here shortly, given the scale of need in
Ukraine and around the world.
Let me just say that, when it comes to meeting food needs in
Ukraine—and this comes back a little bit to one of the prior ex-
changes that I had with Ranking Member Rogers—you know, this
direct budget support, as well, is part of the answer when it comes
to meeting the needs of people inside Ukraine.
So I met yesterday—was it yesterday? Could it have been yester-
day? Yes, it was yesterday morning—with the Minister of Social
Services, and last week the Minister of Health, before that with the
Minister of Agriculture. We really need to be working really dili-
gently to get Ukrainian institutions solvent, up and running.
And that is why that direct budget support—I would view that
as of a piece, when it comes to meeting humanitarian needs, with
that $4 billion. That would take us—you know, that would meet
needs of people inside Ukraine but is also designed to cover the col-
lateral catastrophic effects of Putin’s war.
So that is one part of the answer.
I think, in terms of oversight and accountability, you know, we
will be coming back to you with metrics of literally, you know, how
many IDPs have had cash assistance delivered to them, you know,
what percent—I can give you those now if you want. But, as we
go forward with this greater scale of resource being brought on
line, you know, what—and all of this data is gathered, you know,
by constituent—how many young people, how many women, et
cetera.
But, you know, I think that one of the biggest challenges with
Putin’s blockade in the south, for the world but also for, for exam-
ple, Ukrainian farmers, is, how do we get the agricultural products
that the Ukrainians themselves have planted, now have har-
vested—it is likely to be as much as 70, 80 percent of the harvest
that they had planned before. They are out there with their flak
jackets, their helmets. I mean, it is amazing, the bravery. But
those agricultural products used to be exported and they used to
earn an income by going through the Odessa port and other south-
ern ports. Those are now blockaded.
So there is a policy component to this as well, which is figuring
out how to get as much out, you know, through—it is a logistic and
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roads, potentially up through Poland and around to the Baltic ports
and elsewhere. But this also relates to the security picture, as to
whether and when Ukrainian resistance is going to cause Putin to
retreat fully from the reckless war that he has waged.
So, when you ask me is it enough—I will come back to your ques-
tion, which is so core—the needs are colossal. That is all I can say.
For now, it is an incredibly important infusion of resources that
will be used, again, by our State Department colleagues in sup-
porting the effort to meet the needs of refugees, which European
governments of course are doing an enormous amount on, contrib-
uting far more resources through their own EU systems and even
to countries like Moldova that fall outside the EU. We are hopeful
that they will also be able to inject more humanitarian resources
into Ukraine itself, recognizing, again, how much they are spending
on Ukrainians who have come out of Ukraine.
But the key to all of this is, how do we get markets up and run-
ning? How do we get agricultural goods flowing? How can the
Ukrainian institutions that were showing such landmark progress,
the very kind of progress that makes Putin insane, sort of return
to not only the level of functionality but bringing a level of pros-
perity that Ukraine had not enjoyed before?
We are a long way from that, but we have to walk and chew gum
at the same time, meet emergency needs and be rebuilding these
systems so that they don’t need humanitarian assistance. No one
wants humanitarian assistance. It is the last thing on Earth any
country, especially ones as proud and capable as Ukraine, would
want.
The CHAIR. First of all, let me just say again, thank you. And,
understand, you have heard from the chair and the rest of the
members of this committee, we want to work with you. This is an
unprovoked attack on a sovereign nation, and there is no reason to
cause this kind of chaos and destruction and human need. And so,
therefore, we want to play a central role—we all believe the United
States must play a central role in leading the world on this effort.
And we also want to hear from you, and if you get us the spe-
cifics that you spoke about earlier, that would be great, and also
about how we are tracking the funding and what we will do in
terms of oversight.
And I thank you. I know the chair Lee asked about the COVID
supplemental, but, there again, we need to know what the serious
consequences are by not putting together a COVID supplemental
in terms of what that means, as well, for national security.
So thank you very much, for your time and your efforts and your
commitment.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate the time.
Ms. LEE of California. I thank the chair.
And I will yield now to Ms. Frankel.
Ms. FRANKEL. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Welcome again, Secretary Power. Good to see you—or, Adminis-
trator Power.
Ms. POWER. I won’t tell Secretary Blinken. It is okay.
Ms. FRANKEL. That is all right. I think you should be the Sec-
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Okay. I want to talk about, first of all, the violence, the sexual
violence against women in Ukraine. It is so horrific, what I have
been reading, that I almost can’t repeat it. But gang rapes in front
of their children, 11-year-old girls being raped, tongues being torn
out of women’s mouths—I mean, I could go on and on. It is bar-
baric. It is cruel.
So, of course, one of my questions is what we are doing to help
those survivors.
And I just want to add, as I get on my soapbox, that this is an
example of how the cruel policies of the Republicans in this Con-
gress not to allow funding for abortions, safe abortions—the rami-
fications. Hopefully there are other countries that are coming to
the aid of these young girls and women.
But tell us what we are able to do and what we are doing.
Ms. POWER. Thank you so much, Congresswoman.
Well, this psychosocial support is something we are working with
UNICEF in particular and looking, again, for local partners, look-
ing to see how we can support the Ukrainian health ministry,
which is normally, you know, in the course of events where some-
body who survives sexual violence and the psychosocial and phys-
ical trauma and effects of that would go.
And that is where, again, getting this balance right between, yes,
let’s fund the international organizations so there is emergency
support, but let’s very quickly find a way to be tracking assistance
to the health ministries where young women or women of all
ages—just the scale of the atrocities here—would naturally go in
order to seek support.
So I talked to the Health Minister about this again last week,
and Atul Gawande met with him in the region, in Poland. And,
once our mission is up and running, I will be able to have, again,
more specifics, specifically about how we get our support into the
Health Ministry to make sure that women have a place to go in
light of everything that they have suffered.
If I may just add, of course, this is part of also the documentary
record, the testimony that these women have given about the war
crimes and the crimes against humanity that are being committed
by Putin’s forces. And so the other aspect of this is, USAID is fund-
ing a consortium of around 40 organizations that are a range of ev-
erything from organizations that were already doing war-crimes
documentation because of the war crimes committed in the east
and in Crimea from the war that began in 2014, to new actors who
are being enlisted in this cause. We have, as you know, set up a
commission of inquiry through the Human Rights Council. The
International Criminal Court has announced that they are opening
an investigation.
But, also, again, our investments in the Ukrainian justice system
here are going to be—the ones that we have made in the past but
now the ones that we are making in present—will aid the Ukrain-
ian prosecutor’s office in pursuing national war-crimes cases as
well, and they have shown every intention to do that.
Ms. FRANKEL. That is very good to hear.
Quick question on education. I know you agree keeping girls in
school is—you know, that is one of the best ways to empower our
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I noticed there was a couple-hundred-million-dollar decrease in
your request. Could you just explain to me, you know, the reason
for that and what efforts you are going to make to support the girls
in school?
Ms. POWER. Thank you.
Well, let me just say that we are still part of a global campaign
to try to press the Taliban to change their horrific decision—one,
of course, that preceded the burqa decision, and so one does not
have grounds for optimism, beyond the fact that, you know, donor
resources that had been intended to flow through UNICEF and
other educational partners are now paused, by and large, as a tool
of pressure. And so that means schools generally are not accessing
the resources that they would have if the Taliban had made a dif-
ferent choice.
But that is not your question. Your question——
Ms. FRANKEL. Well, does that explain the reduction——
Ms. POWER. No.
Ms. FRANKEL [continuing]. In the budget request?
Ms. POWER. No. No. Because I think we want to live in a—we
don’t bank on failure here. We are hopeful that if we get the
Qataris and the Pakistanis and other governments that have more
contact, more leverage, you know, with the Afghan Government,
that we can prevail. I mean, again, we don’t have grounds for opti-
mism right now, but it is essential to do so.
I think the short answer, honestly, Congresswoman, is, it is still,
you know, $693 million for basic ed and nearly $240 million for
higher ed. You know, it is balancing among all of the colossal needs
that are existing right now. You heard Ranking Member Rogers’ re-
action to the budget request as it was.
Given, you know, the fallout from COVID, which very much
lands, of course, among young people, particularly among girls who
have not yet gone back to school, we know how important these
education investments are. We are just trying to ask for a sizable
set of resources that we can expend, at the same time that we are
meeting underfunded priorities, like climate change for example,
that haven’t had the resources that they have needed over many,
many years.
Ms. FRANKEL. Thank you.
Madam Chair, I yield back.
Ms. LEE of California. Thank you.
Now I will yield to Representative Torres.
Can you unmute?
Or, staff, could you—okay.
Mrs. TORRES. Yes, hi.
Ms. LEE of California. Got it.
Mrs. TORRES. I am sorry. Thank you so much. I have another
meeting going at the same time.
Thank you so much, Chairwoman, for calling this meeting.
And I want to begin by thanking Administrator Power for your
consistent commitment to holding corrupt actors accountable in the
Northern Triangle and ensuring that USAID helps local commu-
nities.
Last year, we spoke about challenges to the rule of law and cor-
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ruption in the Northern Triangle. Sadly, despite strong calls from
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the international community and civil society, El Salvador is cur-
rently in a state of exception, which removes basic human rights.
And in Guatemala the independent judiciary has been decimated,
with Judge Erika Aifan recently fleeing for her life.
We cannot, and must not, continue to give hardworking U.S. tax-
payers’ foreign assistance to governments that misuse it to advance
their own corrupt interests and act counter to our own policy goals.
This is so important to me. It is the reason why I worked, you
know, to ensure that the State Department updates and continues
to provide Congress that list of corrupt elected officials. We must
know who we are working with, and we must be very transparent
about that.
So, Administrator Power, given these trends, what are the dan-
gers of not vetting funding that goes to governments of the North-
ern Triangle? And, given these risks, how does USAID ensure this
funding is not misused and politicized? How do we ensure that our
aid is supporting those who are truly committed to the long-term
reforms that they need to do in order for us to reduce the number
of asylum-seekers at our southern border?
You know, these are efforts that really need to be coordinated
across U.S. agencies.
Ms. POWER. Thank you so much. If I could just maybe separate
out my response into two parts, the first in terms of the work that
we are actually doing in the Northern Triangle countries.
Our Root Causes Strategy, as you well know—because I know
dialogue with you and your office has been integral to that, along
with the Collaborative Migration Strategy—you know, has in it
governance and the anti-corruption cause as a central pillar.
And why is that surprising? Well, we obviously have a great in-
terest in stemming migration and reducing the intention to migrate
through our programs. I think there are administrations in years
or decades past that might want to turn away from challenging cor-
rupt actors who turn their back on the rule of law, somehow believ-
ing that we can deal with the migration challenge just through en-
forcement, or just through a jobs program for that matter, or a
crime reduction program. We just see it all as intertwined, in the
same way that you do.
So, as you know—because I know how closely you are tracking—
when you get takeovers, for example, of the supreme court or of the
attorney general’s office by those who do not respect the independ-
ence or the integrity of the rule of law, we have been in a position
to have to reroute funding away from those institutions to civil-so-
ciety actors that are holding those institutions to account.
Now, that is getting more challenging as two of the countries
that you—you know, that Guatemala and El Salvador now scruti-
nizing much more the work of NGOs, independent media, and oth-
ers and really making it very, very challenging for those organiza-
tions to do their work.
So resources are one thing, but an ability to actually work and
not be the equivalent of, kind of, disbarred or deemed illegal be-
cause of some new curb on NGO freedom, I mean, that is some-
thing we have to press on as well.
The second thing I wanted to say, just briefly—and I know we
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don’t have a ton of time—is that, you know, the anti-corruption
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cause generally is so close to my heart, so close to President
Biden’s heart. You heard this at the Democracy Summit. And we
have actually launched—you know, one of the tools that corrupt
government actors and wealthy individuals, corrupt individuals,
are using to try to put independent media out of business, not
only—I mean, globally but also very specifically in the Northern
Triangle—is the lawsuit against journalists, whether a defamation
lawsuit or something of that nature, when an expose has been pub-
lished.
So we have created something called Reporters Mutual, which is
a new defamation insurance fund that will allow those journalists
that are uncovering corruption to potentially be ensured against
those kinds of lawsuits. Because it really has become a go-to tool
in the corrupt leader or citizen’s toolkit, and we needed something
to help those actors who are doing the work you are describing——
Mrs. TORRES. My time is up. I would love to come back with you.
Thank you so much, Madam Chair. I yield back.
Ms. LEE of California. Thank you.
Now I will yield to Representative Wexton.
Ms. WEXTON. Thank you so much, Madam Chairwoman.
And thank you, Administrator Power, for joining us again here
today.
The last time you were here with us, I asked you about the ad-
ministration’s plan to restore aid to the Palestinians in the West
Bank and Gaza through the Economic Support Fund.
And, unfortunately, we are seeing increasing violence in the re-
gion right now, and I would be remiss not to mention the death of
a Palestinian-American journalist last night, overnight, in the occu-
pied West Bank, Shireen Abu Akleh. And we don’t know, really,
the circumstances of that yet, you know, what exactly happened,
but it is indicative of the increasing violence going on in the region.
So Gaza is very much still in a humanitarian crisis. And, as you
know, UNRWA has announced that they may need to cease oper-
ations over a lack of financial resources. Can you talk about
UNRWA’s role in the region and what the impact would be if aid
were again delayed, as it was last year?
Ms. POWER. Thank you.
UNRWA is actually funded, as you may know, out of the State
Department PRM account, but I have seen those programs when
I was U.N. Ambassador up close and just see the critical role that
UNRWA plays. I mean, in some cases, it is not just that they are
supplemental school systems; they are the school system for young
Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
And, you know, there have been challenges with UNRWA over
the years. Again, I pressed hard on that when I was in my U.N.
role and again with more, sort of, jurisdiction or more day-to-day
interaction with UNRWA, whether on textbooks or on, you know,
in times of conflict, facilities being used in deeply problematic
ways.
But the core good that those schools have done for young Pal-
estinians, not only in giving them lifelines to economic opportunity
ultimately, but, you know, when one thinks about the prospects for
radicalization, to deprive kids of education, as the closure of those
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treme elements will take advantage of. So I would definitely cau-
tion against that.
Ms. WEXTON. And can you speak a little bit about the challenges
created by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and how it could impact
aid to the region? Because they are very dependent on food coming
from Ukraine, and I would guess that that is really drying up. So
can you speak a little bit about what that could do to the region?
Ms. POWER. Absolutely. I mean, again, one can go country by
country, but Egypt, I believe, imports 81 percent of its wheat from
Ukraine; Lebanon, 86 percent.
You know, we are talking about economies that already were suf-
fering the effects of the COVID-induced economic slowdown; maybe
just beginning, in the case of Egypt, to bring its head above water.
And that, of course, is going to have profound knock-on effects for
vulnerable populations and impoverished communities like those in
the West Bank and Gaza.
And it is not just that. It is at the agricultural sector, with fer-
tilizer prices going up. The estimates are, globally, as you probably
know, that 40 million more people are going to be thrust into ex-
treme poverty by virtue of Putin’s invasion.
So this gets to my exchange earlier over the additional humani-
tarian funding that you all have been generous enough to provide
in this second Ukraine supplemental, and my hope that that goes
through the Senate, because we are going to need to plug the gaps.
We are also trying to do work, you know, in the regulatory space,
through our more traditional agriculture programs, to try to ensure
that farmers are able to produce more with less. That is very chal-
lenging to do on the fly, but those programs——
Ms. WEXTON. Thank you.
Ms. POWER [continuing]. Through Feed the Future and oth-
ers——
Ms. WEXTON. Sure.
Ms. POWER [continuing]. Were in place before.
Ms. WEXTON. Well, thank you so much.
And, you know, you met with Uyghurs about a year ago, and you
have been outspoken on the ongoing genocide happening in China.
I want to say thank you for mentioning that in your opening re-
marks.
I asked Secretary Blinken when he was here recently, you know,
how we can better support Uyghurs who fled persecution in China
and now are at risk of being forcibly returned to China, where they
would face violations of their human rights and maybe even, you
know, imprisonment and death.
So how can we better support Uyghurs who have fled but now
are in countries where they run the risk of being returned to
China?
Ms. POWER. Well, I think this is, again, a little bit out of my
lane, but I think that the refugee program that President Biden
has sought to beef up is one answer there, you know, for them to
have channels to resettlement, to be able to be referred by UNHCR
and to be considered. So those more robust numbers that President
Biden has ushered in just create more slots for more vulnerable
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I think the core of the answer, though, is, you know, much great-
er awareness about the genocide. I mean, I traveled the world, and
the debates, the legislation that you all have put in place on the
fate of the Uighurs inside Xinjiang, you just don’t hear nearly as
much discussion of the plight of these individuals in Europe. So
that would be a second dimension of this, just continuing to be
vocal.
And then the last thing I would say in is our diplomatic engage-
ment with any country tempted to send back a Uighur to what is
almost certain imprisonment and a lifetime of detention, right? Be-
cause these people are not being allowed out of these detention fa-
cilities. I mean, this is not a, you know, you get forced labor and
then you go back to your community; I mean, these are devastating
means of permanently destroying Uighur life in China. So, you
know, maximizing our diplomatic pressure so that those forced re-
turns do not occur.
Ms. WEXTON. Thank you so much, Administrator Power.
I will yield back with that.
Ms. LEE of California. Thank you.
Now I would yield to Mr. Price.
Mr. PRICE. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Welcome, Madam Administrator. I am presiding next-door, so to
speak, at the hearing for HUD Secretary Fudge. So I appreciate
the chance to interject in this subcommittee, which I really value.
And I have many things that I have heard so far you say that
I commend you for, especially that strong defense of UNRWA fund-
ing and also what I understand you said at the outset about in-
creasing assistance to the Eastern Europe and Eurasia region,
given what is going on in Ukraine.
I have a particular interest in Moldova, as the co-chair of the
Moldova Caucus, as the Representative of North Carolina,
Moldova’s sister State, as chairman of the House Democracy Part-
nership, where we have engaged with the Moldovan Parliament.
That is a strong, aspiring democracy that is very much in harm’s
way. And so we passed a Moldova resolution, as you know, in the
House very recently, and it anticipates the kind of support for
Moldova that you, I understand, promised today.
But let me turn more generally to the kind of support we give
to good governance, to democracy development. I know you stressed
that in your statement as well, in terms of the anti-corruption ef-
fort.
In some cases, of course, like the Millennium Challenge Corpora-
tion, we quite directly incentivize democratic development as a con-
dition of our aid. In other situations, of course, democratic develop-
ment, which we consider very much in our country’s interest, still,
it exists alongside other foreign-aid objectives.
So I want to raise the example of Tunisia and give you a chance
to talk about Tunisia but also the problem more generally.
Tunisia is the one democratic success story, we always say, out
of the Arab Spring. At HDP, we have engaged with the Tunisian
Parliament in very fruitful ways. Yet, now we see a President as-
suming autocratic powers and shutting down that parliament and
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with an uncertain outcome, which we hope—and Secretary Blinken
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said it a couple weeks ago—we hope and believe is subject to diplo-
matic leverage.
Well, part of that is your foreign aid budget. And, in the budget
request, you have $45 million in economic aid, but that is nearly
50 percent less than last year. I assume there is some flexibility
on that, some responsiveness to the developments on the ground.
But I would appreciate your comment on what we should learn
or conclude from that Tunisia example and, also, what you would
have to say more generally about the way we can use your office
and your programs to bolster civil society and democratic forces
around the world.
Ms. POWER. Thank you so much, Congressman.
And I hope you will indulge me just 30 seconds on Moldova, be-
cause, you know, when am I going to get the opportunity to talk
about Moldova? Because it just doesn’t get the attention I think
that it deserves and that the incredibly brave, risk-taking Presi-
dent and Prime Minister, both Kennedy School grads, where I used
to teach—technocrats, anti-corruption reformers, you know, wom-
en’s rights champions—I mean, these are leaders that the whole
world, the whole democratic world, should be rallying behind. And
it is just what President Sandu is attempting in Moldova that
Putin is trying to stop in Ukraine.
And, of course, the economic effects alone, never mind the geo-
political insecurity and uncertainty that a small country like
Moldova feels by virtue of what is going on right next-door with,
you know, Transnistria occupied already by Russian forces, we just
have every interest in supporting the people of Moldova enacting
their anti-corruption, their rule of law, their reform agenda.
So I would sort of link the two. Because I think, you know, on
Tunisia, it was the lone bright spot around the Arab Spring. We
have now seen very substantial democratic setbacks. We do not
want the same thing to happen in Moldova. There are people, par-
ticularly those oligarchs backed by the Russian Federation, who
would like to take advantage of this crisis to set back this democra-
tization and integration reform agenda by President Sandu, as you
know well.
On Tunisia, in terms of just quickly about the budget, I think,
basically, the funding that we are continuing to do in Tunisia funds
the Tunisian people, the private sector, civil society. We continue
to see civil society as having a critical role—not only that diplo-
matic pressure that Secretary Blinken talked about, but that bot-
tom-up pressure. A lot of that receded, as you know, in the face of
some of these undemocratic actions by President Saied.
But, you know, I think we look for openings, look to be able to
channel assistance, for example, to the Electoral Commission. If
there is a good-faith effort, you know, to move toward free and fair
elections or to reconstitute some of these really important demo-
cratic institutions, USAID would like to be in a position to be able
to support those.
But it is notable that the request is lower, and it is reflective,
I think, of a recognition that some of the kinds of initiatives that
we were able to do with previous governments, those opportunities
now don’t exist in the same way because of the undemocratic ac-
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Mr. PRICE. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Ms. LEE of California. Thank you.
Now I will yield to Mr. Espaillat.
Mr. ESPAILLAT. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Administrator.
First, let me start by thanking the chairwoman for her commit-
ment. The fiscal year 2022 appropriations bill included language
that directs USAID and the Department of State to help Haitian
women and improve access to health resources.
Our committee has expressed that concern, Madam Adminis-
trator, about the availability of neonatal and maternal care in
Haiti. As the healthcare system there has collapsed, many of the
women are forced to travel across the border to the Dominican Re-
public to get healthcare. Thirty-two percent of the women at the
hospitals, at the public hospitals, are Haitian women that come
across the border. And, of course, that also places great stress on
the economy in that country.
And so, what can we do? What programs are available through
USAID to address these maternal issues facing Haitian women?
How can this committee help leverage these programs? Can USAID
utilize its resources to help build, for example, hospitals or nec-
essary facilities for proper prenatal and maternity care for Haitian
women?
That is my first question.
The second one is regarding the Caribbean Basin Security Initia-
tive. As you know, we passed the bill in the House; it is now sitting
in the Senate. And that particular initiative addresses not only se-
curity but also disaster resilience. It works with the youth in Car-
ibbean countries. It promotes criminal justice reform issues and
fights against corruption.
So I wanted to know what your take is on that.
And, finally, I am deeply concerned about the cost of energy in
the Caribbean and Latin American countries. As you know, the
cost of energy has skyrocketed, and many of the leadership in those
countries feel that it will unleash civil unrest and violence, as food
and other emergency items, have really gone right through the roof
and are now unavailable or unaffordable to working-class families
in those countries.
So those three questions: maternal care for Haitian women;
CBSI; and, of course, the cost of energy in the region.
Thank you.
Ms. POWER. Thank you, Congressman. I am just taking note of
all three.
So I have had numerous conversations with President Abinader
of the Dominican Republic, as I am sure you have, expressing the
same concern, really describing a Dominican Republican health
system, particularly any hospitals near the border that, you know,
have been, in his words, overrun by Haitian migrants, particularly
Haitian mothers looking, as you said, for maternal healthcare.
In terms of USAID, I would say, we have definitely looked at this
because of the need of those Haitian women, you know, having
looked sort of geographically about whether, you know, hospitals in
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those areas—because I think President Abinader was stressing the
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importance of building hospitals on the Haitian side of the border.
I think the viability assessments of those was that that would not
be the best place for those hospitals, just in terms of, like, which
communities would take advantage of them.
USAID’s budget for Haiti, you know, is $75 million, roughly, its
development budget. And, of course, we additionally provide emer-
gency assistance—you know, often, depending on how many hu-
manitarian emergencies befall Haiti in a given year, you know,
that number can fluctuate—but, you know, somewhere in the range
of $40 million to $50 million.
I think it is the development banks, like the Inter-American De-
velopment Bank or others, that one would look to to make those
kinds of sizable infrastructure investments. And it is something
that we have been engaging with them on. But, to my knowledge,
again, there has not been uptake, given all the competing needs in
Haiti and the dwindling amount of resources from other countries
besides the United States.
It is just always challenging, frankly, to be able to mobilize re-
sources at scale, and, again, especially when it is development re-
sources kind of pitted against humanitarian emergency support. So
I don’t—that is not a terribly satisfying response.
On the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative, just thank you again
for your leadership on that, which mirrors that of the chairwoman.
You know, I think, in general, we, as an administration, are look-
ing to see what more we can do with the Caribbean, but we end
up—you know, because they are middle-income countries by and
large, we, USAID, end up working regionally rather than, you
know, through country missions. We have one regional mission for
all of the Caribbean.
But I mentioned earlier that in my conversations with the Ja-
maican Prime Minister and the Prime Minister of Barbados and in
the run-up to the Summit of the Americas, I think you are going
to see much more emphasis placed on the Caribbean.
Forgive me if this is an inaccurate impression, but my impres-
sion as a citizen is that a lot of the leadership for attention to the
Caribbean has come from up here—up there, I should say, up on
Capitol Hill. I think what you are now seeing in the Biden admin-
istration is a recognition of the need to be very proactive here.
It is no secret that the PRC and other actors are, you know,
making substantial investments. Barbados has even done a deal
under the Belt and Road Initiative. And the needs are acute.
And, finally, that is a segue to the soaring energy prices. There
are no silver bullets, as we know from our own country and soaring
fuel prices here. But I think, out of this crisis, working with coun-
tries in Latin America and the Caribbean broadly but all around
the world to ensure that they are more energy-resilient going for-
ward and less dependent on supply from, for example, the Russian
Federation—so that is now embedded in all of our programming.
We have a big, branded, resourced initiative in sub-Saharan Afri-
ca called Power Africa, which you probably know well. We don’t
have anything analogous in Latin America and the Caribbean. But
I think, if you actually look at the budget request for substantial
new resources around climate change, a significant core of that is
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mitigation and helping countries transition to solar, hydro, and
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other sources of renewables, which would be cheaper in the long
term but also reduce their dependence, which is part of what is
contributing, again, to this very, very difficult inflationary period.
Mr. ESPAILLAT. Well, thank you.
Madam Chair, just let me close by saying that there is a general
frustration with the access by these countries to our financial insti-
tutions and their ability to address major projects, and that is why
countries like China are eating our lunch in that region.
Ms. LEE of California. Thank you again.
We are going to go now to a second round, 3 minutes for each
member.
So I will start out by asking a couple questions, one as it relates
to Ethiopia, Administrator Power.
Of course, you know in Northern Ethiopia it is dire, including in
the Tigray region. Innocent people are facing violence. Can you
quickly describe the current level of access for our humanitarian
assistance in the region and the status of the humanitarian cease-
fire and actions that we are taking, the United States is taking, to
help resolve the crisis?
And then just an overview of the Small Business Procurement
Scorecard? Service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses didn’t
quite make it. I think that we need to know, based on your con-
tracting goals, subcontracting goals, once again, disaggregated data
on which companies are getting access to the contracts at USAID.
And thank you again for your workforce expansion initiative
called the Global Development Partnership Initiative. And hope-
fully we will be able to see more diversity and inclusion in all of
your efforts. And thank you for really revving this up. It is the first
time USAID has had such a major effort for diversity and inclu-
sion.
And if you don’t get to answer all of my questions so we can get
to the next member, just send them to me in writing. The record
will be open.
Ms. POWER. Okay. Will do.
So I am going to eat 10 seconds just on the last question, Con-
gressman, on the development financial institutions. We had cov-
ered that earlier in the hearing.
So I very much agree with your structural point that lower- and
lower-middle-income countries—you know, the rules are such now
that they are not able to access everything from DFC financing to
some very important——
Ms. LEE of California. No, I was talking about American U.S.
small businesses——
Ms. POWER. No, no, no, sorry, I was cheating and——
Ms. LEE of California. Oh, okay.
Ms. POWER [continuing]. Providing an answer to the prior, be-
cause he made a same point that had been made earlier. I apolo-
gize.
Ms. LEE of California. Okay.
Ms. POWER. But it was my response to your prior question, Con-
gresswoman, where I had talked about this——
Ms. LEE of California. Okay.
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Ms. POWER [continuing]. Structural problem in the Caribbean.
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Anyway, in short, 500 trucks a week are needed in Tigray. A
total of 200 trucks, when I last checked as of a day ago, had ar-
rived since the truce. So that is over around a 6-week period. Not
remotely enough.
The numbers now that we are hearing are that a million people
will face famine-like conditions by June, 700,000 of whom are in
Tigray.
So this just underscores, first of all, again, the importance of the
assistance that you all have now put, the food assistance, in this
Ukraine-related supplemental, but also how important it is globally
for us as a government but also for all governments to be coupling
generous assistance of that nature with demands of host govern-
ment or armed parties for access. Because assistance without ac-
cess is assistance in a warehouse. And that is not what the people
of Ethiopia need or deserve.
There has been modest progress, again—if I had been here a
month ago, there would have been no trucks that we would have
been able to talk about—but not nearly enough to meet the food
needs.
On the small businesses, small and disadvantaged businesses, I
would just say that, again, I think we are doing better than—we
are doing better in the real world than we are on collecting the
data in the disaggregated way that you are demanding.
So I think preliminary data indicates that we awarded more than
14.5 percent of all contracting dollars to U.S. small businesses in
fiscal year 2021, 5.5 percent to women-owned small businesses.
And when it comes to small and disadvantaged businesses, that
metric, I think we have numbers since our conversation yesterday,
I think, that we can get to you.
We are trying to use the new partnership initiative, just this,
again, sustained outreach to local partners, which has incentives to
go to new and untraditional partners, so our missions really have
incentive to go that extra mile. But, again, I know we are not see-
ing the numbers that you or I are seeking.
I will say also, if you can steer your networks to
WorkwithUSAID.org, that is where we try to walk new partners
who have never had the experience of working with USAID
through the process and give them that kind of right seat/left
seat——
Ms. LEE of California. Okay. We will follow up with you, Admin-
istrator Power.
Ms. POWER. Thank you.
Ms. LEE of California. And please if you can send us a written
report, we would like to look at it. And we certainly want to work
with you to help expand access to these opportunities for socially
and disadvantaged businesses.
I will yield now to Ms. Meng.
Ms. MENG. Thank you.
And, in the interest of time, I will just briefly ask my two ques-
tions together.
Number one, I wanted to ask about Afghanistan, piggybacking
off Ms. Frankel’s comments about education, for example, but I am
concerned also about humanitarian access. We know that there is
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food insecurity—hospital wards are filled with malnourished chil-
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dren—and I understand, unfortunately, the delivery of humani-
tarian assistance has been greatly impacted by the Taliban, espe-
cially their limits on the freedom of movement of aid workers of all
genders.
I just wanted to ask how USAID is working with U.S. allies and
partners to urge the Taliban to allow unhindered humanitarian ac-
cess to Afghanistan.
And my second question is related to COVID. USAID’s Global
Health Security Program has a track record of funding zoonotic
surveillance and preventing the spillover of pathogens from ani-
mals to people in its ongoing effort to prevent pandemics. I wanted
to ask how USAID will work with the State Department to ensure
that strategic objects are within the scope of a new multi-lateral
fund, specifically on preventing the spillover of pathogens from ani-
mals to people.
Ms. POWER. Thank you, Congresswoman.
I don’t have a ton of time, but on Afghanistan let me just say
that—it probably goes without saying, but—the United States, of
course, is the largest humanitarian donor to try to meet some of
the needs that you have identified. And I do think it is an ex-
tremely dire situation. The U.N. appeal for Afghanistan, for a sin-
gle country, is the largest ever in the history of the U.N. for any
single country, for 2022.
And that is, again, another reason that it is really important that
this supplemental that you passed last night go through the Sen-
ate, because that would provide additional resources for Ukraine
and for countries affected by Ukraine, thereby allowing us to dedi-
cate some of our base humanitarian funding to Afghanistan, where
the need is so acute.
I think your main question, though, was less about, you know,
what we are funding. I would just say that access is an issue, al-
though, if you compare it to when Afghanistan was experiencing
conflict between the Taliban and Government of Afghanistan
forces, you know, humanitarian partners are able to get to more
parts of the country now than before.
But we really have to push hard to ensure that women are equal
beneficiaries and that women also can work at humanitarian orga-
nizations. And, as you know, that is not true in a number of prov-
inces where the Taliban have cracked down, and that is a huge
problem and a huge issue.
I think the biggest issue in terms of the kind of stunting and
wasting that we are seeing of kids is, there is only so much that
humanitarian assistance is going to be able to achieve. You know,
fundamentally, the country needs liquidity, it needs solvency, it
needs an independent and functional central bank. And the Taliban
doesn’t know what it is doing, doesn’t know how to competently
manage an economy. And that is a huge issue.
So, again, other actors within the U.N. system and other govern-
ments are trying to work on those issues. You know, we have pro-
grams that, again, try to foster small businesses, help farmers, and
so forth, without providing any material benefit to the Taliban.
But, again, the core issue is that the economy is still in free fall
and the Taliban is not putting the welfare of its people first and
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allowing those international partners who have ideas and mecha-
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nisms that could be used in order to stem the pain here—they have
not proven receptive to those ideas and resources in the way that
they need to for the sake of their people.
But, in the meantime, again, we will continue to provide humani-
tarian assistance.
I don’t have time to do justice to your question on pathogens, but
maybe we can just follow up offline. Only to say, you know, that
the work that USAID has done over the years to enhance lab ca-
pacity, to enhance surveillance capacity when it comes to hotspots
where you have past or likely transmission of pathogens from ani-
mals to humans, this work is critically important. At the same
time, so are the biosecurity and biosafety protocols.
And so any work that goes forward there needs to make sure it
is sensitive to what you are describing, which is the importance of
this work, because countries’ capacities are not sufficient now, and
we know there is going to be more of this as the climate changes,
as these pathogens become more prolific. But we need to make
sure, again, we do so in a manner where the data is managed ap-
propriately and where biosecurity and biosafety protocols are ad-
hered to.
Thank you.
Ms. MENG. Thanks.
Ms. LEE of California. Thank you.
Now I will yield to Ms. Frankel.
Ms. FRANKEL. Yes. Thank you again.
One day, I would love to hear your analysis of lessons learned
from our involvement in Afghanistan, but you do not have enough
time for that.
Let me just ask quickly: We talked a little bit about girls’ edu-
cation. And, look, we know that COVID really disproportionately
impacted women around the world. The World Economic Forum es-
timates that it is going to take 267 years to close the gender gap
in the economy—well, almost as long as it is going to take here
probably, but, obviously, women are in a little better shape in our
country.
Tell me what kinds of things that you are going to be doing in
terms of improving women’s economic empowerment in the world.
Ms. POWER. Thank you so much.
Well, that, as you know, is a critical pillar of President Biden’s
Gender Policy Council that he has created at the White House, run
by Jen Klein, who I am sure you work closely with.
You know, I think that this budget request that we put forward
is the first budget request, you know, that is reflective of the data
that exists now, that has been amassed over the years, showing
that, without women’s economic empowerment, we lose, you know,
hundreds of billions of dollars every year in global GDP growth.
And so it is a $2.6 billion request.
And, you know, there are a lot of different dimensions to what
is captured there, including girls’ education, but it is also, you
know, programs that would increase women and girls’ representa-
tiveness in legislative bodies—something you know a lot about.
You know, for the first time, as part of President Biden’s global
infrastructure initiative, we have the care economy treated as a pil-
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lar of infrastructure. So this is, in a sense—the Belt and Road, you
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know, does these large, bloated projects, saddling countries with
great debt. We are coming out with digital infrastructure, health
infrastructure, climate and clean-energy infrastructure, but also
gender infrastructure.
And so I think, within that, if we got some of the numbers right
on the care economy and actually saw women who would like to be
part of the workforce but just can’t afford to be part of the work-
force because, you know, there is no normative culture of families
getting access to childcare at relevant stages, you know, fundamen-
tally we are not going to be able to overcome that barrier without
making more investments in the care economy. So I am thrilled
that that finally is reflected in the budget request as well.
Ms. FRANKEL. Thank you.
And real quick, I don’t know whether there are any negotiations
going on in Ukraine with Russia, but I do hope that the adminis-
tration encourages the participation of women, if that ever does
happen.
And, with that, I will yield back. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Madam Administrator. It was good to see you again.
Ms. LEE of California. Thank you, Ms. Frankel.
Now I will yield for our final questions from Mrs. Torres.
Mrs. TORRES. Thank you.
Administrator Power, without the political will from the govern-
ments in the Northern Triangle, USAID must prioritize working
with capable, credible civil-society partners and those committed to
reform and accountability, as you well know.
As you mentioned earlier, daily there are attacks against those
who are carrying out this important work, including arrests and as-
sassinations. So many of the local staff in these countries, who risk
everything to fight corruption, are in jail or obtaining asylum be-
cause they dare to speak truth to power. We need to ensure that
our commitment to the rule of law and anti-corruption is not just
strong words followed by an eye-roll but real commitment to the
people who dedicate their lives to this work.
I am pleased with the initial work USAID is doing to carry out
President Biden’s Presidential Initiative for Democratic Renewal.
Programs to engage and support civil society, from the Empowering
Anti-Corruption Change Agents Program to the global Defamation
Defense Fund, which you mention, are such important steps for-
ward.
I put forward a proposal to create a fellowship to support these
local people risking everything to fight corruption and for the rule
of law, and I appreciate USAID’s assistance to develop this pro-
posal.
Administrator Power, can you speak a little bit more about the
importance of the U.S. supporting civil society and journalists in
the Northern Triangle? And how does USAID support civil-society
activists and independent investigators?
Ms. POWER. Thank you so much.
Well, on all of my visits to the region, you know, that is my first
port of call. I never like to meet with government officials until I
have had the chance, you know, to get out and about and to hear
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from civil-society actors.
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I mean, it is, you know, very country-specific. I will say, as you
were talking, I was thinking about, you know, for Nicaragua and
for Cuba, you know, we have provided relocation support—I know
that is not your question; I will come to your question in a second—
and support for journalists who are doing that work out of the
country, who can no longer safely do it within. I do need to just
look into whether or not that same kind of flexibility exists with
regard to our support for independent media in the three northern
Central American countries——
Mrs. TORRES. El Salvador and Mexico may really need that as-
sistance as well.
Ms. POWER. I think that is something that we will look at and
maybe we will just get back to your staff on.
I mean, again, the civil society, I would have to look at the
breakdown, but, of the very substantial budget request that is com-
ing to you for year two of President Biden’s effort to deal with root
causes of migration, you know, we view this as—and maybe I have
said this to you before, so forgive me—but the three legs on the
stool, where you have, of course, economic opportunity, of course,
physical security and being free of violence, or seeing violence re-
duction at the very least, but the third piece of this is having a
strong civil society and accountable governance.
And so, you know, I think you will see in our programs—and,
again, we can give you the breakdown for how we train inde-
pendent journalists——
Mrs. TORRES. I will follow up with your office. I am sorry to in-
terrupt you. My time is up.
Ms. POWER. Oh, no problem.
Mrs. TORRES. I yield back, Madam Chair.
Ms. LEE of California. Thank you very much.
First, let me thank our members for your very succinct and im-
portant questions.
And I want to thank Administrator Power. We are very grateful
for your service but also for spending so much time with us this
morning.
I think you know that we all are great supporters of USAID and
its critical work for millions of people around the world. So, at this
moment in our history, we recognize that you have such an enor-
mous task ahead of you, and we want to partner with you in what-
ever way we can.
So I once again look forward to any responses to the questions
that weren’t able to be given, given our time constraint.
Ms. LEE of California. Once again, thank you again for being
with us.
Having said that, I want to remind members that if you do have
additional questions, go on and please submit them for the record.
I believe our timeframe is within the next 7 days.
This concludes our hearing, and the Subcommittee on State, For-
eign Operations, and Related Programs stands adjourned. Thank
you again.
Ms. POWER. Thank you, Madam Chairman. Thanks, everybody.
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[Questions and answers submitted for the record follow:]
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TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2022.
FISCAL YEAR 2023 MEMBERS’ DAY HEARING
OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRWOMAN LEE
Ms. LEE. The Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and
Related Programs will come to order.
Good afternoon, let me just welcome and thank you again for at-
tending our virtual hearing and testifying. I also want to take a
moment to recognize our newest member of our subcommittee,
Congresswoman Julia Letlow. We are so glad to have you on the
subcommittee, and we look forward to working with you. Hopefully
we will be able to sit down and talk soon.
We have heard from many agencies of their justifications for
their fiscal year 2023 budget. However, it is really important to
myself and other members to hear directly from you on your prior-
ities for the fiscal year 2023 State and foreign operations bill. I am
always amazed, and I said this last year, last year we had 6,500
member requests. This year we have 6,800 member requests, so
that is a lot of requests from members of Congress, bipartisan, Re-
publicans and Democrats, but it just shows you that members are
very concerned about global affairs, which I really love.
I want to welcome member testimony before this subcommittee
because it really does demonstrate the value that the House puts
on these important investments in building a more just, inclusive,
and prosperous world. The diplomacy, development, humanitarian,
and security assistance programs funded through this bill are crit-
ical to supporting the poorest and most vulnerable people, includ-
ing women and children, as well as mitigating crises, such as cli-
mate change, the COVID–19 pandemic, and the war in Ukraine.
Now, with limited resources, I strive to write a bill and report that
takes into consideration both Agency and member input. The more
we can raise our collective voices about the value of these pro-
grams, the more success we will have in making sure we can se-
cure the resources to fund them sufficiently.
Distinguished colleagues, more than ever before, with our inter-
national challenges, America faces a direct impact on the American
people in terms of our global challenges, whether it is alleviating
starvation, food insecurity, advancing women’s empowerment, tack-
ling global health, securing our partners in vulnerable countries
from the malign influence of authoritarianism, increasing staff di-
versity and equity within our own agencies. That is just to name
a few. These are challenges which necessitate that Congress co-
operate, work together in a bipartisan manner, and lead. And
though it is not always an easy path, I believe Congress has shown,
at the end of the day, we can work together, especially this sub-
committee, alongside the administration and our multilateral part-
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ners to provide for programs that protect the American people and
their security, and uplift our development and foreign policy prior-
ities.
We have a member, Congressman Kahele, who is not able to be
with us this afternoon, so without objection, I would like to ask
that his testimony be added to the record.
Without objection.
[The information follows:]
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Ms. LEE. I look forward to hearing your testimonies, but before
I turn to our distinguished colleagues, let me yield to our ranking
member, Mr. Rogers, for any opening remarks he may have. Mr.
Rogers?
OPENING STATEMENT OF RANKING MEMBER ROGERS
Mr. ROGERS. Thank you for yielding, Madam Chair. Before I
begin, let me also say a word of welcome to the newest member of
the subcommittee, Congresswoman Julia Letlow. We are looking
forward to working with you, and I am pleased to have a full con-
tingent on the Republican side of the aisle now, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Madam Chair, for convening this hearing so that we
may receive testimony from our colleagues on their fiscal year 2023
priorities in this bill. We have already heard from the Secretary of
State and USAID administrator on details of the President’s budg-
et request for State, foreign operations, which would provide an in-
crease of nearly $10 billion over the enacted level. As I noted in
previous hearings, I believe increases of this magnitude are unreal-
istic and create false expectations. That said, there are many im-
portant programs in this bill, many of which have strong bipartisan
support, and I am pleased we get to hear from several of them
today directly from members. We thank them for their participa-
tion.
And now, I yield back.
Ms. LEE. Thank you very much, Mr. Rogers. To our distinguished
colleagues, if you could summarize your oral statement in less than
5 minutes. I want to make sure we have enough time, especially
given the possibility of votes being called, and we will leave enough
time to get to our questions. But your full statement will be in-
cluded in the record. After your testimony, I will be calling on
members based on seniority of the members who were present
when the hearing was called to order, alternating between majority
and minority members. And I will then recognize any remaining
members in the order of their appearance. Each member is asked
to keep their questions, once again, to within 5 minutes per round.
I will yield now to Chairman Jim McGovern.
—————
TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2022.
WITNESS
HON. JAMES P. MCGOVERN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM
THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS
OPENING STATEMENT OF MR. MCGOVERN
Mr. MCGOVERN. Thank you very much, Chairwoman Lee and
Ranking Member Rogers. Thanks for the opportunity to testify
today, and a special thank you to the staff. Sixty-eight hundred re-
quests, oh, my goodness, that is a lot, but in any event, we appre-
ciate your work. To begin with, let me thank you for your focus on
community-based development and how responsive you have been
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to many of my top concerns. And this committee, and especially the
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299
two of you, I believe, promote the very best of U.S. values and ad-
vance America’s global interests and relationships.
One of my top priorities for fiscal year 2023 is the request led
by Congresswoman Sara Jacobs and myself along with Representa-
tives Fitzpatrick, McCollum, and Kim, and we ask that you provide
$1.1 billion for the maternal and child health account. This in-
cludes designating $200 million for GABI and $300 million for the
nutrition account within global health programs at USAID. The re-
quest is supported by 178 bipartisan members of Congress. I
strongly urge the subcommittee to substantially increase the nutri-
tion account. While the subcommittee has provided increases to
both the MCH and global health programs accounts, these in-
creases have not been reflected in the funds dedicate to nutrition.
So we all know that interventions provided to infants, including se-
verely malnourished children, have a tremendous bang for their
buck. When we see documented reductions in stunting and im-
provements in maternal and child health from these proven inter-
ventions, I can’t understand why increases to the nutrition account
are so difficult.
Our bipartisan request is to provide $300 million for the nutri-
tion account to address the global child malnutrition and under-nu-
trition crisis. I also want to thank you for the thoughtful and effec-
tive designations the committee has made regarding U.S. aid to Co-
lombia and Central America. I strongly support the attention to po-
lice reform in Colombia. Since last year, police abuses persist, and
reforms have failed to advance. I would encourage you to strength-
en your focus on this critical human rights and security issue.
And I would now like to just highlight a couple of new requests
for your consideration in fiscal year 2023. First, I ask the com-
mittee to designate $500,000 for USIP’s Colombia Program. I also
support fully funding USIP at $54 million. In October of 2021,
USIP opened a permanent office in Colombia. In the worsening
human rights situation confronting Colombia, the USIP Colombia
Program has become a critical convening space for key local and
national stakeholders on a range of very sensitive issues. Its shoe-
string budget provides for minimal staffing and administrative
costs at a time when expanding its programs could amplify its crit-
ical role as a good faith actor and mentor for peace, reconciliation,
and reform inside Colombia.
I understand that this a highly unusual request to designate
funds for one of USIP’s many programs, but the impact of its Co-
lombia office and staff in advancing peace building in that troubled
and violent country cannot be understated, and believe that the
best way to allocate such funding is to your best judgment, but I
firmly believe that this is an important priority. And I know no-
body in Congress wishes to see Colombia repeat the horrors of the
1990s.
Second, I ask for $1.5 million to be provided to the Bureau of De-
mocracy, Labor, and Human Rights, to develop a comprehensive
Central American protection pilot program for judicial officials,
independent media, and human rights defenders who face such ex-
treme harassment or threats that they are forced to stop working
and even go into exile. I mean, we have seen a deep erosion of judi-
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cial independence in Central America, a crackdown on independent
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300
media, and restrictions on the work of civil society. Those most af-
fected are individuals and NGOs leading efforts to combat impu-
nity and corruption, protect human rights, and ensure the rule of
law, the very people who most share our values and vision in the
region. I strongly believe it is in our interest to have a program or
mechanism that ensures the safety of and provides support for
these key actors so they can continue their human rights and anti-
corruption work in exile.
Finally, I am asking for $10 million for peace building, reconcili-
ation, democracy building, and food security in the Central African
Republic. You know, the conflict in the Central African Republic
has exacerbated religious and ethnic tensions and left 49 percent
of the population food insecure. So while humanitarian assistance
provides lifesaving support, there remains massive gaps in helping
civilians rebuild their lives and livelihoods. These local initiatives
play an essential role in breaking cycles of conflict and displace-
ment and securing a more sustainable peace.
So thanks for allowing me time to speak on these priorities.
Thank you for all that you do, and I yield back.
Ms. LEE. Great. Thank you, Chair McGovern. Thanks again for
your testimony, and our members know that this is not new for
you. You have been showing leadership on these issues for many,
many years. And thank you also for bringing up the USIP Program
to our attention. That was one of the questions I was going to ask
you, but thank you very much for that.
Let me know yield to Mr. Rogers and see if you have any com-
ments or questions.
Mr. ROGERS. I have no questions. I want to compliment the gen-
tleman for the thoroughness of his report. I wish him luck.
Mr. ROGERS. Thank you.
Ms. LEE. Any other member have any question or comment? Ms.
Frankel?
[No response.]
Ms. LEE. Okay. With that, Mr. McGovern, thank you very much.
Mr. MCGOVERN. Thank you all.
Mr. ROGERS. Thank you.
Ms. LEE. Your full testimony will be included in the record.
Mr. MCGOVERN. All the best. Thank you.
Ms. LEE. Thank you. I will yield now to, I believe, Ms. Escobar.
I am sorry. Who was next in line, Mr. Case or Ms. Escobar?
Mr. CASE. I am happy to defer to Ms. Escobar.
Ms. LEE. Okay. We will go to Ms. Escobar since I called her. Con-
gressman Escobar. Thank you again.
[The information follows:]
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TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2022.
WITNESS
HON. VERONICA ESCOBAR, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM
THE STATE OF TEXAS
OPENING STATEMENT OF MS. ESCOBAR
Ms. ESCOBAR. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mr. Case. Thank
you, Chairwoman Lee and Ranking Member Rogers, for hosting
this member day hearing. As the representative for El Paso, Texas,
I am here to talk about an agency that most Americans have likely
never heard of but is absolutely vital for those of who live on the
southern border, the International Boundary and Water Commis-
sion, or the IBWC.
As this subcommittee knows, the overall mission of the IBWC is
to oversee the application of United States-Mexico treaties, includ-
ing settling differences that may arise in their application. How-
ever, the IBWC also plays a critical role in maintaining levees,
dams, and other flood damage reduction activities. The United
States section has been working diligently to meet the needs of
communities along bodies of water like the Rio Grande, and I
would like to thank the subcommittee for its steadfast leadership
in increasing the Agency’s funding over the past several years.
However, after meeting with IBWC leadership and local stake-
holders in my district, in order for IBWC to meet the needs of the
moment, they need substantially higher funding beginning in fiscal
year 2023. That is why I am requesting a $40 million increase for
IBWC, divided evenly between the salaries and expenses and con-
struction accounts.
At the moment, the IBWC needs more funding to address three
critical areas: dredging of sediment, levee construction and repair,
and replacement of heavy equipment. Because of the lack of funds,
sediment has accumulated along the Rio Grande since the late
1990s, and, as a result, deferred maintenance has elevated flood
risks in the vicinity of El Paso. While I have spoken with Commis-
sioner Giner about this issue and knows she is committed to ad-
dressing it, the deferred dredging will likely cost hundreds of mil-
lions of dollars over the span of several years. And I apologize, that
is Commissioner Giner. The increase I am proposing would allow
IBWC to begin making a dent into the deferred dredging while also
beginning to plan for yearly dredging.
With regard to levees, the role IBWC plays in their construction
and repair is central to reducing flood risks for border residents.
However, because work on the levees has been slow due to funding
constraints, they have also played a direct role in the FEMA flood
mapping process. More specifically, the draft flood maps FEMA has
developed for El Paso now include large swaths of homes that
would not normally be placed in these flood zones. The only reason
they are in flood zones is because a nearby IBWC levee is either
lacking certification or needs repairs. This places an additional fi-
nancial burden on homeowners to purchase flood insurance. Get-
ting IBWC the funds necessary to expeditiously take care of the
levees will reduce flood risk and allow FEMA to properly evaluate
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The final funding priority is getting IBWC the funds needed to
replace their existing heavy equipment. I was shocked to learn that
some of the heavy equipment used in the El Paso area is simply
not suitable workers and in dire need of upgrades. Providing more
funds to the Border Heavy Equipment Program will allow IBWC to
replace their existing inventory with state-of-the-art construction
equipment while also protecting their workers.
In addition to a funding increase, we need to help bring IBWC
into the 21st century. I am encouraged by Commissioner Giner’s vi-
sion for IBWC and believe we should do what we can to support
her. For example, engaging with institutions of higher education
for research is something many other Federal agencies do regu-
larly, and they benefit greatly from it. Oftentimes, this engagement
allows them to find solutions to longstanding problems that they
may not have been able to find otherwise. My report language re-
quest would simply encourage the IBWC to develop a strategy for
engaging in research with institutions of higher education, specifi-
cally those along the southern border. This research would be lim-
ited to the purposes of their mission but I believe could yield re-
sults for the future of the IBWC.
Many thanks to the subcommittee for this opportunity and for
consideration of my request. I yield back.
Ms. LEE. Thank very much for that testimony, Congresswoman
Escobar. I certainly know the area you are talking about. El Paso
is my hometown, and thank you for representing us so well, and
we look forward to following up and asking a couple questions.
Votes have been called, though, but let me just see if Mr. Rogers
has a question before I ask my final question of Ms. Escobar.
Mr. ROGERS. I have no questions, and I wish her well in this
quest.
Ms. LEE. Let me just ask you about the IBWC and the last two
administrations, and why they haven’t asked for adequate funding.
I am just curious about that. If you can just quickly tell us what
is the——
Ms. ESCOBAR. Chairwoman Lee, that is a great question. We
tried hard to get with the last leader of the IBWC. We were unable
to secure a meeting with her after multiple attempts, but the com-
munity has long been crying out for support because the lack of the
dredging, the old equipment, all of that has a direct impact on our
homeowners, on our commercial property owners, who then have to
buy flood insurance simply because the Federal Government is not
taking care of its own property.
Ms. LEE. Thank you very much, and with that we have your full
testimony to be included in the record.
Ms. ESCOBAR. Thank you. Thanks, Mr. Case. I yield back.
Ms. LEE. Let me yield now to Mr. Case.
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TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2022.
WITNESS
HON. ED CASE, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE
OF HAWAII
OPENING STATEMENT OF MR. CASE
Mr. CASE. Thank you so much, Chair Lee, Ranking Member Rog-
ers, and Appropriations colleagues on this subcommittee, including
Ms. Letlow. Mahalo, or thank you, for the opportunity to testify
today in support of a solid fiscal year 2023 bill that fully invests
in U.S. engagement throughout the Indo-Pacific, but especially the
Pacific Islands.
The Pacific Islands region spans the vast expanse of ocean from
Easter Island and Hawaii to the shores of New Zealand, Australia,
Indonesia, and Asia. The nations spread throughout these waters
control a combined exclusive economic zone larger than the land
mass of China and Russia combined. We share centuries, indeed
millennia in the case of Hawaii and other Pacific parts of our coun-
try, of values, culture, and history with the Pacific Islands. Of
course in World War II, our nation lost countless of our own on
these islands and the surrounding seas, and we have been a full
partner in the present and future of the Pacific in the three genera-
tions hence. In this Indo-Pacific century, our relationships through-
out the Pacific are paramount.
The priorities of these nations are familiar because their fate is
tied to our own in so many ways. Climate change is an existential
threat for the Pacific Islands as rising sea levels have already
begun to subsume their communities. Their economies have been
ravaged by COVID–19, and they are increasingly forced to the
frontlines of the geopolitical challenge with China. Successive non-
partisan/bipartisan administrations and Congresses have empha-
sized the urgent need to shift our foreign policy focus westward,
but now is indeed the time to fund a coordinated U.S. Government
strategy for engagement in the Pacific Islands. The President’s re-
cently released Indo-Pacific strategy speaks to the region’s impor-
tance and commits to bolstering U.S. diplomatic engagement and
cooperation with Pacific Island nations on mutual priorities. We
must assure that this strategy is fully authorized, fully funded, and
fully implemented.
There are many interrelated components, but to name just a few:
the full return of the Peace Corps; bolstering efforts to combat ille-
gal, unreported, and unregulated fishing; supporting training and
scholarships for Pacific Islanders to study in the United States, es-
pecially through proven institutions such as the East-West Center
in Honolulu, Hawaii; increasing attache, consular, and embassy
presence; and providing support for climate resilience projects, civil
society, and trade development. Each initiative that we fully au-
thorize, fund, and implement sends a clear message to the Pacific
Islands that we stand with them in the face of mutual challenges,
and that the United States is a neighbor and partner that they can
count on to continue to share our common aspirations for a re-
gional order, free of coercion and fully respectful of democracy,
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human rights, and the sovereignty of all nations.
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In 2019, I co-founded the bipartisan Pacific Islands Caucus to in-
crease awareness of the importance of the Pacific Islands within
Congress. We have worked to ensure that the Pacific Islands are
not overlooked in our approach to the Indo-Pacific. We have pro-
duced legislation, like the Blue Pacific Act, to ensure we include
the region in our strategy for Indo-Pacific engagement. In fact, the
United States Innovation and Competition Act and the America
COMPETES Act contain provisions from the Blue Pacific Act,
which, if funded, would be truly transformative for our approach to
this region. The Asia Reassurance Initiative Act of 2018 provides
many of the authorizations needed to fund the Indo-Pacific and Pa-
cific Islands related provisions of USICA and COMPETES.
However, this is only possible with specific carveouts and des-
ignations for the Pacific Islands in the educational and cultural ex-
change, international disaster assistance, development assistance,
and global health programming accounts. Without funding to sup-
port strategic engagement in the Pacific, it becomes too easy for ad-
ministrative inertia or diversion to stall our best intentions. I urge
you to craft a fiscal year 2023 State and foreign operations appro-
priations bill that supports a comprehensive whole-of-government
approach to U.S. engagement in the Pacific Islands.
We have made progress through renewed diplomatic and other
efforts to engage Pacific leaders, including Secretary Blinken’s and
Congress’ own travels in the region. However, without funding to
support specific initiatives, visits alone and promises made will
ring hollow. Now is the time to ensure that our foreign policy budg-
et reflects the importance of our ties to the Pacific Islands and our
support for a secure and stable Indo-Pacific, committed to an order
based on mutual respect, cooperation, and freedom.
Thank you so much for considering my thoughts and my request.
Ms. LEE. Thank you very much, Congressman Case. We certainly
do need to do more with the Pacific Islands, and I appreciate your
leadership on this. And thank you for introducing the Blue Pacific
Act to really give a roadmap on how we strengthen our engagement
in the Pacific Islands.
I will yield now to Mr. Rogers.
Mr. ROGERS. Thank you, Madam Chair. Let me thank Mr. Case
for his interest in the Indo-Pacific. It is impressive bipartisan con-
sensus has emerged not only to the importance of the Indo-Pacific
region, to American national interests. One critical, but often ne-
glected, area of competition with China is among the Pacific island
countries that Mr. Case knows so well. What additional areas of
economic, diplomatic, or cultural engagement would you emphasize
if resources allow?
Mr. CASE. Thank you so much, Ranking Member, and I appre-
ciate very much your support. And, to your point, we need look no
further than the recent agreement between the Solomon Islands
and China, for if we ever needed it, some kind of a warning shot
as to the fork in the road we face with the Pacific Islands, it is
right now. I would say to your question, I was just in the Pacific
Islands on a bipartisan congressional delegation just a few weeks
ago, and I want to emphasize one area where I think it is critical
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for us to assist, and that is maritime security.
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The Pacific Islands depend on the enforcement of their rights in
their exclusive economic zones. As you know, China is busy trying
to rewrite the law on exclusive economic zones in the South China
Sea and elsewhere, and these countries are subject to many, many
threats and many, many initiatives to essentially erode their rights
and give access to other countries to their EEZs. This is a matter
of survival for them. And so maritime security is a particular area
that they particularly need assistance with, and that they particu-
larly welcome, by the way. It is an area where, for example, our
Coast Guard is involved in almost all the Pacific Islands. In fact,
I think it is all of the Pacific Islands in one way or the other, even
islands that, you know, are a little skittish about the participation
of our other armed services. Trade is going to be another very, very
critical area, but the areas within the jurisdiction of this sub-
committee and others all are going to be critical to whether we ac-
tually do boost our reengagement in the Pacific Islands.
Mr. ROGERS. Thank you very much.
Ms. LEE. Are there any additional questions?
[No response.]
Ms. LEE. If not, thank you, again, Congressman Case. Thank you
for yielding to Ms. Escobar out of order, and thank you for your tes-
timony. We will be sure to include it in the record.
Mr. CASE. Thank you very much.
Ms. LEE. Now I would like to yield to Congresswoman Garcia.
We still have probably about 300 members who haven’t voted, but
we are trying to move so that we can complete this, but if not, we
will come back after votes.
I will yield now to Ms. Garcia.
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TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2022.
WITNESS
HON. SYLVIA R. GARCIA, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM
THE STATE OF TEXAS
OPENING STATEMENT OF MS. GARCIA
Ms. GARCIA. Thank you, Madam Chair, and I will need less than
5 minutes. And I am proxying for about 3 or 4 people, so I do need
to get to the floor just like everybody else, so I appreciate your con-
sideration. And thank you to Ranking Member Rogers and all the
committee members for having me here today to share my fiscal
year 2023 priorities for the Appropriations Subcommittee on State,
Foreign Operations, and Related Programs.
I am proud to represent Texas’ 29th Congressional District. This
includes parts of Houston, South Houston, Pasadena, Jacinto City,
and Galena Park. I am a strong advocate for the LGBTQ commu-
nity in my community and abroad. Unfortunately, at least 68 coun-
tries have lost or criminalize same-sex sexual relations between
consenting adults, and at least nine countries have laws criminal-
izing forms of gender expression that target trans people. This is
unacceptable. Nobody should be discriminated against or denied
their human rights just for being who they are.
As a defender of human rights for LGBTQ people around the
world, I am proud to sign and support Representative Cicilline’s
fiscal year 2023 appropriations request letter to support funding for
LGBTQI-plus individuals globally. Specifically, this letter requests
$30 million for the Global Equality Fund at the State Department
and $30 million for the Equal Rights and Action Fund at USAID,
which are funded through this HAP committee. As members of
Congress, we should be committed to the pursuit of global equality
for all, no matter what you look like, where you are from, or who
you love, and that is why this request urges appropriators to invest
in LGBTQI-plus rights around the world.
U.S. foreign assistance programs at the State Department and
USAID have been vital in supporting LGBTQI-plus people and are
embedded in broader initiatives that support democracy, human
rights, and economic development. Funding these programs will
allow the United States to restore its leadership in this area and
support our global citizens. Coincidentally, today is also Inter-
national Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia,
which was founded to draw attention to the violence and discrimi-
nation experienced by LGBTQI-plus people around the world. In
honor of today’s international day, I ask for your strong consider-
ation of these funding requests.
I appreciate all the members’ time today, and I would be happy
to answer questions should you have any. Madam Chair, with that,
I yield back.
Ms. LEE. Thank you very much, Representative Garcia. The
LGBTQ-plus-I community has been largely marginalized and sub-
ject to discrimination and violence for simply wanting basic human
dignity, so you for calling this to our attention.
I will yield now to Mr. Rogers.
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Mr. ROGERS. Madam Chair, I have no questions.
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Ms. LEE. Any additional questions?
[No response.]
Ms. LEE. If not, thank you very much for being with us today.
Your full testimony will be included in the record, and we will pro-
ceed accordingly. Thank you, Ms. Garcia.
Ms. GARCIA. Thank you, Madam Chair, and I will see you on the
floor.
Ms. LEE. Thank you for bringing this to us.
I will now yield to, Representative Radewagen. Am I pronouncing
your name correctly? Please——
Mrs. RADEWAGEN. Yes.
Ms. LEE. Thank you for being with us. Please proceed.
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TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2022.
WITNESS
HON. AUMUA AMATA COLEMAN RADEWAGEN, A DELEGATE IN CON-
GRESS FROM AMERICAN SAMOA
OPENING STATEMENT OF MRS. RADEWAGEN
Mrs. RADEWAGEN. Thank you, Chairwoman Lee and Ranking
Member Rogers, for the opportunity to testify today on the need of
an increase of U.S. investment in the Pacific Island region in the
fiscal year 2023 appropriations bill.
The United States is a Pacific Island nation. We have been a Pa-
cific Island nation for over 100 years. However, since the end of the
Cold War, we have forgotten our commitments to the region. Unfor-
tunately, in that time, new challenges have arisen in the region.
China is increasingly making their presence felt in neighboring
Samoa. They have invested in building a dual-use airport less than
80 miles from American Samoa, but it is not just Samoa that China
is influencing. Just earlier this year, China signed a security agree-
ment with the Solomon Islands, but did not do so transparently.
Active U.S. involvement can prevent other small Pacific Island
States from being taken advantage of by China.
However, China does not represent the existential threat to the
Pacific like climate change does. Rising sea levels threaten to com-
pletely cover some islands in the near future. Every small Pacific
Island country says that climate change is their biggest national
security concern, and it is not just climate change that is threat-
ening Pacific Island countries. COVID–19 has completely isolated
Pacific Island countries, many of whom don’t have the resources in
case of a major outbreak. We as the United States have the ability
to counteract the threats of China, climate change, and COVID in
the SFOPs appropriations bill. We need a unified, whole-of-govern-
ment Indo-Pacific strategy that addresses the concerns of our
neighbors in the region. And I believe, like Congressman Case, that
thorough engagement is critical.
I humbly ask that the committee increase funding of accounts
and programs that engage the U.S. in the Pacific. Such programs
include development assistance, diplomatic programs, international
disaster assistance, education, and cultural exchange programs.
These accounts fund programs that allow the United States to de-
velop bonds with government officials and civil society of Pacific Is-
land countries. One of which I am passionate about is the Young
Pacific Leaders Program, which strengthens bonds of the Pacific’s
future leaders with young leaders in the United States. These
bonds are important for future generations. Another which I care
about is education scholarships for Pacific Island students. China
is greatly out-competing us on this front. They are providing edu-
cation to young Pacific Islander students who then go on to work
in the governments of Pacific Island countries. We can compete. We
have the best universities in the world, and we can provide that
education with scholarships to Pacific Island students.
For the United States to maintain and deepen its relationships
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in the region, we must put real resources towards our diplomatic
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presence, partnerships for development, and engagement with civil
society.
Thank you for your time and for consideration of the needs of the
people of the Indo-Pacific region. Thank you, Madam Chair. I yield
back the balance of my time.
Ms. LEE. Thank you very much for your testimony, and as I said
earlier, we must acknowledge that we need to do more with the Pa-
cific Islands. And I also recognize the existential threat that small
islands face, especially with climate change and many of the other
issues you laid out. So thank you very much for bringing this to
our attention.
I will yield now to Mr. Rogers if he has a question.
Mr. ROGERS. Thank you, Madam Chair. I noted earlier the bipar-
tisan consensus on the importance of the Indo-Pacific region to
American national interests. China’s apparent military inroads in
the Solomon Islands shows us the dangers of taking our eyes off
the ball. While we have strong historical relationships with many
of these countries dating back to World War II, it is critical we do
not take them for granted. In your view, Mrs. Radewagen, has the
State Department and USAID been paying enough attention to the
region?
Mrs. RADEWAGEN. Well, the short answer is no. They have been,
but they need to pay much more attention because we are losing
these areas, and China is all over these areas like a cheap suit, Mr.
Rogers.
Mr. ROGERS. Thank you very much. I yield.
Ms. LEE. Thank you. I yield now to Representative Espaillat.
Mr. ESPAILLAT. Thank you, Representative Radewagen. The
problem is sometimes they make expensive suits, too, and they sell
them. They peddle them not just in the Indo-Pacific Islands. It is
in the Caribbean. And so, for example, island nations’ abilities to
have disaster resilience as they stand in the pathway of hurricanes
is very costly. And often China and others come in with financing
for important disaster resilience projects in the Caribbean as well
as the energy issue in the Caribbean, which continues to be a
major problem. The cost of energy, as it is here in the United
States as well, has gone through the roof, and, of course, that has
impacted the cost of food and other emergency items.
And so we must lead in providing financing. China provides 1
percent interest loans to those island nations and other countries,
and, of course, they have no other choice but to go there to address
some of these very urgent needs. You have, for example, maternal
healthcare in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. We have spoken
about that in this committee last time around about providing
funding to address the maternal care costs of Haitian women in
Haiti and the DR, as well as the Caribbean Basin Security Initia-
tive, which is one that addresses security in the region. It reduces
corruption in the region. It strengthens the ability, again, to re-
spond to natural disasters.
So I know that island nations are often facing these very difficult
choices when it comes to natural disasters and the environment.
So, Representative Radewagen, I want to know what kind of initia-
tives you are putting in the other part of the world to address this
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that require our intervention? Are there any particular projects
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that you may have that I think that are worthy in the Indo-Pacific
Islands?
Mrs. RADEWAGEN. Well, the short answer would be, of course, cli-
mate change and COVID issues. Those are important not only in
the Pacific region, but in your region as well, the Caribbean.
Mr. ESPAILLAT. Thank you so much, Madam Chair. I yield back.
Ms. LEE. Thank you. If there are no additional questions, let me
thank you for being with us today, and once again calling our at-
tention to the importance of the Indo-Pacific region, and for your
testimony. It will be included in the record, and we look forward
to working with you. Thank you again.
I will now yield to Representative Malinowski. I believe we still
have time. A hundred and thirty-three members have not voted
yet, so we will be able to get through your testimony. Representa-
tive Malinowski, thank you for being here.
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TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2022.
WITNESS
HON. TOM MALINOWSKI, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM
THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY
OPENING STATEMENT OF MR. MALINOWSKI
Mr. MALINOWSKI. Thank you so much. Thanks, Chairwoman Lee
and Ranking Member Rogers. I wanted to come here today just,
first and foremost, to thank you both for your bipartisan support
for an America that shows up around the world, an American that
leads. Many of us in Congress have ambitious ideas about what
America should be doing around the world—supporting our allies,
standing up for our values, standing down adversaries, whether
Russia in Ukraine or China in the Asia-Pacific—and yet not all of
our colleagues recognize the importance of actually resourcing the
State Department to be able to do the things that we demand that
they do, which, as you all know, they do with less than 1 percent
of the Federal budget.
I also wanted to thank you both for putting up with me and all
of our colleagues who come at you with letters and requests, help-
ing us move the needle on dozens of issues that are important to
us around the world. In particular, I know how much work has
gone to recently bicameral negotiations on trying to elevate human
rights as a factor in U.S. military aid in the Middle East and other
parts of the world. I can tell you as a former senior State Depart-
ment official, the State Department frequently is proud of itself for
how it uses tools that Congress imposed upon it against its will,
whether it is the Leahy law that affects how we do military assist-
ance and training around the world, or the Magnitsky Human
Rights Act, which allows for sanctions against human rights abus-
ers. All these things were opposed by State Departments under
both Democratic and Republican administrations, and they are now
incredibly proud of how they work with us to actually use these
tools, and it is something to keep in mind as we conduct our over-
sight.
I am also here to draw your attention to a letter that I led with
20 colleagues requesting a bump-up to the budget for the State De-
partment officers that oversee arms transfers around the world. Se-
curity assistance is one of the most visible and defining elements
of our relationships with a lot of countries around the world, from
Colombia, to Niger, to Egypt. The scale of our military aid often
dwarfs our economic assistance, and it sometimes generates a per-
ception that the United States is the guarantor of the regimes of
those countries. Sometimes it associates us with abuses committed
by their security forces. And as arms transfers overseas loom, the
personnel support at the State Department overseeing those trans-
fers has stagnated. By our calculations, the State Department has
to sign off on the human rights risks associated with weapons ex-
port licenses every 5 minutes, one sign-off every 5 minutes, and
that is only with a handful of staff.
So we urge your committee, myself and a number of other col-
leagues, to consider providing a boost to the State Department
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resourcing that would help to make up the difference between what
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they have budgeted and what we are actually asking them to do,
to enforce the laws that we put into place. So I hope you are you
are able to consider that as you look to next year’s bill.
And then finally, I know we have had many conversations about
the urgent importance of making sure America does her part to
fight the COVID epidemic in countries that can’t always afford to
do so on their own. I think all of us approach our role as stewards
of our foreign affairs with a spirit of generosity. We may be person-
ally moved by the humanitarian elements of this challenge, helping
developing countries defeat this disease, but there is also a very,
very significant national interest. I talk about this all the time in
my district, and I say I would much rather beat this pandemic in
Africa than have to beat it again in New Jersey. The worst thing
that could happen is another variant that shuts down the Amer-
ican economy again, and we can either fight it for a few billion dol-
lars around the world or a few trillion dollars in America. And I
know that members of this subcommittee agree with that, and we
will continue to work together to try to make it happen.
Thank you so much. I yield back.
Ms. LEE. Thank you very much. Let me just say how much we
appreciate your advocacy on all of these issues and your strong ad-
vocacy. And I have long been concerned about our human rights
concerns and issues taking a backseat in our security assistance
policies. And hopefully we will have a revised policy that requires
stringent human rights reviews prior, mind you, to the approval of
arms sales. So thank you for raising also the issue of COVID be-
cause what affects one affects all, and we are going to hopefully get
this done sooner or later, but keep fighting hard. We appreciate it.
I will yield to Mr. Rogers now.
Mr. ROGERS. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thanks for your testi-
mony. We look forward to working with you. I yield back.
Ms. LEE. Mr. Espaillat, I see your hand up. That may have been
for a prior question?
[No response.]
Ms. LEE. If not, let me just say, Mr. Malinowski, your full testi-
mony will be submitted for the record, and we will seriously con-
sider the proposals you presented to us today, and thank you for
being with us.
Mr. MALINOWSKI. Thank you. Let’s go vote.
Ms. LEE. Yes. So let me thank our colleagues for taking time to
come and testify, but also for all of you who are still with us on
this subcommittee for hanging in there. We are going to, of course,
keep the record open for, I think, 7 days so we can receive testi-
mony and submit it for the record.
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Ms. LEE. This concludes today’s hearing. Ms. Letlow, they don’t
move this quickly all of the time, but really happy you were able
to be with us today.
This concludes our hearing. The Subcommittee on State, Foreign
Operations, and Related Programs stands adjourned. I want to
thank all the staff for helping us get through this.
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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2022.
FISCAL YEAR 2023 BUDGET REQUEST FOR THE UNITED
NATIONS
WITNESS
LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NA-
TIONS
OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRWOMAN LEE
Ms. LEE. Good morning.
I would like to call now to order the Subcommittee on State, For-
eign Operations, and Related Programs. Thank you all for partici-
pating in this morning’s hearing about the fiscal 2023 budget re-
quest for the United Nations.
Before we begin, as this is a hybrid meeting hearing, we must
address a few housekeeping matters.
For the members joining virtually, once you start speaking, there
is a slight delay before you are displayed on main screen. Speaking
into the microphone activates the camera displaying the speaker on
the main screen. Do not stop your remarks if you do not imme-
diately see the screen switch. If the screen does not change after
seconds, please make sure you are not muted.
To minimize background noise and ensure the correct speaker is
being displayed, we ask that you remain on mute unless you have
sought recognition. Myself or staff, we have designated may mute
participants’ microphones when they are not under recognition to
eliminate inadvertent background noise.
Members who are virtual are responsible for muting and
unmuting themselves. If I notice, when you are recognized, that
you have not unmuted yourself, I will ask the staff to send you a
request to unmute yourself. Please then accept that request so you
are no longer muted.
I remind all members and witnesses that the 5–minute clock still
applies. If there is a technology issue, we will move to the next
member until the issue is resolved, and you will retain the balance
of your time.
Finally, House rules require me to remind you that we have set
up an email address to which members can send anything they
wish in writing at any of our hearings or markups. That email ad-
dress has been provided in advance to your staff.
So welcome again, Madam Ambassador, and good morning.
This is our hearing with our Ambassador to the United Nations,
Linda Thomas-Greenfield. We are going to discuss the administra-
tion’s fiscal 2023 request supporting the United States diplomatic
engagement at the United Nations, its specialized agencies and
programs, and U.N. peacekeeping activities.
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Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield, on behalf of myself and my col-
leagues, I want to thank you for joining us today and for bringing
your many decades of experience in development and diplomacy to
such a critically important post at such a critical time.
The United Nations is an invaluable and irreplaceable platform
for fostering diplomacy and international peace. I have been privi-
leged to serve as the United States Congressional Representative
to the U.N. General Assembly on the Democratic side on five dif-
ferent occasions, so I’ve seen first—hand the importance of the
issues debated in New York and how much is at stake without
U.N. engagement.
After a historic global pandemic that has devastated health sys-
tems, crippled economies, reignited racial and ethnic divisions, and
tragically claimed the lives of over 15 million people—the role and
the mission of the United Nations are as essential now as they
were when the United Nations was first created after the after-
math of World War II.
That is why I am very pleased to see that the administration’s
Fiscal 2023 request fully funds or provides the necessary increases
in the U.N.-related accounts, including our assessed and voluntary
contributions to U.N. organizations and U.N. peacekeeping mis-
sions.
The request includes funds to begin paying down our unpaid
debts for peacekeeping that have accumulated over the last 5
years, and have now reached over $1 billion, which is, a staggering
amount. This subcommittee has long recognized the vital role U.N.
peacekeepers play in conflict zones and the benefits that we gain
with burden-sharing with other countries through U.N. peace-
keeping missions.
We simply cannot continue to tout these multilateral partner-
ships while, at the same time, maintain arbitrary caps on our con-
tributions and rack up millions of dollars in arrears, leaving other
countries to foot the bill. Not paying our dues weakens our ability
to lead on a host of international issues, and it cedes ground to our
strategic competitors.
Speaking of ceding ground, I am deeply concerned that we will
not achieve the sustainable development goals by 2030 now that
the COVID–19 pandemic has caused tremendous backsliding. Am-
bassador Thomas-Greenfield, I am eager to hear about your con-
versations with U.N. partners on how we get the Sustainable De-
velopment Goals (SDGs) back on track and how the fiscal 2023 re-
sources will help.
I also hope you will update our subcommittee on the U.N.’s re-
sponse to the devastating invasion of Ukraine, as well as the U.N.’s
ongoing global response to COVID–19, especially in terms of vac-
cine distribution, rebuilding health systems, and addressing the
second-order impacts, including rising rates of gender-based vio-
lence, illiteracy, malnutrition, and job loss, all of which have dis-
proportionately affected women around the world.
Secretary Blinken said during his first major speech as Secretary
of State that—and I quote—’’We are always better off at the table,
not outside the room.’’
I could not agree more, which is why I fully supported the ad-
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ministration rejoining the Paris Agreement, the World Health Or-
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ganization, and the U.N. Human Rights Council. As chairwoman,
I also fully support the United States playing a leadership role
through our contributions to organizations like UNRWA and
UNFPA, both of which were needlessly cut off during the previous
administration in order to score domestic political points at the ex-
pense of millions of people who depend on these institutions.
Throughout my time in Congress, I have consistently advocated
for the strongest possible partnerships between the United States
and the United Nations. I encourage my colleagues to think care-
fully about calls for America to unilaterally cede the field at these
international bodies to governments which work against our val-
ues. We may not always agree with other nations on every issue,
but we must always have a venue where we can hear from other
countries and be heard ourselves. America is not always perfect,
nor are we a consistent voice for human rights, but we can and we
have been vocal and persuasive. We need to keep making the case
for human rights and human dignity.
Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield, I want to thank you once again
for your leadership, your devotion to diplomacy, and for your testi-
mony today.
Before we hear from you, let me turn to my colleague, Ranking
Member Rogers, for his opening statement.
OPENING STATEMENT OF RANKING MEMBER ROGERS
Mr. ROGERS. Welcome, Ambassador.
I am glad that we were able to be here face to face to receive
your testimony and discuss the Fiscal Year 2023 budget request for
the U.N. and other international organizations.
You are serving at an extraordinary time that highlights both
the many flaws and weaknesses of the United Nations, but the im-
portant lifesaving work of some of its organizations, such as the
U.N. Children’s Fund and the World Food Program. These and
other international organizations perform many valuable tasks that
often have bipartisan support.
This good work, however, is often overshadowed by the U.N.’s
long-standing weaknesses, including on matters of war and peace.
In particular, Russia’s unprovoked assault on Ukraine has high-
lighted, yet again, the inability of the Security Council to be mean-
ingful in addressing wars of aggression. They are simply not there.
Perhaps Moscow’s brazen challenge to international peace and
security will prompt a rethinking of our international institutions
and how we can make the U.N. and related mechanisms more re-
sponsive to the demands of our time. Any such efforts could start
by addressing the U.N.’s chronic problems of bureaucratic red tape,
inefficiency, and lack of transparency and accountability.
There could not be a more glaring example of these problems
than the recent scandal at the U.N. Office for Project Services,
which, according to press accounts, engaged in several bizarre in-
sider deals that may cost the organization tens of millions of dol-
lars. At a time when there is increased scrutiny of U.S. foreign aid
here at home, stories like this, at best, feed the sentiment that tax
dollars are being wasted and, at worst, are used to work against
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our own interests.
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While the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. for Management and Re-
form has called for a comprehensive review of that agency, a broad-
er review of U.N. agencies and practices has long been in order.
For example, the World Health Organization received criticism
from around the world for its failed response to the coronavirus
pandemic. Many eminent experts called on the WHO to take action
on transparency and desperately needed reforms. I hope you can
update us on the recent World Health Assembly and whether any
meaningful reforms were addressed.
Similarly, while the Secretary General has sought to strengthen
peacekeeping operations, it is unclear whether these efforts have
improved overall performance and accountability of these impor-
tant but complex and increasingly expensive undertakings that
seem to continue in perpetuity.
Then, there is the U.N. Human Rights Council, of which the
United States returned as a member late last year. The good news
is that, in light of its war crimes in Ukraine, the General Assembly
voted to suspend Russia from the Council. The bad news is that,
despite a commitment by the administration to address a long and
sordid history of anti-Israel bias there, the Council is moving in the
wrong direction, continuing these efforts through an expensive and
deeply biased commission of inquiry investigating the Israeli-Pales-
tinian conflict.
Instead of unjustly targeting Israel, the Council would be better
advised to investigate Communist China’s ongoing genocide against
Uyghur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang Province.
Unfortunately, the 6–day visit of the U.N. High Commissioner
for Human Rights to China has widely been seen as a failure and
roundly criticized for not only undermining her credibility, but the
overall credibility of the U.N. on human rights. The list goes on.
What is required are meaningful reforms which address the
issues I have mentioned while making better use of scarce taxpayer
resources to advance the causes that we support. To that end, I
should note that the $4.5 billion requested for fiscal year 2023 for
the U.N. and other international organizations is an increase of
nearly $1 billion over the current level. In the absence of meaning-
ful reforms across these institutions, such increases cannot be justi-
fied.
I look forward to working with you and the chair to identify a
common ground for funding that is in our national interests and
advances reforms to increase transparency and efficacy.
Before I close, Madam Chair, I want to address the nuclear
threats from Iran and North Korea. I understand that Iran may
have reached the point at which it could develop a nuclear weapon
in a matter of weeks. I hope you can speak to us on this issue, in-
cluding whether the International Atomic Energy Agency would be
in any position to verify a nuclear agreement with Iran, assuming
that such an agreement is still within reach and a goal of the ad-
ministration.
Likewise, not only is the IAEA deeply concerned about ongoing
nuclear weapons development in North Korea, which expelled the
Agency in 2009, but Pyongyang has also continued to aggressively
develop its ballistic missile program in violation of U.N. sanctions.
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I would also appreciate an update of our efforts in the Security
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Council to enact further penalties on North Korea in response to
these developments.
Ambassador, thank you for being here with us today. Thank you
for your long-standing service to the country and for your hard
work, especially in exceptionally challenging times, to advance
America’s interests at the U.N. Thank you for your service.
I yield.
Ms. LEE. Thank you, Mr. Rogers.
Now, I will ask our witness, Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield, to
make her opening statement and again, thank you very much for
being here. We will include your full written statement in the
record.
You will be recognized now for 5 minutes to summarize your
opening statement, so please proceed.
OPENING STATEMENT OF AMBASSADOR THOMAS-GREENFIELD
Ambassador THOMAS-GREENFIELD. I thank you, Madam Chair,
and good morning to everyone.
Let me thank all of you, Madam Chair, Ranking Member Rogers,
and members of the subcommittee, for having me here today.
I deeply appreciate the subcommittee’s bipartisan support of our
work at the United Nations and other international institutions.
With your support from day one, this administration has fully re-
engaged across multilateral institutions to advance U.S. interests
and address global challenges.
We have not shied away from pushing for comprehensive reforms
to make these institutions more transparent and accountable to
U.S. taxpayers. And, along with our allies and partners, we have
tackled a range of challenges head-on, including public health
threats, climate change, conflicts, and humanitarian crises around
the world.
In just over a year and a half at the U.N., I have met with senior
representatives from nearly every member state. I have been able
to strengthen long-standing relationships, and forge new ones. And
so, when crises have emerged, we have been ready.
Before President Putin carried out his further invasion of
Ukraine, the U.S. went to the Security Council to expose Russia’s
plans to the world. And, after he launched this unprovoked, unlaw-
ful, and brutal war, we mobilized over 140 member states to con-
demn Moscow’s action, and it was a unified and historic vote, big-
ger than anyone could have expected.
We then led efforts to suspend Russia from the Human Rights
Council, and we are continuing to use every tool at our disposal to
hold Russia’s forces accountable.
This multilateral strategy is effective, not just in supporting
Ukraine, but across the board. Our multilateral engagements help
lead to truces, however fragile, in Ethiopia and Yemen, and have
allowed for the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian assist-
ance. And the U.N., in partnership with the G7, has helped us re-
spond to the recent spike in global food insecurity, another con-
sequence of Russia’s war of aggression.
Just last month at the U.N., Secretary Blinken hosted the Global
Food Security Call to Action ministerial, where we rallied the
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world to respond to this worsening crisis. Over 80 countries have
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aligned with our roadmap to combat global food insecurity, which
calls for increased humanitarian assistance and in-kind food dona-
tions, among other actions.
On nearly every issue and conflict, our multilateral engagement
is delivering concrete outcomes for the U.S. And helping advance
our values around the world. But let me be crystal clear. China and
Russia are working day and night to drive an alternative authori-
tarian agenda at the U.N. and other multilateral institutions, and
they are putting significant resources and personnel behind their
efforts.
Right now at the U.N., to paraphrase President Biden, we are in
a fight for the soul of the world.
It would be a grave mistake to cede the U.N. and other multilat-
eral fora to China, which is why the President’s budget asks for the
resources and authorities needed to assert U.S. leadership.
Currently, our failure to live up to our financial obligations at
the U.N. give our adversaries an easy talking point, one they hit
us with again and again. We need to be able to pay our bills in full
and on time, and this will bolster our credibility and our leader-
ship.
The President’s budget also asks for additional support for U.N.
peace-building efforts, a worthwhile investment that helps prevent
costly conflicts before they erupt, and it asks for authority and
funding to enable U.S. leadership and organizations like UNESCO.
In the absence of U.S. leadership, China and others have been
more assertive at UNESCO, seeking to shape international con-
sensus on issues like emerging technologies and artificial intel-
ligence in ways hostile to democratic values. We need a seat at the
table when international standards and best practices are being set
so that we can advance our values.
Finally, we have a series of personnel requests in this budget, in-
cluding much-needed increases in housing allowances for foreign
service officers in New York and investments that will allow more
young and diverse Americans to serve at the United Nations. These
are modest budget requests, but they speak to a larger priority. We
need to attract and retain the best and the brightest if we are
going to continue to be successful. And, with the support of this
subcommittee, we will continue to be successful in leading the
world the American way.
And, with that, I look forward to your questions.
Thank you.
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Ms. LEE. Thank you very much, Madam Ambassador.
We will now proceed in the standard 5-minute rounds, alter-
nating sides, recognizing members in order of seniority as they
joined, or were seated at the beginning of the hearing.
I am asking everyone to be mindful of your time and allow the
witnesses to answer within your 5-minute turn. I know the Ambas-
sador has a hard stop at 11:30.
We probably will only have one round of questions, so I will try
to summarize my questions, several of them. They all have to do
with the impact of U.S. engagement at the United Nations.
As I said in my opening statement, it is critical that we have a
seat at the table, and as you said, not just to have our voice heard,
but to shape the very issues being debated.
With this in mind, Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield, from your
experience over the last year and a half. What have we been able
to accomplish since rejoining the U.N. Human Rights Council and
paying our human rights-related arrears?
Secondly, how has the United Nations played a role in ending
COVID–19 pandemic and in trying to get the SDGs back on track?
Thirdly and lastly, what key reforms have we been able to ad-
vance by our presence, or by our presence under your leadership,
especially those focused on holding offenders accountable for sexual
abuse committed by peacekeeping forces? And, of course, if you
would like to reference Ukraine and Poland and the refugee crisis,
please feel free to do so.
Thank you.
Ambassador THOMAS-GREENFIELD. Thank you, Madam Chair, for
that question. I will try to do my best with all of it. Thank you.
Let me just start with how we have engaged to shape how the
U.N. responds to crises.
I have made a concerted effort, as I noted in my statement, to
engage with every single member of the Council. There are 183
member states. I have already reached out to more than 130 with
one-on-one meetings, one, to share with them what our priorities
are, but also to encourage them to support us as we try to make
the U.N. into a more responsive organization.
And I think those efforts have paid off. They paid off when we
took the condemnation of Russia to the General Assembly, and we
got 141 states to support that effort. It paid off significantly when
we voted to remove or suspend Russia from the Human Rights
Council.
In the Human Rights Council, we were able to get a commission
of inquiry set up to review the situation in Russia.
And we have been able to bring about some key reforms across
the U.N. that relates to sexual abuse and sexual exploitation. We
engaged in all of those meetings. Congressman Rogers talked about
the work of my MR ambassador, who has been working aggres-
sively in the Fifth Committee to ensure that the—the U.N. is more
transparent and more responsive to our needs.
On the issue of sexual abuse and sexual exploitation, we had an
extraordinary meeting of the Security Council this week where we
talked about the sexual abuse of women in conflict. And Ukraine,
of course, loomed large in all of that, the fact that Russian soldiers
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have been committing acts of violence and sexual abuse against
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women and children in Ukraine. And we were able to expose that
very significantly in the Council.
In the U.N. peacekeeping operations, we have also been very,
very aggressively engaged in holding countries accountable when
their soldiers commit abuses against civilians, and we have been
involved in having some of those peacekeeping operations—soldiers’
countries removed from operations because they are not holding
their soldiers accountable.
I will admit that there is a lot more work to do, but we are work-
ing aggressively to make sure that our voice is heard at the table,
and that we push back against any action that goes against the
core values that we stand for at the United Nations.
Ms. LEE. Thank you. Ambassador, I have 36 seconds left. Could
you just mention Ukraine and the United Nations gearing up to
address the refugee crisis——
Ambassador THOMAS-GREENFIELD. So more than——
Ms. LEE [continuing]. In Ukraine?
Ambassador THOMAS-GREENFIELD. Thank you very much, Rep-
resentative.
More than 13, million Ukrainians have been impacted by this
unprovoked war. And, while the U.N. was a bit slow to action, I
will note that this has only been 100 days, and, in that 100 days,
they have galvanized their staff and ramped up their operations to
provide humanitarian assistance, to provide protection assistance
to—those who have been impacted by this war, most of them
women and children.
I visited Romania and Moldova, met with U.N. officials. I ex-
pressed our concerns that we felt that—and many of you felt that
they were not rising to the challenge. They heard us loudly and
clearly. They have put the staff in place, and we are seeing that
they have improved and are aggressively supporting those who
have been impacted.
Ms. LEE. Thank you very much for clarifying that. I was in Po-
land probably a month ago, and learned just that, and I really
think that they are doing a great job in helping with this crisis. So
thank you again.
I will yield now to our ranking member, Mr. Rogers.
Ambassador THOMAS-GREENFIELD. Thank you.
Mr. ROGERS. President Zelenskyy of Ukraine has criticized the
U.N. peace and security architecture, arguing that the goals set in
1945 during the creation of a global international security organi-
zation, have not been achieved. It is impossible to achieve them
without reforms, he says, and he is right.
Russia’s barbarous invasion and slaughter of Ukrainians has en-
ergized decades-old demands by supporters of international justice
and peace that the world’s governments repair long-acknowledged
weaknesses in the world’s institutions for preventing and sanc-
tioning wars of aggression. And we are in the midst of perhaps one
of the worst in history in the world in Ukraine, and yet, the U.N.
security operations sits idle, unable to speak.
Central to the system is the U.N. Security Council. Its rules,
written after World War II, provide for five victors in that war—
Britain, China, France, Russia, and the U.S.—the power, each of
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them, to veto any proposed U.N. action. In addition to the five per-
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manent members, 10 other seats have not—have no veto power and
are rotated among other U.N. member countries.
Since 1946, the permanent five that I have mentioned have used
their veto power 262 times, in many cases, to block challenges to
their own actions, including military force. Human rights defenders
note that the use of or threat of veto repeatedly has obstructed
U.N. action to halt these mass atrocities.
It was Russia’s veto of a Security Council resolution in February
that prevented the U.N. from taking concrete steps against it, such
as globally binding economic sanctions. Ukraine and its allies man-
aged a moral victory by gathering a rare consensus of 141 nations
to condemn Russia’s attack with only four countries joining Russia
in opposing the declaration, and yet, they vetoed it.
What do we need to do, Madam Ambassador, to correct this in-
credible fix that we are in at the U.N.?
Ambassador THOMAS-GREENFIELD. I thank you for that question.
And it is a tough question, but I think it goes without saying
that we are working aggressively to address some of those short-
comings. And as I have said many times in the Security Council
and elsewhere, Russia’s veto can’t stop us from exposing their ac-
tions. And the 141 votes against Russia in the General Assembly,
they couldn’t veto. It was a very strong condemnation of their ac-
tions.
They are isolated in the Security Council. They feel it. I would
not want to be sitting in the Russian PR’s chair right now as he
sat and listened to every single member of the Security Council
condemn him. Even those countries that are supporting him with
their vote condemn the actions that they have taken.
Also, you will be glad to hear, we cosponsored a resolution with
the country of Liechtenstein that calls for Security Council mem-
bers who use their veto to come before the General Assembly and
explain to the world why they vetoed actions that would stand in
the way of peace and security. And Russia and China were called
before the General Assembly yesterday because they had vetoed a
DPRK resolution condemning and calling for actions on DPRK.
So we are looking at what reforms might be put in place over the
coming years. We support reforms that will help this organiza-
tion——
Mr. ROGERS. Well——
Ambassador THOMAS-GREENFIELD [continuing]. Work better.
Mr. ROGERS. Right now, the world opinion, unlike anything in
the past, is so strong against Russia and what they are doing in
Ukraine. It is a great opportunity for us to seize on that
unpopularity that they have and point out how weak the U.N. is
because of these rules. But there is a moment in time—and it is
now—where we can really make a case against Russia and the
U.N. to change those rules.
Ambassador THOMAS-GREENFIELD. Sir, I agree with you, and we
do see this as the moment to start to do that. And we are starting
to have discussions on what kinds of reforms we can move forward
that will limit the possibilities of a country like Russia who sits on
the Security Council, sitting in the seat that they really have di-
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So this is something that we greatly support and we will be
working to address over the coming year.
Mr. ROGERS. Godspeed.
Ms. LEE. I now yield to Ms. Meng from New York.
Ms. MENG. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.
Thank you, Ambassador, for your testimony here today.
Today, there are 2.4 billion young people, ages 10 to 29, in the
world, the largest youth population in our history. In countries fac-
ing conflict, it will be young people who will bear the burden of sus-
taining peace over generations, leading society from reconciliation
to prosperity.
In 2015, the U.N. Security Council adopted Resolution 2250 rec-
ognizing the essential role of young people in preventing and re-
solving conflicts and in sustaining peace. This inspired my bill, the
Youth, Peace, and Security Act, to ensure that the U.S. promotes
the inclusive and meaningful participation of youth in mediation
and negotiation processes that prevent, mitigate, or resolve conflict
overseas.
Ambassador, how will you ensure the U.S. adheres to the goals
outlined in Resolution 2250, specifically to give youth a greater
voice in decisionmaking at the local, national, regional and inter-
national levels, and to establish mechanisms that would enable
youth to participate meaningfully in peace processes?
Ambassador THOMAS-GREENFIELD. Thank you so much for that
question, and thank you for the bill that you supported on this.
This is an important area for the U.N., but equally important for
the United States. As you know, I served as the Assistant Sec-
retary for African Affairs in the Obama administration, and one of
our key programs was the Young African Leaders Initiative where
we have brought thousands of young Africans to the table to talk
about their—their plans for the future of their country and for
their continent.
I will be meeting with a group of young people in—in L.A. this
week as well from Latin America to, again, hear from them what
they are doing.
We at the U.N. have ensured that we bring young people to
speak to us at the United Nations. We have had civil society—
youth civil society groups come before us to speak, and we abso-
lutely are committed to supporting Resolution 2250. It is an impor-
tant resolution when we look at the fact that, in Africa, the median
age is 19, and many young people don’t have hope because of the
lack of opportunity.
So we do have to do more in that area, and I am committed to
doing that.
Ms. MENG. Thank you so much.
Events from Afghanistan to Haiti show increasing insecurity for
women. And, since the outbreak of COVID–19, violence against
women and girls, particularly domestic violence, has intensified.
We need a global collective effort to stop it.
Both the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence Against
Women and U.N. Women have played an important role as the
only global grant-making mechanisms exclusively dedicated to
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eradicating this scourge. Nevertheless, the Biden administration’s
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request for U.S. contributions to both important U.N. entities re-
main flat for fiscal year 2023.
I have requested that our contributions to both entities be signifi-
cantly increased in my submissions to our chair and ranking mem-
ber for fiscal year 2023.
Ambassador, can you please provide some additional context as
to the administration’s decision not to increase its contributions to
these entities for fiscal year 2023, and how can the U.S. ensure our
partners that we are committed to addressing an increase in vio-
lence against women?
Ambassador THOMAS-GREENFIELD. Thank you so much for that
question.
And let me just start by saying that the administration is abso-
lutely committed to women, peace, and security, to fighting against
violence against women and sexual exploitation that we are seeing,
including happening right now, this day, in Ukraine.
The administration has to balance its budget request, and occa-
sionally, in this balancing act of trying to prioritize everything, we
don’t always have the ability to ask for all the support that we
need. But I thank you for your efforts, and know that, even though
the budget request is not the same, our commitment has not de-
creased. And we are also encouraging other countries to contribute
to these efforts. So, where the U.S. is not there in terms of funding,
other countries hopefully will step in.
Ms. MENG. Okay. Thank you.
I yield back.
Ms. LEE. Thank you.
Now I will yield to Mr. Diaz-Balart.
Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Thank you very much, Madam Chairwoman.
Ambassador, good to see you in person.
Ambassador THOMAS-GREENFIELD. Thank you.
Mr. DIAZ-BALART. And let me also thank you for your willingness
to serve this great country of ours.
I want to refer to something the ranking member touched on. In
your statement, you talked about our multilateral engagement de-
livering concrete outcomes for the U.S. and helping advance our
values around the world. But the ranking member mentioned the
Human Rights Council.
The Human Rights Council has had a unique fixation against
Israel forever. And on May 2021, again, initiated yet another anti-
Israeli inquiry, one that the administration has said it deeply re-
grets.
So the question is: Do you think that, being there, you will be
able to change that attitude? So far, obviously it has not worked.
And, if not, why continue to legitimize an organization that has a
unique, anti-Semitic attitude towards Israel? That is question num-
ber 1.
Number two is: I don’t have to tell you—you know very well—
that some of the world’s worst human rights violators are part of
that Council, whether it is the PRC, Cuba, Bolivia, Venezuela. I
can go on and on and on.
And so, I am pleased that Russia was tossed out after, a pretty
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obvious, horrific act of historic proportions.
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Are you working with other colleagues to toss out the most egre-
gious human rights violators in that group? If not, why not? And,
if so—you may not be able to talk necessarily publicly about some
of those efforts, but, I would like to maybe later follow up with you
as to what those efforts are, because, I know that—I am sure that
you would agree that having Cuba, Venezuela, China, others, really
becomes a sad joke.
And to me, it is very difficult to be part of an organization that
doesn’t even take itself seriously. The question with the Israel situ-
ation is: Why legitimatize an organization if it continues, as it evi-
dently is doing, particularly the case of Israel, continue to target
a clear demonstration of anti-Semitism.
So those are my two questions thank you. Good to see you, Am-
bassador.
Ambassador THOMAS-GREENFIELD. Good. Thank you so much,
and thank you for both of those questions.
First, on the unfair targeting of Israel in the Human Rights
Council. We have made clear over and over again that we will
stand with Israel. We will fight against any of those efforts. This
most recent commission of inquiry on the situation in Israel in the
West Bank, we oppose that effort, and we have made clear our op-
position to this commission of inquiry. It was established when we
were not on the Council.
I can’t say that if we would have been sitting on the Council,
that we would have been able to block it, but we certainly would
have been able to block and push back on this open-ended mandate
that they were given.
And we worked very, very hard in the Fifth Committee to cut the
budget. We cut it by about 25 percent, and we will be working with
other member states to do that over the course of—over the course
of this year.
And, in terms of the other members of the Council, we can’t
agree with you more. We are sitting at the table with some pretty
unsavory countries and unsavory people. But we know, if we leave
them to that table by themselves, they will take everything, and
we have to make sure that we are sitting there to push back on
them and push back on their efforts.
What we are doing, Congressman, is trying to work with other
countries to get countries that are supporters of human rights to
stand up and run for seats on the Council. Sometimes those coun-
tries are a little bit reticent about stepping up, and they won’t step
up if we are not there. So what I have heard from the good coun-
tries on the Council is, Thank God you are back. We couldn’t han-
dle this without you. We need you at the table.
So not only do they need us at the table, but we need to make
sure that we bring others like them to the table so that we can
push the unsavory people that you mentioned off—away from the
table.
Mr. DIAZ-BALART. I am out of time. Thank you, Madam.
Ms. LEE. Now, I will yield to Ms. Frankel, who is on virtually.
Good morning, Ms. Frankel.
Ms. FRANKEL. Yeah. Hi. Thank you, Madam Chair.
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Thank you, Madam Ambassador, for being in front of us today.
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So first thing I want to ask you about is UNFPA and U.N.
Women. I think I share the belief of many that, when women suc-
ceed, the world succeeds, and that, when women have access to full
healthcare, to education, when they are free from violence, have
economic opportunities, when they are at the table when important
decisions are made, that their communities are much more peaceful
and prosperous, and that means the world is, too.
So I am going to support these two organizations. You have had
some funding requests for UNFPA. Could you tell us how the
United States is working with these organizations and what you
see are the highlights of what they are doing?
Ambassador THOMAS-GREENFIELD. Thank you, Congresswoman.
Both of these organizations, U.N. Women and UNFPA, provide
extraordinary support to women in terms of protection of their
rights, protections of their health, and providing support to women.
We had a briefing this week, I mentioned earlier, on Ukraine and
the impact of violence against women, and that these women not
only need our voices when these attacks happen; they actually need
our support. They need our support for medical assistance; they
need our support for psychosocial assistance; they need our support
for protection. And both of these organizations have stepped up to
provide that support.
So we have engaged very closely with both the leadership of
UNFPA and the leadership of U.N. Women to ensure that they pro-
vide the support that women across the world expect and need
from them in order to not just live, but to survive. It is an issue
of survival for many of these women.
When I look at the situation in Afghanistan, where women are
being constantly—their rights are constantly being taken away and
restricted by the Taliban, they know that the world is stemming
and pushing back against the Taliban to ensure that we do every-
thing possible to support them.
We are engaging with them——
Ms. FRANKEL. Madam?
Ambassador THOMAS-GREENFIELD. Yes, ma’am?
Ms. FRANKEL. Yeah. Listen, look, I just want to make sure—I
want to go on to one more item if I can——
Ambassador THOMAS-GREENFIELD. Uh-huh.
Ms. FRANKEL [continuing]. Because I want to just thank my
friend, Mario Diaz-Balart, for raising the issue of the U.N. Human
Rights Council, and I agree with him strongly their targeting of
Israel. And I want to also convey my expectation that the United
States repel that in every way possible.
I also want to ask you about the United Nations Relief and
Works Agency and ask you specifically about their textbooks, which
continue to contain anti-Israel and anti-Semitic content.
Are we able to do anything about that?
Ambassador THOMAS-GREENFIELD. That is one of the most impor-
tant issues on our agenda in our engagements with UNRWA. I vis-
ited the region late last year, and I met with the UNRWA leader-
ship, raised our concerns about these issues.
The textbooks are actually printed by the Palestinian Authority,
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and I raised it directly with the Palestinian Authority when I met
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with them and told them that this was really a redline for all of
us.
They hear your voices on this. They hear our voices on this.
UNRWA has indicated that they have put inserts in all the books
countering all of this misinformation and the anti-Semitic com-
ments in the books. We want those books removed, at least the ref-
erences in those books removed. And we have made that very clear
to the Palestinian Authority, and they have committed to us that
they would remove them.
I have not seen that happen yet, but we will not stop until we
see action taken on this.
I will say and stress that UNRWA does provide other services
that are important for the humanitarian assistance for Palestin-
ians, and we have said to—even to the Israeli Government that it
is important that UNRWA continues to provide that support to
people who are in need. But they—we will be watching what they
do on these textbooks and other—there are other issues of manage-
ment that we are working with them very closely on, and have
monitored their work in the coming year.
Ms. FRANKEL. Thank you. I understand that.
I yield back. Thank you, Madam——
Ms. LEE. Thank you.
Now I will yield to Mr. Reschenthaler.
Mr. RESCHENTHALER. Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate it.
Madam Ambassador, thanks for being here today, and thanks for
all your hard work.
I would like to focus on the World Health Organization to start
off. The World Health Organization was founded—and I am
quoting directly—quote, ‘‘to give everyone everywhere an equal
chance to live a healthy life,’’ end quote.
Great goal and mission. But I think it is irrefutable that that
mission has morphed into kowtowing to Communist China,
parroting the talking points that are given to it by the CCP. And,
if you look at the beginning of the pandemic, the World Health Or-
ganization went out of its way to help the CCP cover up the true
origins of this virus.
Most recently, despite overwhelming international support, you
had the World Health Organization deny Taiwan observer status
in this year’s annual assembly due to pressure obviously from Com-
munist China. And just a quick shout-out to Taiwan. They are the
first nation—their scientists were the first ones to correctly identify
it as human-to-human transmission, not this conspiracy theory
that the CCP and the World Health Organization were parroting,
that this was a zoonotic disease that transmitted obviously from
animals to humans.
So, Madam Ambassador, do you oppose the World Health Orga-
nization’s decision to deny Taiwan observer status?
Ambassador THOMAS-GREENFIELD. Absolutely, categorically. We
have raised our concerns with the World Health Organization, and
at the World Health Assembly that Taiwan was not allowed to par-
ticipate. We think they should be allowed to participate. We think
they add value. And we will keep pushing for that in the future
until it happens.
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Mr. RESCHENTHALER. Thanks for those efforts.
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And what about the—just a malign influence that the CCP has
over the World Health Organization, because I still think the
World Health Organization has a valid mission purpose if we can
just stop the influence from Communist China? Do you have any
comments on that?
Ambassador THOMAS-GREENFIELD. I do. And thank you for rais-
ing that.
We need to push back on the Chinese malign efforts in the World
Health Organization. That is one of the reasons we wanted to make
sure that we were back at the table. And we have been a leading
voice in that organization calling for reform in the organization,
but also pushing back against the influence that the Chinese have
had, particularly as it relates recently to the origins of COVID. And
we are pressing the Chinese Government itself and CCP to respond
to the WHO request on the origins issue.
I agree with you, sir. The World Health Organization does have
an important role to play. We need to be there and be a leading
voice in pushing for the reforms to allow them to improve on their
current performance.
Mr. RESCHENTHALER. Thank you, Madam Ambassador.
And I just wanted to continue speaking about China. As you
know, Michelle Bachelet, who is the U.N. High Commissioner for
Human Rights, recently visited Communist China. And as you
know, Communist China is actively involved in what I will describe
egregious human rights violations—the oppression of Hong Kong,
which should, by international law, be a free and independent city
state, part of the British Commonwealth; the religious persecution
in Tibet; the ongoing genocide in the Xinjiang Province.
But after this visit, which Beijing highly restricted, the Commis-
sioner refused to condemn the genocide of the Uyghur Muslims.
Ambassador, after witnessing the U.N.’s just utter indifference to
this genocide and to the other egregious actions from Tibet to Hong
Kong to elsewhere, what are we doing to hold China accountable
and push back on these human rights and political violations?
Ambassador THOMAS-GREENFIELD. First, Congressman, we
strongly and publicly oppose the High Commissioner’s visit to
China. We knew that it would not be unfettered. We knew that she
could not come out of that visit with a transparent report that
would provide us all of the evidence of the genocide that we know
is taking place in China.
For our part, we regularly expose this in the Security Council.
We have held a number of meetings with our British colleagues
and others to call out the Chinese on this issue. I regularly meet
with Uyghurs whose family members have been held unfairly by
the Chinese Government and have raised those concerns directly
with the Chinese Government myself. And we will keep pushing on
these efforts.
We saw the report that the High Commissioner put out. None of
us—the U.S. as well as others—none of us were satisfied with that
report. We have called for her to issue the report that was done
previously that we know outlines the concerns that we have all
raised.
Mr. RESCHENTHALER. Thank you, Madam Ambassador.
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And thank you, Madam Chair. I yield back.
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Ms. LEE. Thank you.
I will yield now to Ms. Torres.
Mrs. TORRES. Thank you, Chairwoman Lee.
Ambassador, I am really happy to see you here today. I have
been watching your work trying to rebuild U.S. engagement with
the U.N. after, you know, the failed Trump administration policy
of defunding those very important programs. So thank you for your
tireless effort, and thank you to your staff for working so hard to,
once again, rebuild the trust of our country with the world.
Today, I want to hear more from you about what the Biden ad-
ministration is doing in leveraging U.N. resources and expertise to
address the migrant crisis in Central America. As you know, too
many Central America—Central Americans are forced to flee their
countries. We have over half a million asylum seekers and refugees
from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras specifically right now.
I support the administration’s goals in Central America to help
stem the tide of migrants to the U.S. by ensuring that they have
opportunities in their own home country and can see a future for
themselves. These are, you know, young people that should have a
bright future for themselves in their own countries if given the op-
portunity to have education and access to resources.
So to do so, we must remain committed to fighting corruption in
the region. We cannot allow taxpayers funding to support or sus-
tain the corrupt actors that are there today.
Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield, the Office of the U.N. High
Commissioner for Refugees works with the seven governments
leading the comprehensive regional protection and solutions frame-
work, which is working toward innovative solutions to the displace-
ment crisis in Central America.
So what is the Biden administration doing to ensure these efforts
help local communities and are not diverted to corrupt actors, and
what can Congress do—what more can we do to help in that?
Ambassador THOMAS-GREENFIELD. Thank you so much for that
question.
As you know, the Vice President has been leading our efforts on
this front. And, very early in that process, she reached out to me
to ask that I ensure that I bring together the U.N. agencies and
NGOs and donors together to look at how we can better address
these issues.
So I pulled together all of the U.N. agencies in New York last
year for a comprehensive discussion on the situation in—in Latin
America as it relates to the migrants. I brought together donors.
There was an appeal made to donors—other donors. As you know,
the U.S. is certainly the largest contributor, and the Bureau of Pop-
ulation, Refugees, and Migration has made a significant contribu-
tion to UNHCR’s efforts in the seven nations. But we are pushing
for other countries to engage on this as well.
Mrs. TORRES. Yes. The issue that I see—and, you know, dealing
in our own communities with, you know, trying to create good jobs
to our local cities is no one wants to invest in a community that
is plagued with corruption or high crime.
So, you know, I am very skeptical of how we can succeed and
move forward if we are not directly calling out and addressing, you
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know, the issues or, at the very least, protecting. And protecting
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might mean that we have to pull out and pull back our investment
in the region.
The U.N. has a long history of trying to support the rule of law
and anticorruption efforts in Central America by providing leader-
ship for them to set up institutions to investigate public corruption.
I know that.
How can the Biden administration engage on these issues with
the U.N. to make sure that our seven—our partners, you know, are
also focusing with us on that anticorruption agenda?
Ambassador THOMAS-GREENFIELD. Well, certainly the U.N.
couldn’t do it without the support of the United States. So as I
noted earlier, we are a huge funder, but I will be leaving here
today to go to the Summit of Americas where we are bringing the
democracies together to talk about the importance of democracy,
and even call out some of those countries where we see issues of
corruption and human rights violation. And that is a huge step for-
ward, and we have seen some progress. Ecuador is an amazing——
Mrs. TORRES. Yes.
Ambassador THOMAS-GREENFIELD [continuing]. Example of
progress in that area.
Mrs. TORRES. Great progress. Thank you and I yield back,
Madam Chair.
Ms. LEE. Thank you. I will yield now to Ms. Letlow.
Ms. LETLOW. Thank you, Chairwoman Lee and Ranking Member
Rogers. I am incredibly honored to be joining all of you today as
the newest member of the State and Foreign Operations Sub-
committee, and I look forward to working with you and other mem-
bers of the committee.
Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield, it is great to see a fellow
Louisianan in this committee room today, and I look forward to
working with you and the administration to provide the best pos-
sible oversight and stewardship of the United Nations mission
budget.
We are in the middle of a global food insecurity crisis, which has
been exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As you know,
the Fifth District of Louisiana has numerous farmers who are
ready to produce and provide food assistance during international
crises.
In our home State, we are used to quickly providing food assist-
ance in the face of natural disasters. How do you see American ag-
riculture being able to help with this crisis?
Specifically, how will you advocate to the U.N. that American ag-
riculture is ready to provide food assistance to countries in dire
need at a time when many developing countries depend on Ukrain-
ian food supply that has been decimated during this invasion?
Ambassador THOMAS-GREENFIELD. Thank you so much, Rep-
resentative, and it is great to see you here and also great to be
with someone from the great State of Louisiana, and I do look for-
ward to working with you.
You may know that one of my highest priorities at the U.N. has
been to work on food insecurity. I held, during my presidency last
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year, a signature event focusing on food insecurity in conflict.
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And just last month, during our presidency, we hosted a ministe-
rial on food insecurity with particular attention on the impact of
Ukraine on food insecurity.
And then we held in—as our presidency, a signature event,
bringing together about 40 countries to talk about how to address
these issues and what we can do in our countries.
So I am very, very proud that Louisiana is an agricultural State,
one in which we can look for opportunities for farmers from Lou-
isiana, and elsewhere in the United States, to start to work to fill
in the gap.
We have also brought private sector, and I know that private sec-
tor companies working out of Louisiana have been engaged in some
of these discussions to see how we can support American farmers,
making a contribution.
And I will certainly look forward to visiting with you and talking
with some of those farmers when I am next in Louisiana.
Ms. LETLOW. Thank you so much. I would like to go back to an
issue that I know many of us have concerns about on this com-
mittee. The U.N. Human Rights Council has had a dispropor-
tionate and biased focus on Israel, including their Commission of
Inquiry that we spoke about today.
Now that this administration has reengaged the U.S.’ involve-
ment with this council, what are we specifically doing to address
this injustice against our ally Israel, and what action should be
taken to stop bias in other U.N. organizations against Israel?
Ambassador THOMAS-GREENFIELD. Thank you. And that is one of
my highest priorities. I talked about it during my hearing. I met
with the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations just yesterday
to talk about some of these issues, including our concerns about the
Commission of Inquiry.
So we are working hand in hand with the Israeli Government,
as well as other partners who agree with us about the unfair tar-
geting of Israel, particularly in the Human Rights Council, but
even in the Security Council, where we have a meeting on Israel
every single month focused on the Palestinians.
And it is something that we disagree with, it is something we are
fighting against, and I think at the Human Rights Council, you will
begin to see that our presence will make a difference, and in the
Security Council, I am pushing aggressively against this unfair tar-
geting.
Ms. LETLOW. Sure. One last question. This administration has
requested in its budget to fund the U.N. Population Fund at $56
million. Many of my colleagues and I have grave concerns that this
fund continually promotes abortion services across the globe.
The majority of Americans agree that our taxpayer dollars
should not be funding abortion. Even more Americans agree that
we should not be funding abortion overseas.
Why does this administration continue to push for American tax-
payer dollars to fund a radical, anti-life agenda overseas?
Ambassador THOMAS-GREENFIELD. Thank you so much for that
question, and I will respond by saying, the UNFPA provides really
important support to women who have been the victims of violence.
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We provide support for reproductive health.
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I was talking to a woman who told me she had seven children,
and her own health was impacted, and that the UNFPA provided
her with the important support. So the main goal is not to provide
for abortion. It is to provide for reproductive health support, and
even psychological support for women who have been the victims
of violence.
And we think it is important that we be at the table, that we
provide support to women for these kinds of services.
Ms. LETLOW. Thank you so much for your responses. I yield back.
Ms. LEE. Thank you. I yield now to Mr. Espaillat.
Excuse me, Mr. Espaillat. I believe it is Ms. Wexton, and then
we will come back to you.
Ms. WEXTON. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you, Ambas-
sador Greenfield for being with us today. I have been following the
recent visit to China by Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. High Commis-
sioner for Human Rights, just as Mr. Reschenthaler brought up.
And as you are likely aware, there were some concerns, leading
up to the trip, that COVID restrictions would be used as a cover
to limit access and that the PRC would use this visit as propa-
ganda to support its narrative that everything is fine in Xinjiang,
in Hong Kong, and in Tibet.
It looks like that is exactly what happened. From what I have
read in the press coverage, the High Commissioner, her team, did
not get unfettered access. There were government officials with
them everywhere that they went.
And constituents of mine, who have family in Xinjiang, indicated
that their family members were not allowed to leave their homes
during the visit. In her visit with President Xi, she was quoted by
state media praising China for, quote, ‘‘protecting human rights.’’
Now, she later issued a statement, saying that that wasn’t true,
that she never said that, but that is what the PRC, you know, indi-
cated in their press release—in their coverage of it, and that is ob-
viously very concerning.
During the news conference, she assured everyone that the in-
ternment camps, that house over 1 million Uyghurs, had been dis-
mantled, quote/unquote, saying that she had been assured that
that was happening, despite the mountains of evidence to the con-
trary, including recent satellite images showing that, in fact, they
are accelerating the building of these and that they are actually
rapidly expanding.
And when describing the PRC’s brutal campaign against
Uyghurs, the High Commissioner used PRC-approved terms like
counterterrorism and deradicalization, and referred to the intern-
ment or concentration camps as VETCs, or vocational educational
training centers, which is a slap in the face to those who have been
victims of these camps and the people who have family who have
been the victims of these camps.
The whole thing, frankly, reads like a hostage video, except I am
not convinced that she actually doesn’t believe it, you know. That
is very concerning to me and I believe it is very concerning to you.
What is your takeaway, your observations of the visit, and do you
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think it was performed according to standards that are acceptable?
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Ambassador THOMAS-GREENFIELD. Let me answer your last ques-
tion first. No, it was not. And we made clear before she took the
trip our opposition to her taking such a trip.
We also made clear that we did not believe that she would get
unfettered, unhindered access to the areas where she could do a
transparent assessment.
So we discouraged her from making the trip, and including our
engagement with her, we engaged with the Secretary General as
well to express our concerns. Other countries also expressed their
concerns to the High Commissioner about her trip.
And we are disappointed with the kinds of public statements
that she made when she returned, and I think that the families of
Uyghurs who have experienced the atrocities that are being com-
mitted in this region feel very——
Ms. WEXTON. Betrayed.
Ambassador THOMAS-GREENFIELD [continuing]. Aggrieved by
what they saw from her trip.
Ms. WEXTON. So the OHCHR has been working on a long-de-
layed report with regard to Xinjiang, and do you know if this is
going to change the date of their report, or do you have any idea
when it will be coming out?
Ambassador THOMAS-GREENFIELD. We have been asking——
Ms. WEXTON. And do you have concerns that this visit is going
to change the tenor of this report?
Ambassador THOMAS-GREENFIELD. That remains to be seen. We
know that the report was drafted. We asked for the report to be
released. We asked early for the report to be released, and we have
expressed our disappointment that the report was not released ear-
lier, and will wait to see how it has changed by her visit.
But I think if the report is significantly changed by the visit, it
will diminish the importance of this report for dealing with the sit-
uation.
Ms. WEXTON. It will also fail to accurately reflect the brutality
and the——
Ambassador THOMAS-GREENFIELD. Yeah.
Ms. WEXTON [continuing]. Atrocities that are taking place as we
speak.
Ambassador THOMAS-GREENFIELD. I agree fully with you.
Ms. WEXTON. Thank you, Madam Ambassador. I will yield back
with that.
Ms. LEE. Thank you. I will yield now to Mr. Espaillat.
Mr. ESPAILLAT. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Ambas-
sador, for your comments today.
Some breaking news recently, actually minutes ago, revealed
that 600 Ukrainians are in torture chambers and under inhumane
conditions, being held by Russia, that they are, in fact, victims of
torture in the Kherson region of that country. Most of them are ei-
ther journalists or pro-Ukrainian activists.
And just this week, you declared at the U.N. Security Council,
that there are credible reports of atrocities committed by Russia’s
forces against civilians in Ukraine, including horrific accounts of
sexual violence.
Last March, I, along with Representative Cicilline, introduced
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H.R. 964 in the House, condemning Russia, Russia’s unlawful war
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of aggression in Ukraine, and urging the global community to hold
Russia accountable for war crimes, to hold Vladimir Putin account-
able for war crimes.
What do you propose that we do collectively, both Congress and
you at the U.N., to really hold Russia accountable? As we heard
today, they are holding currently 600 Ukrainians in torture cham-
bers.
Ambassador THOMAS-GREENFIELD. I am not surprised by that
news. It is horrific. We are hearing every single day of atrocities
that are being committed by Russian soldiers in Ukraine, and
every single day it gets worse and worse.
And we have called the Russians out. They certainly use their
disinformation machinery to push back against us, and we have to
be on guard every day to stand up to that disinformation campaign.
They would have us believe that the Ukrainians themselves are
doing this to themselves despite the fact that we know that that
is not the case.
We have called these war crimes. We called it war crimes very
early on, and we do believe strongly that they need to be held ac-
countable.
Some of the things that we might do to support holding them ac-
countable is—and we are doing some of those already—providing
support to the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office, to gather documenta-
tion and evidence to use against the Russians, supporting the ef-
forts of the International Court of Justice that also called for ac-
countability by the Russians and the ICC, which we are not a
member of, but definitely support them getting the evidence that
they need to hold the Russians accountable.
And we are holding them accountable every single day by their
isolation, that we are ensuring that they feel, in the Security Coun-
cil and around the world, kicking them off the Human Rights
Council.
They have also been kicked off a number of other U.N. agencies
and bodies as well, and that is our message to the Russians, that
we will not treat them as if it is business as usual after they have
committed the kinds of atrocities they have committed in Ukraine.
Mr. ESPAILLAT. Real quickly, you mentioned that you will be
going to the Summit of the Americas. I will be part of a delegation
that travels there as well. There was a concern with China’s incur-
sion in the hemisphere, and the fact that we, as a Nation, the
United States fails to deliver to Latin America and Caribbean
countries in significant ways and that, frankly, they are eating our
lunch.
And unless we go with something in our hands to that summit,
we will be embarrassed once again. What do you propose that we
do?
Ambassador THOMAS-GREENFIELD. You know, the summit is a
start of renewing our push with our partners in Latin America. I
will tell you that in New York, I hear every day from Caribbean
and Latin American colleagues, they don’t want to partner with
China.
But many of them feel they have no choice but to partner with
China because we have not been there for them. So we do, Con-
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gressman, have to ramp up our engagement with these countries.
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Mr. ESPAILLAT. I mean, it has been decades since the U.S. has
had a major program, a major initiative in Latin America and the
Caribbean. And so, we are in a bad place. They don’t want to part-
ner with China, but they are forced to.
Ambassador THOMAS-GREENFIELD. And I agree with you, and I
think Congress has a role to play in supporting our efforts and our
request for assistance, but also in giving us advice on how you
think we might better engage.
Mr. ESPAILLAT. Thank you. I yield back.
Ms. LEE. Okay. Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield, first of all, we
are grateful for your dedication to diplomacy and for representing
America on the world stage and for your time this morning.
I think you have heard and seen that all of our subcommittee
members are committed, regardless of party, to global peace and
security, and we appreciate your leadership.
We don’t have time for another round, so I will close by just fol-
lowing up with Mr. Espaillat’s point. I, too, will be participating in
the Summit of the Americas. I was also with President Obama in
Panama.
And once again, here we are with the same issues, I would just
add Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean, where the United
States has been missing in action, quite frankly.
And so at some point, I would like to have a roundtable or a dis-
cussion with you and members of our subcommittee about what
you think the path forward is to, I say, repair the damage of the
past.
Mr. Rogers, would you like to have any closing remarks?
Mr. ROGERS. Well, we appreciate your being here with us today
and generous with your time and your opinion. We thank you for
your service to the country.
I was going to ask you about Iran and what is going on there,
because we now hear that they are nearing nuclear bomb capa-
bility. But, nevertheless, good luck in your work, Godspeed in your
service.
Ambassador THOMAS-GREENFIELD. Thank you.
Ms. LEE. Thank you, Madam Ambassador. Let me just also say,
your testimony today will really help inform us as we craft our fis-
cal year 2023 appropriations bill, and we appreciate your being
here.
Members will have 7 days to submit questions for the record, and
we are confident we will receive responses because Members really
are very serious about this work. Your being here today really vali-
dates and verifies that America is back, America is engaging in the
world, and with your leadership, we know that we are going to
achieve the goals of peace and security. Thank you again, Madam
Ambassador.
Ambassador THOMAS-GREENFIELD. Thank you.
Ms. LEE. This concludes today’s hearing. The Subcommittee on
State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs stands ad-
journed.
[Questions and answers submitted for the record follow:]
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