[House Hearing, 114 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS, AND RELATED PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS FOR
2016
_______________________________________________________________________
HEARINGS
BEFORE A
SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE
COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
___________________________________
SUBCOMMITTEE ON STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS, AND RELATED PROGRAMS
KAY GRANGER, Texas, Chairwoman
MARIO DIAZ-BALART, Florida
CHARLES W. DENT, Pennsylvania
ANDER CRENSHAW, Florida
THOMAS J. ROONEY, Florida
JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska
CHRIS STEWART, Utah
NITA M. LOWEY, New York
BARBARA LEE, California
C. A. DUTCH RUPPERSBERGER, Maryland
DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Florida
JOSE E. SERRANO, New York
NOTE: Under Committee Rules, Mr. Rogers, as Chairman of the Full
Committee, and Mrs. Lowey, as Ranking Minority Member of the Full
Committee, are authorized to sit as Members of all Subcommittees.
Anne Marie Chotvacs, Craig Higgins, Alice Hogans,
Susan Adams, David Bortnick, and Clelia Alvarado,
Staff Assistants
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PART 4
PUBLIC AND OUTSIDE WITNESSES
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Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations
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U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
97-394 PDF WASHINGTON : 2015
COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
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HAROLD ROGERS, Kentucky, Chairman
RODNEY P. FRELINGHUYSEN, New Jersey
ROBERT B. ADERHOLT, Alabama
KAY GRANGER, Texas
MICHAEL K. SIMPSON, Idaho
JOHN ABNEY CULBERSON, Texas
ANDER CRENSHAW, Florida
JOHN R. CARTER, Texas
KEN CALVERT, California
TOM COLE, Oklahoma
MARIO DIAZ-BALART, Florida
CHARLES W. DENT, Pennsylvania
TOM GRAVES, Georgia
KEVIN YODER, Kansas
STEVE WOMACK, Arkansas
JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska
THOMAS J. ROONEY, Florida
CHARLES J. FLEISCHMANN, Tennessee
JAIME HERRERA BEUTLER, Washington
DAVID P. JOYCE, Ohio
DAVID G. VALADAO, California
ANDY HARRIS, Maryland
MARTHA ROBY, Alabama
MARK E. AMODEI, Nevada
CHRIS STEWART, Utah
E. SCOTT RIGELL, Virginia
DAVID W. JOLLY, Florida
DAVID YOUNG, Iowa
EVAN H. JENKINS, West Virginia
STEVEN M. PALAZZO, Mississippi
NITA M. LOWEY, New York
MARCY KAPTUR, Ohio
PETER J. VISCLOSKY, Indiana
JOSE E. SERRANO, New York
ROSA L. DeLAURO, Connecticut
DAVID E. PRICE, North Carolina
LUCILLE ROYBAL-ALLARD, California
SAM FARR, California
CHAKA FATTAH, Pennsylvania
SANFORD D. BISHOP, Jr., Georgia
BARBARA LEE, California
MICHAEL M. HONDA, California
BETTY McCOLLUM, Minnesota
STEVE ISRAEL, New York
TIM RYAN, Ohio
C. A. DUTCH RUPPERSBERGER, Maryland
DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Florida
HENRY CUELLAR, Texas
CHELLIE PINGREE, Maine
MIKE QUIGLEY, Illinois
DEREK KILMER, Washington
William E. Smith, Clerk and Staff Director
(ii)
C O N T E N T S
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March 25, 2015
Page
Granger, Hon. Kay, opening statement............................. 1
Lowey, Hon. Nita M., opening statement........................... 1
Witnesses
Albright, Alice.................................................. 32
Ardouny, Bryan................................................... 175
Arnold, David.................................................... 214
Beckman, David................................................... 40
Bilimoria, Natasha F............................................. 265
Bourgault, Jeanne................................................ 203
Calvelli, John................................................... 48
Carter, Joanne................................................... 133
Davidson, Dan.................................................... 125
Derrick, Deborah................................................. 258
Hannum, Jordie................................................... 66
Klosson, Michael................................................. 12
Kohr, Howard..................................................... 2
Koloski, Metodija A.............................................. 193
Koppel, Andrea................................................... 109
McQueen, Mary C.................................................. 231
Memmedli, Bedir.................................................. 275
Millan, William.................................................. 164
Nahapetian, Kate................................................. 185
O'Keefe, Bill.................................................... 94
Petrisin, Sue.................................................... 75
Stoner, Dan...................................................... 142
Stratford, Lynn.................................................. 242
Sullivan, Lucy Martinez.......................................... 250
Williams, Victoria Quinn......................................... 83
Submitted Material
Written testimony for the record................................. 283
STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS, AND RELATED PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS FOR 2016
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Wednesday, March 25, 2015.
PUBLIC AND OUTSIDE WITNESS HEARING
Opening Statement by Chairwoman Granger
Ms. Granger. The hearing will come to order. I want to
welcome everyone to today's hearing for the Subcommittee on
State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs.
I also want to thank all the witnesses for being here
today. I want to note for the record that all written testimony
received by the subcommittee will be given the same
consideration. Each witness will be given 4 minutes to provide
remarks, and Members will have 1 minute to ask questions.
Witnesses are reminded that the Members have your full
testimony, and you are encouraged to summarize.
I will yield first to Mrs. Lowey for any opening remarks.
opening statement by mrs. lowey
Mrs. Lowey. Well, thank you.
I join Chairwoman Granger in welcoming our distinguished
witnesses here today. Thank you for coming to our subcommittee
to present your views on the fiscal year 2016 budget. Our
public witnesses, along with all those submitting written
testimony for the record, represent a broad cross-section of
interests.
Leaders from industry, civil society, and the faith
community have all publicly recognized the importance of
diplomacy and development to our national interests, and the
role of our civil society and private sector couldn't be more
important in translating policy into action. Collectively, you
provide a critical commentary for this subcommittee to
consider, particularly as the House is considering the
Republican budget resolution which, if it were a real budget
plan instead of a political document intended to provide
rhetorical red meat to the base, would place our national
security at risk by massively reducing nondefense discretionary
funding.
By 2025, it would slash important investments in our
international diplomacy efforts, development programs, and
lifesaving humanitarian assistance. Your voices need to be
heard on the impact of your work, the implications for our
national security, should the SFOP's allocation face a 25
percent cut.
I look forward to hearing from you all and thank you for
the important work that all of you do throughout the world.
Thank you.
Ms. Granger. We will now hear from Mr. Howard Kohr. You are
recognized for 4 minutes. We appreciate all of your hard work
in ensuring that the strong and steadfast relationship between
the United States and our longest-standing ally, Israel, is
maintained.
Thank you.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HOWARD KOHR, CEO, THE AMERICAN ISRAEL
PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
Mr. Kohr. Thank you, Chair Granger, Ranking Member Lowey.
It is a privilege to be here again to have this conversation
about this in front of this very distinguished subcommittee.
I first want to start, first of all, just our appreciate to
both of you and the members of this subcommittee of the model
you set, frankly, for the rest of Congress in the bipartisan
way you work together for the good of our Nation. And it truly
is a model that should be replicated throughout the rest of
Congress.
I also want to take a moment to recognize Anne Marie and
Steve, excellent staff directors that you each have, for their
terrific work as well. And I also want to recognize my
colleague, Ester Kurz, who is here with us today, and does
remarkable work.
Since we were last together, there is more instability,
more chaos, frankly, more dangers in the Middle East. Events in
Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Iraq, now Yemen, as well as the rise of
ISIS, a reminder of the dangers that exist in the Middle East,
as well as Iran's continuing efforts to spread terror and
instability throughout the region.
All of this instability and danger impacts Israel, who sits
in the middle of this chaos. Tens of thousands of rockets and
mortars and missiles on both Israel's northern border and on
Israel's southern border, which threaten literally every
population center in Israel today.
And that instability, and particularly in Syria, also finds
its ways to Israel's neighbors, particularly Jordan, as well as
the growing instability in the region also affects what is
taking place next door in Egypt as well. That, combined with
terrorist organizations, such as al-Nusra, the Iranian
Revolutionary Guard on Israel's doorsteps now, Hamas in Gaza, a
reminder of the neighborhood that Israel is in.
And at the same time, Israel is also trying to work with
the Palestinian Authority who, unfortunately, in this past year
walked out of negotiations with the Israelis, made an alliance
with the terrorist organization Hamas, and launched attacks on
Israel and Israelis leaders at both the United Nations and now
in the International Criminal Court.
This subcommittee has long appreciated that the United
Nations and the U.N. Security Council are not the venues to
resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Direct negotiations
are the path forward, and we hope that you will continue with
this appreciation in the coming weeks and months.
And as I stated earlier in my remarks, it is important to
note--I mentioned Iran earlier--that Iran is--in every one of
these trouble spots. You can find the Iranians, who continue to
increase their involvement, spreading terror, anti-Israel,
anti-U.S. activities here, and instability throughout the
region. And it is in that context that the negotiations over
their nuclear program are taking place.
The P5+1 negotiations, which have been going on now for 18
months, are scheduled to conclude next week. And though it is
still not clear that an agreement will be reached, what does
seem clear at this moment, that is Iran will not be compelled
to dismantle their nuclear program. It will, at best, be a year
away from breakout and subject to constraints for possibly only
a decade or so.
Congress has been instrumental and members of this
subcommittee have been instrumental in creating the sanctions
framework that brought the Iranians to the table, and it is
important to note negotiations are still the preferred and best
way forward to resolve this very important problem. We hope
Congress will continue to be involved in a serious way in
reviewing and overseeing any agreement that may be reached out
of these negotiations.
We also hope that Congress will pass tougher sanctions
legislation that would go into effect should this round of
negotiations fail. It is in all of this turbulence that Israel
remains the one stable democratic ally in this region, and it
is important to note that whatever personal tensions that may
exist at the moment between leaders should not cloud the
strategic needs that are too important to both countries, that
closely link our two countries here. And that fact should
overshadow any tensions that exist at the moment. And we
shouldn't allow these tensions to dominate the discussion at
the moment.
USAID, in this context, plays a vital role, providing
Israel with the weapons to survive and sends a message to our
shared enemies that the United States stands with her ally.
So I want to thank you for continuing your support for the
$3.1 billion request for Israel. I urge your support for this
request and the many other critical policy provisions that are
in the bill, as Israel and the United States face the
challenges of the Middle East together.
Thank you for this opportunity.
Ms. Granger. Thank you very much.
Mrs. Lowey, do you have a question?
Mrs. Lowey. No, I just want to thank you, and I know the
Chair and I look forward to working closely with you to ensure
the strong relationship between Israel and the United States
because it is so critical to the entire region, in fact, and
the entire world.
Thank you for your testimony.
Mr. Kohr. Thank you.
Ms. Granger. Thank you for all your hard work, and we all
think we would certainly welcome a good resolution to this
conflict.
Thank you so much.
Mr. Kohr. Thank you very much.
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Ms. Granger. We will now hear from Ambassador Michael
Klosson. You are recognized for 4 minutes.
OPENING STATEMENT OF AMBASSADOR MICHAEL KLOSSON, VICE
PRESIDENT, SAVE THE CHILDREN
Ambassador Klosson. Madam Chair and Ranking Member Lowey, I
want to thank you for this opportunity to underscore the vital
importance of American leadership around the world in
alleviating suffering and also in helping people lift
themselves out of poverty, and we very much appreciate the
subcommittee's continued support for robust leadership.
On a hopeful note, I think the world stands on the
threshold of launching this September a new set of ambitious
development goals, and one of them will include a target on
ending preventable newborn and child deaths by 2030. I think,
thanks in part to U.S. leadership and which has certainly been
backed by bipartisan congressional support, child deaths around
the world have been cut in half.
We have seen significant reductions, especially in
countries which USAID-assisted programs, and these are programs
that are based on cost-effective, efficient, and results-driven
interventions. And I am sure, as you have seen during your
visits, these programs not only save lives, but they also build
local capacity. They share knowledge. They empower women, and
they actually provide hope for communities.
This progress, I think, is very inspiring, but the job is
far from done. Over 6 million children still die each year of
largely preventable causes, 1 million on the day they are born.
Just think about that.
The U.S. and other governments around the world, I think,
really need to intensify their efforts, particularly for the
most excluded children who bear a disproportionate share of
these deaths.
The good news is this, though, that when the U.S. leads, it
galvanizes others to act. And we saw that in 2012 when the U.S.
launched a Call to Action for ending preventable child deaths
within a generation, 172 nations stepped forward and signed a
very ambitious pledge.
Last year, the USAID built on that initiative by hosting
Acting on the Call, and this was a high-level forum of health
ministers and also civil society partners like Save the
Children. And USAID, for the first time, issued an evidence-
based roadmap to save the lives of 15 million children and
600,000 women by 2020.
This goal is achievable, but it requires strong support for
the critical programs we are talking about here today--the
child survival programs, maternal health programs, and
nutrition programs. And I am very pleased that the committee
shortly will be getting a letter from almost one-third of your
House colleagues, talking about the importance of such funding.
While we see important progress in tackling child survival,
when you look around the world, you also see that the number
and frequency and complexity of humanitarian crises is
increasing. U.S. assistance, U.S. humanitarian assistance is
equally indispensible in galvanizing international action, and
we have seen this as Syria is moving into the fifth year of the
conflict there where there are 12 million people need
humanitarian assistance and, most recently, tackling the Ebola
epidemic in West Africa.
I think it is essential that Congress continue to provide
strong support for the humanitarian assistance accounts that
are necessary to meet these burgeoning needs.
Like you, I have seen the impact of taxpayer dollars in
programs that partners like Save the Children operates. And for
example, there is a Syrian grandmother who fled Syria with her
five grandchildren when the mother, her daughter, was detained.
And we spoke with the mother, and she told us that the
grandchildren, once they got to Jordan, used to wake up
regularly screaming with nightmares.
She enrolled them in a school for Syrians in northern
Jordan, which included a child-friendly spaces program that we
run and is funded by the Department of State, BPRM. And what
Hala, the grandmother told us was, and I quote, ``The child-
friendly space literally saved my grandchildren, but not only
my grandchildren. All the children are much happier because of
it. It gives them back the loving environment that many
children are missing since the war.''
So the U.S. investment in child survival, U.S. investment
in humanitarian programs, indeed our investment across the
board in foreign assistance programs, including education and
food security--and it is only 1 percent of the Federal budget--
are really the right thing to do. And even in times of fiscal
austerity, it is the smart thing to do for national security
and economic reasons.
Now some believe that Americans don't care that much about
this leadership. I think they do. Last November, for example,
the President received 20,000 messages on the importance of
American investment in maternal and child health.
And next month, scores of young people will come to
Washington from across the Nation, including from New York and
Texas, to participate in our advocacy summit. And I think there
is nothing more inspiring, to see young people taking up the
cause of vulnerable children around the world, and I hope you
will have an opportunity to meet them when they are in town.
In conclusion, we urge continued strong support in our
foreign assistance and humanitarian accounts. We urge avoiding
disproportionate cuts so America can continue to lead, and the
budget cannot and should not be balanced on the back of
children and poor people. The stakes are too great for them and
for us as a nation.
Thank you.
Ms. Granger. Thank you very much.
Mrs. Lowey. I just wanted to thank you because it is all
your supporters and volunteers, that really create such an
important partnership. It is our pleasure to work with you.
Thank you.
Ms. Granger. Thank you.
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Ms. Granger. We will now hear from Ms. Alice Albright. You
are recognized for 4 minutes.
OPENING STATEMENT OF ALICE ALBRIGHT, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER,
GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP FOR EDUCATION
Ms. Albright. Thank you very much.
Madam Chair, Mrs. Lowey, members of the subcommittee, thank
you so much for the opportunity to appear before you on behalf
of the Global Partnership for Education, GPE.
GPE is the only global public-private partnership devoted
to ensuring that children in the 60 poorest countries of the
world have access to a basic education.
It is an honor to appear before a subcommittee that, with
bipartisan support, leads in recognizing the importance of
educating every child and which has set quality basic education
as a priority and a national security goal of U.S. foreign
assistance.
I would like to begin by assuring you that progress is
being made in basic education. The funding that you have
provided is working. More children, particularly girls, are in
school today and learning than in any time in the past.
National governments are committing more of their own
domestic resources to education. Even in crisis countries,
important progress is being achieved.
Over the past 12 years since the creation of the Global
Partnership, the number of out-of-school children has declined
from 110 million to 58 million, dropping by almost half. There
are more children in primary school today than ever before, at
185 million. This represents an increase of more than 15
million in 4 years, 15 million children.
There are more girls in school. For every 100 boys
completing primary school, 89 girls now do the same. We have
got to get it to 100.
GPE's support to our partner countries over the last 12
years has helped to get 22 million more children to school,
including 10 million girls. A few country examples.
In Afghanistan, which I visited shortly after joining GPE,
under the Taliban, girls had virtually no access to education,
and thousands of schools were being destroyed. In 2012, GPE
approved a $55.7 million grant to the government to support
getting more children into school, particularly girls, and
training female teachers to teach in the most remote areas.
Thousands of schools destroyed by the Taliban have, indeed,
now been rebuilt. Thousands of teachers have been trained and
deployed, and 42 percent of all enrolled students are girls.
This is a long way to go--we still have a long way to go to
reach gender parity, but there has been vast improvement in the
last 5 years.
In Somalia, 75 percent of the country's public schools were
destroyed in a civil war. Two generations of children grew up
without access to basic education. Now, for the first time in
35 years, Somalia has an education strategy and an action plan.
GPE has financed an accelerated teacher training program that
has placed 1,000 newly trained teachers into schools in south-
central Somalia.
In Haiti, where I visited a few weeks ago, GPE's support in
the aftermath of the earthquake made possible the opening of
2,800 schools, continued enrollment of 83,000 students in
nonpublic schools, and school health and nutrition services for
about 57,000 students.
Education and health at times converge. In Sierra Leone,
GPE financed radio education programs for kids that were not
able to attend school during the recent Ebola crisis.
Fifty percent of the developing world's out-of-school
children reside in crisis and fragility. Access to education in
these settings is hard to achieve but needed for many, many
reasons, including the potential to counteract extremism.
A recent example is the Central African Republic. In
response to this conflict, GPE quickly approved $4 million in
emergency funding for children that had been displaced by the
fighting.
Despite some success, however, there are still 58 million
that are not in school, and much, much more needs to be done to
assure that those who are in school are receiving a quality
education.
I thank the members of this subcommittee for your strong
support. I urge the subcommittee to recommend $70 million as
the fiscal year 2016 contribution to the Global Partnership. We
will be tremendously grateful. I also urge the subcommittee to
recommend at least $800 million for basic education overall.
Thank you, and I would be happy to answer questions.
Ms. Granger. Thank you. The only question I have is,
President Ghani said today in his remarkable speech, when the
United States went into Afghanistan, there were no girls going
to school. There are now 10 million. So that was exciting.
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OPENING STATEMENT OF DAVID BECKMANN, PRESIDENT, BREAD FOR THE
WORLD
Mr. Beckmann. Chairwoman Granger and Ranking Member Lowey,
members of the subcommittee, I am David Beckmann, president of
Bread for the World. And mainly, I want to say thank you.
This committee has managed to increase funding for the
poverty and development parts of the programs under your
jurisdiction in each of the last 4 years. And looking back over
the last 15 years, our Government, in a bipartisan way, has
increased the quantity and improved the quality of our
development assistance.
And that is one of the reasons why the world is achieving
unprecedented progress against hunger, poverty, and disease.
You have managed to maintain that bipartisanship and the
forward movement in a very difficult time.
So maybe--I am a preacher. So maybe it is not inappropriate
for me to say that I thank God for this subcommittee.
[Laughter.]
I also, Mrs. Lowey and Ms. Granger, I want to thank you.
You gave us an essay on the empowerment of women for this book,
and you have been leaders on that issue for a long time.
Equality for women is really important to make the world better
for all of us--men, too. And you have been out in front.
Bread for the World opposes this year's House budget
proposal from the Budget Committee. The members of this
committee know well the really terrible damage that this budget
would do to some of the poorest people in the world.
Maybe it is impossible, but I urge you to vote against it.
This is a bad budget. And then, over the course of the year, to
work over the course of the year to try to fund the health and
development programs you care about as the negotiations
proceed.
Let me also highlight some specific programs about which
Bread for the World is especially enthusiastic. Since 2009, our
country has led the world in moving us back onto track toward
the end of hunger, strong agriculture and nutrition programs.
We encourage you to continue to fund those programs.
And specifically, for nutrition, that you put in $200
million for the nutrition line and then encourage the
administration to have a serious Government-wide nutrition
strategy. That is a way to get more bang for the buck out of a
lot of money.
There are three things in the administration's request that
I would like to flag. The Millennium Challenge Corporation,
they are asking for more money. It is a model of effectiveness
and transparency.
They are asking--last year, you put in additional money to
deal with poverty in Central America. Most of the undocumented
people are coming into our country from a few countries in
Central America. They have to run away. So we support the
administration's request for additional funding for Central
America.
And then, finally, I also want to flag the Green Climate
Fund. Climate change is already disrupting agriculture, food
production in many of the poorest countries of the world. It is
one of the most serious threats to the progress against poverty
that is underway. And so, on this issue, too, our country needs
to get out and be a leader.
But finally, again, mainly thank you.
Mrs. Lowey. Just in case you didn't get the hint, you are
wonderful. I could make a statement telling you how wonderful
you are, but if we are going to move forward, just know that
you are doing----
[Laughter.]
Ms. Granger. And we are with you, believe me.
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Ms. Granger. We will now hear from Mr. John Calvelli. You
are recognized for 4 minutes.
OPENING STATEMENT OF JOHN CALVELLI, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT,
WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY
Mr. Calvelli. Good afternoon, Chairwoman Granger, Ranking
Member Lowey, members of the subcommittee.
I am not a preacher, but I thank God for this subcommittee
as well. Just wanted to start with that. [Laughter.]
Thank you for the opportunity to testify regarding wildlife
trafficking, global conservation, and related issues on behalf
of the Wildlife Conservation Society.
WCS was founded with the help of Theodore Roosevelt at what
is now the Bronx Zoo, and we have been working to save wildlife
in wild places for over 120 years and currently work to protect
25 percent of the world's biological diversity in more than 60
countries.
Increasing pressures on natural resources and biodiversity
loss worldwide are driving scarcity, destabilizing political
structures, and undermining the basic rule of law. In turn,
this is attracting large-scale criminal and terrorist-related
activities around poaching, overfishing, and trafficking.
U.S. Government investments in international conservation
promote our national and economic security objectives in
foreign policy by supporting sustainable livelihoods and
political stability in these difficult regions of the world. As
a matter of fact, we also work in Afghanistan and follow very
closely the work of the new president.
As an implementing partner of the U.S. Government overseas,
WCS is closely involved with many development activities that
promote natural capital that sustains our societies, our
economies, and the world's ecological systems.
Thanks in large part to the work of this subcommittee, the
U.S. Government is a global leader in biodiversity and forest
and marine conservation investments, which are delivered
largely through the USAID biodiversity program. These programs
help protect some of the largest and most at-risk landscapes
and livelihoods of millions of people who directly depend on
natural resources for their survival and economic growth.
Unfortunately, the President's fiscal year 2016 budget
request does not include a line item for the USAID biodiversity
program or any of the subaccounts within the biodiversity
program. WCS recommends that that USAID biodiversity line item
be restored and funded, along with several other specific
initiatives, such as the Central African Regional Program, the
Andean Amazon Conservation Initiative, Guatemala Maya Biosphere
Reserve, and several others.
The illegal trade in endangered wildlife products,
including ivory, rhino horns, pangolins, tiger parts, and other
wildlife products, is worth at least an estimated $8 billion to
$10 billion annually. Increasing profits and low deterrence is
attracting greater involvement of criminal and terrorist
organizations, including, for example, the Lord's Resistance
Army--often the same groups involved in trafficking drugs,
humans, and weapons.
The killing has reached a crisis stage. In 2012 alone, WCS
estimates that 35,000 African elephants were poached for their
ivory, an average of 96 elephants per day or 1 poached every 15
minutes. Continued poaching at these rates may mean the
extinction of forest elephants within a decade and possibly of
all African elephants in our lifetimes.
And I am here to report that, unfortunately, there is going
to be more bad news coming out of East Africa that you will be
getting those reports later this week.
WCS works in partnership with USAID and the State
Department to implement anti-poaching law enforcement
enhancement and capacity-building programs to increase
investigations, prosecutions, and convictions. The fiscal year
2015 bill had a congressional directive--again, thank you--for
$55 million to combat wildlife poaching and trafficking.
Regrettably, the administration's fiscal year 2016 request
did not include a similar line item. Congresswoman Grace Meng
is leading a letter of this subcommittee--to this subcommittee
and requesting that not less than $55 million be used to combat
wildlife trafficking.
And finally, I would like to urge support for the
President's request of $168.2 million to honor the U.S. pledge
to the Global Environment Facility.
I know there are no greater champions for supporting the
world's biodiversity and combating wildlife trafficking than
the chair, the ranking member, and the members of this
subcommittee. You clearly understand that conservation
investments are in our national security because they assist in
building capacity, strengthening governance, and stabilizing
regions prone to conflict and unrest.
They are in our economic interests by creating good will
towards the United States and supporting stronger foreign
markets for American products. WCS is grateful for your past
support, and we will continue to look for your leadership. We
are going to need it.
Again, I appreciate the opportunity to share our
perspective and recommend critical, but modest funding for
international conservation in this bill.
Thank you very much.
Ms. Granger. Thank you very much.
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Ms. Granger. We will now hear from Mr. Jordie Hannum. You
are recognized for 4 minutes.
OPENING STATEMENT OF JORDIE HANNUM, DIRECTOR, BETTER WORLD
CAMPAIGN
Mr. Hannum. Chairwoman Granger, Ranking Member Lowey,
members of the subcommittee, I thank you for your past support
for U.N. and global health funding, and I appreciate you giving
me the opportunity to testify in support of accounts within the
fiscal year 2016 State, Foreign Operations appropriations bill.
I would like to say that at the outset, it is a pleasure to
be back here on the House side, as I began my career 15 years
ago as a legislative aide with Congresswoman Connie Morella.
Today, I would like to highlight support for U.N.
peacekeeping, the U.N. regular budget, as well as global health
interventions. Let me begin by mentioning U.N. peacekeeping
operations.
As a permanent veto-wielding member of the Security
Council, the U.S. has final say over all U.N. peacekeeping
missions. Given its crucial leadership role, it is vital that
we pay our fiscal year 2016 peacekeeping dues on time, in full,
and without preconditions. While we understand that budgets are
tight across the Federal Government, peacekeeping is worth the
investment. U.N. peacekeeping missions are cost effective,
having been found by the GAO to be eight times cheaper than
U.S. forces acting alone.
The U.N. is also continuing to update its operations to
better meet evolving challenges. Over the past 5 years, they
have streamlined operations, resulting in hundreds of millions
in cost reductions. The U.N. has also established a high-level
panel to recommend how operations can better address the
challenges of the 21st century.
One particularly salient example of the U.N.'s peacekeeping
work is in South Sudan. Many members of this subcommittee, both
past and present, played a central role in pushing for South
Sudan's independence, and I know we are all dismayed by the
horrific violence that has engulfed the country since December
of 2013.
Despite difficulties, the peacekeeping mission is working
to protect more than 100,000 civilians who have sought shelter
at U.N. bases to escape the fighting. The peacekeeping
operation is also working alongside UNICEF and other
organizations to help end the recruitment of child soldiers in
South Sudan.
Over the past 3 months, the U.N. has helped negotiate the
release of 1,000 child soldiers from a rebel militia, one of
the largest demobilizations of children ever. These were 9-,
10-, 11-year-old kids, and they are aiming to free another
2,000 children in the coming weeks.
These activities undertaken by the mission demonstrate the
importance of peacekeeping operations and how they manifestly
operate in our interest.
In addition to peacekeeping, engagement with the U.N.
advances American foreign policy interests on a number of other
fronts. Via the CIO account, the U.N. administers political
missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, monitors global compliance
with Security Council sanctions against Iran, North Korea, and
al-Qaeda, and coordinates electoral assistance for emerging
democracies.
For fiscal year 2016, we are recommending full funding for
the CIO account, which includes the U.N. regular budget.
Funding within the account represents burden-sharing, as other
member states pay nearly 80 percent of the regular budget's
costs.
The United Nations plays an equally vital role in enhancing
our global health policy. The U.N. promotes maternal health to
protect the lives of 30 million women each year. The U.N. helps
to vaccinate 60 percent of the world's children.
Over the years, through these efforts and that of U.N.
partners, 1 billion children have been immunized against
measles, and the number of new polio cases has dropped by 99
percent, leaving the world nearly polio free. And of course,
our contributions are leveraged with that of the other 192
member states.
In short, the work of the U.N. saves millions of lives, and
its activities to our national security--and are central to our
national security and foreign policy priorities, including the
U.S. goal of ending preventable child and maternal deaths.
For fiscal year 2016, we encourage funding for health
interventions at the levels outlined in our written testimony.
Thank you.
Ms. Granger. Thank you.
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Ms. Granger. We will now hear from Ms. Sue Petrisin. You
are recognized for 4 minutes.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SUE PETRISIN, PRESIDENT-ELECT, KIWANIS
INTERNATIONAL
Ms. Petrisin. Thank you.
Madam Chairwoman, Ranking Member Lowey, and members of the
committee, I am Sue Petrisin, the 2014-2015 president-elect of
Kiwanis International, a volunteer leadership position. I live
in Lansing, Michigan, and I am here today representing Kiwanis
and Kiwanis family members in the United States.
I thank you for the opportunity to testify in support of
the Eliminate Project, Kiwanis eliminating maternal and
neonatal tetanus. Tetanus is a preventable disease that kills
one baby every 11 minutes.
We are seeking the support of this committee to encourage
the U.S. Agency for International Development to provide fiscal
year 2016 funding to eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus.
We are also seeking your support to provide $850 million in
fiscal year 2016 for the overall account for maternal and child
health.
On behalf of Kiwanis International, I want to thank you for
your past and continuing support of our first global campaign
for children, ending iodine deficiency disorders. I urge you to
also support our second and current campaign, to eliminate
maternal and neonatal tetanus from the face of the Earth.
The Eliminate Project is a global campaign that will save
or protect millions of mothers and newborns. Maternal and
neonatal tetanus results when tetanus spores, which are present
in cells everywhere, enter the bloodstream. The fatality rate
can be as high as 100 percent in underserved areas, with
newborns usually dying within 7 days. It is a painful death.
This terrible disease is highly preventable by giving women
of childbearing age a series of three vaccine doses, which
costs roughly $1.80. This cost includes the vaccinations,
syringes, safe storage, transportation, and more.
Kiwanis International is committed to raising $110 million
to immunize more than 61 million women in the 24 remaining
countries where the disease is still a major health problem.
Kiwanis' global volunteer network, along with UNICEF's field
staff, technical expertise, and unbeatable supply chain, will
help eliminate this cruel, centuries-old disease.
We have a very effective partnership with UNICEF on MNT and
urge you to support UNICEF's funding request for $132 million
for fiscal year 2016. Recently, I traveled to Cambodia as a
part of a UNICEF delegation to witness their work on the
ground. I was truly inspired by the women who traveled long
distances to a local healthcare center.
As I spoke UNICEF Cambodia team, healthcare workers,
village leaders, and mothers, it was clear to me that women
understand the importance of this vaccine. With the tetanus
vaccine as the entry point, they are also learning about good
health practices. Tetanus is just the beginning of better
futures.
And I want to share a couple pictures with you from my
visit there of an immunization clinic and a mother and her
child. I talked with a gentleman who lost his sister and his
mother to tetanus many years ago but now knows the importance
of this vaccine and is helping us spread that word. Listening
to his story only reinforced the fact that there is need for
support.
In Cambodia, I spoke with mothers who smile with hope and
dream out loud that their children will become doctors,
teachers, and leaders. As an aunt to 16 nieces and nephews, I
have seen how the right nurturing transforms that potential
into the reality of young men and women who are the next
problem-solvers, compassionate caregivers, and world changers.
I have held that potential in my arms, just as I know the women
in Cambodia do.
Together, we can ensure that all women are able to receive
the tetanus vaccine anywhere in the world. Like mothers
everywhere, mothers in developing countries want to be sure
their babies are protected, that they will thrive. Like mothers
everywhere, they deserve this.
I can visualize a world without tetanus. The elimination
plans are in place. Countries are ready for this. All that
remains is one final funding push, one push to rid this Earth
of the disease.
Madam Chairwoman, I ask you to join us in this final push.
Help us eliminate this terrible disease and ensure that no baby
suffers this agonizing 7-day death ever again.
Thank you.
Ms. Granger. Thank you, Ms. Petrisin.
Ms. Petrisin. Thank you.
Ms. Granger. Thank you.
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Ms. Granger. We will now hear from Ms. Victoria Quinn
Williams. You are recognized for 4 minutes.
OPENING STATEMENT OF VICTORIA QUINN WILLIAMS, SENIOR VICE
PRESIDENT, HELEN KELLER INTERNATIONAL
Ms. Williams. Thank you very much.
Madam Chairwoman, Ranking Member Lowey, and members of the
committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before the
committee today in support of programs that prevent blindness
and improve nutrition in the most vulnerable people across the
world, especially young children.
I would like to thank you sincerely and the committee for
your strong commitment to overall global health programs. Your
support is truly making a difference.
Co-founded in 1915 by the deaf-blind crusader Helen Keller,
Helen Keller International is a leading nonprofit dedicated to
combating the causes and consequences of blindness and
malnutrition worldwide. Our programs serve more than 285
million vulnerable people each year.
We are making progress, but the need is great. Nearly 39
million people are blind, most of them living in the developing
world. Every year, 3.1 million children die because of
malnutrition. Most blindness and malnutrition is preventable,
and the solutions are known. They are inexpensive. What is
needed now is the right level of support.
Every minute, somewhere a child goes blind. Helen Keller
International uses cost-effective, proven strategies to prevent
and treat vision loss. This committee has consistently
supported a USAID program for blind children in developing
countries, saving the sight of hundreds of thousands of
children. I urge the committee to continue funding for blind
children at a level of at least $3 million for fiscal year
2016.
Malnutrition remains a major global crisis, with 2 billion
people suffering each year from nutritional deficiencies, and
much of this can be prevented. In Africa and Asia, I have
spoken with mothers from impoverished communities benefiting
from USAID's nutrition programs, which HKI implements with
local partners.
These mothers have learned healthier feeding practices for
their children, in addition to simple farming methods to
increase the amount of nutritious foods they can grow in their
own family gardens. And as a result, the diets of both women
and children has significantly improved. Plus, the income of
these women has increased as they were able to sell the surplus
food for much-needed cash.
This is a proven model that not only improves nutrition,
but empowers women. Therefore, HKI supports the continuation of
nutrition programs to help young children and women of
reproductive age and asks the committee to recommend $200
million under nutrition account within global health for fiscal
year 2016.
WHO estimates that 250 million preschool children worldwide
are vitamin A deficient, putting them at very high risk of
blindness and death. Vitamin A supplementation is one of the
most cost-effective child survival interventions we know about,
costing just a bit over $1 a year per child.
HKI is a recognized leader in distributing vitamin A
capsules across the world, and here is a child receiving one of
the capsules, twice a year between 6 and 59 months. I urge the
committee to provide at least $23 million for vitamin A during
fiscal year 2016.
Good nutrition and good health are closely linked, and we
also urge the committee to recommend funding of at least $850
million for maternal and child health in fiscal year 2016.
Neglected tropical diseases, or NTDs, blind and disable
people in the world's most poor communities. They infect 1 in 6
people and trap more than 1 billion people in a cycle of
poverty and disease. Through USAID's programs and the generous
support of pharmaceutical manufacturers, Helen Keller
International has supported mass drug administration in Africa
that has reached tens of millions. I urge the committee to
continue funding at least $100 million in fiscal year 2016 for
NTDs.
Over the past century, Helen Keller International has saved
the sight and lives of millions. Today, even after 100 years,
we are as determined as ever to accomplish even more on behalf
of women and children and other adults living in developing
countries.
And I would like to close with the words of Helen Keller
herself. ``The welfare of each is bound up in the welfare of
all.''
I sincerely thank you for your consideration.
Ms. Granger. Thank you.
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Ms. Granger. We will now hear from Mr. Bill O'Keefe. You
are recognized for 4 minutes.
OPENING STATEMENT OF BILL O'KEEFE, VICE PRESIDENT, CATHOLIC
RELIEF SERVICES
Mr. O'Keefe. Thank you very much, Chairwoman Granger,
Ranking Member Lowey, and members of the subcommittee, for this
opportunity to testify.
My written statement includes Catholic Relief Services'
recommended funding levels for specific foreign assistance
accounts. I will focus today on the development assistance
account, particularly the request for the Northern Triangle.
Development assistance funds lift families out of poverty
and make them more resilient. In Ethiopia 4 years ago, the
areas where CRS and USAID had invested in integrated watershed
management withstood serious drought without emergency
assistance. Investments in water, education, food security, and
other sectors provide communities the hand up they need.
The administration has significantly increased its
development assistance request. Nearly half a billion of this
is for Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. CRS applauds this
overdue request.
We also appreciate this committee's recommendation of the
need for a holistic response to the flight of unaccompanied
children and vulnerable families. Children fleeing bear the
burden of the longstanding political, economic, and social
crises of their societies.
Unless the governments there, with the support of the U.S.
and others, can meaningfully address insecurity, inequality,
social fragmentation, and lack of opportunity, children in
vulnerable families will continue to flee. As one mother from
Honduras told CRS, ``I would rather my child die trying to find
life in the north than die sitting here.''
There are no quick solutions. CRS's years of experience in
peace building show that stopping the violence is only half the
challenge. Something positive must replace it.
Peace requires economic and civil participation by all
stakeholders in society. Communities must reintegrate the
disaffected, marginalized youth. Even in the poorest, most
violent neighborhoods, though, youth have the power to change
their lives and their communities. We must find ways to unleash
that power.
CRS urges the U.S. Government to work with key stakeholders
to ensure that the investments in marginalized and vulnerable
populations are sufficient to turn the tide. Education, youth
employment, rural revitalization, and family strengthening
programs must be scaled up.
Through a McGovern-Dole Food for Education program, CRS has
helped to keep 54,000 children in more than 1,000 schools in
Intibuca, Honduras. By improving the quality of education,
feeding the children, and ensuring security, attendance rates
have reached 90 percent.
We must also help youth find employment opportunities. In
El Salvador, 80 percent of participants who completed our 6-
month vocation program, Youth Builders, either returned to
their education or found work with our more than 250 business
partners. We are currently scaling that up.
CRS revitalizes rural agriculture in Central America by
helping small farmers to compete in the global marketplace. In
Nicaragua, through a USAID-funded $53 million public-private
partnership, CRS helped more than 7,000 farmers more than
double their incomes. The same model is now being applied in El
Salvador, targeting 10,000 cacao farmers.
Another way to reintegrate and protect youth is to
strengthen families. Psychosocial programs to teach families
alternatives to violence, parenting skills, positive
discipline, stress management, problem-solving skills, and
communication have been credited with strengthening intrafamily
relationships and protecting children.
In addition to addressing what should be funded, we need to
consider the ``how,'' particularly the role of civil society.
CRS requests that, one, the U.S. host--the U.S. urge host
governments to facilitate meaningful participation of civil
society, such as the civil society consultation conducted for
the MCC compact in El Salvador.
Two, the committee requires USAID to be transparent in its
selection between acquisition and assistance funding
instruments.
And three, USAID allow NGOs to use our privately raised
funds as leverage in global development alliances.
Thank you very much for this opportunity.
Ms. Granger. Thank you, and thank your organization for
your help in the crisis last summer. It came up very suddenly
for many of us, and we are watching it very carefully this
year.
Thank you.
Mr. O'Keefe. Thank you so much.
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Ms. Granger. We will now hear from Ms. Andrea Koppel. You
are recognized for 4 minutes.
Thank you.
OPENING STATEMENT OF ANDREA KOPPEL, VICE PRESIDENT, MERCY CORPS
Ms. Koppel. Thank you so much, Chairwoman Granger, Ranking
Member Lowey, for this opportunity to represent Mercy Corps
before this subcommittee.
I come to you today with the wish that I had better news,
that I could tell you that the state of the world's vulnerable
people is better off this year than it was last. But
unfortunately, that is not the case. The numbers tell a very
different story.
Today, there are 51 million displaced people around the
world, the highest number since the end of World War II. And
so, we were disappointed and surprised by the administration's
fiscal year 2016 request with respect to IDA and MRA, which
were cut by 25 percent, and hope this subcommittee will once
again respond appropriately and generously by restoring funding
to those two very important accounts.
Specifically, we are requesting $2.5 billion for IDA and
$3.3 billion for MRA, which we believe is the appropriate
amount to meet the needs of the vulnerable people around the
world. I would like to assure you that those funds are going to
very good use around the world in countries like Afghanistan in
helping to reintegrate refugees and internally displaced people
back into their communities.
One important side note. While we are very proud partners
of the State Department in Afghanistan, we have stopped
accepting funding from USAID. And that is due to their partner
vetting program, the PVS program, which requires certain steps
that we would need to take in terms of gathering information
from various partners that we have that we believe would put
our staff and our beneficiaries' lives in danger.
We greatly appreciate this subcommittee's efforts to
improve PVS and hope that in the fiscal year 2016 bill, you
will continue to encourage USAID to develop more appropriate
mechanisms, including allowing for direct vetting options in
Afghanistan.
Again, while we are extremely grateful for the continued
support for humanitarian accounts, and I hope that I, myself,
or my colleagues are not back before this subcommittee 5 or 10
years from now making similar requests. We know that the world
is--you know, large political crises continue to capture the
headlines.
Having said that, we believe that there are smarter, more
efficient, and effective investments in development that we
believe will build resilience of vulnerable communities so that
this subcommittee won't need to continue to fund humanitarian
accounts at the same high levels.
Specifically, we believe investments in resilience and in
the DA Food for Peace IDA and ESF accounts are the way to
achieve this, and we urge you to fund these accounts at the
President's request. While I was in Ethiopia earlier this
month, I saw firsthand resilience in practice through a USAID-
funded Food for Peace and Global Climate Change program that
Mercy Corps is leading the implementation of.
PRIME, as it is called, is designed to support resilience
among pastoralist communities. They comprise about 12 to 15
percent of all of Ethiopia's population. And as you know, many,
many years, year after year, they are hit the hardest by the
droughts.
In my visit to the remote Somali region of Ethiopia, I saw
how PRIME has taken a holistic approach, mapping on the one
hand 8 million hectares of rangeland with the pastoralists and
with the local government, and by taking a market-driven
approach to connecting those pastoralists, who herd camels,
cows, goats, and sheep, with livestock traders, who we have
also helped to connect with major meat buyers. In places like
the UAE and Egypt and places as far away as Russia, there is an
insatiable demand for meat in some of these places.
We have also facilitated support for small and large
enterprises, including a giant new slaughterhouse and the
Berwako milk processing factory, which is now selling camel's
milk. It is the only such factory in Ethiopia. These ventures
alone will improve the incomes for tens of thousands of
Ethiopian families.
And as for the camel's milk, I am happy to report, other
than a slightly sooty taste, it is delicious. Sooty, they put
soot in it to--they like the taste of soot. But I will tell
you, it is absolutely delicious, and maybe one day we will see
it for sale here in the United States.
Lastly, as I know this subcommittee continues to be
concerned with aid effectiveness, I hope you can support the
administration's request for $80 million for the Community
Development Fund, CDF. This program, funded out of the DA
account, provides cash resources for food security programs,
and as you make the tough decisions in the days ahead, I want
you to know that the resources for food, for CDF programs
significantly increases the return on investment as we save
approximately 25 cents on the dollar when we are not forced to
monetize within our food security programs.
Thank you again for your leadership, your time, and your
consideration of all of these requests.
[The information follows:]
Ms. Granger. Thank you very much.
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Ms. Granger. We will now hear from Dr. Dan Davidson. You
are recognized for 4 minutes.
OPENING STATEMENT OF DAN DAVIDSON, PH.D., PRESIDENT, AMERICAN
COUNCILS FOR INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION
Mr. Davidson. Madam Chairwoman, Congresswoman Lowey--thank
you for allowing me once again to present on behalf of the
American Councils for International Education.
I am requesting that the subcommittee recommend funding in
fiscal year 2016 of $630 million for the State Department's
Bureau of Education and Cultural Exchanges account. I also urge
your increased support for assistance for Eastern Europe and
Eurasia, where renewed bloodshed, immense social dislocation,
and serious potentially long-term political divisions have now
occurred.
I have worked in Russia, Ukraine, Eurasia as a scholar,
teacher, and director of many assistance programs over the past
40 years. I am president of American Councils, a nonprofit
organization that administers a large portfolio of exchange and
educational development programs, primarily for the U.S.
Department of State, in Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Afghanistan,
China, Africa, and the Middle East.
Congress has played a vital role in defining our national
goals in critical world areas through the support of well-
coordinated exchange and development programs linking effective
people-to-people exchange with research and developmental
initiatives to help nations advance positive social and
economic change. The FLEX program, created by Bill Bradley and
Jim Leach, for Eurasia, and the YES program established by Ted
Kennedy and Dick Lugar for nations with significant Muslim
populations were born, as you know, in this very building.
The FLEX and YES programs, whose alums now approach 40,000
around the world, have come to serve as highly visible models
of transparency, inclusiveness, and acceptance of ethnic
diversity, innovation, and physical challenge, acceptance of
physical challenges. They have created real access to
opportunities which previously were available only to those
with political connections.
In that respect, the FLEX and YES programs represent
American values and ideals in action, rather than as words on a
page. Moreover, exchange alumni take an increasingly important
role in their home countries and governments.
Our outbound programs to these same critical regions for
U.S. students, teachers, and scholars have, in turn, ensured
that America's own capacity to engage with a rapidly changing
world is preserved. Our own national security and global
competitiveness depend on our ability to understand and engage
people with diverse histories, cultures, policies, economies,
and languages.
In that respect, I want to take note that this portfolio of
programs has recently been evaluated in a publication by
Georgetown University Press just released this week. You will
see the results are unprecedented in U.S. education, thanks to
the U.S. investment in overseas training.
I want to particularly thank this committee for its long-
term support of the Title VIII research and training program
for Eastern Europe and point out that the Title VIII program
has never been more critical for our U.S. national security
interests than it is today.
I want to comment on the U.S. technical assistance programs
that have brought transparent, merit-based testing to
Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, and Ukraine, and point out that the
Ukrainian government has just requested urgent support in the
area of transparency of educational administration, a step that
would immensely help Ukraine in its integration process with
Europe and the United States.
And finally, to take note that the European Humanities
University, which, as you may remember, was expelled from
Belarus in 2004 by President Lukashenko, has been able to
relocate in Lithuania over the past few years and set up
operations in Vilnius as an accredited European university that
is 95 percent Belarus. It is truly preparing a new generation
of leaders for the nation of Belarus, but it is still highly
deserving of our support.
It is a rare example of transatlantic cooperation, U.S. and
EC cooperation in the defense of academic freedom and a
democratic state.
Thank you so much for your attention and for the invitation
to present.
Ms. Granger. Thank you.
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Ms. Granger. We will now hear from Dr. Joanne Carter. You
are recognized 4 minutes.
OPENING STATEMENT OF JOANNE CARTER, DVM, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,
RESULTS/RESULTS EDUCATION FUND
Dr. Carter. Chairwoman Granger, Ranking Member Lowey, and
members of the subcommittee, on behalf of our grassroots
volunteers in RESULTS in over 100 U.S. communities, first just
a real thank you again for your incredible leadership and also
your bipartisan support for these programs that save lives and
transform them.
And I am going to focus my remarks on just a few key global
health and basic education investments. So yesterday was World
TB Day. So it seems appropriate to start with that, and
particularly because of this subcommittee's incredibly
important leadership on tuberculosis through our bilateral
programs in the Global Fund.
TB still kills 1.5 million people a year. It is the single
largest--it is the killer of--infectious killer of adults on
the planet, of a curable disease. And data released just
yesterday shows that if we do nothing, if we don't act on TB,
that we could see TB responsible for a quarter of all
antimicrobial resistance in the next 35 years, 75 million
potential deaths.
Again what this kind of shows is that the biggest driver of
antimicrobial resistance is not some brand-new superbug. It is
tuberculosis. And I raise this because the two most important
sources of external financing for TB in the world are
appropriated by this subcommittee, USAID's bilateral funding
and the Global Fund, our contribution.
We say an allocation of $400 million for bilateral programs
would make a huge difference in being able to ramp up our
response to TB, including new tools. And you all have been
remarkably important supporters for the Global Fund. So I would
just, again, reinforce that we believe it is really critical to
maintain the Global Fund's funding for 2016 at the fiscal year
2015 level of $1.35 billion.
And for two reasons on that. There are several billion
dollars worth of unmet of quality approved programs for the
Global Fund that can't be funded with the resources available
to the Global Fund now. And secondly, that the Global Fund is
going to have its replenishment in 2016, and probably the first
and single most important kind of signal from the U.S. about
what we will do and our leadership will be our fiscal year 2016
appropriation.
And I would just say very briefly in two other areas. On
maternal and child health, I would just echo what Ambassador
Klosson said, which is because of the leadership of this
subcommittee, we are at a point where we can actually see our
way to the end of preventable maternal and child deaths.
USAID's 2014 Acting on the Call report is a roadmap. USAID
has taken some very bold steps to improve and increase the
impact of its investments. So we now have the tools, and we
have never been better positioned to deliver on this goal. So I
would just echo what some colleagues have called for and urge
you to provide $850 million for maternal and child health
programs, including $235 million for GAVI.
And finally, again echoing what my colleagues have called
for because partly because we have been so successful on things
like measles and malaria, under-nutrition now is an underlying
cause of nearly half of all under 5 child deaths. So the
importance of $200 million of funding for nutrition is
absolutely key.
And then, finally, I just want to thank the subcommittee
for your leadership. And really, you are responsible, more than
anyone else, in making the U.S. a leader on education. And I
would specifically around your support for the Global
Partnership for Education not just as a centerpiece of the
response, but an amazingly important leverage.
Last year at the Global Partnership for Education's
replenishment, countries themselves, developing countries
committed $26 billion of resources for education. So that is
amazing leverage for a very small amount of resources from us.
So I would actually urge you to consider funding the GPE at an
even slightly more ambitious level of $125 million because $125
million for a $26 billion leverage is really pretty great.
And just to end by saying thank you for your remarkable
bipartisan leadership, and we are really committed with our
grassroots across the country to supporting that and supporting
your work.
Thank you.
Ms. Granger. Thank you.
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Ms. Granger. We will now hear from Daniel Stoner. You are
recognized for 4 minutes.
OPENING STATEMENT OF DAN STONER, CO-CHAIR OF THE EXECUTIVE
BOARD OF DIRECTORS, BASIC EDUCATION COALITION
Mr. Stoner. Madam Chair, Ranking Member Lowey, I am pleased
to testify on behalf of the Basic Education Coalition, a group
of 18 humanitarian and development institutions dedicated to
ensuring that the world's children receive a quality basic
education.
My name is Dan Stoner, and I am co-chair of the coalition's
board of directors and Associate Vice President of Education
and Child Protection at Save the Children.
The members of the Basic Education Coalition are
appreciative of the committee's continued support for
international basic education programs, and we thank you for
your strong and consistent leadership in providing hope and
opportunity to children around the world.
For fiscal year 2016, the coalition recommends a U.S.
investment of $800 million in international and basic education
programs, with at least $600 million of that coming from the
development assistance account.
Throughout my career, I have had the opportunity to see
countless schools and meet with teachers, students, and
parents. They all want the same thing. They want their children
to learn. From the Ethiopian subsistence farmer who volunteers
his time to give children extra tutoring on reading to the star
sixth grader from Bangladesh who speaks out against teacher
violence, the children and their communities want more and
better education.
These children will become the future teachers and leaders
if we support them. With strong global support and a clear U.S.
strategy, we have the opportunity to build on the tremendous
progress that has been made with the resources allocated by
this committee.
Overall, the number of children who are out of school
around the world has dropped by almost half from 107 million in
1999 to 57 million today. Since 1999, the number of children
enrolled in preschool has risen by almost half. Great strides
have also been made to improve gender equality, with girls
enrollment rising to over 90 percent in 52 countries.
We have seen great progress at the country level as well.
For example, in Afghanistan, there were fewer than 1 million
students in primary school in 1999. Now there are more than 8
million, 5 million of whom are enrolled in schools with USAID
assistance.
In many sub-Saharan African countries, more than twice as
many students are entering the first grade, compared to a
decade ago. Ethiopia has made great progress in getting
children to school on time, increasing rates from 23 percent in
1999 to 94 percent in 2011.
Since 2006, countries like the Lao People's Democratic
Republic, Rwanda, and Vietnam have reduced the out-of-school
populations by 85 percent. Though great gains in global
education have been made, much remains to be done. Currently,
57 million primary school age children and 69 million
adolescents are out of school.
In addition, 250 million children, or a staggering 40
percent of the world's primary school age population are
failing to learn the most basic skills. The world community has
failed every child who is left out of school or sat in a school
not learning anything.
USAID has played a critical role in shining the light on
this global learning crisis, and we now know that the impact of
education cannot be measured by the number of students
enrolled, but by improved learning outcomes. USAID-funded early
grade reading assessments have helped focus the world community
on what works and what does not work when it comes to improving
children's learning.
The evidence being produced by USAID-supported programs is
convincing governments and other U.S. Government agencies, such
as USDA McGovern-Dole Food for Education, to invest in
confronting this learning crisis.
USAID is also working to extend access to education to at-
risk children in conflicts and crisis situations. USAID is
working with partners in Syria and surrounding refugee
countries to ensure access to educational programs, in addition
to lifesaving health and counseling services.
In Afghanistan, programs are working to reverse the impact
of the Taliban regime on young girls by increasing the number
of qualified teachers, raising girls' school attendance, and
working directly with the ministry to create gender-sensitive
policies and procedures.
In Sierra Leone, programs have helped to increase access to
psychosocial education, providing vocational training to former
students, soldiers, and unaccompanied and internally displaced
children, children of adult amputees and teenage mothers.
In conclusion, we have the benefit of a strong
congressional support, a clear USAID strategy on education,
innovative solutions, and strategies that directly address
country needs. We have the opportunity for deeper and more
sustainable impact on the lives and hopes of the world's poor
children. The Basic Education Coalition looks forward to
working with the subcommittee and Congress to ensure that
quality basic education remains a pillar of our foreign
assistance.
Thank you for your continued support.
Ms. Granger. Thank you.
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Ms. Granger. We will now hear from Mr. William Millan. You
are recognized for 4 minutes.
OPENING STATEMENT OF WILLIAM MILLAN, SENIOR POLICY ADVISER,
NATURE CONSERVANCY
Mr. Millan. Thank you, Madam Chairman.
Thank you, Madam Chairman, Ranking Member Lowey, members of
the committee. It is a pleasure to be here representing the
Nature Conservancy today.
Summarizing my remarks, I would say that you know us well,
of course. We are in all 50 States. We are in 38 foreign
countries. We have traditionally been the largest and most
active group in Latin America and the Caribbean, and that
remains an area of importance for us.
We are also very active in the Western Pacific Islands. We
have a large program in Indonesia. We have a program in China,
and in the last 5 or 6 years, we have greatly strengthened and
expanded our efforts in Africa.
If there were time, I would love to say more about our
efforts in northern Kenya, for example, at the Northern
Rangelands Trust, where we are helping local people to improve
the grazing and do a better job of selling their cattle.
Our mission statement says that we support the land and
waters upon which all life depends. And life emphatically
includes humans. So we know that unless the local humans are
doing well, the local wildlife is very unlikely to do well.
We support American soft power. Therefore, we hope and we
urge that the Function 150 account does well this year. But
naturally, our highest priority is related to our own direct
mission. And in that regard, I would support the comments by my
colleague from the Wildlife Conservation Society, John
Calvelli, about the importance of the core conservation account
at USAID, which has recently been funded at $250 million.
This is a set of issues which has enjoyed your broad
bipartisan support for years, and we are grateful for that. We
hope that the committee will once more make it be--find it
possible to fund that account at the current level. Given the
difficult budgetary situation, it is probably too much to hope
for to squeeze out even a tiny increase. If you can manage to
flat-line it, we will be very, very happy.
We also strongly support the $55 million of special money
for wildlife trafficking, which you have put in in the recent
year, and we hope that is continued. The conservation accounts
are only 1 percent of the foreign assistance accounts, but they
are some of the best things that are done by U.S. foreign
assistance as a long-term investment. They are supported by the
head of the CIA, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and numerous
American presidents. So we hope that this goes well.
Finally, in closing, I feel that we have to say a word
about climate. We realize that this is a heavier lift. It is
more contentious. But our conservation scientists tell us that,
ultimately, global warming and climate change are a deadly risk
to our conservation mission.
So we hope that the committee and the Congress will find it
possible to continue to fund the climate investment funds and
to find something for the new Green Climate Fund. Perhaps not
$500 million. That would, indeed, be miraculous. But something
to get our toe wet and, more to the point, to maintain U.S.
influence in that body so that it is well managed.
Thank you, Madam Chairman. And if there is time, I would be
delighted to answer any questions.
Ms. Granger. Thank you.
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Ms. Granger. Mr. Bryan Ardouny. We will hear from you next.
OPENING STATEMENT OF BRYAN ARDOUNY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,
ARMENIAN ASSEMBLY OF AMERICA
Mr. Ardouny. Chairwoman Granger, Ranking Member Lowey, and
distinguished members of the subcommittee, good afternoon.
On behalf of the Armenian Assembly of America, I very much
appreciate the opportunity to testify today.
Established in 1972, the Armenian Assembly, with a network
of State chairs and activists across the country, seeks to
strengthen U.S.-Armenia and Armenian-Karabakh relations. We
strongly encourage Members, especially on the centennial year
of the Armenian genocide, to travel to Armenia to see firsthand
the realities on the ground and the ongoing impact of the
Turkish and Azerbaijani blockades on Armenia.
Despite Turkey's public commitment in 2009 to normalize
relations with Armenia, the Turkish government has failed to do
so. In fact, both former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and
current Secretary John Kerry have indicated that the ball is in
Turkey's court. However, instead of moving forward, no concrete
steps have been taken, with Turkey seeking to add new
conditions.
We must ensure that the last closed border in Europe is
open and urge the subcommittee to include report language
requiring a full accounting of the steps the United States has
taken and the responses therein to eliminate the Turkish and
Azeri blockades.
In terms of funding priorities for the fiscal year 2016
bill, the assembly urges the subcommittee to allocate $40
million in assistance to Armenia. Continued and robust
assistance helps to offset the impact of the blockades imposed
by Turkey and Azerbaijan.
Despite these blockades, Armenia continues to make
important strides, often under challenging circumstances, and
was ranked 52nd out of 178 countries on the Wall Street
Journal-Heritage Foundation's 2015 Index of Economic Freedom.
Armenia also met the eligibility requirements under the
Millennium Challenge Corporation, of which we strongly support
a second compact. We also support the administration's request
for FMF and IMET to Armenia and also support targeted
assistance to the Armenian population in the Javakhk region of
Georgia.
As for assistance to Nagorno-Karabakh, for a relatively
small investment of $5 million, we can make a significant
difference in the everyday lives of its people. Funding will
help support ongoing humanitarian and development needs,
including demining and drinking water projects.
With respect to the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, we
remain deeply concerned about the ongoing ceasefire violations
and provocative actions by Azerbaijan. The assembly, therefore,
urges the subcommittee to fully reinstate Section 907 of the
Freedom Support Act and to cease military assistance to
Azerbaijan.
In addition, the assembly strongly believes that the
Nagorno-Karabakh participation in the negotiations should be
restored, as any solution to the conflict requires the consent
of its people and leadership.
Turning to the Middle East and minorities at risk, we share
the concerns of the members of the subcommittee in terms of the
ongoing unrest and violence. In Syria, we were especially
troubled by the destruction of the Armenian Genocide Memorial
Church in Der Zor.
With many Syrian-Armenian families forced to flee to
Armenia, we urge the subcommittee to direct the State
Department and USAID to allocate additional funds to Armenia as
it seeks to absorb refugees from Syria, as well as implement
measures to ensure that gaps in distribution of relief aid are
addressed so that all those in need of urgent humanitarian
assistance are reached.
Finally, we urge the subcommittee to include report
language that makes it clear that minority communities,
wherever they may reside, shall be afforded protection and
safeguarded. Simply stated, there has to be a place for
Christians to live safely in the Middle East.
Thank you.
Ms. Granger. Thank you.
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Ms. Granger. We will now hear from Kate Nahapetian. You are
recognized for 4 minutes.
OPENING STATEMENT OF KATE NAHAPETIAN, GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS
DIRECTOR, ARMENIAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE OF AMERICA
Ms. Nahapetian. Chairwoman Granger, Ranking Member Lowey,
distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you very much
for giving us this opportunity to testify before you today on
behalf of the Armenian National Committee of America.
The U.S.-Armenia relationship has a very long and proud
history, actually dating back to the 1600s when Armenian silk
farmers were invited to the Jamestown settlement. The U.S.-
Armenia relationship continues to grow.
I would like to touch on five priorities, which will
promote U.S. interests in the region, which are continued aid
to Nagorno-Karabakh, conditioning military aid to Azerbaijan to
its acceptance of the OSCE calls to pull back their snipers and
a commitment to a purely peaceful resolution of the conflict,
aid to Armenia, the need to address the difficulties in getting
assistance to Armenians, Assyrians, and other at-risk
minorities in Syria, and aid to the Javakhk region of Georgia.
We are asking for at least $5 million in humanitarian and
development assistance to Nagorno-Karabakh. For more than a
decade and a half, the U.S. Government has been providing
assistance to Nagorno-Karabakh, which has a long history of
bipartisan support. Many credit the Karabakh Armenians with
helping bring down the Soviet Union. It was their peaceful
protests that inspired others in the Soviet Union to fight for
their self-determination and democracy.
Ironically, they continue to be denied the freedom they
helped millions of people gain. Karabakh suffers one of the
highest per capita landmine accidents in the world. Last year,
there were several accidents. Tragically, two people were
killed. We urge the subcommittee to expand this vital
assistance which is saving lives, especially considering
Karabakh's continued gains in democracy.
Freedom House has consistently rated Karabakh higher than
Azerbaijan and on par with Georgia and Armenia on democracy
indicators. The most recent presidential elections in Karabakh
in July 2012 were favorably received by more than 80
international observers from two dozen countries, including the
United States. The former attorney general of Rhode Island was
one of those international observers.
Second, we urge the subcommittee to condition military aid
to Azerbaijan. It does not serve our national interests nor
advance our values to provide aid to a military whose
leadership frequently threatens to renew aggression. Last year
was the deadliest since the ceasefire over 20 years ago. Over
60 people were killed.
This year, Azerbaijan's attacks became too egregious and
deadly to ignore. In an unusual rebuke, the OSCE Minsk Group
issued a statement this January reminding Azerbaijan to observe
its commitments to a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
Deadly violations subsided but were renewed last week.
Azerbaijan will respond to international pressure, but it
has to be sustained, and a first step would be to suspend
military aid until it agrees to the OSCE call to pull back its
snipers. Armenia and Karabakh have agreed to this proposal.
Azerbaijan continues to oppose it.
Azerbaijan's regional aggression is closely tied to its
brutal crackdown on dissent. It has raided and shut down Radio
Free Europe's offices, deliberately frustrating the purposes of
this very subcommittee. It has unjustly imprisoned several
civil society leaders. By some accounts, there are 90 political
prisoners in Azerbaijan.
Our next priority is for at least $40 million in assistance
to Armenia. Armenia is a crucial ally in a strategic region of
the world. It has extended robust for U.S.-led peacekeeping
deployments in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Kosovo and is cooperating
with the U.S. on a broad range of regional and security issues.
In 2011, as countries were pulling out of Afghanistan,
Armenia actually tripled its troop deployment there. It
continues to extend its hand to the West. Last year, Armenia
scrapped its visa requirements for all American citizens.
Furthermore, it is extending its hand to the European
Union. The French Ambassador in Yerevan just this week spoke of
``quite positive atmosphere'' on that sphere.
Intel, Microsoft, IBM, National Instruments, and Synopsys
are all investing in Armenia because they see a promise there.
At the same time, the people of landlocked Armenia continue to
face the devastating impact of Turkey and Azerbaijan's over 20-
year economic blockades. Our assistance has played a vital role
in helping alleviate these blockades.
It is for this reason we ask the subcommittee to
appropriate no less than $40 million for economic aid.
Thank you very much.
Ms. Granger. Thank you.
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Ms. Granger. I apologize votes have been called. We will
have to go and vote. Time has expired, and they are holding it
for us. We will come back after votes.
Mr. Ruppersberger has just voted. So we will go ahead with
your comments, and I will vote, and come back down. Thank you.
[Pause.]
Mr. Ruppersberger [presiding]. You may start.
OPENING STATEMENT OF METODIJA A. KOLOSKI, PRESIDENT, UNITED
MACEDONIAN DIASPORA
Mr. Koloski. Thank you, Chairwoman Granger, Ranking Member
Lowey, and members of the subcommittee.
It is a sincere privilege to be here on behalf of the
United Macedonian Diaspora, the voice of half a million
Americans of Macedonian heritage.
In fiscal year 2011, U.S. aid to Macedonia was $27.5
million. The fiscal year 2016 request is for $11.3 million, a
serious dramatic decrease in just 5 years.
Our community is very concerned that the level of funding
being offered to Macedonia does not accurately reflect the
close relationship between the two allies, especially given the
May 2008 U.S.-Macedonia strategic partnership agreement. We
call on a full evaluation by your subcommittee.
In 1991, Macedonia peacefully declared independence from
Yugoslavia with no bloodshed. Its southern neighbor Greece, who
opposes its name, Macedonia, which is now recognized by 125
countries, including the U.S., imposed a crippling economic
embargo for 3 years.
At the time, 70 percent unemployment rate. Today, it is 27
percent. However, Macedonia is still feeling the effects of the
embargo 20 years later.
Unfortunately, at the U.N., Macedonia is known as the
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, which is like calling
the U.S. ``the Former British Colonies of America.'' In 1994,
the U.S. recognized Macedonia and since has spurred tremendous
development and growth in the country, providing over $1
billion in aid.
We believe the U.S. is Macedonia's number-one friend, and
Macedonia is where it is today largely thanks to U.S. support.
I just want to highlight a couple of successes from USAID.
In 2005, thanks to USAID funding and providing of over
6,000 computers to the school system there, Macedonia became
the first fully wireless country in the world. And as a result
of a partnership between several civil society organizations
and our organization, we were able to renovate 123 schools,
which virtually, you know, at one time didn't even have
bathrooms as a result of the situation in Communist Yugoslavia.
I also want to highlight that USAID funding has helped
improve status of women and minorities. From business reforms
to the introduction of micro financing, new doors have been
opened to close both gender and ethnicity divides. Projects in
the areas of economic growth, local government, education,
anti-trafficking reforms have all seen the condition of
minorities and women improve greatly.
Much work remains to be done, especially in the ethnic
integration of schools, improving youth employability, and
education issues in the Roma community.
I also want to highlight that there is still a lot of work
to be done, particularly in terms of getting more women
involved in local and national politics. Out of 80 or so
mayors, only 4 are women. Out of 123 parliamentarians, 31 are
women. And out of 25 government ministers, 2 are women.
USAID projects are improving competitiveness, creating
investment development, introducing agribusiness technology,
enhancing micro finance development, and eliminating barriers
to start businesses. These projects are vital to ensuring the
development--the future of Macedonia's development.
USAID has funded projects implementing judicial reform,
strengthening civil society, and modernizing the Macedonian
judiciary. However, work remains in the areas of improving
functioning of the judicial branch, increasing transparency,
fighting corruption, improving the functioning of parliament,
which has been boycotted by the opposition in the country for
the last year, 2 years.
But I do want to highlight the efforts of International
Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute in
helping modernize parliament there.
On military aid, Macedonia's strategic priority is NATO
membership. In 1999, Macedonia opened its borders to 400,000
refugees from Kosovo, and it hosted a logistic support center
for KFOR the same year Macedonia earned NATO Membership Action
Plan.
Following 9/11, Macedonia pledged troops to U.S.-led
efforts in Afghanistan and later Iraq. In Afghanistan,
Macedonian troops patrolled the ISAF headquarters and provided
the fourth and fifth largest troop contribution per capita to
the NATO mission there.
In 2008, Macedonia met the requirements for NATO membership
and was to be invited to join NATO at the Bucharest summit. But
Greece, the only country to oppose, vetoed. And in 2011, the
ICJ found Greece in violation of international law over this
act but has still to implement the decision and withdraw its
hold on Macedonia's NATO membership. Macedonia can protect the
tent of NATO but cannot sleep in it.
Currently, a bipartisan House Resolution 56 calls for
furthering U.S. support for Macedonia's NATO membership. We
believe Congress can, should play a role in sending a positive
message to Macedonia that the U.S. has not forgotten its
friendship.
As the situation in Ukraine continues to degrade, Russia
has been exerting increased influence in the Balkans via
Greece, Serbia, Bosnia, Republika Srpska, and Montenegro. A
recent CEPA article explained how the stall in NATO enlargement
is playing right into Putin's hands by destabilizing the
Balkans and leaving people frustrated, with the West looking
East for guidance.
Furthermore----
Mr. Ruppersberger. I'm sorry, you will have to wrap it up--
--
Mr. Koloski. Sure. And I just want to highlight that the
threat of Islamic radicalization in terms of the growing number
of people from the region joining the Islamic state as foreign
fighters, including Macedonia, is concerning.
And last, but not least, we are very concerned with the
proposed eliminating of Voice of America Macedonian service
because we believe that there is a need for a strong U.S. sort
of media presence, particularly with Russia and what is going
on today.
Mr. Ruppersberger. In my former role on intelligence, I
have worked with Macedonia security issues on cybersecurity
attacks.
Mr. Koloski. Excellent. Great. Well, thank you.
Mr. Ruppersberger. We are going to have to recess. We have
got to go up for the second vote.
[Whereupon, at 4:26 p.m., the subcommittee was recessed, to
reconvene at 4:45 p.m., the same day.]
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Ms. Granger [presiding]. We will call the hearing back to
order. And we will now hear from Ms. Jeanne Bourgault. You are
recognized for 4 minutes, and thank you for your patience.
Not that you had a choice, but I still thank you.
[Laughter.]
OPENING STATEMENT OF JEANNE BOURGAULT, PRESIDENT AND CEO,
INTERNEWS
Ms. Bourgault. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.
I am very pleased to be testifying in front of you. So I am
glad. I was happy to wait, and I appreciate the opportunity to
testify on behalf of Internews on the importance of access to
quality, trusted news and information to empower communities,
hold governments accountable, and to amplify American
approaches to diplomacy and national security.
We are very, very grateful for your support to these
programs, and we urge you to continue funding media and
democracy programs generally in fiscal year 2016.
Internews is an international nonprofit organization. We
have worked in over 90 countries and trained more than 90,000
journalists and other information professionals in the past 33
years. We are now active in countries ranging from Afghanistan
and Burma to South Sudan and Ukraine, working with local
partners in pursuit of a better world.
This afternoon, I would like to focus on three major
points. The first is a need for increased investments in
democracy programs, including support to independent media and
moderate voices. Second, the power of engaging women in media
and information globally. And third, the extraordinary results
that support from media has in the global health sector.
Independent media and open information systems are
essential to democracy in the 21st century. With over 6 billion
mobile phones and over 2 billion people on the Internet
globally, these issues have become both more challenging and
more exciting.
We are particularly encouraged by the interest of Congress
and the administration to invest in Central America to
comprehensively address violence, poor governance, and lack of
economic opportunity. Independent media is a root solution to
solving these problems.
And democracy programs in place in regions like Central
America are critical to ensuring that foreign assistance is
transformational, not just transactional. We urge the committee
to continue to fund democracy programs at least at the level of
the President's request in 2016.
Women's voices are particularly essential to building
healthy societies, and I brought a picture of some women that
we are working with in Afghanistan. When women's voices are
heard, when women produce the news, the information we all
consume improves.
Last year, Internews worked with nearly 8,000 women around
the world from over 50 countries to reach parity in media
management, content creation, and safe access to information.
The impact of this support is being felt every day in places
like Afghanistan, where this picture was taken. This is
actually a picture of the first digital innovation boot camp we
held in Afghanistan a couple of years ago. There is actually
one going on this week, right now as we speak.
In Afghanistan, we have trained thousands of women in
multimedia skills and helped mentor five women-owned, women-run
radio stations. And with more women's voices on the air, women
have increased access to the information they need and greater
influence on local policymaking.
Finally, turning to global health, in sub-Saharan African,
Internews has seen the enormous impact that quality local media
has had on the HIV-AIDS epidemic and other health issues. Now
we are working in Liberia and Guinea. We are on the ground,
supporting accurate, trusted Ebola-related information to
affected communities.
During what we hope is the closing phase of the epidemic,
the information needs are getting all the more important. To
get to that zero new cases requires penetrating communities
that have been long resistant to basic information about
prevention and treatment.
Information saves lives. We urge the committee to express
support for media and information as a root solution to global
health issues.
Independent media and open information programs are
fundamental to building peaceful democratic societies. Yet
violence against journalists, censorship, and increasing
incidents of hate speech are all on the rise, and I am
concerned that the U.S. may prematurely reduce media programs
in transitioning countries, such as Burma, Pakistan, and Sri
Lanka. I believe a major goal of U.S. foreign policy should be
universal access to quality, trusted local information, and I
urge you to support these programs in fiscal year 2016.
I thank you for your support. I thank you for the support
of USAID and the State Department. I am happy to take any
questions.
Ms. Granger. Thank you.
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Ms. Granger. We will now hear from Mr. David Arnold. You
are recognized for 4 minutes.
OPENING STATEMENT OF DAVID D. ARNOLD, PRESIDENT, THE ASIA
FOUNDATION
Mr. Arnold. Thank you so much, Madam Chairwoman.
For the past 60 years, the Asia Foundation has been
supporting political and economic reforms and contributing to
the stability of countries throughout Asia. Many of these
countries today are among our most important and reliable
allies of the United States.
The foundation is extremely grateful for the committee and
its support over the years and especially for sustaining
funding for the foundation and our programs at $17 million in
2015. To maintain and build on our 60-year record of
accomplishment, the foundation is again requesting the
committee support at a steady-state level of $17 million for
fiscal year 2016, which is the same level as for 2014 and 2015
and about 10 percent below the fiscal year 2013 level.
The Asia Foundation is, first and foremost, a field-based
organization. Through our 18 countries in Asia, the foundation
is working in 5 core areas--democracy and governance, economic
development, women's empowerment, environment, and regional
cooperation. Our impact can be seen throughout Asia through
stronger democratic institutions and civil society, increased
prosperity, more opportunities for women in economic and
political life, and growing regional cooperation between and
among Asian countries and the U.S.
The foundation leverages its appropriation by raising $4 of
non-U.S. Government funding for every appropriated dollar,
ensuring a robust program and higher impact for the
congressional investment. We were particularly successful in
diversifying and leveraging our core support under the
stewardship of my predecessor, former Congressman Doug
Bereuter.
As you know, Asia is an increasingly critical region for
the United States, both in economic and security terms. And the
foundation's programs have contributed directly to the
rebalance to Asia.
With congressional support, this year the foundation has
supported transparency and accountability in lawmaking and
budgeting in Indonesia and Vietnam. We have worked in
Bangladesh and the Philippines to reform burdensome regulations
that stunt small business growth. We supported conflict
resolution in Muslim communities in Thailand and Sri Lanka. And
we have expanded the rights and protections for women by
fighting trafficking and gender-based violence in India.
The foundation's signature initiative is the Books for Asia
program, which has provided 50 million English language books
to more than 20 countries since 1954. Through this program,
millions of Asian students and current and future leaders have
gained access to global sources of knowledge and a better
understanding of the United States.
Our investment of $1 million in appropriated funds
leverages about $10 million in donated English language books
from U.S. publishers for Asia's schools, universities, and
libraries. The foundation donated more than 30,000 books to
Burma alone in 2014.
In fiscal year 2016, congressional support at $17 million
would enable the foundation to continue work to counter
corruption and improve public accountability; sustain women's
empowerment programs; expand new leadership, development, and
training efforts; and support conflict resolution and peace-
building processes in places like Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal
and Burma.
We appreciate very much the committee's longstanding trust
of and support for the Asia Foundation. The congressional
appropriation authorized in the 1983 Asia Foundation Act has
been and remains invaluable to the foundation's ability to
achieve results on the ground and to fulfill our shared mission
of maintaining the U.S. presence and advancing U.S. interests
in Asia.
We thank you very much for your support and for the
opportunity to be here today.
Ms. Granger. Thank you.
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Ms. Granger. Our next witness is Mary McQueen.
OPENING STATEMENT OF MARY C. MCQUEEN, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL
CENTER FOR STATE COURTS
Ms. McQueen. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair, Mrs. Lowey.
I appreciate your patience this afternoon, and you have our
written testimony. So I wanted to kind of put a face on some of
the points that I want to talk about.
As president of the National Center for State Courts, it is
possibly a question about why State courts and international
relations? And in fact, over 95 percent of the litigation in
this country happens in State courts. And I think it was
Madison who said, ``It is much easier to write a Constitution
than to implement one.''
And what we find is that going into developing democracies
and helping them establish the rule of law, and what we mean by
that is liberty and justice for all, empowering women judges,
and protecting basically human rights, liberty. I mean, we have
heard a lot today about education and medical care and economic
development, but if a country doesn't have a stabilized legal
system, it impedes economic development.
And so, I just wanted to share with you just very quickly
what some of the dollars you have invested in these rule of law
programs have resulted in. And I have to say one of my first
opportunities to work with another developing democracy was in
Kosovo, and we were training judges and basically trying to
share what you would think other countries think is really the
gold standard, which is this fair and independent and impartial
court system that we have in the United States.
And so, we were training. He came up to me afterwards. His
name was Chief Justice Haji Moosa. And he says, ``Where can I
get a copy of the book?'' Now, obviously, we were talking
through an interpreter.
And I started laughing, and he says, ``Is it a very old
book?'' And I said, ``Yes, it is The Federalist Papers.'' And
so, based on that, we actually started using The Federalist
Papers because they are an excellent blueprint about how a
democracy works.
And overnight, just because we established we are a
constitution, we are a democracy, we have seen an action on the
ground that people have to learn what their role is in
supporting that democracy.
So I just want to share just very quickly. We have heard
today about some of the programs in Central and South America.
We all remember the undocumented children who we were looking
in Honduras when they came across the border. We very quickly,
using judges in the United States, with judges in Honduras,
established a program because you think that may be a Federal
issue? State court judges have to make findings relating to
these children before they are then--they then go on to the
immigration courts.
We were talking about social media. One of the things that
we have found that we have to combat what we see this extremist
use of social media is providing alternatives on social media
for juveniles.
Working in Central America and in Colombia, it's very hard
to do that. And developing a series of justice system journals
using graphic novels and YouTube to explain to children, you
know, that they can be protected. They do have hope.
I have to say that one personally, for me, an example was
when I was in Kosovo, and you can establish a constitution. You
can tell women that they now have legal rights. But the
cultural challenge of them really believing that comes home on
the ground. And so, the advocates, the lawyers in Kosovo
decided to do a street fair where they set up tables and
invited the general population to come up.
And so, I was sitting there, and I don't think she knew
that I couldn't speak her language. And she started crying and
telling me how much she appreciated the work of the USAID
project--because they will have a card, you know, that will
have the USAID emblem on it. Human trafficking is a very
serious issue in the Balkans, and through these women judges
who were trained, she was able to retain custody of her
children that she felt kept them out of human trafficking.
So while all of us, you know, can place our hands over our
hearts and say ``liberty and justice for all,'' it really took
me meeting the chief justice of Iraq to have a personal
understanding of what that means, when he told me about his son
being killed by terrorists in retaliation for an opinion he
wrote.
And so, the investment that you make in rule of law comes
home tenfold, and I just want to thank you for that continued
support.
Ms. Granger. Thank you very much. Thank you for being here
with us.
I worked in Iraq as they were writing their constitution,
and one of the things we did was work with women to help them
understand the rule of law and understand there is a justice
system. We had a seminar on what democracy is and to show them.
We play-acted some things and I remember thinking back, I
really had to go back to basics to act it out. I will never
forget the whole day of that and trying to explain to people
what it would mean to them if they actually had a law they
could depend on and justice.
Thank you for what you do.
Ms. McQueen. Thank you.
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Ms. Granger. We will now hear from Mrs. Lynn Stratford. You
are recognized for 4 minutes.
OPENING STATEMENT OF LYNN STRATFORD, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT,
UNITED STATES FUND FOR UNICEF
Ms. Stratford. Thank you, Chairman Granger.
I am grateful for the opportunity to testify on behalf of
more than 1 million Americans who support UNICEF's global
lifesaving work for children.
In order to save and improve the lives of millions of
children around the world, I respectfully ask the subcommittee
to provide at least $132 million as the U.S. Government's
voluntary contribution to UNICEF for fiscal year 2016. This
would maintain the funding at the same level you provided both
in fiscal years 2015 and 2014 and is the amount in the
administration's fiscal year 2016 budget request.
First, let me thank you for your committee's consistent
bipartisan support for UNICEF's work. I would also like to
thank you for the support you have provided for the USAID
maternal and child health account. We encourage you once again
to make children a top priority of your global--of our global
assistance and ask you to provide at least $850 million for the
maternal and child health program.
The American people agree that saving children from
preventable deaths is a worthy application of our foreign
assistance dollars. We know that the funding you have secured
over the years for UNICEF and for child survival is achieving
real, measurable results.
In 1990, 12.7 million children under the age of 5 died from
preventable causes. Today, that number has dropped dramatically
to 6.3 million. And by sustaining these resources, preventable
childhood deaths can virtually be eliminated in another 20
years or within a generation.
UNICEF is a global partner that enables the United States
to help more children. I have seen it most recently in
Botswana, where every community in the country supports Child
Health Days, where community leaders encourage not only birth
registration, but early childhood development, and where we are
on the brink of seeing the first HIV-AIDS generation born.
UNICEF is the world's largest provider of vaccines. In
2013, UNICEF provided 2.8 billion doses of vaccines for 100
countries and procures vaccines for GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance.
UNICEF works in country to make sure those vaccines reach even
the poorest children in the poorest communities.
UNICEF works in partnership with Kiwanis International to
eliminate neonatal and maternal tetanus and is a key part of
the campaign with Rotary International to end the global
scourge of polio. UNICEF and the Red Cross work together with
U.S. agencies to fight measles globally, and the U.S. Fund for
UNICEF supports the requests made by our partners GAVI,
Kiwanis, and Rotary.
The funding you provide for UNICEF enables us to be on the
ground when disaster strikes. For example, and most recently,
when Cyclone Pam devastated Vanuatu this month, UNICEF was
already there to respond with prepositioned supplies and to
help children in evacuation centers.
Last year, with U.S. support, UNICEF responded to 289
emergencies in 83 countries, including the major crises like
Ebola, Syria, and South Sudan. In Syria, UNICEF has provided
16.5 million people with safe drinking water and helped nearly
3 million children have access to learning materials so that
they can keep up with their education.
These are just a few examples of what UNICEF does. The
funding you provide to UNICEF's ongoing programs make this work
possible and supports the private sector partnerships like the
ones I've mentioned.
This subcommittee has long been a champion for the well-
being of the world's children and has worked to make children a
priority of our international assistance. Your support for
UNICEF has helped make UNICEF an indispensible partner of the
United States on initiatives to save and protect the most
vulnerable children around the world.
But we cannot rest on our past successes because 6.3
million children still die under 5 every year, and that means a
child dies every 5 seconds and mostly from causes that we can
prevent. Nearly half of those deaths are newborns under a month
old, and together, we can save those children.
Please strengthen the incredible lifesaving collaboration
between the United States Government and UNICEF by providing
$132 million for fiscal year 2016, and thank you for putting
children first.
Ms. Granger. Thank you very much. Thanks for being with us.
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Ms. Granger. We will now hear from Lucy Martinez Sullivan.
You are recognized for 4 minutes.
OPENING STATEMENT OF LUCY MARTINEZ SULLIVAN, EXECUTIVE
DIRECTOR, 1,000 DAYS
Ms. Sullivan. Chairwoman Granger, thank you for this
opportunity.
I am grateful to be here today to describe why the funding
that you provide through the nutrition subaccount of the global
health programs at USAID has such an enormous impact on the
future of millions of people's lives.
Through this account, you provide targeted funding to
improve nutrition during the critical 1,000-day window between
a woman's pregnancy and her child's second birthday. It is
during this short, but very powerful window of time when
nutrition provides the basic building blocks of a child's brain
and the blueprint for her lifelong health.
And it is when the damage done by malnutrition is the most
severe and, sadly, irreversible. Malnutrition robs children of
their potential. It stunts their growth, and it stunts their
brains. And this typically begins in pregnancy with a mother
who, herself, is malnourished.
Today, 170 million children are stunted as a result of
malnutrition, and these children go on to do less well in
school, and over their lifetimes, they are sicker and poorer
than their well-nourished peers. And if they are girls, they
are more likely to become mothers who then give birth to
malnourished children, and the intergenerational cycle of
malnutrition perpetuates itself.
Malnutrition is also a killer. Twenty percent of all
maternal deaths and almost half of all child deaths under the
age of 5 are attributable to malnutrition. Three million
children die every year because their bodies are drained of the
basic life-giving nutrients they need to survive and thrive,
and as a mother of two young children myself, I find this
statistic unbearable.
In addition to the devastating impact it has on human
lives, malnutrition is an economic disaster for countries. A
recent study found that countries lost as much as 16 percent of
their GDP to maternal and young child malnutrition.
Together with the funding that you provide to improve
agriculture, food security, WASH, MCH, and for humanitarian
assistance, the modest investments that the U.S. makes through
the USAID nutrition subaccount can go a long way toward
changing this picture.
For example, funding from this account goes towards
supporting new mothers to breastfeed their babies through the
first 6 months of their lives, a simple intervention that has
the power to save up to 800,000 babies from dying each year.
Investments in nutrition save lives, but they also provide
a lifetime of economic benefits. Studies show that children who
are well nourished during their early childhood go on to earn
46 percent more as adults, and every single dollar that is
invested in nutrition, countries can expect as much as $48 in
return in gains in economic productivity.
It is why leading economic experts, including Nobel Prize-
winning economists, have consistently stated that policymakers
should prioritize investments in nutrition. And with continued
bipartisan support, Congress has an opportunity to approach
development differently, with investments in nutrition now that
have a huge impact and huge payoffs in terms of ending
preventable maternal and child deaths and helping future
generations thrive.
I thank you for your leadership and your kind attention
today.
Ms. Granger. Thank you very much.
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Ms. Granger. We will now hear from Ms. Deborah Derrick. You
are recognized for 4 minutes.
OPENING STATEMENT OF DEBORAH DERRICK, PRESIDENT, FRIENDS OF THE
GLOBAL FIGHT
Ms. Derrick. Okay. Thank you.
I am totally honored to be here, and I have got to say a
bit daunted by all the wonderful causes and expositions that
have come before me.
First, I would like to thank you, Chairwoman Granger, and
your ranking member, Nita Lowey, and the other members of the
subcommittee for being such great bipartisan supporters of all
of these programs and of global health, and I am here to talk
about the Global Fund. We really appreciate your support and
help in the past and, again, the fact that you are doing it all
on a bipartisan basis. That is tremendous.
We would also like to acknowledge the administration's
support for these same programs and to acknowledge in
particular their $4 billion pledge over the past--for the 3-
year replenishment period and the fact that they have met that
with their budget request that they put forward to you today.
We do think that more can be done.
Because of the congressional and the U.S. Government
support of these programs in the Global Fund, 7.3 million
people have gotten ART; 2.7 million mothers have been given
drugs to prevent their babies from getting AIDS at birth; 430
million people have received insecticide-treated bed nets, and
they have been distributed to them; 12.3 million tuberculosis
cases have been found and treated. Again, the result of your
work here in the subcommittee and U.S. Government's largesse
writ large has literally saved millions of people around the
globe.
So I am here today to ask for $1.35 billion for the Global
Fund in fiscal year 2016. As you know, the Global Fund
leverages other donors' contributions from around the world on
a 2-to-1 basis. These contributions come from other
governments, from the private sector, from faith-based
organizations, and from high net worth individuals.
It means, in net, that the U.S. Government is not funding
these programs on their own. The Global Fund programs augment
and extend the reach of these great bilateral programs that the
U.S. Government has established, PEPFAR and the PMI, and we
work hand-in-glove with these programs. So providing robust
funding for all of them is quite important to us.
I see that my time is limited. I want to highlight two
things, which indicate how we are working in Geneva to make
sure that all of the U.S. and other donors' monies are being
spent well.
We have saved some $400 million in procurement from reforms
that have increased the impact of what we have done over the
past couple of years. We have also been working strenuously to
make sure that we get increased domestic financing. So, again,
it is not just the U.S. and other donor governments that are
contributing to this, but the implementing countries that are
putting their own funding into it.
Over the course of the last half year or so, the programs
that we have put forward in the concept notes that we have
developed have raised $3.4 billion in pledges from implementing
countries, which will then translate into additional resourcing
for these programs.
So, once again, I would like to ask for $1.35 billion for
the Global Fund in fiscal year 2016. I want to thank you deeply
for your support, for the State Department's support, for the
U.S. Government support for the Global Fund for PEPFAR, for
PMI, for programs that are saving lives around the world.
Ms. Granger. Thank you very much. Thanks for being with us.
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Ms. Granger. We will now hear from Ms. Natasha Bilimoria.
You are recognized for 4 minutes.
OPENING STATEMENT OF NATASHA F. BILIMORIA, DIRECTOR, GAVI, THE
VACCINE ALLIANCE
Ms. Bilimoria. Thank you, Chairwoman Granger and all the
members of the committee. I really appreciate the opportunity
to appear before you on behalf of GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance.
I want to thank the entire committee for the incredibly
strong, bipartisan support of GAVI throughout the years and for
approving $200 million for fiscal year 2015.
Your commitment to global health demonstrates the
incredibly strong U.S. leadership in saving children's lives
around the world, and with this support from the United States,
as well as other donors, GAVI and its partners have immunized
half a billion children since its inception in 2000, saving 7
million lives. And what that has really done is providing--
provided an entire generation a real chance at a healthy and
productive life.
For fiscal year 2016, I respectfully request the
committee's approval of the administration's request of $235
million for GAVI in the State, foreign operations
appropriations bill, and I also ask for your support for
funding for the maternal child health account at $850 million.
GAVI's mission is to save children's lives and protect
people's health by increasing access to immunization in poor
countries. As a true public-private partnership, GAVI brings
together donor and recipient governments, the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation, the private sector, including the vaccine
industry, and international organizations, including UNICEF, as
well as civil society, including FBOs, to reach goals that none
of these single organizations could achieve on its own.
And because of this, the alliance has been able to improve
access to new and underused vaccines for children in the
world's poorest countries, where 85 percent of the world's
unvaccinated children live.
GAVI's funding supports 14 vaccines, including those
against pneumococcal disease and rotavirus, which are the two
leading causes of death in children under 5. By just rolling
out the pneumococcal vaccine, more than half a million lives
will be saved in GAVI-supported countries by the end of this
year.
And since the 5-in-1 pentavalent vaccine was launched in
2001, all 73 GAVI-eligible countries, including the newly
formed South Sudan, have introduced it into its routine
immunization programs. These are just two examples of how
GAVI's support has helped to increase global immunization rates
to unprecedented levels.
The current Ebola outbreak underscores how important new
vaccines are in the fight against infectious disease, and
because of our innovative funding and partnership model, our
board in December of 2014 endorsed a plan to purchase a vaccine
for the three most effective countries once the World Health
Organization recommends a safe and effective vaccine for use.
GAVI's strong support for routine immunization, which is
really the core work we do, is meant to be catalytic, and
country ownership is very much an inherent part of our model.
All GAVI recipients, every single one, must contribute
financially by providing some amount of the cost of the
vaccines they use.
As their own financial capacities develop, they transition
into a 5-year process to graduate from our support and,
therefore, take on the cost of their own vaccine purchases.
These policies really demonstrate countries' strong support for
not only improving the health and welfare of their own
children, but also creating a sustainable national vaccine
program.
In January, GAVI mobilized $7.5 billion at its second
replenishment conference in Berlin, and that included a pledge
from the United States of $1 billion over 4 years, subject to
congressional approval, of course. This funding will support
GAVI in the next program period from 2016 to 2020, where we aim
to immunize an additional 300 million children, resulting in 5
million to 6 million lives saved.
We are working closely with USAID to ensure that these U.S.
investments to GAVI build upon the existing successes to make
benefits of vaccines in poor countries permanent for the next
generation. And with all of this expanded support, we are very
well positioned to save and improve more lives.
A contribution of $235 million from the United States for
fiscal year 2016 will ensure that lifesaving vaccine programs
are supported and expanded and, thereby, reaching more
children, especially those who are in the most vulnerable
places and hardest to reach.
In closing, I just want to thank this subcommittee and the
Congress and the U.S. Government for all of its bipartisan
support for GAVI, which is essential to meeting our collective
goal of reducing child mortality.
Thank you.
Ms. Granger. Thank you very much.
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Ms. Granger. We will now hear from Mr. Bedir Memmedli.
Thank you.
OPENING STATEMENT OF BEDIR MEMMEDLI, BOARD MEMBER, UNITED
STATES AZERIS NETWORK
Mr. Memmedli. Ms. Granger, I am very grateful for the
opportunity to submit a testimony on behalf of Azerbaijani-
American community, a grassroots organization, which wants and
promotes fair and needs-driven foreign assistance based on
three important criteria.
First, allied relationship of the receiving state with the
U.S. Second, the receiving nation must have a demonstrated and
certified necessity and need to be able to absorb the aid. And
third, the legality of the aid and compliance with the U.S. and
international laws.
We believe there is a great imbalance in the U.S.
assistance to Azerbaijan versus Armenia. Azerbaijan, which is a
victim of Armenian immigration and occupation, always gets much
less than the smaller, but very aggressive Armenia.
According to the Congressional Research Service, since
1992, Azerbaijan has received a total of $1 billion in U.S. aid
while Armenia received over $2.2 billion in aid. This is
despite the fact that Azerbaijan is more than twice the size
and population and has several times the size of refugees and
displaced people who were expelled from their homes as the
result of Armenia's ethnic cleansing, which explains why once
ethnically diverse Armenia is the only mono-ethnic country in
the former Soviet Union territory.
In addition, in light of the ongoing occupation of the
internationally recognized territories of Azerbaijan, which
runs against the fundamental principles of international law,
we believe the Congress should ensure that there is no direct
military aid to Armenia. The direct military assistance to
Armenia not only helps it maintain the occupation of
Azerbaijani territories, but also misuse the U.S. taxpayers'
money to boost Russian-led military allies, not collective
security treaty organization to which Armenia is a full-fledged
member.
In this context, it shouldn't come as a surprise that
Armenia is the only country in the South Caucasus that hosts
the Russian military base with lease up to 2044.
The other issue that Azerbaijan Americans have been very
vocal about over years is the U.S. humanitarian assistance to
the victims of Azerbaijan and Armenia conflict. Unfortunately,
the U.S. assistance has been solely directed to the Armenian-
occupied region of Azerbaijan, which is Nagorno-Karabakh.
In previous years, the issue has spurred much controversy
and resentment among Azerbaijani community of the occupied
territories, and Azerbaijanis all over the world, including
United States, since it unfairly favored one side over the
other. But for the last 2 years, the Congress established a
compromise solution by admitting a specific language under U.S.
humanitarian assistance to the victims of Armenia and
Azerbaijan conflict. This compromise is in line with the U.S.
neutrality as honest broker in the ongoing peace negotiations.
We believe that this compromise solution should be
maintained in fiscal year 2016 State, Foreign Operations, and
Related Programs bill, too. Unfortunately, despite this fact,
the U.S. administration continues to allocate aid directed to
the Armenian-occupied region of Azerbaijan, bypassing
Azerbaijan's central authorities.
U.S. doesn't give any direct aid to similar post Soviet
conflict zones, such as Crimea, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and
Transnistria, not to mention many other similar regions around
the world. Then why to provide any direct aid to occupied
Nagorno-Karabakh region?
Direct aid to the Armenia-occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region
of Azerbaijan obviously causes irritation and protest on the
part of both Azerbaijan and Azerbaijani Americans and spoils
the relations between allies significantly. It is our firm
belief that U.S. must stop providing assistance to the occupied
territories of Azerbaijan and be consistent and credible in its
policy of upholding the principles of territorial integrity.
In addition, the U.S. direct assistance to the occupied
Nagorno-Karabakh region helps Armenia consolidate its
occupation of 16 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally
recognized territories, which serve as a black hole for drug
trade, arms smuggling, proliferation of radioactive and nuclear
materials, and other illicit activities.
In addition, 82 miles of Azerbaijan-Iranian border, which
fall in the occupied territories, are used by Armenia for
various illegal transfers. It is not secret that Armenia enjoys
very strong ties with the Iranian regime.
In late 2008, the government of Armenia illegally supplied
Iran with rockets and machine guns that ended up in the hands
of insurgents and later were used to kill U.S. soldiers in
Iraq. For example, in 2010, Washington Times published an
article that confirmed this deal, and it also listed the names
of U.S. soldiers that became victims of Armenia's irresponsible
act.
These factors necessitate ending the U.S. assistance to the
occupied territories of Azerbaijan, too. And also it is a well-
known fact that Armenia has been supportive of Russia's
annexation of Crimea and voted against Ukraine's territorial
integrity in the U.N. General Assembly, along with a handful of
countries last year.
Also, in March 2014, Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan
called Russian president Vladimir Putin to personally and
officially endorse Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea.
According to Consolidated Appropriation Act of 2015----
Ms. Granger. You are a minute and a half over.
Mr. Memmedli. Thank you for your time. I would be delighted
to hear any questions.
Ms. Granger. Thank you for being here.
Mr. Memmedli. Thanks.
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Ms. Granger. Appreciate it very much.
Thank you all for being here. Thank you again for staying
here when we had to be interrupted by votes.
I always remember, and Mrs. Lowey feels exactly the same
way, the subcommittee saves lives and improves the quality of
life for people all over the world. We never forget that, and
our decisions are based upon that.
Thank you so much.
I thank the witnesses for appearing before this
subcommittee today. The Subcommittee on State, Foreign
Operations, and Related Programs stands adjourned.
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