[House Hearing, 116 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS, AND RELATED PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS FOR
2020
_______________________________________________________________________
HEARINGS
BEFORE A
SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE
COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
SUBCOMMITTEE ON STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS,
AND RELATED PROGRAMS
NITA M. LOWEY, New York, Chairwoman
BARBARA LEE, California HAROLD ROGERS, Kentucky
GRACE MENG, New York JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska
DAVID E. PRICE, North Carolina MARTHA ROBY, Alabama
LOIS FRANKEL, Florida
NORMA J. TORRES, California
NOTE: Under committee rules, Mrs. Lowey, as chairwoman of the full
committee, and Ms. Granger, as ranking minority member of the full
committee, are authorized to sit as members of all subcommittees.
Steve Marchese, Craig Higgins, Erin Kolodjeski, Dean Koulouris,
Jean Kwon, Marin Stein, Jason Wheelock, and Clelia Alvarado
Subcommittee Staff
__________
PART 4
TESTIMONY OF MEMBERS OF CONGRESS AND OTHER
INTERESTED INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations
STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS, AND RELATED PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS FOR
2020
_______________________________________________________________________
HEARINGS
BEFORE A
SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE
COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
SUBCOMMITTEE ON STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS,
AND RELATED PROGRAMS
NITA M. LOWEY, New York, Chairwoman
BARBARA LEE, California
GRACE MENG, New York HAROLD ROGERS, Kentucky
DAVID E. PRICE, North Carolina JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska
LOIS FRANKEL, Florida MARTHA ROBY, Alabama
NORMA J. TORRES, California
NOTE: Under committee rules, Mrs. Lowey, as chairwoman of the full
committee, and Ms. Granger, as ranking minority member of the full
committee, are authorized to sit as members of all subcommittees.
Steve Marchese, Craig Higgins, Erin Kolodjeski, Dean Koulouris,
Jean Kwon, Marin Stein, Jason Wheelock, and Clelia Alvarado
Subcommittee Staff
__________
PART 4
TESTIMONY OF MEMBERS OF CONGRESS AND OTHER
INTERESTED INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
39-683
WASHINGTON: 2020
COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
----------
NITA M. LOWEY, New York, Chairwoman
MARCY KAPTUR, Ohio KAY GRANGER, Texas
PETER J. VISCLOSKY, Indiana HAROLD ROGERS, Kentucky
JOSE E. SERRANO, New York ROBERT B. ADERHOLT, Alabama
ROSA L. DeLAURO, Connecticut MICHAEL K. SIMPSON, Idaho
DAVID E. PRICE, North Carolina JOHN R. CARTER, Texas
LUCILLE ROYBAL-ALLARD, California KEN CALVERT, California
SANFORD D. BISHOP, Jr., Georgia TOM COLE, Oklahoma
BARBARA LEE, California MARIO DIAZ-BALART, Florida
BETTY McCOLLUM, Minnesota TOM GRAVES, Georgia
TIM RYAN, Ohio STEVE WOMACK, Arkansas
C. A. DUTCH RUPPERSBERGER, Maryland JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska
DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Florida CHUCK FLEISCHMANN, Tennessee
HENRY CUELLAR, Texas JAIME HERRERA BEUTLER, Washington
CHELLIE PINGREE, Maine DAVID P. JOYCE, Ohio
MIKE QUIGLEY, Illinois ANDY HARRIS, Maryland
DEREK KILMER, Washington MARTHA ROBY, Alabama
MATT CARTWRIGHT, Pennsylvania MARK E. AMODEI, Nevada
GRACE MENG, New York CHRIS STEWART, Utah
MARK POCAN, Wisconsin STEVEN M. PALAZZO, Mississippi
KATHERINE M. CLARK, Massachusetts DAN NEWHOUSE, Washington
PETE AGUILAR, California JOHN R. MOOLENAAR, Michigan
LOIS FRANKEL, Florida JOHN H. RUTHERFORD, Florida
CHERI BUSTOS, Illinois WILL HURD, Texas
BONNIE WATSON COLEMAN, New Jersey
BRENDA L. LAWRENCE, Michigan
NORMA J. TORRES, California
CHARLIE CRIST, Florida
ANN KIRKPATRICK, Arizona
ED CASE, Hawaii
Shalanda Young, Clerk and Staff Director
(ii)
STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS, AND RELATED PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS FOR 2020
----------
Wednesday, March 6, 2019.
MEMBERS' DAY
Opening Statement of Chairwoman Lowey
The Chairwoman. Good morning. The Subcommittee on State,
Foreign Operations and Related Programs will come to order. I
welcome our distinguished colleagues. It is a pleasure to have
you join us for our second hearing of the year.
Even though we are still waiting for the president's Fiscal
Year 2020 request, we have already started our appropriations
season, and your voices are integral to the process. The
democracy, development, diplomacy, humanitarian, and security
assistance programs funded in this bill are critical to
maintaining U.S. global leadership, protecting our national
security and promoting economic growth.
Yet, since coming to office, the president has proposed
cutting these programs by more than 30 percent each year.
Fortunately, Congress responded with a resounding and
bipartisan rejection of the administration's proposals. It is
my expectation that we will see a similarly damaging request
again this year.
That is why I appreciate each of you making time to testify
and draw attention to these critical programs, the very
programs that protect our national security and uphold our
foreign policy priorities.
I thank you again for coming, and I look forward to hearing
from my distinguished colleagues about your priorities in the
State and Foreign Operations bill. At this point, I would like
to turn to my Ranking Member Mr. Rogers for any comments he may
have.
Mr. Rogers. Thank you Madam Chairwoman. Is it chairwoman or
chairman?
The Chairwoman. Chair.
Mr. Rogers. Chair.
The Chairwoman. You can call me whatever you want.
Opening Statement of Mr. Rogers
Mr. Rogers. Thank you for those opening remarks. We are
glad to have several Members and colleagues with us today to
tell us their priorities.
This hearing comes at a very important time, ahead of what
we expect will be another significant cut to the international
affairs budget by the President despite being rejected for 2
straight years.
There are a lot of important programs in this bill that
together make up the soft power of U.S. national security. I am
pleased we get to hear about several of them today from
colleagues like yourself and others. We look forward to your
testimony and I yield back.
The Chairwoman. Representative Espaillat of the 13th
District of New York, a member of the Foreign Affairs
Committee, I want to thank you for joining us today. We are
happy to place your full testimony into the record. Please
proceed as you choose.
----------
Wednesday, March 6, 2019.
WITNESS
HON. ADRIANO ESPAILLAT, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF
NEW YORK
Opening Statement of Mr. Espaillat
Mr. Espaillat. Thank you, Madam Chair and Ranking Member
Rogers for allowing me to testify during today's hearing to lay
out what I feel are my priorities as they relate to the State
Department and related agencies.
As you know, I am the first Dominican-American elected to
serve in the U.S. Congress, and I am also a member obviously of
the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Western Hemisphere
Subcommittee. I know that maintaining our foreign aid and
diplomatic commitments builds a strong hand for the U.S. in the
Caribbean and all over the world, and the Caribbean, as you may
know, is our third border and it has its own very challenging
goals, objectives, challenges that we should help them with.
This is not only in the interest of helping our brothers
and sisters in Central and South America and the Caribbean but
is also in our best interest to protect our security and
improve our economic relations with these countries.
I would like to begin by talking to you about Venezuela,
which as you know has been in the news lately. It is imperative
that the U.S. support the right of the Venezuelan people to
freely and fairly elect their leaders, and that we support work
to end the humanitarian suffering in the country.
Rampant inflation, lack of access to food and medicine, and
the collapse of the social services there have led to abhorrent
conditions in this particular country, causing more than 3
million Venezuelans from leaving the country to neighboring
countries and countries around the world. While it is of vital
interest for the U.S. to provide necessary support to the
Venezuelan people, we must not fall into the failed practices
of the past of overstepping our grounds, our bounds in the
region. The U.S. cannot again be a foreign power meddling in
the affairs of another country. We cannot continue to think
that we are the policemen of the world.
To this end, I urge the committee to continue funding
programs that are a vital support to the Venezuelan people.
However, I urge the committee to include report language that
funding be of a humanitarian nature and explicitly not intended
for the use of military or state police efforts.
I would also like to discuss our efforts to combat crime
and illicit trafficking in the Caribbean. But before I do that,
let me just say that I am in support of the Venezuelan people
and their efforts to have transparent, democratic elections and
their ability to have the sovereignty to elect their own
leaders. And I find that I am in support of their plight given
the horrific conditions that they find themselves in that have
been pushed by the Maduro regime.
I would also like to assess and I would also like to talk
about crime and illicit trafficking in the Caribbean. As I said
earlier, Madam Chair, the Caribbean is the third border of our
nation The Caribbean is particularly susceptible to drug trade
as a midway point for narcotics produced in South America on
their way to the U.S. The Caribbean Basin Security Initiative
(CBSI) has been instrumental in providing the funding needed to
combat crime and violence.
Because of our efforts in Central America, and I may dare
to say that many of our efforts have been successful in
combating crime in that area and we have seen even a reduction
of crime in that area, the drug trade seems to be shifting more
and more towards the Caribbean. And for that reason I am
speaking about this particular problem as the drugs begin to
shift in the Caribbean and get to U.S. shores.
Per the Congressional Research Service, CRS, crime and
violence are on the rise in the Caribbean. CRS reports that
homicide rates in the Caribbean countries have increased in
recent years because of gangs and organized crime, competition
between drug trafficking organizations, and the availability of
firearms. A recent report from the Government Accountability
Office indicates program-by-program successes within the CBSI,
but also a need for improved data collection.
In accordance with this report, I plan to introduce
legislation to both develop better data reporting mechanisms
and to authorize increased funds to expand this crucial
initiative. We know how last year the president proposed
dramatic cuts in this particular area.
Well, I am asking for this funding for the Caribbean Basin
Security Initiative to be doubled this year, and I will be
submitting legislation so that we can accomplish that. I urge
this committee again to double the funding for the Caribbean
Basin Security Initiative for Fiscal year 2019, and I will
continue to work with you, Madam Chair, to ensure that we do
the best work that we can to ensure that the third border of
our country, the United States of America, is protected and
that we reap the benefits of our efforts.
I thank you for hearing my concerns and priorities, and I
have submitted additional testimony in writing to the
committee, which I hope you would also take into consideration.
Thank you so much.
[The information follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
The Chairwoman. I thank you for appearing before us and
certainly emphasizing a very, very key priority. They are our
neighbors, and our response is so important.
Mr. Rogers, do you have any questions?
Mr. Rogers. Thank you, Chair. Venezuela, you urge that we
include funding of a humanitarian nature.
Mr. Espaillat. Yes.
Mr. Rogers. You know, we have that type of aid stacked at
the border, and they won't let it in. How do you propose that
we overcome this obstacle? Because if we provide more funding
and more humanitarian aid, and it can't get in, why do it?
Mr. Espaillat. I recognize that that is tragic and that a
lot of the funding that is going to help the Venezuelan people
is being stopped at some of their border points.
My proposal is that we work with the international
community and organizations such as the United Nations and the
Organization of American States, the OAS, as well as with not-
for-profits and organizations that have had a long tradition of
providing humanitarian aid across the world to ensure that the
partisan, political sort of like aspect of this is pushed
aside, and we get the help to the Venezuelan people as quickly
as possible.
I think the goal--I am sure you agree with me--is to ensure
that people of Venezuela get that humanitarian aid as quickly
as possible. And so by working with other international
organization bodies and other governments that may themselves
be getting that humanitarian aid in, I think that we can
accomplish that goal.
Mr. Rogers. Central America and South America are in
turmoil. I don't recollect the time when we have seen more bad
things going on all the way from Venezuela, even the drug
increase from Colombia.
Mr. Espaillat. Yes.
Mr. Rogers. Then the Central American Northern Triangle, El
Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, furnishing tons of refugees as
well as drugs, criminals, and the like. What are we doing wrong
in Central and South America?
Mr. Espaillat. I think that we have turned our heads and
our backs on that region for far too long, and they are really
our backyard, and we should have an ongoing positive working
relationship.
We have abdicated our leadership role in that region and
created a vacuum of leadership, and for that reason we have
seen now recently how countries even like China have stepped in
to plug that leadership gap that we have left unattended for
far too long. I think that we need to go back into the region
and play a leadership role.
But you cannot do that empty-handed. You have to be able to
come to the table with resources, and saying that we need to be
a leader in the region and then saying we are going to cut the
budget by half is not the way to go.
We must establish our leadership again, but we must do it
by assisting those nations to address some of the fundamental
reasons why there is a large exodus of families for the most
part. I have been down at the border and seen firsthand, at
least at the detention centers where I went, that at least 80
percent of the people there crossing the border were women with
small children.
And so we have to find out why it is that women are fleeing
these nations. Is it gang violence? Is it gangs that are trying
to recruit their young sons? Is it natural disasters as has
happened in some countries? Is it abject poverty and famine?
And then we have to address the root causes of these problems
so that we can nip or impact positively the migration patterns
of the region.
But we cannot do that by coming empty-handed. We need to,
again, reassert ourselves as the leader of the Americas and do
so by assisting governments to provide good services and
programs that will reduce the migration.
Mr. Rogers. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Mr. Espaillat. Thank you so much, ranking member.
The Chairwoman. Thank you. I just want to say we have
provided almost $3.5 billion over four years for Honduras, El
Salvador--and Guatemala.
Mr. Espaillat. That is correct.
The Chairwoman. And it seems to me, having worked with Vice
President Biden a few years ago on a program in the same area,
we really have to focus hard and just understand where the
money is going, why it isn't used more effectively.
Mr. Espaillat. That is correct.
The Chairwoman. The whole strategy of keeping people home,
this Biden program?
Mr. Rogers. It is the Northern Triangle Program.
The Chairwoman. The Northern----
Mr. Espaillat. The Northern Triangle.
The Chairwoman. Triangle Program, I remember a group of us
worked closely with him on it. And we just can't give up.
Mr. Espaillat. I agree, Madam Chair.
The Chairwoman. We need to keep working on it.
Mr. Espaillat. I agree. And just keep in mind that as we
begin to pay more attention to the border and Central and South
America, drug dealers will shift their strategy to other
borders, and I testified today that we predict that that will
be the Caribbean, which has some inherent weaknesses in the
region that would allow for drug dealers to transport their
drugs and then send them to the United States.
And, of course, we have seen dramatic repercussions in
those countries: high homicide rates now and violence in urban
settings in the cities of those countries. And we must shift
our attentions to that part of the region, and that is why I am
proposing a doubling of the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative
program.
The Chairwoman. I want to thank you, and I look forward to
your continued wisdom and advice, We can't afford to fail. And
I thank you very much for bringing this once more front and
center to our attention, thank you.
Mr. Espaillat. Thank you, Madam Chair, and I just hope to
be just like you one day when I grow up.
The Chairwoman. Oh, my goodness.
Mr. Espaillat. Thank you.
The Chairwoman. Thank you. I hope I can continue be as wise
as you are with as much knowledge.
Mr. Espaillat. Thank you.
The Chairwoman. Thank you. Mr. Engel.
Mr. Engel. Mrs. Lowey, you have been holding out on me. I
didn't know you had such wonderful digs here.
The Chairwoman. Oh my goodness.
Mr. Engel. I feel very jealous.
The Chairwoman. Oh no, no. Well actually, these digs go
back and forth. My good friend, Mr. Rogers, had it, and we have
been hanging out here for a while.
Mr. Engel. This view is just magnificent.
The Chairwoman. It is. Come more often.
Mr. Engel. Yes, I will. I got to hide from the press you
know.
The Chairwoman. Let me just say I am delighted to welcome
Representative Engel of the 16th District of New York; our
districts keep changing. He is a dear friend, he is a neighbor,
and he is the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee. And we
really thank you for testifying before this subcommittee and,
of course, proceed as you will. We are happy to include your
whole testimony into the record.
Mr. Engel. Thank you----
The Chairwoman. Thank you, Mr. Engel.
----------
Wednesday, March 6, 2019.
WITNESS
HON. ELIOT ENGEL, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW
YORK
Opening Statement of Mr. Engel
Mr. Engel. Thank you very much Madam Chair and Ranking
Member Rogers, members of the subcommittee and I am very happy
to thank members of the subcommittee.
I am glad to be back in front of this distinguished panel
to reiterate a key point which is one of the most important
things we can do to advance America's security, interests, and
values around the world, is to provide robust funding for our
international affairs budget.
This is an area which Congress can and should assert its
role as a coequal branch of government and regrettably, there
is a lot about the Trump administration's foreign policy that
Congress cannot do a lot about, it is painful. We just came
back from Munich and also Brussels to talk to our allies, and I
can't begin to tell you how confused our allies are.
They are used to America leading and they are not used to
America denigrating our alliances which have been the core of
our policy certainly since World War II. And we pointed out to
our friends that there were probably about 50 members of
Congress in Munich, and that is a large percent of the
Congress, and that we all feel strongly about the fact that we
need to stay in our alliances, lead in our alliances, and do
the kinds of things that people expect America to do.
So it is frankly very painful when the president denigrates
our allies and cozies up to dictators. We should not walk away
from international obligations and abandon the values that
should be the core of our policy. I believe it weakens us, it
has isolated us, and it has made Americans less safe.
So in my view, one of the most problematic aspects of the
president's foreign policy is the way it has shelved American
diplomacy. Senior State Department officials have been chased
to the exits, morale in the State Department, I can tell you,
has plummeted, and expertise has gone ignored.
And with the first two budget requests, the administration
showed us that they still don't get it. They won't understand
the value of diplomacy and development. They don't understand
that America needs these foreign policy tools to diffuse crises
and stop wars before they start, that by prioritizing these
efforts, we avoid sending our men and women in uniform into
harm's way somewhere down the line.
What was particularly galling to me was the first proposal
came out of the administration when the administration was new,
cutting the State Department 31 percent, at the same time
putting increases in defense. I don't oppose certain increases
in defense but not at the expense of diplomacy. And why would
we want to have a 31 percent cut if the State Department
diplomacy helps keep us out of wars? And it has just been that
kind of attitude.
Thankfully, we beat back the 31 percent, Democrats and
Republicans came together to beat it back, and we had most of
the money restored, and then the following year when the
administration had to propose a new budget, they went right
back to the old 31 percent decrease, which to me is a slap in
the face to Congress and what we are supposed to do.
And so I keep hearing that the morale is terrible, that the
expert people that have been around for so many years are
leaving in droves, that the people feel they are being targeted
because of ethnic or political pressures. And it is just a very
bad thing when you have so many ambassadors not even in place,
when you have so many people in high positions not even in
place, and when you have people perceive that they are being
targeted for the way they look or for their political
persuasion. That is not the way it should happen.
So one of the things we can do together as Republicans and
Democrats in Congress is to turn back attempts by the
administration to hollow out American diplomacy and
development. And as I mentioned, we have done so twice before
in a bipartisan manner, excuse me. And I imagine the
administration's budget that will come to us next week will
call for similar Draconian cuts we saw in the previous 2 years
that I mentioned.
Excuse me. My request to this committee is that we carry on
this strong bipartisan tradition of making sure our foreign
affairs agencies and personnel have the support and investments
they need to carry out their critical work. Our constitutional
power of the purse is a critical way we can effectively reverse
the unwise course the administration seeks for American
diplomacy.
My commitment as chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee
is I will work with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to
bolster the State Department and USAID and will use our
oversight authority to make sure Congress' will is being
followed.
Last year, President Trump started to pull back huge sums
of State Department and USAID's funding and to redirect funding
from the State Department to the Department of Homeland
Security. That is a slap in the face to the constitutional
authority of this committee and this Congress and we should not
stand for it.
I wanted to make sure the investments this committee makes
in our foreign policy are being put to use to make our country
stronger and safer, and I want to make sure we take whatever
legislative steps necessary to make our State Department, USAID
and other foreign affairs agencies modern, efficient, and
effective.
That is why one of my top priorities is to pass the State
Department Authorization Act. The last time Congress sent such
a bill to the president's desk was way back in 2002. We owe
more to the men and women working on the frontlines of
diplomacy and development. We need to have their backs,
especially when the administration lets them down.
So I look forward to working hand-in-hand with my
Appropriations Committee colleagues to promote American
leadership around the world with a strong, well-resourced,
bipartisan foreign policy. Thank you and I yield back.
[The information follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
The Chairwoman. Thank you very much to my good friend and
classmate. I find it encouraging frankly that 50 people went to
the Munich Security Conference.
In fact, I think it was maybe 5 years ago, the great
Senator John McCain asked me to go with him, and there were
five of us that went to the conference. I know how important it
is and effective, and I am sure your voice and your ideas were
well received. So I thank you for your leadership, and all the
good work you are doing.
Mr. Engel. Thank you. I want to just say that we pointed
out that 50, which is one-tenth of the Congress, was over in
Munich.
The Chairwoman. Were they all actively involved?
Mr. Engel. Yes.
The Chairwoman. With speaking roles, et cetera?
Mr. Engel. Well, even just in questioning roles. I mean, a
lot of it wasn't speaking, but there were panels that people
listened to that were very well attended, and it was very, very
good.
The Chairwoman. I found it to be----
Mr. Engel. It was the largest showing ever.
The Chairwoman. Yes. I found it to be extraordinary. So
from 5 of us to 50 is impressive, that number one, there is all
this strong interest in foreign affairs. So I thank you for
representing us. Mr. Rogers.
Mr. Rogers. Mr. Chairman, thank you for coming by with your
newfound gavel. Congratulations, by the way.
Mr. Engel. Thank you.
Mr. Rogers. Congress has the responsibility to pass an
authorization bill. As you say in your testimony, we have not
had such an animal since 2002. And much of the work has been
done by this subcommittee because of that fact. We don't want
to do that. We want the Authorization Committee to address the
difficulties that you have outlined in your remarks.
And we will play second fiddle. But we are tired of playing
lead fiddle. We are not equipped for it. We don't have the
staff nor the coverage. So please, take these issues up and
pass out of your committee an authorization bill. And we will
be the first ones to vote for it.
Mr. Engel. I thank you. I couldn't agree with you more. It
has been a source of frustration for me ever since I got to
Congress as the chairwoman has pointed out. She and I came to
Congress together, so we have been here a long time.
And it has been a long time that we haven't done this. And
there is no reason for it. There is no responsible reason for
it. So, I thank you and look forward to working with you and
the Chairwoman.
Mr. Rogers. Thank you. Talley ho.
Mr. Engel. Thank you.
The Chairwoman. And with your excellent leadership, I am
cautiously optimistic you will pass an authorization act this
year. So thank you very much. I really look forward to
continuing our work together. I know we have so many of the
same priorities, and you have been an outstanding chair. For me
it is a pleasure being your partner.
Mr. Engel. Well, it is. And I think we have always, in the
30 years had districts that were abutting and joining each
other, and I think that you have probably represented at least
half the people in my district, and I probably represented at
least half the people in your district from time to time.
The Chairwoman. Right.
Mr. Engel. So it has----
The Chairwoman. Right.
Mr. Engel. It has certainly been a pleasure working with
you and the outstanding job you are doing as chair and ranking
member who was chair for so many years as well. To watch this
is the way we wish Congress would work all the time. So I thank
you both.
The Chairwoman. Thank you very much. We look forward to
continuing to share our information and working together.
Mr. Engel. Thank you, Madam Chair.
The Chairwoman. Thank you. And now I am delighted to
welcome Representative McGovern of the second district of
Massachusetts, the chairman of the Rules Committee. It is great
to see you. I am happy----
Mr. McGovern. It is great to be here, and it is great to
hear Eliot say we are going to pass a State Department
authorization bill. That is going to be so much fun in rules. I
will hold my breath. Yes. [Laughter]
Mr. Engel. I am here to have fun. [Laughter]
The Chairwoman. We are very pleased that you are chair of
the committee who sets the rules, and for me it has been a
pleasure knowing you, working with you ever since your kids
were----
Mr. McGovern. Yes.
The Chairwoman [continuing]. It is quite amazing. We have
been here a few years so thank you for appearing before us. We
are happy to place your testimony in the record. Proceed as you
will.
----------
Wednesday, March 6, 2019.
WITNESS
HON. JAMES MCGOVERN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF
MASSACHUSETTS
Opening Statement of Mr. McGovern
Mr. McGovern. Well, thank you, Chairwoman Lowey and Ranking
Member Rogers. Thank you for welcoming me here, and thank you
for all the incredible work that you do on the Appropriations
Committee. You have my great admiration.
And let me also begin by thanking you for the Fiscal Year
2019 increase for the Nutrition sub-account within the Global
Health Programs account. The $20 million increase to $145
million after four years of flat funding is very welcome.
This increased funding in nutrition enables USAID to target
nutrition interventions during pregnancy in the early critical
stages of childhood where better nutrition has the greatest
impact on the child's development and brain growth.
For Fiscal Year 2020, I respectfully ask the committee to
increase funding again for the nutrition sub-account to $195
million, including an additional $20 million for interventions
to address maternal and pediatric anemia and $30 million to
expand breastfeeding initiatives.
I have worked a lot on hunger, food, security and nutrition
issues domestically and internationally. And with regard to our
international programs, I think that they are not only the
right thing to do morally, but they enhance our security.
People are grateful for our support in these areas.
And I want to now turn to Colombia if I can. There is a
great deal of talk about drugs and the crisis in Venezuela. But
I ask the committee to please maintain its focus on Colombia
proper, especially support for fully implementing the peace
accords that ended 60 years of armed conflict.
The accords hold great promise for economic growth,
stability, and social progress, but currently they are in
danger of being undermined or abandoned. And this would be bad
for Colombia. And this would be bad for U.S. national security.
So I respectfully ask the committee to maintain or increase
funding for Colombia. Emphasis should remain on implementation
of the peace accords, Afro-Colombian, indigenous and rural
community-based development, and aid that promotes human
rights, good governance, strong and independent judicial
institutions and breaking the culture of impunity that protects
state, military, and criminal actors from investigation and
prosecution.
In particular, the three mechanisms created by the peace
accords that focused the right of victims require greater
funding and support, namely the Truth Commission, the search
for the disappeared, and the Special Jurisdiction for Peace.
Madam Chair, I am deeply concerned about the fate of the
peace accords and human rights in Colombia. Right now the
Colombian Congress is debating President Duque's four-year
national development plan.
As written, the NDP is likely to undo many agreements
reached on rural and agrarian development in the accords. If
approved, it might well doom Colombia to ever-escalating
violence in rural areas where the conflict has always been the
most intense, sustained, and brutal, ensuring that these
regions remain ungoverned spaces at the mercy of violent
criminal actors.
The NDP also includes provisions to unravel progress made
in labor rights, creating substandard wages and benefits for
workers, especially in the agricultural sector. So these
standards, by the way, are even lower than those in place when
the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement was signed, which I
might add, is a violation of the terms of the FTA itself, not
to mention Colombia's obligations under the labor action plan.
So, I think it is important that the committee signal
emphatically that such actions place in legal jeopardy all
forms of U.S. aid and trade. It is also critical that the
committee act on the continuing escalation of murders and
assaults against human rights defenders and local social
leaders.
As you know, I also co-chair the Tom Lantos Human Rights
Commission in Colombia, and currently Colombia is the deadliest
place in the world for rights defenders. At least one social
leader has been murdered every 2 days on average since the
peace agreement was signed at the end of 2016.
Over 60 social leaders have been assassinated since
President Duque assumed office. I know President Duque was up
here and met with a lot of members of Congress. I attended one
of those meetings. He talks the talk, but we need to make sure
he walks the walk.
And while his government points to action plans and high-
level strategy meetings on the crisis, it has been very, very,
very slow to act. And clearly, whatever plans they have
devised, they are not working.
So there is an urgent need for protection and to identify
and hold to account those who carry out and benefit from these
acts of violence. The committee must ensure that there are
consequences for such a stunning lack of urgency on the part of
the Colombian state to protect and defend human rights and
social leaders.
And so I urge the committee to take a hardline with the
State Department on what determines effective steps to reduce
attacks against human rights defenders and the conditions tied
to 20 percent of the MF funds for Colombia.
And while I would have liked to talk about several issues
related to Central America, I will instead submit them as
expanded testimony for the record. And let me just say that it
is important to recognize that each country is unique with its
own set of challenges, many of which contribute to high levels
of violence, deprivation, and lack of hope and the future that
drive thousands to flee their homes and seek security
elsewhere, including here in the United States.
And no wall and no barrier and no new restrictions in our
asylum laws will prevent families from fleeing until the root
causes in each country are addressed, including corruption and
impunity.
And this requires long-term commitment and investments on
our part, so please let me thank you once again for giving this
opportunity to talk about these priorities. And I certainly
welcome any questions that you might have.
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The Chairwoman. I just want to thank you for your
thoughtful testimony. For those of us who have been to Colombia
several times and worked with the several leaderships that have
been there, this is the most difficult time to deal with
because certainly we all thought there was progress. We were
moving in place.
You recount to us the tremendous challenges that remain,
and I personally would like to work more closely with you to
see what we can do. Every time you think you have made
progress, we hit a period like this where the crime is
extraordinary.
Mr. McGovern. You know and I appreciate that. Colombia can
be a model for the rest of the world on how you end violent
conflicts.
The Chairwoman. And we thought it was right after that.
Mr. McGovern. Yes. Right. And that is why we need to make
sure these peace accords are implemented. And I understand all
the attention on Venezuela, but we can't let that take away
from the fact that there are things in Colombia that are
failing right now.
I want Colombia to succeed. And I think we need to put
pressure on this new government in the area of making sure that
they adhere to the peace accords.
The Chairwoman. Thank you very much, and I look forward to
working with you.
Mr. Rogers.
Mr. Rogers. Thank you, Jim, for being here today and giving
important testimony. I want Colombia to do what they have said
they want to do for years. Through one leader after another, we
hear the same promises and the same predictions, all to no
avail. Part of the problem now is the overflow of refugees from
Venezuela.
Mr. McGovern. Right.
Mr. Rogers. Along with others. But the enduring problem for
us, from our interest as a country, is the drug production,
which has been forever the treasure trove of coca and the
addiction of some 47,500 people who have overdosed.
It is a horrendous problem that gets scant attention. And
it has its basis in Colombia. And we provided funds,
leadership, training, personnel, you name it. And I have been
there as well and been in the fields and cut some stuff down
myself.
My district and my state have been ground zero for overdose
exposure. And so I have a personal interest in seeing that we
try to get a stop on that problem. The peace accords, of
course, dealt with whether or not you can aerial spray the coca
production, which I think has been the only way you can handle
it. The crop is so huge.
They are relying upon an individual cutting off the bush.
This new president comes out promising again. And he will be up
here soon. And we will have him before this subcommittee and we
will hear the same promises we have had for a long time.
Mr. McGovern. I think when he comes up here, we can't be a
cheap date. We need to make sure that he keeps his promises.
But let me just say this, this is why implementing the peace
accords are so important, because part of the peace accords
deal with helping develop some of the rural areas where a lot
of the coca is grown.
Crop substitution is one of the promises as well. Trying to
help people, who are poor farmers, who have been growing this
illicit crop, who get nothing, really, for doing so, but it is
the only way they can make a living, help them transition into
legal crops.
When I was last there, I went out to some of these rural
areas, and people were telling me that nobody from the
government is coming out to provide alternatives. And that
there were new actors coming into some of these rural
ungoverned areas, and once again, getting involved in these
illicit crops.
I personally don't believe in aerial fumigation for a whole
bunch of reasons. I think environmentally it is bad. I think
from a health perspective it is bad. And I think the most
effective way to do it. quite frankly. is to implement the
peace accords and transition people out into growing legal
crops and having the government have a presence in places where
they haven't had a presence, and enforcing the law and
arresting people who are doing these things. Because otherwise,
it's the same ol' same ol'.
I have a lot of constituents too who have been victims of
this--of all these drugs coming into our country. But I am
convinced that the way forward is implementing these peace
accords. And that is why when President Duque was here, I was a
little, well, more than a little bit concerned that he didn't
seem as committed to the implementation of these accords.
And he said things that I think the Administration wanted
to hear in Venezuela, but putting Venezuela aside, he needs to
do his job in Colombia. And I think a strong message from this
committee that we are watching and that we are not happy with
any attempts to withdraw from the implementation of the peace
accords, I think, would be very, very welcome.
Mr. Rogers. I think we had such a warning in the bill that
we just passed where we--among other things, where we say to
Colombia, no longer are we going to provide funds based upon
your promise of reduction of coca production.
Mr. McGovern. Right.
Mr. Rogers. From here on out, you actually have to show us
facts and figures showing fewer tonnage than before or else you
don't get the money.
Mr. McGovern. So, again, I think implementation of the
peace accords would be helpful. And the other thing, as I
said--I co-chair the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, the
level of attacks and murders of rights defenders is
astonishingly high.
It is getting worse. It is at a crisis level. And when
social leaders are murdered or human rights defenders are
murdered, there is a consequence that is chilling and moves the
country backwards.
If Colombia wants to develop, they can't be known as one of
the most violent places in the world. And from the rights
perspective, this is one of the worst countries in the world.
And so, anyway, I appreciate you listening.
Mr. Rogers. Thank you.
The Chairwoman. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Mr. Yoho. My goodness, in the hot seat.
The Chairwoman. Well----
Mr. Yoho. How are you doing? Good to see you again.
The Chairwoman. A pleasure to see you.
Mr. Rogers. Hello, Ted.
Mr. Yoho. Mr. Ranking Member. Good to see you.
The Chairwoman. It is a pleasure, sir, to welcome
Representative Yoho of the Third District of Florida.
Mr. Yoho. Thank you.
The Chairwoman. A member of the House Foreign Affairs
Committee. It is good to see you again. And we would be happy
to place your full testimony in the record. Please proceed as
you will. Thank you.
----------
Wednesday, March 6, 2019.
WITNESS
HON. TED YOHO, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF FLORIDA
Opening Statement of Mr. Yoho
Mr. Yoho. Madam Chairwoman, thank you for the opportunity
to be here again. It was 2 years ago when I was here before,
and I appreciate it.
Chairwoman Lowey, Ranking Member Rogers, members of the
committee, thank you for convening this hearing to discuss the
critical resources needed to protect our nation, advance our
values, and uphold America's leadership role in the world.
With our leadership and guidance, this committee has the
important task of determining what resources are required to
meet our immense responsibilities. As the committee begins to
consider the Fiscal Year 2020 request, I would like to update
you on an exciting new development--the establishment of the
U.S. International Development Finance Corporation--DFC for
short.
Last year, along with Rep. Adam Smith, I introduced the
Better Utilization of Investment Leading to Development easier
said the BUILD Act--to consolidate, bolster and modernize the
U.S. government's development finance tools.
I am excited to share with this committee that this
bipartisan proposal with the help of many of you became law
last October. And this is an incredible achievement we can all
be proud of, showed bipartisanship, bicameralship and got
signed into law in short order.
Development finance refers to the use of loans, guarantees,
insurance, and other financial tools to projects that will have
a development impact. For instance, many of us have seen the
power projects in Africa that have been financed through either
OPIC, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, or USAID's
Development Credit Authority.
Unlike traditional grants, these are investments which pay
back over time. In fact, it was built with OPIC's model in mind
which has returned money to the U.S. Treasury, 40 out of 41
years at no cost to the taxpayers. In 2016, OPIC was authorized
at $69 million, they have returned $265 million. So we built
upon that.
Under the BUILD Act, OPIC and DCA will cease to exist at
the end of this fiscal year and instead be housed together
under the Development Finance Corporation starting in Fiscal
Year 2020.
But it is not just the consolidation that is achieved. The
BUILD Act brings increased flexibility so that the U.S.
government can better use development finance to take on the
world's greatest development challenges and place the DFC more
prominently in the U.S. strategy for developing worlds.
The other key element of the BUILD Act was to modernize the
tools available to the U.S. government. In this respect, a tool
possessed by all other development finance institutions, except
the U.S., is equity authority.
The BUILD Act provides this critical authority, which
provides not just a key development tool, but will also allow
the United States to be economically interoperable with allies
such as Germany, Japan, and the U.K.
For all its strength, OPIC has difficulty working in
partnerships and leveraging the investment of our allies,
because of its lack of equity authority. So many times OPIC--it
was an outdated model and it did good, but it wasn't at the
table. In fact, we found out it wasn't invited to the table
because it was outdated. While the BUILD Act envisions that the
DFC's total equity investments could approach 35 percent of its
overall portfolio, it is important to note that, like the DFC
loans that will be paid back over time, equity has a similar
potential for repayment.
I look forward to working with the committee on this
important new aspect of the DFC to ensure that it is resourced
and structured for long-term success. Madam Chair, this
committee's support is incredibly important at this critical
time. As the top Republican on the Asia Pacific Subcommittee on
Non-proliferation, I have been through the region. I have been
through Africa and our own hemisphere and seen the challenges
like you have.
Everywhere we go, we see China loading up developing
countries with debt that they won't be able to repay, bring in
Chinese workers versus using domestic workers, and not
respecting the environment. With the establishment of the DFC,
we have a viable alternative that countries can call upon where
they can bring private sector financing, employ their own
people, and do things in a transparent way.
This model of development, of bringing in private capital,
is becoming more prominent as the needs just can't be met with
government-alone resources. The newly created DFC will be an
important tool against an ever-aggressive China. China's Belt
and Road Initiative has undermined American security and
prosperity around the world.
China is aggressively attempting to expand its influences,
not only through the world--throughout Asia but around the
world, especially in Africa, through its Belt and Road
Initiative which is nothing more than predatory loans--a
predatory loan scheme that indentures nations to China.
For instance, this happened in Sri Lanka, which had to hand
over a deep water port and over 15,000 acres to China for the
next 99 years in a lease. Pakistan has added billions to its
debt through its partnership with China in building a port in
Gwadar. In fact, they are looking for a bailout from the IMF.
The list of countries being hammered or harmed by China's
BR Initiative continues to grow, and it is imperative for
global and American security that the U.S. DFC is sufficiently
funded. Lastly, I will note for the committee that OPIC and DCA
will cease to exist at the end of this fiscal year. Should the
Fiscal Year 2020 State, Foreign Operations Bill not be signed
into law--this is an extremely important area, if it is not
signed into law by the start of the fiscal year, I want to work
with this committee on anomaly language to ensure DFC can be
established on October 1st. There is no time to waste.
Thank you for your leadership, for the bipartisan
atmosphere and respect and problem-solving that you have
instilled in this committee. You have the ability to shape
America's future as a global leader by investing in diplomacy
and development. And I look forward to working with you.
This BUILD Act is something that is sorely needed as a
diplomatic tool around the world through our embassies and the
State Department. I just left a meeting with Susan Rice this
morning, Ambassador Rice, and she was talking about the BUILD
Act, how imperative and how timely it is to offset what China
is doing with their Belt Road Initiative.
This is a tool that, like I said, is bipartisan. The
Administration signed it into law, and it is something that
will last beyond this Congress because of the strong
bipartisanship of it. And so I look forward to your
consideration of support.
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The Chairwoman. I thank you very much, and I look forward
to working with you. What I have found in my travels is that
when China is building, they are bringing their own workers so
they really are not encouraging economic development and
creating jobs.
Mr. Yoho. You are so right.
The Chairwoman. They bring their workers, and the benefits
are to them. So I look forward to working with you and I thank
you for appearing today.
Mr. Yoho. Thank you, ma'am.
The Chairwoman. Mr. Rogers.
Mr. Rogers. Thank you, Mr. Yoho, for your support for this
program. Is the motivation China here, is that the big push
that we are having to deal with?
Mr. Yoho. No, that wasn't the original impetus behind this.
The original impetus was, as you know, I came in to get rid of
foreign aid, and we talked about that last time. The thing is
we really can't get rid of foreign aid, but we can help
countries wean from aid and move them to trade as quickly as we
can, because if we move to trade, we are developing
infrastructures; we are developing economies.
If we develop economies, there is a better lifestyle. You
are bringing people out of poverty so it de-conflicts the rest
of the world, and this is an important thing. The Belt Road
Initiative was something that showed up in China. The estimates
have invested over $4 trillion and really what they are doing
is that they are buying up seaports, strategic seaports around
world that are going to--we are going to have to deal with
someday.
So this was a way to offset this and we have had both
Republicans and Democrats and people in leadership roles ask
secretaries of State and current that have said that this is
the biggest way to compete, to offset what China is doing. I
don't want to say compete, because I think we are all for
favorable competition, but not at the expense of another
country.
Mr. Rogers. Well, everywhere we go, as the chair has said
and you have said, every country that I have been in of recent
vintage, China is there.
Mr. Yoho. Right.
Mr. Rogers. Giving money, making loans that have no way to
repaid. Enslaving countries like Sri Lanka----
Mr. Yoho. Sure.
Mr. Rogers. And others. All for the purpose of enhancing
the Chinese economy.
Mr. Yoho. It is all for China.
Mr. Rogers. And we have been caught, I think, with our
hands down and the more we can build up this BUILD organization
to combat this scourge of Chinese enslavery, the better off we
are.
Mr. Yoho. I agree and I appreciate those comments. This is
something that they are looking to roll out October of this
year. They are going through the rule-making process, and we
just ask for considerable attention to the financing so that
that can be implemented. We are working with the Department of
State, with the ambassadors--what is the name of that
corporation, Jimmy, that organization where they educate the
ambassadors?
We are working with that so that they--the people in our
embassies understand what the BUILD Act can do, and there is an
educational process. I think it is a $5 million funding that
will help them implement this so that we can go out, and we can
start implementing this so that our foreign allies or the
countries we are going into can say, ``Well, wait a minute.
This is different than what China is offering.''
It is different from OPIC, because OPIC was so outdated.
Like I said, they wouldn't even get invited to the table. We
couldn't partner up with JPIC out of Japan or DFID out of the
U.K. And so now we can partner up with other countries'
development finance corporations and do massive infrastructure
projects.
In addition, we can take in equity stake. And so instead of
giving money out and getting no return, we can invest and get a
return. It would be like, say a toll road, so we are getting a
benefit, but we are going to use domestic help in those
countries unlike China, who in Cambodia came in there, built a
casino, built their own restaurants, built their own hotels,
brought their own material and their own people and didn't help
the underlying economy of Cambodia. This is something I think
we can do better, and it is up to all of us to make sure these
things get rolled out properly, and I appreciate your
consideration.
Mr. Rogers. Thank you.
Mr. Yoho. Thank you.
The Chairwoman. Mrs. Torres, do you have any questions?
Mr. Yoho. Hey, how are you doing?
Mrs. Torres. We want to say congratulations on----
Mr. Yoho. Thank you. It was a group effort, and I thank all
of you for your support.
Mrs. Torres. Thank you, because we marked that last year in
Foreign Affairs Committee. Thank you for accepting my amendment
to----
Mr. Yoho. Yes.
Mrs. Torres. Ensure that, you know, we looked at that
transparency and public corruption quite a bit.
Mr. Yoho. Have to.
Mrs. Torres. I have to agree with you. Traveling to South
America, Ecuador, for example, we were just there last
October--October, November. Some time ago. It was just last
year. Yes. There is great need for them to refinance the debt
that they have with China. And we see that all across the
Americas. It is unfortunate that----
Mr. Yoho. They are in throughout South America.
Mrs. Torres. Right. Right. It is so unfortunate that they
have put themselves in such a situation, a dire situation where
they don't see a way out of the China umbrella. So if this can
help in any way----
Mr. Yoho. Oh, we are excited about this. We really are.
Mrs. Torres. Refinancing some of these debts, I think----
Mr. Yoho. Yes.
Mrs. Torres. Could really help. So thank you.
Mr. Yoho. Yes. That is great. Thank you.
The Chairwoman. Mrs. Roby.
Mrs. Roby. No questions. Thank you.
Mr. Yoho. Thank you all. I appreciate it.
The Chairwoman. Thank you very much----
Mr. Yoho. Yes, ma'am. You all take care.
The Chairwoman. Thank you for appearing before us. Welcome.
Mr. Case. Aloha.
The Chairwoman. Aloha. This weather--I wish we were all in
Hawaii today.
Mr. Case. It looks like it is 75 out there, but it is not.
The Chairwoman. I want to thank you, Representative Case of
Hawaii, a new member of the Appropriations Committee. I
appreciate you coming before us and testifying today. And
please proceed as you wish. You can either read your full
testimony, talk your way through it, and also place your full
testimony in the record as you choose.
----------
Wednesday, March 6, 2019.
WITNESS
HON. ED CASE, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF HAWAII
Opening Statement of Mr. Case
Mr. Case. Thank you very much, Madam Chair, ranking member,
members. Thank you for allowing me to spend a little bit of
time with you this morning. You do have my written testimony. I
am going to try to summarize it.
My purpose in coming before you today is to highlight the
critical importance of our efforts in all spheres across the
Indo-Pacific region. Since the end of the Second World War, the
U.S. has helped to build a free and open order in the Indo-
Pacific region that has guaranteed security, enhanced trade and
development, and promoted human rights.
And this rules-based order has created conditions that
prevented large-scale war and encouraged economic growth and
democratic development, allowing the region to become one of
the fastest-growing in the world. Among the success stories,
ironically of this regional order, is China, a country that in
just a generation has lifted countless millions, hundreds of
millions out of poverty and grown into one of the world's
largest economies.
But we now have a choice to make with China, where China
will be deciding and we will be deciding whether China will
continue to be part of this rules-based order, whether it will
continue with the path of growth and interaction and peace, or
whether it will reject the rules-based liberal democratic order
and exploit authoritarianism, reject human rights and advance
its own interest to the exclusion of others.
So I would like to sit here with you in terms of how we
should expend our valuable funds in the area of the Department
of State and related foreign affairs. I will say that I believe
that it is critical for us to get it right with respect to the
Indo-Pacific region and China specifically. And I think that
the answer is the fullest possible engagement, so I do not
agree--I do not agree with those that believe that the solution
to the Indo-Pacific region and China and the rest of the world
is to disengage. I believe that the answer is the fullest
possible engagement, not only with China, but with our allies
and partners--folks out there that have stood by us for
generations since the Second World War and folks that we want
to stand with us today as we go down the road.
This has been a non-partisan, bipartisan effort over at
least the past two presidencies, and multiple Congresses who
have committed us to the same basic strategy in the Indo-
Pacific to strengthen our alliances and partnerships, increase
our military presence, and you certainly will in this committee
and the broader committee, evaluate the military defense budget
in that context, but also to promote trade, development and the
rule of law, and the projection of soft power as some people
talk about.
Congress affirmed this strategy last year through the Asia
Reassurance Initiative Act, and I urge this committee, number
one, to appropriate the necessary funding and to carry out that
Act and support related programs that contribute to our
strategy in the Indo-Pacific.
I say this all, because I believe it is in the interest of
our country but also because as a representative from Hawaii, I
know that we have an incredibly important role to play in the
Indo-Pacific. Not only do we have in Hawaii the headquarters of
INDOPACOM, the largest and I believe most important, if I can
say it that way, unified command that we have in our world
today, stretching all the way from the West Coast of California
to the West Coast of India, the entire Pacific and half the
Indian Oceans.
But we also truly lie at the intersection of East and West
in Hawaii and have for generations now. We have for generations
now hosted foreign visitors, business people, students, and
professionals. And there is a great mixing in Hawaii that often
goes unrecognized in the rest of the country on all levels,
whether it be defense, whether it be economic, whether it be
social, whether it be education, whether it be professional,
scientific, whether just be visitors in a restaurant in Waikiki
talking to each other about their respective countries.
We have a role to play in this, and we have programs in
Hawaii that have been funded to that effect in Hawaii. The one
that I want to focus on today is the East-West Center. The
East-West Center was started in 1960, and it was started for
this specific purpose, to facilitate and foster engagement on
several levels between East and West.
We saw after the war that we needed to start to reach out
to the Asia Pacific region in a systematic way. The East-West
Center, which is affiliated with the University of Hawaii but
not part of the University of Hawaii, and those of you that
have been there know that it is a beautiful facility that works
very, very hard to have the top scholars in the world host in
an atmosphere in which folks can come together to provide
mutual education and foster better relationships and
understanding. Programs include education, research, and
professional development for students, scholars, and offices
from across the Indo-Pacific region.
In 2018 alone, the Center had over 3,400 participants from
41 countries in its programs and hosted 24 public events here
in its Washington, D.C. offices. I think that most importantly
if you look through the generations, the East-West Center now
has 65,000 alumni spread out all throughout the Indo-Pacific
region, so you have leaders of India Pakistan, China, Japan and
the compact countries of the South Pacific and Australia, who
have all come together at one time or another at the East-West
Center.
And they have their own network. I think that is incredibly
valuable, incredibly critical to us as we go through this next
generation where we are going to have stresses and strains in
the Indo-Pacific region that we have simply not seen before. So
I am here to advocate for full funding for the East-West
Center.
The East-West Center on the last number of years has
sometimes wondered whether it was going to survive from one
year to the other. It has not been in some presidents' budgets.
It has been on the chopping block here on occasion and, you
know, I just frankly think that after two generations of
success, two generations in which it has developed and
demonstrated its worth, that it deserves at this point,
especially considering the importance of the Indo-Pacific
region, the contributions that East-West Center has played and
can play, that we recognize it for what it is and provide a
more stable level of funding over the next generation.
So I would support full funding of its request at $20.1
million for the upcoming Fiscal Year. Beyond that, I certainly
would support other key efforts that are critical to the Indo-
Pacific region. For example, the FMF and IMET programs operated
by State in conjunction with DOD have been really, really
valuable I think to the Indo-Pacific region and would certainly
urge that those be funded, similarly with the Economic Support
Fund and the development assistance accounts.
Sometimes it is difficult to calculate the impact of more
indirect spending out in the rest of the world, including the
Indo-Pacific, but I believe that at this point we can conclude
that this is incredibly valuable spending for us, and I would
certainly advocate that this subcommittee focus on the Indo-
Pacific region as you consider your important work. Thank you
very much. And happy to answer any questions.
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The Chairwoman. I thank you very much for your testimony.
It is always a pleasure to see you. And I know you are a strong
advocate of the Center, and I look forward to continuing to
learn more about it. And I don't know that I have a question
for you today.
Mr. Case. Thank you. Thank you, Chairwoman.
The Chairwoman. I turn to Mr. Rogers. Thank you.
Mr. Rogers. You are right about East-West Center. It has
been on and off here in this subcommittee and the full
committee and the full Congress for a variety of reasons. Some
think we in the West, need more than soft power. However, given
the emergence of China as a global competitor as it is now for
business and trade, it is important that we bolster the East-
West ties as strong as we can.
I remember going to Bali 25 years ago or so and we met with
what was referred to as the prince of Bali. He would have been
the King of the Province of Bali had they not integrated into
Indonesia. We had a great, long visit with this elder statesman
who was revered, one of the founding fathers of SEATO. The
thing that motivated this elderly statesman was his fear of
China.
He anticipated--thought that China was out to bring back
into the--under the Chinese umbrella all peoples who originated
with a Chinese dialect. That fear is prevalent now as you know
still, stronger. And I am not sure that the East-West Center is
doing enough to spread that idea, and more importantly to
counteract it. What do you think?
Mr. Case. I think it is an excellent question, and I think
it does get to the mission of the East-West Center, because my
own belief is that with China, and you could say the same thing
of Russia or any other adversaries or potential adversaries
around the world, the best possible approach in the big picture
is first and foremost a strong defense so that you don't
encourage anybody to think you will be taken advantage of, but
also engagement on all levels.
So as you can engage from the international trade
perspective, you strengthen those ties. As you can engage from
the educational and social and financial and business aspects
you strengthen those ties. I think that is the best way to deal
with China.
I have absolutely no hesitation to say that I think
INDOPACOM should be fully funded. I think it needs what it
needs to get the job done in the Indo-Pacific region. But that
is not the only way to handle China. And I think if we go down
simply a pure defense approach then we will be making a mistake
with China in the long run.
I think that where the East-West Center fits into it, if I
understand your comments correctly, you are perhaps concerned
that the East-West Center is not firm enough with China. And I
think that my response to you on that would be that I think the
East-West Center's role is to engage all of our partners, all
of our potential partners, and even our adversaries in a
process that hopefully will kind of be the carrot side of it as
opposed to the stick side of it.
And so, I don't think the East-West Center really has the
responsibility of sitting there and telling China to go take a
hike. I think the East-West Center has a responsibility and
other agencies as well. And I will give you one more example
very quickly.
In Honolulu, in Hawaii because of our geographic role and
our cultural role, we belong to the Asia-Pacific region. If I
fly from here to Honolulu, I am more than halfway to Asia. So
that will give you some sense of where we think we are in terms
of the world. So we think a lot about the Indo-Pacific, and so
does the Indo-Pacific; they think that Honolulu and Hawaii is
kind of a safe place to have these discussions. So we have not
only INDOPACOM, which engages China right there at INDOPACOM,
we have the East-West Center, which engages China. We also have
the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, which is the
affiliate which engages China. And I think they all have that
role. So I think the East-West Center has a really critical
role to play in terms of trying to always, with a strong
military defense posture, encourage China to remain engaged, to
play by the rules, and to play by the international trade
rules. And that is what their role is, and even the
professional rules.
You have leaders of China right now that attended the East-
West Center. I think that is a good thing--that they have some
familiarity, that they have met with people from Bali, that
have also been to the East-West Center.
Mr. Rogers. Thank you.
The Chairwoman. If I may, my friend, I understand Ms.
Wagner has to leave shortly. Could you wait a few moments for
your questions?
Mr. Case. Sure.
The Chairwoman. And we will hear from Ms. Wagner and then I
will give the rest of the Members an opportunity to direct
those questions.
----------
Wednesday, March 6, 2019.
WITNESS
HON. ANN WAGNER, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF
MISSOURI
Opening Statement of Mrs. Wagner
Mrs. Wagner. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. Thank
you so much for your courtesy. I am in fact serving both on
Foreign Affairs and on Financial Services, and I am in a middle
of a mark-up at which I have a couple of amendments, so I am
eager to get back.
Chairwoman Lowey, Ranking Member Rogers, other members,
thank you for the opportunity to testify today.
As a former U.S. ambassador and the vice ranking member of
the Foreign Affairs Committee, I cannot overstate America's
centrality in safeguarding human rights, fostering peace, and
promoting economic development, trade, and good governance
worldwide. I have had the opportunity to travel with Ms. Torres
on these very missions across Central America and our world.
With countries like China and Russia working to undermine
democratic values and respect for human rights, American
leadership is more important than ever. And the U.S.-led
international order has helped populations across the globe
enjoy safer, more stable, and frankly more prosperous lives,
and I believe American diplomatic engagement is critical to
leaving a better world for the next generation.
Peace and stability are a prerequisite for prosperity. But
as we see in Syria, Burma, and elsewhere, many states are
engaged in large-scale violence against their own citizens. And
the United States has a responsibility to help these vulnerable
communities. For that reason, I want to voice my strong support
for robust funding for the Complex Crisis Fund, or CCF. The CCF
is a critical global account that enables the United States to
respond swiftly and efficiently to unforeseen crises, filling a
gap when other monies are unavailable.
Foreign Service officers and USAID workers in the field
rely on the CCF to mitigate incipient humanitarian crises and
prevent conflicts from spinning out of control. And data
analysis from the Institute of Economics and Peace indicates
that strong funding for the CCF could actually save taxpayers
money in the long run: They submit that for every dollar
invested now, the cost of conflict would be reduced by 16
dollars. I urge you to fund this account at least at $30
million in Fiscal Year 2020.
Also one of my top priorities in Congress is ending human
trafficking, an injustice that has enslaved over 40 million
people worldwide. The State Department's Office to Monitor and
Combat Trafficking in Persons has been instrumental in building
partner nation capacity and incentivizing effective anti-
trafficking measures. I urge you to provide robust funding to
the TIP Office so it can improve justice systems and
prosecutions of traffickers and sex buyers in partner nations.
Frankly, doing my own TIP report as a former U.S.
ambassador was so very important and impactful in what I was
able to bring to Congress and promote legislatively from a
policy standpoint.
And finally, I ask you to allocate robust funding for
democracy programs in Burma. In Fiscal Year 2019, the National
Endowment for Democracy, NED, received $4 million for its
activities in Burma. It has used these funds to promote the
development of civil society and strengthen democratic
institutions.
NED is helping to build a Burma in which genocide,
brutalities, and rights violations against the country's
minorities are unthinkable, and I urge you to continue
supporting its mission at at least that $4 million level.
I ask you to ensure that our assistance to Burma does not
in any way make the United States complicit in the appalling
crimes that the Burmese military has committed against the
Rohingya, the Shan, the Kachin, and other ethnic groups.
Last year, the House version of the NDAA included language
limiting security assistance and military cooperation until the
Department of State certifies that the Burmese government has
held perpetrators accountable for human rights abuses. I was
deeply disappointed that the final NDAA did not include this
language, and I hope that the SFOPS appropriations bill for
Fiscal Year 2020 reflects its provisions regardless.
Members of the Burmese military responsible for committing
genocide and other crimes against humanity must be held
responsible for their actions. The Burmese military should not
receive one cent of U.S. foreign military financing until it
takes action to end and atone for egregious human rights
abuses.
America excels at helping our partners build capacity, good
governance practices, and democratic institutions.
Democratizing and developing countries want and need us to
remain a reliable partner.
I hope this subcommittee will support strong funding, for
again, U.S. anti-trafficking programs, for conflict prevention,
and for capacity building programming. So I thank you for all
your hard work on these issues.
I appreciate your courtesy, Chairwoman and Ranking Member.
I am happy to take any questions or dash.
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The Chairwoman. Would you like to take questions or do you
want to dash? I may have to bring Mr. Case back.
Mrs. Wagner. Where are we? Are they voting it? Okay. I
probably have to leave in a few minutes. If you have any
questions I am happy to entertain a couple, but----
The Chairwoman. I will give our members who didn't ask some
questions. I will do it that way.
I just want to thank you for your testimony, and I must say
that I was part of several celebratory events with Aung San Suu
Kyi. And this was probably one of the most disappointing
results I can ever imagine in the time that I was here. And I
thank you for your activism.
I wish you had some advice. I don't know if you do.
Otherwise I will turn to another question before you leave.
Mrs. Wagner. I agree. I can tell you in terms of some of
the priorities that I have laid out here I think that Chairman
Engel is very committed to the CCF and actually getting behind
it.
I have fought for this on the Republican side of the aisle
for some time. He is committed to this also, and I think that
anything we can do from a prevention side early on is very,
very important, and I think that will make a big difference in
arming our Foreign Service officers and others to put more on
the preventative side.
I have had the pleasure of passing the Genocide and
Atrocities Act which CCF was very much a part of, but I think
we are going to put some more teeth to it in this next
Congress.
The Chairwoman. I turn to Ms. Torres because you were next?
Mrs. Torres. Thank you for your leadership in these issues,
specifically with sex trafficking.
You know, we were in Iquitos, Peru, and we visited a center
that was built to help support infants that are sex trafficked.
I didn't know that that type of tourism existed.
The Chairwoman. It was just horrific.
Mrs. Torres. It was horrible to find out that some American
citizens----
The Chairwoman. I know, exploiting----
Mrs. Torres. Traveling there for the purpose of exploiting
infants. So thank you for that work.
I just want to encourage, I know that this is a very, very
difficult issue for you, but women need support. And when rape
is a favorite weapon of war, we have to find a way to help
provide healthcare for women that have been raped and result in
unwanted pregnancies and are left on the side of the road to
care for themselves and an unwanted child that no one
recognizes as a human being.
It is shameful. It is a black eye. But I hope that we can
find a space where we can work to help----
The Chairwoman. I hope so too.
Mrs. Torres. To fortify the healthcare of these women.
Mrs. Wagner. I look forward to that, and I can tell you
that my Gendercide Bill also is very much a part of that too,
that there are so many little girls across this country sadly
that are killed and alone because of their gender, because they
are little girls. And it goes along the same line, so we will
be putting that legislation, I hope forward again. And it has
been generally on a bipartisan basis, so I look forward to
working with you on those issues.
The Chairwoman. Mr. Fortenberry.
Or Ms. Roby, do you have any questions before we go back to
Mr. Case?
Mr. Fortenberry. Absolutely.
The Chairwoman. With great respect.
Mr. Fortenberry. Thank you for being here to give us your
perspective on this ongoing tragedy in Burma.
Mrs. Wagner. Yes, it is awful.
Mr. Fortenberry. But in the 2019 bill that we just passed
we have got $86.4 million in economic support funds to support
civil society, advance the national reconciliation process, and
improve the lives left vulnerable by decades of military rule.
It also has $3.5 billion for international narcotics
control funding. No monies for international security
assistance, none. And the State Department interaction with the
Burmese military is limited to human rights and disaster
response.
So we hear you. It is an ongoing tragedy that we all deal
with. Thank you.
Mrs. Wagner. Well, I appreciate that. And I just again
cannot say enough about the National Endowment for Democracy,
and that $4 million that NED need, that grant money that they
need to have programming control over. And I think it also goes
a long way to helping to build a Burma in which these kinds of
brutalities and genocide and human rights violations are
unthinkable.
So I thank you, ranking member.
Thank you all so very, very much. I going to put my roller
skates on and dash back to Rayburn.
The Chairwoman. Thank you very much.
Mr. Case, you have been so very patient.
Mrs. Wagner. Thank you, Mr. Case. Thank you.
Mr. Case. No problem. Thank you.
The Chairwoman. Why don't we continue?
Mr. Fortenberry.
Mr. Fortenberry. Thank you, Congressman. We don't know each
other very well. Would you mind if I speak presumptuously about
your presentation based upon what will hopefully be a
friendship, because it is meant to be constructive, I have to
say.
Mr. Case. Sure.
Mr. Fortenberry. When I left Nebraska it was minus four. If
you really want to have an impact, I think a field hearing at
the East-West Center in Hawaii would have been preferable to
this presentation.
Mr. Case. I think that is an excellent idea. I think that
there is a great need for people from Nebraska to understand
the Indo-Pacific region.
Mr. Fortenberry. Okay. We have found common cause. Just on
a serious note, following up on what Ranking Member Rogers, our
former chairman, said, I think this issue of China looms so
large in terms of really the 21st Century architecture of
diplomatic relations.
And both the USAID director as I recall but recently I was
with frankly the Secretary of State yesterday, and 2 days ago
in Iowa, spoke of China's predatory lending practice. And the
more that we can socialize this concept, I think the world
actually has awakened to this harsh reality of coming in and
holding hostage in effect developing countries to their larger
ideological agenda.
I get what you are saying and I respect what you are saying
in terms of the East-West Center being a bridge for diplomatic
dialogue and not necessarily the hammer side of the carrot, but
of the incentives.
But I do think socializing this harsh reality of what China
has done and really improperly disrupting what ought to be
fundamental attacks by all of us on structural poverty around
the world to lead to stability and diplomatic outcomes.
I throw that to you to connect----
Mr. Case. No, I think it is along the same lines as your
question, ranking member. It is a very good debate. How do we
deal with China and the big picture over the next generations
long after we are not here anymore?
I think that if you listen to the debate, let us define the
debate by its extremes. One side of the debate says let us only
deal with this militarily and let us isolate China, and let us
basically dry up any contact with China in all other spheres.
Okay. So that is kind of one extreme.
The other extreme is we don't really have to worry about
China and if we appease China and placate them and let them do
what they want to do, then that's the way to go.
Mr. Fortenberry. Or the free market in its working itself
out will ultimately create the types of interconnectedness,
that will develop human rights and respect----
Mr. Case. Well, and that is the----
Mr. Fortenberry. I think that is in the extreme too.
Mr. Case. Yes. And one could argue that is part of the
policy we have followed for the last 20 years, that we hoped
that would happen.
Now obviously it didn't. So let us be frank about that. I
think we are on the same page, aren't we?
So then the question is what do we do? And I am saying that
we need to pursue this on a number of levels. It is a very
nuanced set of levels. I am saying that I am agreeing with you,
first of all, on your premise, okay. So I am not one of those
people that is naive about China. I think China has every
aspiration to be the dominant world power and to not
participate in a world order if it can get away with that, if
it serves its own purposes. And it is busy trying to do that.
We need a strong military in the Pacific so let us do that.
Now let us talk about the rest of it. How do we actually try to
get China to modify its behavior? And I think engagement is the
right way to do that.
Sometimes you can't see it happening until it actually
happens. For example, I have been in meetings at the East-West
Center or for that matter other places in Hawaii. And I have
heard from members that have participated in meetings of the
same thing, where you have people from China who come in to
those meetings.
Now they are safe zones for talking. They are not in China.
They are told in no uncertain terms how the rest of the world
is feeling about them. I think that is valuable that they take
that back to China.
And you never know when it is going to actually result in a
change in behavior. But what I think can happen if we are not
careful, if we isolate China and really shut it off from that
avenue of discourse, wherever that avenue of discourse is at
the East-West Center or the Asia-Pacific Center for Security
Studies or any number of other possible areas to have that,
then you are going to end up in a situation like North Korea
where you have nobody that really knows really what is
happening. And they do not know enough about the rest of the
world to bring it back to North Korea to say, hey, this is
really what the view is out there.
So, I think that that is what is so valuable about this
particular track. And, yes, those discussions should include,
you guys are not playing by the rules. You are predatory
lending. You are stealing intellectual property. You are
dominating and losing your own partners. That is the struggle
that we have. It is a big picture struggle, and we have got to
fight that struggle on a multiple level.
So this is, I am talking way beyond the East-West Center,
but it fits into that pattern.
Mr. Fortenberry. Thank you. Thank you.
The Chairwoman. Thank you.
Does anyone have any additional questions?
Let me thank you for coming. I do look forward to a
hearing, whether it is in the East-West Center or another
meeting. The weather is sure better than here or in Nebraska,
and I really appreciate your input.
Mr. Case. Thank you very much. Thank you.
The Chairwoman. Thank you. This concludes today's hearing.
The Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related
Programs stands adjourned.
[Testimony for the record submitted by Members of Congress
follows:]
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Tuesday, March 12, 2019.
TESTIMONY OF PUBLIC WITNESSES AND ORGANIZATIONS
----------
U.S.-ISRAELI PARTNERSHIP; IMPACT OF FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ON CHILDREN AND
CURRENT NEEDS; FUNDING FOR KEY U.N.-RELATED, GLOBAL HEALTH, AND FAMILY
PLANNING ACCOUNTS
WITNESSES
HOWARD KOHR, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, AIPAC
MICHAEL KLOSSON, VICE PRESIDENT FOR POLICY AND HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE,
SAVE THE CHILDREN
PETER YEO, PRESIDENT, BETTER WORLD CAMPAIGN
Opening Statement of Chairwoman Lowey
The Chairwoman. Good morning. The subcommittee on State
Foreign Operations and Related Programs will come to order.
To our distinguished witnesses, welcome. Thank you for
coming to our Subcommittee to present your views on the
agencies and programs funded by the State Department Foreign
Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations. Our public
witnesses represent a wide array of perspectives and expertise
that help Congress better assist the impact and effectiveness
of foreign assistance.
As we assess the president's budget request for Fiscal Year
2020, your voices are critical to the appropriations process.
Let me very clear: Our nation's security cannot afford a budget
that does not adequately fund our diplomatic and development
programs, or life-saving humanitarian assistance.
The draconian cuts this administration continues to
advocate are irresponsible--particularly at a time of
unprecedented human suffering--and wholesale haphazard cuts are
not an option.
For as long as I have been a part of this Subcommittee, we
have had bipartisan agreement that foreign assistance is
critical to our national security and to maintaining America's
leadership role in the world.
As chairwoman, I have every expectation that we will
produce a bill that maximizes each taxpayer dollar while
responding to today's many needs. We are eager to hear your
testimonies and look forward to working with your organizations
throughout the appropriations process.
Before we begin with our first witness, let me turn to
Ranking Member Rogers for his opening remarks. Mr. Rogers.
Opening Statement of Mr. Rogers
Mr. Rogers. Good morning, Madam Chair and audience. I want
to thank the Madam Chair for taking on such an ambitious
endeavor today, 11 panels, 34 organizations here to testify on
their priorities for 2020.
In the interest of time, Madam Chair, I am going to curtail
my remarks except to say that I look forward to the testimony
of the witnesses, thank them for their time today. I also want
to offer my condolences to Mr. O'Keefe from Catholic Relief
Services. I understand you lost four colleagues in the plane
crash over the weekend. Our thoughts and prayers are with their
families and your entire organization as well as all the other
victims of the crash. I yield back.
The Chairwoman. Thank you and welcome. Our first panel is
Mr. Howard Kohr, chief executive officer of AIPAC. Ambassador
Michael Klosson, Save the Children, vice president of Save the
Children. And Mr. Yeo, president of the Better World Campaign.
I thank you for joining us today. Please summarize your
statement as your full testimony will be placed into the
record. You each will have four minutes starting with Mr. Kohr,
then Ambassador Klosson, and finally Mr. Yeo.
We will withhold any questions until after Mr. Yeo has
finished. The clock will flash yellow when you have one minute
remaining. Mr. Kohr, please proceed.
Opening Statement of Mr. Kohr
Mr. Kohr. Good morning, Madam Chairman. First, let me
express my thanks to you Chairwoman Lowey, Ranking Member
Rogers, and all members of this subcommittee for your continued
steadfast support is really citizens. Rather than help Gazans,
the designated terror group has spent tens of millions of
dollars building the elaborate terror structure concerning its
political power and choosing to cynically use Palestinian
civilians as human shields in their ongoing war with Israel.
As a result of these threats, Israel has had to
significantly increase its defense budget. And America has
generously agreed to increase U.S. assistance to Israel in the
2016 U.S.-Israel Memorandum of Understanding. AIPAC strongly
urges this subcommittee to approve $3.3 billion to Israel in
security assistance that is called for in the second year of
that MOU.
By providing security assistance to Israel, the United
States safeguards the Jewish state's qualitative military edge
over its adversaries and enhances the safety and security of
both nations. As a result, it is one of the most cost-effective
and efficient programs in the U.S. foreign assistance budget.
In addition to the threats at our borders, Israel continues
to be singled out at home and, again, has been singled out time
and time again at the United Nations and targeted in the
international arena, most recently in the Boycott, Divestment
and Sanctions Movement in an effort to delegitimize the Jewish
state and work against any prospects for peace between Israel
and her neighbors.
Since the founding of the state, Israel has worked
tirelessly to bring peace with all her neighbors. Israel signed
peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan in 1979 and 1995. In
return, for which Israel dismantled its settlements and gave up
every inch of the Sinai and its oil fields. In 2005, Israel
withdrew every single Israeli soldier and every Israeli citizen
from the Gaza Strip, and yet tragically the conflict to
Palestinians continues.
We must all work and strive for a future where there are
two states for two peoples, one Jewish with secure and
defensible borders and a demilitarized Palestinian state with
its own flag and its own future.
There is no substitute for direct negotiations, there are
no shortcuts to peace. The investment of the United States in
the pursuit of peace over many decades remains just as
important today and for the future of so many.
Beyond the security assistance to Israel, AIPAC urges
support for a robust and bipartisan foreign aid program that
ensures America's strong leadership position in the world.
Bipartisan support of the subcommittee will be even more
critical to America as America and Israel continue to work
together to meet the challenges that lie ahead and to advance
toward the goal of a more peaceful, more stable, and more
secure Middle East. Thank you.
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Opening Statement of Mr. Klosson
The Chairwoman. Mr. Klosson.
Mr. Klosson. Thank you. Madam Chair, Ranking Member Rogers,
thank you for the opportunity to underscore the vital
importance of American leadership in alleviating suffering and
crises around the world and helping families lift themselves
out of poverty.
Save the Children is a nonprofit, child-focused
organization often in partnership with U.S. government and many
others. We work in 120 countries around the world and right
here in America in 14 states. And last year, we helped 157
million children.
We meet the day after the Administration transmitted its
Fiscal Year 2020 budget request, what can one say? Clearly, the
third time was not the charm. And it is a week when the Syria
crisis enters its 9th year. Fortunately, the subcommittee and
the Congress recognize the challenges that vulnerable children
in Syria and else were faced and support robust American
leadership.
When I travel abroad, I see the important difference that
leadership makes. In South Sudan last year, I met with
community leaders in Kapoeta, a village in the eastern part of
the country, standing in the baking sun outside grass-thatch
huts, these leaders told me about a program of training and
equipping community health workers that was funded by the
Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance and this program was
saving their children from malaria and pneumonia.
These programs are indispensable in reaching such children
with critical services. And doing so both improves the lives of
those children but also advances our national interest and
projects America as a dynamic force for progress around the
world. Now, it is not the time to short-change those children
or cripple our foreign policy and assistance tools.
There are four reasons why Congress should fund the
International Affairs budget at $60 billion. First, Save the
Children's recent analysis which show that the changing nature
of conflict means more children are in harm's way for longer
periods. In fact, nearly one in five children live in a
conflict zone. And imagine what life is like for those 420
million children, they face bullets and bombs, not to mention
collapsing health systems, sanitation systems, and education
systems. And I am sure the committee would agree that the U.S.
has a key role to play in mitigating these threats, especially
in areas important to our national interests.
U.S. humanitarian programs literally are the difference
between life and death for many. They provide access to health,
to food, water, shelter, and we all need to do more, not less.
Children must have access as well to education, to psychosocial
support and protection. These are vital needs that often go
overlooked in humanitarian crises.
Second, we are not going to achieve our shared goals
without investing in gender equality. The U.S. must continue
its investments that promote global gender equality, women's
and girls' empowerment and I think the evidence is crystal
clear. Countries are more likely to be prosperous and stable
when girls are educated, healthy, and free from gender-based
violence.
Girls with a secondary education and access to gender
responsive healthcare are more likely to marry later, earn more
income during their lives, and face fewer complications from
childbirth.
Third, despite incredible progress helping children survive
and thrive, the job is not done. Such investments by donors,
and increasingly by countries themselves, cement the foundation
for stable and healthy societies. And we can thank American
leadership that 18,000 more children are alive today than any
day in 1990.
USAID's investments in education have provided nearly 70
million children with early grade reading instruction, that is
a real progress multiplier. And despite this progress, those
stubborn challenges remain and we have to stay the course.
Sadly, one million children, infants die on the day that they
are born of preventable causes. So we have to maintain those
programs and help other country step up and support them.
The fourth reason is USAID's transformation and we very
much welcome Administrator Green's concept of a journey to
self-reliance as a pathway to sustainable development. And we
urge Congress to support USAID's operating expenses.
So in closing, let me thank you for your continued
leadership in investing in U.S. humanitarian development
programs. Save the Children appreciates the bipartisan support
for programs that fight poverty and save lives. And after all,
these programs help prepare the children of today to become
tomorrow's generation of amazing leaders who are going to make
the world a safer, more just, and prosperous place all to
America's benefit. Thank you.
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Opening Statement of Mr. Yeo
Mr. Yeo. Well, thank you Chairwoman Lowey, Ranking Member
Rogers, and members of the subcommittee for giving me the
opportunity to explain why robust funding for the United
Nations and other global health and development accounts is in
our country's best interests.
Let me first thank the subcommittee for its past support
for the United Nations and highlight an issue of deep concern
to Congress addressing one of the worst humanitarian crises of
our time, Yemen. The U.N. is the only organization that can
both relieve the immense humanitarian suffering in Yemen and
find a path to end this conflict.
The U.N. estimates 22 million out of Yemen's 29 million
need humanitarian assistance. U.N. agencies are working as one
to address these needs, providing food, shelter, and maternal
and reproductive health services to millions. Meanwhile, the
U.N. has brought the parties together to negotiate a political
solution, recently reaching a ceasefire that if implemented
could provide a roadmap out of this crisis.
As evidenced by the 21 U.N. staff who lost their lives over
the weekend in the Ethiopian plane crash, U.N. workers are
often taking great risks to do their jobs including in Yemen.
U.N. peacekeepers share that spirit. Peacekeepers are battling
Al Qaeda terrorists in Mali, pushing back against militias in
Congo that are attacking Ebola treatment facilities, and
protecting nearly a quarter million civilians in South Sudan.
U.N. peacekeepers stand between us and extremist elements all
over the world. That saves American lives and taxpayer dollars.
In a recent study, the GAO found that it was eight times
cheaper to deploy a U.N. peacekeeping mission than to deploy
U.S. troops. It is therefore not surprising that according to a
Gallup poll released last week, 66 percent of Americans believe
that the U.N. plays a necessary role in the world today.
As such, we respectfully request full funding for the U.N.
and U.N. peacekeeping. For the past several years however, the
U.S. has not fully paid its U.N. peacekeeping dues. As this
committee has recognized, the U.S. now owes more than $750
million in arrears, and that is causing major financial
challenges at the U.N.
Countries like Ethiopia and Bangladesh contributing over
14,000 peacekeepers are not being paid fully or on time. That
is not fair, particularly since nearly 250 peacekeepers were
killed over the past two years in the line of duty and frankly,
we would be furious if we weren't being paid.
In December, the Trump administration supported a new U.N.
peacekeeping assessment rate of 27.89 percent for the next
three years. I urge the committee to lift the 25 percent
peacekeeping cap similar to what was done in both Republican
and Democratic leadership and pay our dues at the negotiated
level to avoid further arrears. We are a great nation and great
nations pay their bills.
We also believe that Congress should fully fund U.N. where
critical to Americans and American values. Here are a few
examples, the U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime tracks shipments
of opioids and synthetics like fentanyl across the globe.
Opioids were responsible for the majority of the 70,000 drug
fatalities in the U.S. in 2017.
Childhood immunization overseas including investments in
WHO and UNICEF in turn protect Americans from communicable
diseases that don't respect borders. Malaria-related deaths
have dropped 62 percent worldwide in part due to the
distribution of bed nets, but much work remains and the U.S.
leadership against malaria must continue.
And fulfilling the need for voluntary family planning and
providing quality maternal healthcare can reduce maternal
deaths by an estimated 67 percent. That is why we have
requested you support our bilateral reproductive health
programs, U.N. Women, and UNFPA. Thank you for the opportunity
to testify today and for your continued leadership in support
of a strong and robust global affairs budget. Thank you.
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The Chairwoman. First of all, I want to thank the entire
panel. Your presentations were informative and if we had a
week, I know that all of us would have many questions. We will
take a few questions and I know we will continue this dialogue.
Mr. Kohr, one of my concerns as you well know is keeping
bipartisan support. The Israel-United States relationship must
remain bipartisan in my judgment. What in your view would be
the consequence of making Israel a political football?
Mr. Kohr. Madam Chair, the passion which you bring to this
issue of the U.S.'s relationship and the support for the
concept of bipartisanship is one that we share. We believe
deeply that for the United States to continue to maintain its
critical role in the region and support for Israel requires
both Democrats and Republicans to continue to work together.
We think this is still vital to the United States and we
think there is an important reason for this issue to be an
opportunity to bring Democrats and Republicans together. So we
will do everything we can to continue to ensure that
bipartisanship remains a central issue of the United States.
As we like to say, the American support for Israel is not a
Democratic issue, it is not a Republican issue, it is an
American issue, and we deeply believe that.
The Chairwoman. I thank you. I just want to say, as you
know, I have been serving on this committee and this Congress a
long time and I think it is absolutely essential that we keep
this a bipartisan issue.
Mr. Rogers.
Mr. Rogers. I thank all of you for your testimony here
today, and thank you especially Mr. Kohr for your testimony and
for your hard work assuring that the strong and steadfast
relationship between the U.S. and Israel is maintained.
We are pleased to finally get the $200 million increase in
the 2019 bill across the finish line in support for Israel and
I know it is urgently needed. Thank you for your work.
Mr. Kohr. Thank you.
Mr. Rogers. And Madam Chair, if I could ask Mr. Klosson
briefly to make a comment.
The Chairwoman. Mr. Rogers.
Mr. Rogers. Thank you for the good work your outfit does
around the world especially here at home. I believe Save the
Children had their first American programs in Harlan County,
Kentucky is my district.
Mr. Klosson. Right.
Mr. Rogers. 1932. And you and I are both still here.
Mr. Klosson. Yes. Actually, we are coming up on our 100th
anniversary because we were founded in the U.K. in 1919. So
this is our 100th anniversary year.
Mr. Rogers. Oh, great.
Mr. Klosson. 1932 in the U.S.
Mr. Rogers. Well, in Harlan County, you provided clothing
and supplies, hot lunches to students. Your organization has a
proud history of serving children in need. So keep up the good
work and we thank you for being here today.
Mr. Klosson. Thank you, Mr. Rogers.
Mr. Rogers. I yield back.
The Chairwoman. Thank you. Ms. Frankel.
Ms. Frankel. Thank you. Thank you all for being here. I am
still clogged up from my flight yesterday. What do you see as
the best programs on the issue of empowering women?
Mr. Yeo. Well, I would just note that the U.N. Population
Fund works in countries around the world to make sure that
women have access to voluntary family planning, but also the
full range of maternal healthcare needs being taken care of.
Most of the babies being born among Syrian refugees are
being born in a clinic supported by UNFPA. So I think it is
worth noting that as we think about the empowerment of women
economically in terms of their own lives, that it is vital that
they have access to the full range of reproductive health
services that can allow that empowerment to occur.
Ms. Frankel. Didn't our Administration cut off funding to
U.N. Population?
Mr. Yeo. That is correct. The U.S. no longer funds UNFPA.
Ms. Frankel. The best program. How much was that? Do you
know how much was cut off?
Mr. Yeo. Yes. More than $40 million.
Ms. Frankel. Madam Chair, obviously we are going to have to
take a look at that. Supposedly the Administration diverted
funds elsewhere to do the same kinds of things, is that
happening do you know?
Mr. Yeo. My understanding is some of the funds flow to
USAID, you would have to ask USAID for a greater accounting of
as to what programs are being supported with that redirected
money.
Ms. Frankel. Thank you. Mr. Klosson, did you want to add--
--
Mr. Klosson. I want to say that besides what Peter
mentioned, I think one of, the important thing is the ways to
mainstream these kind of considerations into whatever program
you are doing.
And so I am responsible for the humanitarian side of
things, so we really focus in on making sure that these
programs are serving the needs of girls and women and
mainstreaming these gender considerations is critical and
particularly, education is vital.
Ms. Frankel. Thank you very much.
The Chairwoman. Thank you. We should go on in that issue,
but I think I will move to Mr. Fortenberry. Mr. Fortenberry.
Mr. Fortenberry. Thank you Madam Chair and if I could
follow-up on your excellent comments to Mr. Kohr regarding the
essential nature of the relationship that we have with Israel
and that it continues to always need to be bipartisan as we
approach things.
Ms. Lowey and I with her leadership have worked on the
Partnership for Peace fund together. And I understand there has
been some dialogue with you in this regard. For my perspective,
I think as we project out and try to re-imagine how things
ought to be, laying the foundation for the roadmaps for peace
are absolutely critical, and this bill in my mind does that by
creating the possibility of joint economic projects, joint
environmental projects, exchanges that, again, create the
preconditions for what we all want to hope and imagine.
So I understand you are aware of this bill and back to the
bipartisan approach. I think you have one right here in front
of you.
Mr. Kohr. Yes. Thank you, Congressman, and thank you for
your longstanding commitment to the U.S.'s relationship. Look,
I think the idea you are trying to find ways to continue to
empower Palestinians in the economic sphere to create a better
economic opportunity are things we want to take a look at.
For us, the critical element here is that it needs to be
done in a way that also benefits and encourages Israelis and
Palestinians to work together, and to ensure also that the
resources aren't being diverted to the Palestinian Authority,
that this is true economic development that is helping the
Palestinian people. So we will take a look at efforts including
this piece of legislation here to ensure that those elements
are in there and then we will make some decisions.
The Chairwoman. Let me just say to all my friends, if we
didn't have 34 panelists I know that everyone here appreciates
all the work you do. And just following up on that, having been
here for 30 years I have spent a lot of my energy and focus on
empowering the Palestinians and sending resources to groups
that are really trying to make a difference, but this is worthy
of an hour or two.
Mr. Fortenberry. Yes.
The Chairwoman. I do want to thank you all on the panel. I
look forward to continuing our work together. We have a great
committee here. Some couldn't join us today, but I know that
each and every one, bipartisan, cares very much about these
issues, and I look forward to continuing to work in a
bipartisan way. I wish we could provide strong bipartisan
support for family planning, maybe someday. Thank you very
much.
Mr. Kohr. Thank you.
The Chairwoman. Our second panel is Ms. Jeanne Bourgault,
president and CEO of Internews; Michele Sumilas, a former
colleague and partner in our committee, managing director of
Bread for the World; and Mr. Bill O'Keefe, executive vice
president of Catholic Relief Services.
I would love to give a speech on every one of you, but I do
know that as you come forward, Catholic Relief Services doing
such an amazing job in every place I visit and I thank you.
Mr. O'Keefe. Thank you.
The Chairwoman. And, of course, Bread for the World, we
have known each other a long time and I thank you.
And thank you for reporting the news, Jeanne.
Why don't we begin, Jeanne we begin with you.
----------
Tuesday, March 12, 2019.
INDEPENDENT MEDIA AND INTERNET FREEDOM; ENDING HUNGER AND MALNUTRITION;
INTERNATIONAL POVERTY-REDUCING DEVELOPMENT AND HUMANITARIAN ACCOUNTS;
PRESERVE HUMANITARIAN PROGRAMS AND POLICIES; CATALYZE DEVELOPMENT
OUTCOMES AT SCALE; EXPAND U.S. LEADERSHIP IN GLOBAL HEALTH; UPHOLD
HUMAN DIGNITY
WITNESSES
JEANNE BOURGAULT, PRESIDENT AND CEO, INTERNEWS
MICHELE SUMILAS, MANAGING DIRECTOR, BREAD FOR THE WORLD
WILLIAM O'KEEFE, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT FOR MISSION, MOBILIZATION,
AND ADVOCACY, CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES
Opening Statement of Ms. Bourgault
Ms. Bourgault. Okay. Great. Madam Chairwoman, I am very
honored to be here today on behalf of Internews, an
international non-profit dedicated to empowering local news all
around the world. We do this because we believe that everyone
everywhere deserves to have the information they need to make
good choices for their families, participate in their
communities, and hold their governments to account.
Unfortunately, our mission is facing a crisis. And I will
start by a really devastating number--13 percent. Only 13
percent of the world's population lives in a country deemed to
have a free press. The causes of this crisis are multitude.
Authoritarian regimes are directly restricting access to
many, many people. Intimidations and attacks are making it
harder for journalists to do their jobs. The rise of malign
actors has made misinformation all the more pernicious around
the world. And finally, the market realities of the media
industry make local news almost untenable.
And what this means on the ground is in the countries that
we work in places like Mexico and Guatemala, violence against
journalists from criminal groups is equivalent to them working
in a war zone. In Burma, hate speech has directly contributed
to the genocide of the Rohingya people. And all over the world
from Cameroon to India, direct government censorship has taken
a new path in directly and completely shutting down the
Internet where people lose all access to information.
The need for action is urgent and with the support of the
U.S. Agency for International Development and the Department of
State, we at Internews are taking action. We are building the
capacity of partners in these countries--local media, content
producers, digital activists--to fight these trends because we
need together to protect this incredibly valuable resource of
trusted local information.
I would like to share several strategies that work. First,
focusing on inclusion really works to build trust. People need
to know that their news reflects them and their community and
we particularly are emphasizing women speaking on women's
empowerment. We think it is critically important for women to
be seen, heard and listened to in the media and, unfortunately,
only 24 percent of the people that you see, read about or hear
are women in the news, and that must change.
Second, we believe that progress is possible in this space,
and we are seeing advances in freedom of expression,
particularly in places like Liberia where the government
recently passed a very hard-fought media law to decriminalize
libel.
Third, in order to survive volatile markets, we really need
to strengthen the business skills of our partners. We want
local news to thrive around the world like our partner in
Montenegro whose online advertising revenues grew fourfold
following a simple support and consultancy on improving their
digital advertising systems.
Finally, investing in critical thinking can make a real
difference. In Ukraine, a combination of fact-checking sites,
contests and integrating media literacy in the social science
curricula has resulted in a 16 percent year-over-year increase
in Ukrainians' ability to spot fake news.
The bottom line at Internews, we believe the most important
tool for combatting fake news is to invest in real news and we
have seen an impact. Last year, I visited Kabul, Afghanistan,
where Internews has been working with USAID support since 2002.
When we first arrived, Afghanistan was a near information
desert with only one creaky state-run radio station
functioning.
We worked with communities that never experienced their own
media. We found media enthusiasts and helped them set up a
whole new network of radio stations and television stations
that now reach all 34 provinces of Afghanistan. Seventeen of
these stations are women-led and I am so proud of our ability
to support the brave and courageous Afghan women journalists.
Because of the hard work of Afghans' home-grown
journalists, media has become the second most trusted
institution in that country and support to media is one of the
great successes of the foreign aid program in Afghanistan.
This kind of change doesn't happen overnight and it is only
possible in partnership with USAID, the Department of State and
legislators like you on this committee. I urge you to include
language in the committee's Fiscal Year 2020 report to continue
supporting independent media and Internet freedom programs
around the world. Thank you.
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The Chairwoman. I thank you. We have so many negative
stories; it is nice to hear some positive ones, and I thank you
very much.
Michele Sumilas.
Opening Statement of Ms. Sumilas
Ms. Sumilas. Madame Chairwoman, Ranking Member Rogers, and
members of the committee, thank you for this opportunity.
Bread for the World is a collective Christian voice that
urges our nation's decision-makers to end hunger and poverty at
home and abroad. I am so proud to appear before this committee
where I spent several years serving you and the House of
Representatives as professional staff.
I do understand the difficult task before you and
appreciate the opportunity to share Bread's perspective. Before
I start my testimony, I would like to lift up those who died in
the Ethiopian plane crash and take a moment to remember their
commitment to the people of the world.
I want to start by commending the chairwoman for her strong
statement in support of raising the budget caps quickly so that
regular order can be restored. I also want to thank the
committee for its unwavering support for foreign assistance and
for the $20 million global nutrition increase that you
championed in Fiscal Year 2019.
Mothers and children will receive life-saving nutrition
interventions that lay the foundation for an effective and
prosperous life because of your efforts. But our work is not
done.
In Fiscal Year 2020, Bread for the World asks that this
committee continue to support U.S. global leadership by lifting
the budget caps and allocating $60 billion to the International
Affairs Budget. In addition, we ask that you continue your
strong support for poverty-focused development assistance.
The burden of malnutrition remains unacceptably high and
progress slow. Malnutrition underlies 45 percent of all child
deaths under the age of 5 and puts those who do survive at risk
of impaired brain development, lower intellectual capacity and
weakened immune systems. The reason to invest in nutrition
programs is straightforward as it lays the foundation for human
health and development, especially during the first 1000 days.
That is why we ask that $250 million be appropriated to
nutrition programs in the Global Health Program's account in
Fiscal Year 2020.
We also ask for increased investments in nutrition-focused
implementation research to develop best practices. Malnutrition
and food insecurity issues not only impact the countries where
they occur but also have regional impacts.
In the United States the impact of food in security is seen
in the faces of migrants seeking asylum at the southern border.
In the 2017 World Food Program survey of migrants from the
northern triangle, the majority cited no food as a reason for
leaving their country. The report states that there is clearly
a link between food insecurity and immigration. More families
are arriving at the border from the western highlands of
Guatemala where we know hunger and malnutrition rates are the
highest.
We urge this committee to continue to be part of the
solution by investing in the root causes of migration, creating
economic opportunity, building nutrition and strengthening the
resilience of marginalized communities. We know that investing
in people rather than physical barriers is a smart and moral
decision.
One of the greatest drives of hunger is also protracted
conflict. My colleagues have talked about the conflict in Yemen
and its impact but let me just share what is happening to
children--2 million children under the age of 5 are at risk of
death from malnutrition in Yemen and 24 million people, or
double the population of Ohio, need urgent humanitarian aid.
This crisis is man-made and it is adversely affecting the
population of Yemen.
As a person of faith, I applaud Congress on both sides of
the aisle for calling on the Administration to insist all
parties to the conflict stop the fighting, support the peace
process, allow aid workers to reach those in need, and promote
peace and economic recovery.
In closing, the United States is an unprecedented spirit
for good in the world, this committee on both sides of the
aisle has shown true leadership and provided critically
important humanitarian health and development assistance over
the years. Whether motivated by spiritual beliefs or a
commitment to the common good, your actions bring hope to a
world in need; acknowledge the dignity and worth of each
person; and create opportunities for all to grow into healthy,
productive adults.
Thank you so for the opportunity today.
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The Chairwoman. Thank you. Yes, thank you.
Opening Statement of Mr. O'Keefe
Mr. O'Keefe. Thank you so much, Chairwoman Lowey, Ranking
Member Rogers, and members of this subcommittee.
Catholic Relief Services is the international relief and
development agency of the Catholic community in the United
States. We operate in a 110 countries, partner with almost
2,000 organizations and serve more than 136 million people.
Based on global needs, we respectfully request that the
committee increase the International Affairs budget to $60
billion and fully fund international poverty-reducing
humanitarian and development assistance.
I will use my time today to discuss U.S. humanitarian
leadership and localization in the context of USAID's journey
to self-reliance. First, thank you, Ranking Member Rogers for
remembering the four CRS colleagues and other humanitarian
workers from Save the Children, Care and U.N. agencies who were
killed in Sunday's Ethiopian Airlines crash.
CRS commends Congress' steadfast leadership to address
humanitarian crises. Last year, I saw that leadership firsthand
in northern Iraq. Thanks to U.S. humanitarian leadership and
USAID, Christians, Yazidis and other religious minorities are
returning to their homes and rebuilding their lives. More needs
to be done, but U.S. diplomacy and humanitarian and development
resources are turning the tide.
In the West Bank and Gaza though, our government is
allowing the tide of poverty and suffering to gather force. The
Administration has terminated all assistance to support
Palestinians. Confusion around the Antiterrorism Clarification
Act has further eroded the ability for even reputable NGOs to
provide assistance.
These steps have increased hopelessness and risk regional
instability. We urge Congress to make it clear that
humanitarian aid is not in the scope of the Antiterrorism
Clarification Act and direct that humanitarian funding flow to
closed programs despite an ongoing and apparently never-ending
administration review.
In Venezuela, millions of people face a dire situation and
are leaving their country. CRS supports local Caritas partners
in the region through focused technical assistance and
accompaniment, and we are grateful for the U.S.' commitment to
respond to this crisis. In the future though, U.S. humanitarian
assistance to Venezuela and the region must be driven by
assessed needs and in accordance with established international
humanitarian principles.
U.S. humanitarian leadership requires more than the
allocation of funds. U.S. diplomatic engagement and broader
political solutions are necessary to alleviate suffering and
resolve conflict. As a blessed nation, it is our duty to
promote peaceful and just societies in places such as West Bank
and Gaza, Venezuela, South Sudan and Iraq.
We applaud USAID and Ambassador Green in particular for
aspiring to support countries on their journey to self-
reliance. CRS, in partnership with the U.S. government,
empowers local leadership, builds local capacity and
strengthens resilience in communities. The Catholic social
teaching principle of subsidiarity requires us to pass
responsibility on to local actors where it belongs.
As a PEPFAR Track 1 implementer, CRS successfully
transitioned complex HIV treatment programs in nine countries
to local faith-based partners who now use national, regional
and local systems to achieve even better results than we could.
With the Global Fund's support, we have helped governments
at all levels to strengthen health systems while attacking
malaria. After 7 years of CRS' capacity strengthening, for
example, the government of The Gambia recently replaced CRS as
the co-principal recipient on a large Global Fund malaria
grant.
We have many lessons to share from our own experience
transitioning assistance to local partners. USAID has set a
worthy goal, but must provide sufficient time, resources, and
support for local partners to grow. Paradoxically, helping
countries along their journey to self-reliance will require
more short-term funding if it is to yield long term results.
Pope Francis, in his January 1st World Day of Peace message
wrote, ``Good politics is at the service of peace.'' We contend
that good politics, policy and programming are all at the
service of peace and good development.
Chairwoman Lowey, Ranking Member Rogers, members of this
subcommittee, thank you for your commitment to humanitarian
development assistance and for the good politics you bring to
U.S. humanitarian and development leadership. Thank you.
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The Chairwoman. Thank you very much. And I know all of us
in this panel have nothing but praise for the extraordinary
work you are doing and we express our appreciation.
Mr. Rogers.
Mr. Rogers. No questions.
The Chairwoman. Ms. Frankel.
Ms. Frankel. I do have to ask. This question I can ask.
First, to all of you, thank you very much. I am very
interested in your testimony about having to get more women in
the media. Could you explain what is the relationship between
getting women in the media and how does that relate to a better
life for the community?
Ms. Bourgault. I think the obvious example is the
representational value of it for young girls to see women in
full range of leadership positions, and that is often captured
in the popular culture in the media. So, we need more women
experts in the news advocating for the economy, advocating for
politics, advocating for the environment, advocating for the
full range of issues that affect the world, and that
inspirational value is critical and that is when you learn to
trust your local news and information all the more when it
reflects back at you the world you hope to see.
So, to me, that is the most important reason to engage the
full community in the media, so that you have that
representational value.
The Chairwoman. Thank you.
Mr. Fortenberry.
Mr. Fortenberry. Thank you, Madam Chair.
First, Ms. Sumilas, how is David Beckmann? Give him my
regards, please.
Ms. Sumilas. I will. We have a board meeting today, so he
is there with them.
Mr. Fortenberry. Okay. Good. Wonderful. Thank you.
Let me turn quickly to you, Mr. O'Keefe. Thank you for
mentioning the situation in Northern Iraq and the work that is
being done there. At the behest of the Vice President, I
travelled there last summer to evaluate the significant funds
that have been shifted there to the administration's credit to
try to help the religious minorities who have been decimated by
the ISIS genocide.
I walked away with three words in my mind--it is possible.
The aid has real possibilities. It is urgent. But the real long
term sustainability factor is security.
In this regard, I am readying a resolution that calls upon
the Iraqi central government to integrate Christians and
Yazidis and religious minorities of other faith tradition,
particularly minority Muslims into Iraqi security forces with
some degree of autonomy for the protection of their own areas.
Now, while this isn't in your purview, I wanted to use the
moment to leverage an opportunity to speak to this, because if
we are to achieve the results that you are anticipating and
make them whole for the long term, preserving Iraq's
extraordinary ancient tapestry of pluralism which is so
essential to peace, security has to underlie this.
So, it is not necessarily a question, Madam Chair, but I
wanted to use the opportunity to highlight this.
The Chairwoman. Thank you very much.
And I want to thank the panel again. As you can see, we are
all so grateful to you for the important work you are doing,
and the fact that we are trying to move this panel along does
not reflect the seriousness and the commitment of your
important work. So, we thank you very, very much and we look
forward to working together.
Ms. Bourgault. Thank you.
Mr. O'Keefe. Thank you.
The Chairwoman. The next panel. We are pleased to welcome
our panelists, and we will begin with Dr. David Patton.
----------
Tuesday, March 12, 2019.
EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL EXCHANGES; RESEARCH AND TRAINING FOR EASTERN
EUROPE; GLOBAL GAG RULE IMPACTS; GLOBAL FUND
WITNESSES
DR. DAVID PATTON, ACTING PRESIDENT, AMERICAN COUNCILS FOR INTERNATIONAL
EDUCATION
FRANCOUISE GIRARD, PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S HEALTH COALITION
GAYLE SMITH, CEO, ONE CAMPAIGN
Opening Statement of Mr. Patton
Mr. Patton. Madam Chair, Ranking Member Rogers, thank you
very much for this opportunity to appear before the
subcommittee on behalf of the American Councils for
International Education. We are a non-profit organization that
administers U.S. government and privately-funded exchanges and
educational development programs in over 80 countries around
the world.
I am requesting today that the subcommittee recommend
funding for the Fiscal Year 2020 of at least $700,900,000 for
programs under the Department of State's Bureau of Educational
and Cultural Affairs or ECA. Further, I ask that funding within
ECA for Citizen Exchange Programs be at least at the current
level of $111,860,000. I also ask that funding at a level of $3
million be recommended for Research and Training for Eastern
Europe and the Independent States of the Former Soviet Union
Program or Title VIII program.
In light of current challenges for the U.S. and our foreign
policy objectives, region-to-region and people-to-people
connections have acquired increasing importance in the United
States. Strengthening U.S. relationships with countries near
Russia, China, and Iran through educational and cultural
exchanges is of particular significance and value at the
moment.
For decades, the American Councils has administered State
Department programs that increase mutual understanding between
the U.S. and the world. These programs benefit both the U.S.
and the countries on which they focus, and I thank the
subcommittee for its strong historic support of these
activities.
To be effective, U.S. public diplomacy must reach beyond
English-speaking elites in foreign capitals. The non-Fulbright
side of the State Department exchanges account does precisely
that. It provides for some of the most cost-effective and
universally admired international education programs in public
diplomacy today.
The Future Leaders Exchange or FLEX program for Eastern
Europe and Eurasia and the Youth Exchange and Study or YES
program for nations with significant Muslim populations were
created by the Congress and boast today nearly 40,000 active
alumni, almost all of which are under the age of 40.
Most recently, we expanded the FLEX program into Central
Europe where the U.S. needs a strong voice. American Councils
is also poised to re-launch this program into Uzbekistan as the
first U.S. NGO to re-enter the country in over a decade.
These and counterpart programs that place similar numbers
of U.S. high school and university students overseas to learn
critical languages like Arabic, Chinese and Russian, are
preparing a generation of citizens who will better be able to
deal with the economic and cultural complexities of the 21st
century and who value leadership, entrepreneurship and the rule
of law. Alumni of these programs go on to play increasingly
important roles in government, the private sector and the NGO
community.
For these reasons, I ask that the subcommittee include in
this legislation language in support of programs like FLEX, YES
and others I have referenced in my written testimony.
With respect to foreign operations programs, I ask that the
subcommittee support research and training in Eastern Europe
and the independent states of the former Soviet Union which
provides U.S. policy-relevant research on the former Soviet
Union and its neighboring countries. Without support for this
type of scholarship, the U.S. risks a future without area
specialists who can navigate the complicated relationships in
and around Russia.
Madam Chairwoman, as you proceed with the decisions in the
Fiscal Year 2020 bill, I request that you continue to provide
strong funding for the State Department's Bureau of Educational
and Cultural Affairs and foreign assistance programs,
particularly those I have mentioned in this statement. Thank
you very much for this opportunity.
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Opening Statement of Ms. Girard
The Chairwoman. Thank you. Ms. Francoise Girard.
Ms. Girard. Madam Chairwoman, members of the subcommittee,
thank you for this opportunity to present facts and evidence to
the committee about the impact of U.S. foreign assistance and
funding on the lives of women and girls around the world.
The International Women's Health Coalition has, for nearly
35 years, worked to protect and promote the health and human
rights of women and girls globally. We do this work, in large
part, through close, long term partnerships with grantee
organizations around the world. And it is our great honor to
help amplify the voices of women and girls we partner with and
their living experiences right here in Washington.
I am going to speak about the Global Gag Rule. The Global
Gag Rule is a discriminatory, dangerous, and devastating policy
that denies women health care, undermines our global health
investments and forces providers to make heartbreaking choices.
In early 2017, IWHC launched a documentation effort to capture
many of these consequences.
In partnership with local organizations, IWHC has over the
last two years interviewed those affected by the policy in
South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, and Nepal. IWHC's research
confirms prior findings that the Global Gag Rule decimates
health care services and harms women. It forces providers to
choose between taking critical funding for a wide range of
health services and providing the full spectrum of legal
reproductive health care to women.
As clinics lose their funding, contraception, maternity
care, care for cancer, care for HIV, among other critical
services, become out of reach. These impacts fall
disproportionately on the most vulnerable and the most
marginalized.
In Kenya, one organization reported having to eliminate
their community outreach programs due to loss of funding under
the policy, noting that many patients could now no longer
afford to seek health care. An organization in Nigeria told us
they were no longer able to provide free contraception, and
that in a country where over half the population lives below
the poverty line, the cost was now prohibitive for many.
In Nepal, a long-term project focused on strengthening
health systems to deliver family planning in remote areas was
forced to shut down early.
One of IWHC's partner organizations, the Kisumu Medical and
Education Trust, KMET, based in Western Kenya, detailed their
dilemma. With USAID funding, KMET has grown its health network
from 50 to 122 clinics, serving rural areas of Kenya where
people often need to travel very long distances to access even
the most basic healthcare. Many of these clinics are the sole
health provider in their communities.
The Global Gag Rule puts KMET, and organizations like it,
in an untenable position: do they forego U.S. funding and scale
back medical services and close clinics, or do they no longer
offer rural Kenyan women the full range of reproductive health
services to which they are legally entitled in their own
country? Either way, women lose and are left without options.
Throughout our interviews, we also heard a lot of dismay.
Dismay at the U.S. government for forcing an ideologically-
driven policy on recipients of foreign aid, often in
contravention of their own national policies, dismay that the
U.S. would make abortion, a medical service that is legal in
the United States harder to access for women in other
countries. In Nigeria, where maternal mortality rates remain
extremely high, one interviewee told us, ``It is not American
women dying, it is Nigerian women that are dying.''
Chairwoman Lowey, your legislation, the Global HER Act,
would end this deadly policy. It would make sure that
organizations cannot be disqualified from receiving U.S.
funding because they provide legal abortion services with their
own non-U.S. funding. Passing this language as part of
appropriations bill would mean that organizations like KMET can
focus on meeting the medical needs of their population rather
than on U.S. policy and the whims of Washington.
Thank you very much for this opportunity to testify.
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Opening Statement of Ms. Smith
The Chairwoman. Thank you. Madam Smith.
Ms. Smith. Oh, thank you, Chairwoman Lowey, Ranking Member
Rogers, members of the committee, staff, I am here having a
little bit of nostalgia. I am not testifying on the budget as I
once did. If I did, I would take two things, one that we in the
ONE Campaign will join our colleagues in advocating for a
robust 150 account, but also that we all need to remind members
of this esteemed body, others in the executive branch, that
while it may look like a cost-saving measure to cut the foreign
aid budget, it is truly an expensive proposition over the long
term.
Today, I would like to focus on one item in the budget
which is funding for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and
Malaria. And the reason for this is they are heading into their
sixth replenishment in October. We have got a lot of progress
and I think we can score a huge victory for the United States
and for the world, but I think there is some risk that we could
leave that victory on the field.
Why should we continue to support the Global Fund? Consider
the fact that today alone, 5,000 people contracted HIV, nearly
1,000 of them young women. After 10 years of steady declines in
malaria, we are seeing an uptick because mosquitoes are
developing resistance to the insecticides that have been used.
We all know the threat posed by drug-resistant TB and only 25
percent of those multi-drug resistant cases are being diagnosed
and treated.
We believe that the Global Fund is uniquely positioned to
take on these challenges. It is the largest funder of both
malaria and TB and the second largest donor behind PEPFAR. Most
significant, its financing and influence with national
stakeholders is leveraged to ensure that those most vulnerable
in need of services are reached, and by pooling the world's
resources, they have got even greater impact.
A few facts about the fund, working with its partners, the
fund has delivered incredible results in its first 15 years. It
has helped save 27 million lives, but importantly, it also
helps low income countries pool resources, allowing them to
purchase medicines in bulk at a lower cost. For example, this
saved $205 million in 2017.
Historically, the U.S. has pledged to provide one-third of
the Global Fund replenishment. This is intended to leverage
commitments from other donors and it works. And I can say that
now as head of the ONE Campaign, but also as having been
someone who used that number to leverage other donors when I
was in the Administration.
In 2016, based on this--this challenge that is embedded in
the one-third pledge, Japan increased its pledge by 46 percent,
Italy by 40 percent, and the United Kingdom by 38 percent. The
Global Fund also encourages countries to increase their
domestic investments in health so they are not fully reliant on
donors. Global Fund co-financing requirements led to grant
recipients committing 41 percent of their--more of their own
funding to fight AIDS, TB and malaria during the current
replenishment cycle as compared with the previous. Their target
is now 48 percent.
The Global Fund obviously coordinates with PEPFAR and in
countries where both are present, they do join forces to scale
up. This year, we will be out there in the U.S., France,
Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy and the Netherlands
and the EU to help the Global Fund achieve its replenishment
target of 14 billion. We are intent upon using that challenge
as a way to leverage greater contributions for those countries
that are asking Congress to send a strong early signal by
appropriating 1.56 billion for the Global Fund for Fiscal Year
2020.
Now, I know this is an increase. We would like an increase
across the board, Madam Chairwoman as I think all of us would
adhere. But we honestly believe that this is a case where we
have got enough progress to show that we can do it, but where
we also know if the virus is moving faster than we are, we are
losing and so we want to get that victory over the finish line.
Thank you very, very much.
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The Chairwoman. Thank you. And I do want to say because I
can't resist, I do remember when Bono and I am sure my
colleagues remember this when we are----
Ms. Smith. It is kind of memorable.
The Chairwoman [continuing]. With George W. Bush travelled
around the world, and I would say through interacting with
President George W. Bush, he looked at his work with HIV AIDS
as probably one of his, if not the major achievement, and that
trip was forever, forever impressed on his mind.
The ONE Campaign can be responsible for making George W.
Bush a hero and certainly it has been an important event in his
life I know. So I thank you.
Ms. Smith. Well, if I may just a quick point and I think
for all members, I think it was that bipartisan support for the
fight against HIV and AIDS that helped build a foundation of
bipartisan support that we see today, for examples, in meetings
like this. And it has been hugely impactful I think not only to
all of us who care about this, but it sends a really powerful
signal all over the world. So we are grateful that you are
keeping up the tradition.
The Chairwoman. You notice I am going from left to right
because I can't resist, Francoise, and I do wish that the
issues about which you are so passionate were equally
bipartisan because I think in all the traveling I have done and
so many of us have throughout the world, you see the importance
of women's health. So I thank you for your testimony. And what
I can I say, Dr. Patton, I have been an advocate for
international education and exchanges for my whole life, so I
thank you.
I won't ask any questions. I will turn to my good friend,
Mr. Rogers.
Mr. Rogers. I have no questions, Madam Chairwoman.
The Chairwoman. Ms. Frankel.
Ms. Frankel. I have a question on bipartisanship--I want to
thank you for opening up. I wanted to ask questions about it.
Okay, so the Global Gag Rule in terms of the administrations,
it has quite been on and off depending on the president since
Ronald Reagan, is that correct? And then my understanding is I
think it has been expanded even under this particular
Administration. Can you relate the differences that you have
observed in terms of being on and off and then that impact,
what you see as the differences and then how this expansion has
changed things?
Ms. Girard. Yes. So you are absolutely right, it has been
on and off since 1984, since President Reagan, and it used to
be applied to the family planning budget line which is about
currently $600 million. Under this Administration, it has been
expanded to all global health assistance, so now it conditions
$9 billion more or less of U.S. foreign assistance every year.
And what it says is that foreign non-governmental
organizations that take the money, U.S. government money in
global health must now agree not to speak at all about
abortion, must agree that in their clinics, there will be no
referrals, there won't even be a pamphlet in the clinic telling
women that they may avail themselves of abortion. And this is
even in countries where abortion is legal such as South Africa.
So it interferes with the practice of medicine obviously,
but what it has also done is this has actually undone a lot of
the investment that we have met in the United States for
integration of services. You know, in the communities that I am
describing in Western Kenya, there is only one clinic, let us
say in a 40-mile radius. That clinic has to be a one-stop shop.
It has to offer everything, HIV, maternity care, contraception,
et cetera, and those clinics now have to make the choice, do
they agree to be gagged and leave women basically to quacks and
to services that are not safe or refuse the money and therefore
lose the ability to serve as many women as they would like to.
So it is harmful either way. And in this context, what we
see is that a lot of young women now are presenting in Western
Kenya at clinics with injuries from unsafe abortion, it is
starting again because that is the immediate effect is that as
soon as that happens, people walk away from legal safe abortion
services and they turn to the clandestine services. So it is
extremely damaging.
And it undoes our investment, you know. We spend literally
billions of dollars providing integrated care, it doesn't make
a lot of sense.
The Chairwoman. Mr. Fortenberry.
Mr. Fortenberry. Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Madam Chair. I
would like to simply pass on, but frankly, it is impossible to
have a spirit of bipartisanship around this particular issue,
which is significant in that it reflects the deep cultural and
philosophical divide in this country. And the whims of
Washington are a reflection of the collective values of this
country and the people they elect. So for those of us who
cannot in good conscience subsidize abortion or ask our people
who we represent to subsidize abortion either here or in
foreign accounts, this conflicts with them.
So we look forward to ways in which we can constructively
work together to help women, particularly with maternal care,
to help children, to be a participant in all the extraordinary
things that we do through our foreign service accounts.
Ms. Girard. With all due respect, since 1973, the U.S. has
not funded abortions abroad.
Mr. Fortenberry. I don't think we are in a debate--I think
we are--I don't think we are in a debate.
Ms. Girard. No.
Mr. Fortenberry. Thank you.
The Chairwoman. I would just say to my good friend and
colleagues, I think it is important--important to clarify what
you are going to do, that the United States has never paid for
abortion.
Ms. Girard. That is correct, yes, yes, that is not the
point of the Global Gag Rule.
The Chairwoman. Our fourth panel, please come forward. She
is good though. Welcome. Our fourth panel is Ms. Candace
Debnam, co-chair of the Basic Education Coalition board of
directors, Ms. Emily Rice, international president of Kiwanis
International's Key Club, and Ms. Caryl Stern, president for a
very long time and chief executive officer of UNICEF USA. I
appreciate you being with us today. Thank you.
Tuesday, March 12, 2019.
BASIC EDUCATION; MATERNAL AND NEONATAL TETANUS; UNICEF AND CHILD
SURVIVAL FUNDING
WITNESSES
CANDACE DEBNAM, CO-CHAIR OF THE BASIC EDUCATION COALITION'S BOARD OF
DIRECTORS AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF SCHOOL TO SCHOOL INTERNATIONAL
EMILY RICE, KEY CLUB INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT, KIWANIS INTERNATIONAL
CARYL STERN, PRESIDENT AND CEO, UNICEF USA
Opening Statement of Ms. Debnam
Ms. Debnam. Thank you, Chairwoman Lowey and Ranking Member
Rogers and members of the subcommittee for inviting me here
today. I am honored to testify on behalf of the Basic Education
Coalition, a group of leading U.S.-based organizations and
academic institutions working together to promote and expand
equitable access to quality education. My name is Candace
Debnam, I am the co-chair of the coalition's executive board of
directors as well as the executive director of School-to-School
International.
We are extremely grateful for the subcommittee's continued
support for international education. In addition to providing
children with literacy, numeracy and critical thinking skills,
basic education lays the foundation for sustainable economic
growth, poverty alleviation, social stability and participatory
democracy. To enhance U.S. foreign assistance efforts and
improve education opportunities for children in need, we
respectfully request this subcommittee provide $925 million for
Basic Education in the school year 2020 with at least 800
million provided as bilateral development assistance.
U.S. bilateral basic education programs focus on increasing
equitable access to education, providing early learners with
foundational skills and preparing youth for successful careers.
Thanks to the support of this subcommittee, USAID's programs
reached over 100 million learners and more than 40 countries
between 2011 and 2017 including over 22 million children living
in crisis and conflict settings.
From my experience in this sector, this work has the power
to dramatically shift the trajectory of individual lives as
well as communities and countries more broadly. We have made
great progress to date toward the goal of education for all.
However, the need to continue and renew our commitment to this
work is paramount.
Two-hundred and sixty-two million children and youth are
still out of school and millions more are not learning the
basic skills they need. By expanding access to quality
education, you will provide these young people with the
opportunity to lift themselves and their families out of the
inter-generational cycle of poverty.
In addition to the benefits that children themselves
receive from access to quality education, strong national
education sectors and programs are essential to global economic
growth. As populations around the world continue to grow, U.S.-
funded education programs will permit stability and expand
access to global markets. Far too often, hardships such as
poverty, displacement, disability and discrimination inhibit
children's ability to access a quality education. More needs to
be done to ensure that access to education is equitable across
all levels.
All children, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity or
place of birth deserve the opportunity to learn and make a life
for themselves. With protracted conflicts lasting years and
internally displaced people and refugees, displaced for over a
decade on average, generations of young people are at risk of
missing out on the opportunity to fulfill their potential.
Through formal and non-formal education programs, we can
provide children and youth with a sense of hope and normalcy
when their lives have been disrupted, while simultaneously
promoting their psychological well-being and cognitive
development.
Congressional support for international education is vital
if we want to truly achieve sustainable development in
countries where we work. Thanks to the leadership of Congress
and the passage of the READ Act, we are positioned to take our
education development work to the next level. A quality
education for all is the bedrock of societal progress, and the
benefits of our investments now will be reaped by generations
to come. The Basic Education Coalition looks forward to working
with Congress to ensure that education remains a pillar of our
foreign assistance and that the U.S. government strategy on
international basic education is a success.
Together we can help alleviate poverty, strengthen
societies, foster stability and spur economic growth, both
abroad and here at home. Thank you again for inviting me to
testify before the subcommittee and for your continued support
for international basic education.
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Opening Statement of Ms. Stern
The Chairwoman. Thank you. Madam Stern.
Ms. Stern. Chairwoman Lowey, Ranking Members Rogers and
members of the Committee, it is a pleasure to be in front of
you, and I greatly appreciate this opportunity to testify and
represent the hundreds of thousands of supporters to UNICEF
USA.
I respectfully ask the subcommittee to provide $132.5
million as the U.S. government's fiscal 2020 voluntary
contribution to UNICEF's core resources. I do so in response to
my dismay, frustration, disappointment yesterday to the
president's proposed budget which omitted UNICEF entirely.
This level of funding maintains the $132.5 million to
UNICEF's core resources as the same level provided in the
Fiscal Year 2019 Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act.
I have submitted my written testimony and will just share a
few thoughts with you at this moment. You know, we are so
appreciative to the traditional support of the American people
to the world's children. UNICEF works in 190 countries and
territories yesterday, today, tomorrow and UNICEF USA in
particular prides itself on working closely with the U.S.
government. And yet, as we sit here today, 15,000 children will
die of causes we know how to prevent, but we are just not
getting to them in time.
Fifty million kids are on the move, twenty-nine million of
them forcibly removed from their homes sleeping on rocks
tonight instead of in beds, losing out on their childhood,
losing out on an education, if we do nothing, we are about to
lose an entire generation.
I have just come back from CAR, the Central African
Republic. It is a country the size of Texas. Three quarters of
it is in conflict, 600,000 people have been internally
displaced, one in three children is severely malnourished. I
spent my last day there with child soldiers, former child
soldiers who were being rehabilitated in a UNICEF program. I
heard their stories. They told me of having guns put to their
heads being told to kill or be killed at the ages of 9 and 10.
I listened to what the program was like, and when I asked them
what compelled them to seek the help of UNICEF, why they were
completing what was a treacherous program, what was difficult
for them, I got three of the same answers from every child I
spoke to.
First, they are there because they really want to be part
of a better world, very sincerely. I heard that from all of
them. Second, they told me the most difficult thing is
forgiving themselves for the acts they were forced to commit.
And third, to a tee, every one of them said we want the world
to see us for what we once were and what we still are,
children, children first, children with no word before or after
it, just children.
I am proud to see what UNICEF has done there. I am proud
and appreciative of USAID's support especially in Central
Africa Republic where I saw the logistics, the protection, the
nutrition, all of the work and the support being made possible
by your support.
I thank you for this opportunity to testify. I will end
just by saying, we don't get to pick where we are born. We
wouldn't pick a poverty zone, a conflict zone, we wouldn't pick
malnutrition, we wouldn't pick losing out on an education. We
would just be children. And as the adults in the world, we need
to do better by them. Thank you.
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Opening Statement of Ms. Rice
The Chairwoman. Thank you. Ms. Rice.
Ms. Rice. Madam Chairwoman, I am Emily Rice, the 2018-19
volunteer president of Key Club International, Kiwanis
International's service organization for high school students.
I am a high school senior from Minnesota and it is a privilege
to be the first president of Key Club International to appear
before this committee. Key Club International is a high school
program of Kiwanis International, consisting of over 266,000
members in more than 5,200 clubs in the United States and 37
other nations.
I am appearing on behalf of Kiwanis to provide testimony in
support of the Kiwanis/UNICEF program to eliminate maternal and
neonatal tetanus. We are seeking the support of this committee
to recommend in Fiscal Year 2020 $2 million for maternal and
neonatal tetanus.
Tetanus is a preventable disease that kills one baby every
15 minutes. This is a terrible disease in which human contact
exacerbates the baby's pain. A mother's touch hurts, leaving
the baby to writhe in agony upheld for days until he or she
dies. In response to this tragic disease, Kiwanis launched the
Eliminate Project. Kiwanis eliminating maternal and neonatal
tetanus, a global campaign that will save or protect more than
61 million mothers and newborns.
In partnership with UNICEF, Kiwanis is targeting the
poorest, the most underserved women and children on earth with
proven and cost-effective vaccine interventions. The Eliminate
Project is also paving the way for other interventions that
will boost maternal health and child survival.
As part of this campaign, Kiwanis International committed
to and has raised $110 million to immunize women in countries
where MNT is still a major health threat. Key Club
International is playing an important part in this effort.
There are thousands of Key Club students my age in the United
States and around the world raising funds for the Kiwanis and
UNICEF effort to eliminate MNT.
We are committed to this cause just like our adult members
of Kiwanis. I have been participating in the MNT Eliminate
Project with my home Kiwanis Club, Key Club and Builder's Club
for the past five years. Every year, we as a group review the
effects, hardships and tragedies that occur due to Maternal
Neonatal Tetanus and it pains me to hear the stories of mothers
who have lost their children due to MNT.
When woman are vaccinated for tetanus and learn about
maternal health, they become empowered to take control of their
well-being and that of their newborns. We believe these women
matter. They deserve to give birth to healthy babies and their
babies deserve to achieve their full human potential.
On behalf of Kiwanis International and the Kiwanis
Children's Fund, I want to thank the committee for its support
in the Fiscal Years of 2018 and 2019 appropriations for the $1
million in funding for MNT through public-private partnerships
to prevent tetanus in newborn children. I hope that the
committee will include $2 million for the MNT for the same
purpose in the Fiscal Year 2020 State Foreign Operations
Report.
I also want to thank you for the committee's past and
continuing support of our first global campaign for children,
ending iodine deficiency disorders. We believe we have a very
effective partnership with UNICEF and urge you to support
UNICEF USA's for their core resource budget of $132.5 million.
We also support funding for the maternal and child health
account at a level of $900 million. The maternal neonatal
tetanus elimination plans are in place. Countries are ready for
implementation, all that remains is one final push for funding.
One push to rid the Earth of this devastating disease.
Madam Chairwoman, as high school students here in the
United States, we are doing our part. Won't you help us boost
our efforts by recommending $2 million within the global health
maternal and child health account for the Kiwanis UNICEF
efforts for the elimination of maternal and neonatal tetanus?
Thank you for your consideration.
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The Chairwoman. Thank you. And thank you for your
involvement, for your commitment, and for coming to Washington
and being so very eloquent. I am sure we will respond
accordingly. Thank you. Thank you very, very much.
Candace, as you know, I have been a strong, strong advocate
for basic education. Shockingly, the Fiscal Year 2020 budget
request is only $299 million for basic education. I am not
going to take it very seriously, but I think we should all
understand what a 62 percent decrease from current levels can
do, what is the impact on the world, not just women, children,
families?
Ms. Debnam. Yes. Yes, it is a great point. I am glad to
hear that this is something you are taking with a grain of salt
as you consider the funding in the coming year. It will have
devastating effects globally as well as in the U.S. A cut of
that--a reduction of that amount will decrease both the
opportunities of children to fulfill their human potential,
which I think is a vital goal that we should all carry forward.
It will also have an economic impact here in the U.S. and
internationally. Much of the economic power of the U.S. comes
from developing--purchases from developing countries and this
is an opportunity that education helps us build. So I think
that we--it is both going to have devastating effects to the
children that are affected day-to-day by a lack of opportunity
to learn, basic skills like literacy and numeracy and socio-
emotional development, but it is also going to be impacting
citizens here in the U.S. as well.
The Chairwoman. Thank you very much. Mr. Rogers.
Mr. Rogers. It is a particularly powerful presentation.
Thank you. And we have got a new star on hand here. Emily Rice,
what a good job you did.
Ms. Rice. Thank you.
Mr. Rogers. And this is not the easiest place in the world
to be at ease, but you have great poise. Great work.
Ms. Rice. Thank you so much.
Mr. Rogers. I yield. Thank you.
The Chairwoman. Ms. Frankel.
Ms. Frankel. Sorry.
The Chairwoman. Well, should I go to Mr. Fortenberry first
and come back to you?
Ms. Frankel. Yes, that would be good.
The Chairwoman. Mr. Fortenberry.
Mr. Fortenberry. Thank you, Madam Chair. Is it Miss Denam?
I am sorry.
Ms. Debnam. Debnam, yes. That is all right.
Mr. Fortenberry. Debnam. I am sorry I missed your
presentation but I will take the Chair's word that it was
uplifting, so thank you. Ms. Stern, I walked in the midst of
yours. I have met with child soldiers in Western Africa. And in
their presence, seeing the struggle to go from being withdrawn
to being able to project their heart's desires was made very
real for me, so this haughtiness, standoffishness because of
the deep wound in the soul and the scars in these children's
psyche are very powerful.
And the only reason I say this is because here we are as a
government doing--we were subsidizing that particular program
and this was after the--in Liberia, after their war. Other
countries run around and build things, build big, shiny new
stuff and attract the possibilities of those peoples, but the
United States is digging deeper in trying to heal people from
deep, deep wounds and scars like this.
So I think it--a lot of times in these hearings, we are
asking for more and talking about this or that problem, but
sometimes we have got to go back and reflect on what we have
done and that was a beautiful gift for me personally to witness
again the U.S. subsidizing a group of young boys and a
spiritual mentor in trying to return them to some basic
humanity, so thank you very much for your impressive and
heartfelt comments. I appreciate it.
Ms. Stern. Thank you very much.
Mr. Fortenberry. One more thing, Madam Chair. I have to
commend Emily as well if I could turn now. I was in The Key
Club and I think Mr. Rogers is right. This would have been
highly intimidating to sit here at your age. Are you from
Minnesota? Did I read that correct?
Ms. Rice. I am, yes.
Mr. Fortenberry. Okay. Who is your Congress member? Do you
know? Where do you live in Minnesota?
Ms. Rice. Oh, District 5.
Mr. Fortenberry. Who is the Congress member? Oh, that is
okay. Well, it is good you don't know because they should be
very aware of you potentially running against them. It is all
right. Thank you for your excellent presentation. We appreciate
it.
The Chairwoman. Ms. Frankel.
Ms. Frankel. First of all, thank you for being here. Kudos
to you, Emily, again for----
Ms. Rice. Thank you.
Ms. Frankel. You are in high school. That is amazing. Very
good. Ms. Debnam--is that how you say that name, am I correct?
Ms. Debnam. You are.
Ms. Frankel. So I want to ask you--there is research that
shows that girls between the ages of 10 and 19 are three times
more likely than boys to be kept out of schools, particularly
in countries of conflict. Could you--from your point of view,
what could be gained if we could get--keep more of these girls
in school?
Ms. Debnam. Right. And I think that is also a great
question for you as well, but----
Ms. Frankel. Emily can answer it.
Ms. Debnam. Go ahead.
Ms. Stern. I would just say that there is a direct
correlation girls in school--first of all, healthy mom is
healthy child. So we start with that. Educated mom is educated
child. So that is the next phase. Girls that stay in school are
much less likely to be forced into early marriage. They are
much more likely to interrupt that basic cycle of poverty
because education really is the best tool in the arsenal for
that. They are also more apt to bring their communities
together. Their life span is lengthened. I mean on every single
metric, you will see marked improvement of girls who are
educated.
Ms. Frankel. Yes.
The Chairwoman. As you all know, this has been a passion of
mine forever, so we will make sure that the number that has
been proposed by misinformed people in the Administration will
not stand, and we will continue to make sure that girls are
educated to the best of our ability. Thank you very much to
this panel. We appreciate all your good work.
Welcome. Another outstanding panel. This is really one of
my favorite days because you are meeting such good, good,
aggressive, active people who are really sending important
messages. And hopefully we can respond appropriately. Our fifth
panel is Mr. Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of J Street; Mr. Chris
Collins, president of the Global Fight Against AIDS,
Tuberculosis, and Malaria; and Dr. Joanne Carter, executive
director of RESULTS. Thank you.
----------
Tuesday, March 12, 2019.
US AID TO ISRAEL, US ASSISTANCE BENEFITING THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE, US
FUNDING FOR UNRWA AND ROBUST APPROPRIATIONS OVERALL FOR FOREIGN AID AND
DIPLOMACY; THE GLOBAL FUND TO FIGHT AIDS, TUBERCULOSIS AND MALARIA;
BASIC EDUCATION, INCLUDING THE GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP FOR EDUCATION, GLOBAL
HEALTH, INCLUDING THE GLOBAL FUND, BILATERAL TB, MATERNAL AND CHILD
HEALTH, GAVI AND NUTRITION
WITNESSES
JEREMY BEN-AMI, PRESIDENT, J STREET
CHRIS COLLINS, PRESIDENT, FRIENDS OF THE GLOBAL FIGHT AGAINST AIDS,
TUBERCULOSIS AND MALARIA
DR. JOANNE CARTER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, RESULTS EDUCATIONAL FUND
Opening Statement of Mr. Ben-Ami
Mr. Ben-Ami. Thank you very much, Chairwoman Lowey, Ranking
Member Rogers, and other members of the subcommittee, for this
opportunity to provide the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement's
views on U.S. assistance for fiscal 2020 to our ally Israel,
the Palestinian people and to other partners around the world.
We greatly appreciate how the leaders and the members of
this committee have worked together for many years on a
bipartisan basis to ensure robust appropriations in each of
these areas. American assistance to Israel including
maintaining Israel's qualitative military edge is an important
anchor for the enduring U.S.-Israel special relationship and
any viable peace process, we will have to provide Israel with
the confidence and assurance to move forward on a solution to
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a two-state solution based on
land for peace.
J Street strongly urges the subcommittee to appropriate
$3.8 billion in security assistance for Israel in fiscal 2020
in accordance with the 2016 MOU you agreed to under President
Barack Obama. Just as ensuring the security of Israel is a
vital American interest so is restoring and maintaining robust
U.S. assistance benefiting the Palestinian people through both
bilateral aid and funding of the United Nations Relief and
Works Agency also known as UNRWA.
J Street therefore urges you to include in fiscal 2020
appropriations not less than $360 million from the migration
and refugee account to the made available to UNRWA and not less
than $225 million in economic support funds for assistance to
the West Bank and to Gaza. U.S. assistance benefiting the
Palestinian people has served as an essential component of
efforts by lawmakers and administrations of both parties to
enhance security and quality of life for both Palestinians and
Israelis.
There is broad consensus in Israeli and U.S. security
circles that the essential humanitarian, health, and education
services provided by such aid in the West Bank and Gaza and in
the case of UNRWA, in neighboring countries, is critical to
fighting the depravations that exacerbate suffering,
instability, and violence.
We greatly appreciate the efforts being undertaken right
now to find a workable fix to the unintended statutory hurdles
preventing bilateral aid from flowing. Yet the most significant
barrier to ensuring the crucial U.S. assistance reaches the
Palestinian people is the Trump administration's decision to
indefinitely cut off such aid and end U.S. contributions to
UNRWA.
These cuts are having a devastating impact, defunding food
assistance services for tens of thousands of families, clinical
breast cancer treatment for thousands of women, preventive and
nutritional health services for thousands of children and their
caregivers, and youth engagement for over 50,000 young people
intended to stem radicalization.
Top Israeli security experts have repeatedly warned that
these cuts will undermine Israeli security by deepening Gaza's
humanitarian crisis and further destabilizing the situation in
the West Bank. Former IDF spokesperson Peter Lerner wrote, ``In
our region, poverty has been a breeding ground for radical
recruitment, violence and terrorism. Hardballing the
Palestinians into submission is likely to blow on Israel's
doorstep.''
Yet the Administration has ignored these warnings and those
conveyed by Congressman David Price in a recent letter he co-
authored with Congressman Welch and Adam Smith also signed by
Congresswoman Barbara Lee and more than a hundred of their
colleagues urging the administration to abide by Congress'
intentions and restore this vital assistance.
That is why in addition to including a robust appropriation
for this aid, J Street also urges the subcommittee to request
the inclusion of directive bill language requiring the
Administration to actually disburse these funds within 60 days
of bill enactment. Lastly, the same security, strategic, and
moral considerations in forming our support for generous U.S.
assistance to Israel and the Palestinian people hold true when
it comes to U.S. aid and diplomacy around the world.
J Street therefore urges the subcommittee to ensure robust
overall funding for global U.S. assistance, State Department
personnel and operations, financial commitments to multilateral
organizations, and related programming supporting peace and
diplomacy. Thank you again for this opportunity to testify. I
welcome and look forward to the opportunity to answer any
questions you may have.
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Opening Statement of Mr. Collins
The Chairwoman. Thank you. Mr. Collins.
Mr. Collins. Good morning, Chairwoman Lowey and Ranking
Member Rogers, and all the distinguished members of the
subcommittee, thank you for this opportunity. My name is Chris
Collins. I am president of Friends of the Global Fight Against
AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.
Thank you, Madam Chairwoman and the full subcommittee, for
your ongoing support over many years of America's leadership in
the fight to end the world's deadliest epidemics. Today, I am
here specifically to thank you for your support of the Global
Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria and to request
continued U.S. leadership in supporting the Global Fund.
You may hear some similar comments as you heard from Gayle
Smith, but at least our facts are consistent, so that is the
good news. This year Congress has a unique opportunity to
advance and accelerate the end of these three terrible
epidemics. The Global Fund is the world's largest global health
financer. Since its creation in 2002, Global Fund-supported
programs and its partners have saved the lives of over 27
million people.
This accomplishment includes helping to cut AIDS-related
deaths in half since its peak in 2005 and contributing to a 37
percent decline in TB deaths and a 60 percent decline in
malaria deaths since 2000. The Global Fund really is the great
leverager in U.S. global health investment. By law, we can only
provide 33 percent of total Global Fund resources leveraging
commitments from other donors.
And in addition, our investments catalyze increased
domestic health investments in affected countries who commit--
whose commitments have increased 41 percent over the last
three-year cycle. Also, by strengthening local health
infrastructure, the global health helps--the Global Fund helps
to prevent emerging epidemics from growing out of control and
spreading. But the Global Fund and its partners still face
significant challenges in ending these three epidemics.
Seven thousand adolescent girls and young women are
infected with HIV every week. Over 40 percent of Africa's
population is under 15, so scale up of HIV prevention and
treatment for young people is imperative. This year, the Global
Fund is holding its sixth replenishment to put the world back
on track to end the epidemics of AIDS, TB, and malaria, the
Global Fund Secretariat projects that a minimum of $14 billion
is needed for the three-year replenishment cycle.
At the same time, the Global Fund is asking recipient
countries to also increase their own investments by 48 percent
over that period. To continue our leadership and encourage
other donors to increase their investment, Friends ask for a
U.S. appropriation to the Global Fund of $1.56 billion in
Fiscal Year 2020. We are also requesting language like that
included in the Senate Fiscal Year 2019 State Foreign
Operations report noting the expectation that the subcommittee
will maintain this funding level through the three-year
replenishment cycle.
Together, the requested funding level and the report
language will send an unequivocal message to other donors that
the U.S. will maintain its leadership on the Global Fund,
encouraging other donors to once again step forward with
increased pledges. A $14 billion replenishment along with those
increased domestic investments will lead to a reduction in the
number of deaths from these diseases by half, saving over 16
million lives.
Friends also encourages the subcommittee to increase
funding in U.S. bilateral global health programs which all work
synergistically with the Global Fund and that includes, of
course, PEPFAR, the President's Malaria Initiative, and the
USAID Tuberculosis Program.
As you know, yesterday, the Administration proposed
devastating cuts to the Global Fund and our bilateral global
health programs. The proposal included cutting our three-year
contribution of the Global Fund by a billion dollars and
reducing the U.S. share of Global Fund support. So this
proposed budget is more than just a funding cut. If enacted, it
would signal a full-scale retreat in U.S. global health
leadership. Part of our job now is to educate other Global Fund
donors that the Administration's budget will not, in the end,
represent the U.S. commitment to the Global Fund in the coming
replenishment. I am very happy that that decision rests with
you. Thank you, again, very much for this opportunity.
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Opening Statement of Ms. Carter
The Chairwoman. Ms. Carter.
Ms. Carter. Thank you. Madam Chair, Ranking Member Rogers,
and members of the subcommittee, RESULTS is a movement of
passionate, committed advocates working to end poverty and on
behalf of our grassroots in all 50 states, I just want to thank
you for your incredibly important work to protect and increase
effective and life-saving investments. So I am grateful for the
chance to share some key opportunities where we believe the
committee's continued support could have an enormous impact.
You know, as we just discussed, nowhere has your leadership
been stronger than for basic education. So I would say first,
the Global Partnership for Education's new three-year strategy
if fully funded will put 25 million more children in school in
the world's poorest countries and the U.S. contribution of $125
million will be key to making this a reality.
We also support the committee to provide full funding for
USAID's basic education programs. I would also ask you to
continue to monitor the implementation of USAID's new education
policy because we are concerned that the policy leaves the door
rather wide open for supporting for-profit, fee-charging
private schools. And for us, this is not a question of private
versus public, but it is rather about protecting the enormous
progress we have made in abolishing school fees as a huge
barrier to education access in poor countries, especially for
girls and the poorest kids.
Regarding the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria,
you heard from Gayle Smith and from Chris Collins about the
critical opportunity about the replenishment, I just want to
really make two points or kind of emphasize two points. First,
the data shows us there is literally no option for a
maintenance scenario against these infectious diseases.
We either invest to accelerate or we are going to lose
ground. You know, as you have heard, drug resistance literally
threatens to sweep away the gains that we have made and the
fact that every single day, a thousand adolescent girls and
young women are getting infected with HIV is just one example
and a horrifying indictment of our failure to reach those who
are most vulnerable.
But a successful replenishment of $14 billion can
fundamentally shift that trajectory. We would cut deaths by
over 50 percent and we would cut new infections by over 40
percent, which is rather remarkable. And the other thing I
would say is I was just at the preparatory meeting for the
replenishment in India and other donors are watching very
carefully for signals from the U.S. So support from this
committee of $1.56 billion will be a hugely important signal to
other donors and can leverage billions more in resources for a
successful replenishment in October.
I would also just say that USAID plays critical role
alongside the Global Fund in fighting tuberculosis which has
now surpassed HIV as the single biggest infectious killer in
the world. Last September, world leaders endorsed a bold target
to find and treat over four million people that are being
missed every year that get sick with TB being missed by their
health systems. And USAID Administrator Mark Green announced an
exciting new Global TB accelerator to better track and drive
the impact of our bilateral TB funding and to invest directly
in local organizations.
I would say a big thank you to this committee for providing
$41 million in an increase in TB funding for Fiscal Year 2019,
and I would say with USAID's strong focus, the new tools that
we have and these ambitious but achievable targets, I would
urge the committee to provide $400 million for TB for Fiscal
Year 2020 to really get ahead of this disease.
And then finally I just ask the committee and support you
to continue the life-saving support for U.S. investments to end
preventable maternal and child deaths by providing $900 million
for maternal and child health programs including $290 million
for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and $250 million for USAID's
nutrition programs that you heard earlier from Michele Sumilas
about.
And I would also urge the committee to engage with USAID on
how the child and maternal survival coordinator position can be
strengthened rather than eliminated, and finally just thank you
all for your leadership on these issues and we are really
committed to working with you to advance and protect these
programs. Thank you.
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The Chairwoman. I must say that this is one of the best
days of this committee, because I get an opportunity to
interact with people who are spending their whole careers just
trying to do good things and make this a better world.
And so I thank you all and I just want to say, Jeremy, I
remember being on the White House lawn when Yasser Arafat was
shaking hands with Yitzhak Rabin, and we have been working on
this for a very long time and I certainly don't think that
withdrawing the money from the West Bank and Gaza, making sure
it is going to the right causes, making sure it is going to
help the people I think is essential, but I know of your
important advocacy and I do hope we can continue to work
together.
It has been a long time, I have been in this Congress
working for two states for two people, and we have no choice
but to continue our advocacy and hopefully we will see that
day. So I just want to thank you and thank all who are here
today. Mr. Rogers.
Mr. Rogers. Thank you for your testimony. Thank you for
your service. I yield.
The Chairwoman. Ms. Frankel.
Ms. Frankel. Thank you all for being here. So I want to--is
it Ben-Ami, is that how you say that? Thank you. I want to ask
you a question after I read you something. This has to do with
the Anti-Terrorism Clarification Act. I am sure you are
familiar with that. So it forces the Palestinian Authority to
choose between accepting U.S. funding or being liable to
lawsuits to terrorist attacks in the U.S. courts. It is my
understanding that now the Palestinian Authority said they
wouldn't even accept----
Mr. Ben-Ami. Any funding, right.
Ms. Frankel. Any funding. So I guess I really--so I am only
allowed to ask one question, but do you think the law should be
changed to allow for humanitarian aid or how do we get around
that to provide the humanitarian aid and to allow for money to
go for security?
Mr. Ben-Ami. Thank you for that question and thank you as
well for the chair's remarks and her commitment to these
issues. It is a bipartisan priority, to find a fix to ATCA,
which is the statute that was passed in October and has
resulted unintentionally I believe in these complications.
The aid that is being prevented is both American assistance
to security, training of the Palestinian Security Forces as
well as humanitarian and other economic support programs. The
solution is being sought on a bipartisan basis in both houses
of Congress because I think there is a recognition it is an
American national interest and an Israeli security interest as
well as a humanitarian interest to find a resolution to this.
So there is a lot of work going on in other committees to try
to figure out a way out of this, and I hope that there is a
solution that can be found soon.
The Chairwoman. Before I turn to Mr. Fortenberry, I think
it was a memorable day, but it was Mr. Arafat and Mr. Rabin,
and I think I did not say that. I am just thinking right now
what I said, so I wanted to clarify because that was such an
extraordinary opportunity for me being in the audience, and so
much of my career, as yours has, is trying to bring about a
peaceful resolution, two states for two people. I wouldn't want
to change history with the wrong answer.
Mr. Ben-Ami. And I was there as well with you.
The Chairwoman. I remember that very well. So thank you.
Mr. Fortenberry.
Mr. Fortenberry. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Just briefly, Dr. Carter, do you know Dr. Frances Moore
from Bellevue, Nebraska?
Ms. Carter. I don't.
Mr. Fortenberry. Well, of course she is your biggest----
Ms. Carter. Oh, yes, of course, Fran Moore, yes.
Mr. Fortenberry. Yes, Fran, is she here? I wouldn't be
surprised if she was here because she is your biggest advocate.
And all of us have constituents who are highly engaged with us
and you should give Frances the gold star reward from RESULTS.
Ms. Carter. Well, if they are watching I will let them
know. And I would say she is also a huge admirer of yours and
really grateful for your long-time support on many,
particularly--health issues.
Mr. Fortenberry. Thank you.
Ms. Carter. Thanks for your leadership.
The Chairwoman. I want to thank you again, this
distinguished panel. As I have said all day, this is one of my
favorite times because there are so many good people out there
doing good work. And it is always disappointing that we can't
solve all the problems today. But thank you so much for your
appearance.
Ms. Carter. Thank you.
The Chairwoman. Thank you again to another very
distinguished panel.
Mr. Thomas Susman, nice to see you.
Anthony Banbury, a pleasure.
And Kate Wall, welcome.
Mr. Susman. This is a fine day, isn't this?
The Chairwoman. It is.
----------
Tuesday, March 12, 2019.
FISCAL YEAR 2020 FUNDING FOR DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS, AND GOVERNANCE
AND A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF SEVERAL KEY RULE OF LAW PROGRAMS SUCCESSFULLY
IMPLEMENTED THROUGH DGR FUNDING; ELECTOR ASSISTANCE, CRITICAL TO
AMERICAN INTERESTS, ESSENTIAL FOR THE FUTURE OF DEMOCRACY; USAID
BIODIVERSITY PROGRAMS AND SUSTAINABLE LANDSCAPES PROGRAMS, THE GLOBAL
ENVIRONMENT FACILITY
WITNESSES
THOMAS SUSMAN, STRATEGIC ADVISOR AND INTERNATIONAL POLICY COORDINATOR,
AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION
ANTHONY BANBURY, PRESIDENT AND CEO, INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR
ELECTORAL SYSTEMS
KATE WALL, SENIOR LEGISLATIVE MANAGER, INTERNATIONAL FUND FOR ANIMAL
WELFARE
Opening Statement of Mr. Susman
Mr. Susman. A great way to get the message through.
Chairwoman Lowey, Ranking Member Rogers, my name is Tom
Susman. And I am the strategic advisor and international policy
coordinator for the American Bar Association, appearing today
on behalf of our president Bob Carlson and our more than
400,000 members in the United States and abroad.
And I am here to emphasize the importance of U.S.
leadership, of congressional leadership and support for the
promotion of democracy and human rights and the rule of law.
The ABA appreciates the bipartisan agreement in Congress
that programs to promote rule of law internationally are
valuable and cost-effective investment of U.S. taxpayer
dollars.
Surely these programs support national security and
economic opportunity, but that is not all. They are also
consistent with our values as a nation. The ABA urges continued
support of democracy, human rights and governance programs by
providing $2.4 billion for these democracy programs in Fiscal
2020.
As a long-time implementing partner of DRG programs, the
ABA can assure Congress that they work. There are significant
returns on investment. For over 30 years and in more than 100
countries, the ABA through its Rule Of Law or ROLI Initiative,
Center for Human Rights and Section on International Law has
been protecting human rights and promoting justice, economic
opportunity and dignity across the world.
We do so through a model that emphasizes partnerships with
local stakeholders and that leverages pro-bono services from
the U.S. legal community. In fact, we have estimated that over
the years lawyers have contributed pro-bono legal services of
over $200 million to date through the many programs that we are
involved in.
The ABA has an organizational framework in place to respond
to requests for assistance from every region of the world, and
we provide expertise in virtually every area of the law.
In 2018 ABA ROLI carried out 102 programs in 50 countries
with funding coming in from the Department of State, USAID and
other multilateral donors and private foundations.
Let me suggest some highlights, the prepared statement
contains greater detail.
Our partnership with USAID and State not only reflect our
values but also advance the interests of the United States. For
example, we have been very active in efforts to reduce crime
and violence in Central America, a key driver of forced
migration, by training over 6,400 justice sector actors on
topics such as crime scene investigation, litigation skills,
forensics, hate crimes and trafficking.
In partnership with the State Department, ABA ROLI has long
engaged in the fight against slavery and combating sexual and
gender violence. An example is Sub-Saharan Africa where ABA
ROLI continues its struggle against slavery and forced child
labor. To date, our efforts have resulted in the freedom of
over 300 slaves and ensured access to justice for over 11,000
victims of sexual and gender-based violence.
The ABA is also working to protect human rights around the
world through a network of pro-bono law firms, clinics and
lawyers. The DRL-funded Justice Defender program, provides pro-
bono legal assistance, monitors trials and advocates on behalf
of over 1,000 human rights defenders in 63 countries. The
program provides cost-effective support for advocates on the
front lines of attempts to undermine democracy and rule of law.
None of this would be possible without your support.
Congress' financial support of DRG programs is critical to
promoting the rule of law and building sustainable local
capacity. This is a time-tested, cost-effective component of
U.S. foreign assistance designed to foster democracy and
promote economic development. We believe that these programs
provide a foundation for security, stability and prosperity,
both in the United States and abroad.
Thank you for your support in the past and we welcome your
continued support in the future.
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Opening Statement of Mr. Banbury
The Chairwoman. Thank you. Mr. Banbury.
Mr. Banbury. Thank you, Chairwoman Lowey, Ranking Member
Rogers, members of this committee, distinguished members, thank
you for the opportunity to testify.
My name is Tony Banbury. I am the new president and CEO of
the International Foundation for Electoral Systems known as
IFES. I spent five years working in the U.S. government,
including the National Security Council under President Clinton
and President George W. Bush.
I want to thank this Congress, the House Appropriations
Committee and this subcommittee for the consistent bipartisan
support for democracy promotion and electoral assistance,
particularly the $2.4 billion set-aside for democracy programs.
As Congress has long recognized, democracy abroad serves
U.S. national interests, free and democratic societies advance
our values and our national security, and provides safe
environments for our citizens and our businesses.
Chairwoman Lowey, when you first convened this subcommittee
in this year, when Administrator Green was testifying you said
that, ``USAID helps the world's most vulnerable people, assists
in the recovery of millions from natural disasters and
conflict, and supports democracy and the rule of law. These
development efforts are on the frontline of our national
security.''
And this is so true. However, democracy and elections, and
our national security are under attack.
In that same statement, Chairwoman Lowey, you said, ``this
is a tumultuous time around the world, globally democracy is in
crisis. The right to free and fair elections, freedom of the
press and the rule of law are under assault.''
I fully agree with this assessment. We need to act with
speed, commitment, ingenuity to defeat this assault and
overcome this crisis. But we have not yet marshaled the forces
necessary to win this war, and the anti-democratic forces are
making big games around the world.
Following the end of the Cold War, there was a belief in
the inexorable march of democracy. Countries would move from an
authoritarian camp into the democratic camp and then move down
the path of democracy, and maybe a little winding and bumpy,
but inexorably move down that path. We can no longer be safe in
the assumption that that march of democracy is in inexorable.
From Poland to the Philippines we are seeing backsliding on
the path. Worse yet as we see now in Venezuela we see the
terrible impact when a country moves from a democracy back into
authoritarianism.
There's a new constellation of threats to democracy and
electoral integrity that could undo decades and billions of
dollars of U.S. support for democracy around the world.
Authoritarian leaders are using sham elections and the
veneer of democracy in order to cling to power. Russia and
China are actively engaged in attacking the democratic model of
government. China is seeking to offer an alternative model to
our democratic model often with financial inducements.
And in that same initial hearing, Ranking Member Rogers,
you talked about the threats posed by Russia and China to
democracy around the world.
Technology is being weaponized. Social media platforms and
the hardware and software of elections are now active
battlefields in the fight to promote democracy and secure U.S.
national interests.
IFES is seeing this every day in the countries where we
work. It is not uncommon for there to be 2,000 attacks per
month on voter lists and electoral result tabulations. And that
number goes up to around a million at the time of elections
when bot networks are activated.
The external environment in which democracy promotion and
electoral assistance takes place is changing rapidly, but we
have not kept pace with those changes. There is a war being
fought now over the democratic model with hostile forces being
deployed, second and third generation technological weapons.
Our partners are turning to us for answers, for help and we are
responding with first-generation tools.
And this problem is only going to get worse. Malign foreign
actors are committed, well-resourced and determined. New
technologies such as deep-fakes and quantum computing are going
to have a profound effect on society, democracies and
elections.
Democratic forces need to be more determined, more
committed, more agile, faster and smarter than the anti-
democratic forces, but we are not there yet. We need a new
toolkit and the stakes could not be higher.
To wrap up, as the foremost promoter of democracy, the
United States needs to lead and to act, to counter today's
challenges and to prepare for tomorrow's.
I would like to leave with just a few recommendations for
the committee. One, please continue what works, the $2.4
billion set-aside for democracy programming is valuable and
necessary but insufficient.
Two, please look to the future. The Asia Reassurance
Initiative Act that was signed into law in December 31 to
promote democracy and human rights, rule of law in the Pacific
region is an excellent model and we urge full appropriation for
ARIA funds.
Three, please consider innovating. Consider it dark before
democracy. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency makes,
quote, pivotal investments and breakthrough technologies for
national security.
We need similar investments on a smaller scale to develop
new tools to advance our national security by promoting and
protecting democracy and electoral integrity around the world.
And then finally, we need to fund democracy support in
middle-income countries that had moved into democracy and now
are at the risk of backsliding.
Thank you very much for your attention.
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Opening Statement of Ms. Wall
The Chairwoman. Thank you.
Ms. Wall.
Ms. Wall. Thank you. Chairwoman Lowey, Ranking Member
Rogers, members of the committee and staff, thank you for this
opportunity to provide testimony.
I am Kate Wall, senior legislative manager with the
International Fund for Animal Welfare.
IFAW has 17 offices globally and works in more than 40
countries around the world. We take a holistic approach to
innovating solutions to tough conservation challenges.
Recognizing the unbreakable link between animals and human
wellbeing, we support and empower communities to co-exist with
and value native wildlife, and help those communities develop
tools to protect their wild heritage.
International conservation is closely linked to human
health and global stability, so cuts to conservation programs
will always have effect on wild species and humans alike.
Wildlife and wild lands are in peril around the world. Climate
change, habitat destruction and other pressures threaten
wildlife ecosystems and the very fabric of this planet that we
call home.
Wildlife trafficking continues to push animals to the
brink, and scientists warn that species are disappearing so
fast that evolution can't keep up. However, if we invest wisely
now we can make inroads against these pernicious threats and
preserve healthy ecosystems and wildlife populations for
ourselves and generations to come.
In the interest of time I will focus on just three
important programs here today. First, USAID biodiversity
programs support conservation efforts in more than 50 countries
in partnership with foreign governments, NGOs, the private
sector, and local communities.
Biodiversity loss fuels food insecurity and poverty,
contributes to political unrest. The wide-ranging USAID
biodiversity programs tackle direct threats to wildlife and
ecosystems like habitat loss, and resource degradation, and
also address underlying issues to prevent biodiversity loss
including promoting peace and stability, health and human
wellbeing, and improved livelihoods.
USAID biodiversity programs protect not only our natural
ecosystems and wildlife but are critical to our national
security interests, economic prosperity and global stability.
So IFAW requests $300 million in Fiscal Year 2020 to fund these
important programs.
Next, USAID sustainable landscape programs promote
sustainable land use, reducing deforestation, strengthening
environmental resilience, protecting waters and conserving
biodiversity. Programs focused on areas where degradation is
rampant and leverage private investment to reduce deforestation
and improve forest health around the world.
IFAW requests $135 million to fund the USAID sustainable
landscapes programs in Fiscal Year 2020.
Finally, the U.S. Department of State and USAID Wildlife
Trafficking Programs support ongoing efforts to combat the
illegal wildlife trade, which remains the fourth most lucrative
criminal industry worldwide. Sophisticated wildlife trafficking
syndicates generate more than $8 billion to $10 billion
annually. And evidence demonstrates a link between wildlife
trafficking and other criminal enterprises including illegal
arms, drugs and even terrorism.
Anti-wildlife trafficking programs focus on fighting
poaching, improving global enforcement and prosecution,
disrupting networks, and reducing consumer demand for wildlife
programs. These programs are critical both to global
conservation efforts and to U.S. security.
U.S. leadership also motivates other nations to protect
wildlife and combat trafficking. IFAW requests $100.7 million
to fund State Department and USAID Wildlife Trafficking
Reduction Programs in Fiscal Year 2020.
In closing, we appreciate the opportunity to share IFAW's
priority requests for the Fiscal Year 2020 SFOPS Appropriations
Act. And the continued support of this subcommittee for global
conservation efforts.
Thank you.
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The Chairwoman. I want to thank the entire panel. I would
like to continue this discussion but we have more witnesses to
hear from.
Mr. Banbury, I think what you are saying is really a wake-
up call. Some of us have been awakened, but I am very, very
concerned about the sweep of anti-democratic forces, not just
in Europe but frankly throughout the world.
And I do hope that the expertise, Mr. Susman, and your
expertise can certainly be an education for all of us who are
so concerned about this. And I look forward to working with
you. Thank you very much. Mr. Rogers.
Mr. Rogers. Thank you for your testimony. No questions.
The Chairwoman. Ms. Frankel.
Ms. Frankel. I have no questions. You know, one of the
things of my travels around the world, yes, I was on the
Foreign Affairs Committee for several years. One thing that I
saw as a common theme in dysfunctional governments, especially
where there have been overthrows of governments, was
corruption.
I was just wondering if you could comment on that, if there
are any programs that actually even work to reduce it?
Mr. Susman. Anti-corruption programs all are founded on a
justice system with independent judges with trained
prosecutors, with access to counsel, and that's what a number
of these programs across the world are based on delivering. And
in the end, I think a lot of the population believes that they
deliver justice.
Mr. Bradbury. I would just say, ma'am, that the very back
program to counter corruption is a robust democracy where
people can throw out corrupt leaders when they see them.
Ms. Wall. And on a more micro scale, we certainly see funds
from wildlife trafficking and illegal poaching going to fund
corrupt governments. So interventions that help to stem the
flow of illegal wildlife trafficking do help to stem the flow
of corruption as well.
The Chairwoman. Mr. Fortenberry.
Mr. Fortenberry. I thank you all for your testimony.
Just very briefly, Ms. Wall, are you familiar with the
Delta Act?
Ms. Wall. Yes, yes.
Mr. Fortenberry. Good.
Ms. Wall. And thank you so much for your leadership on
that.
Mr. Fortenberry. Okay. Dig deeper there, because I think in
the intersection with all the good things that you were saying
creates the real possibilities for a tri-national conservation
area here, leveraging important diplomatic outcomes as well.
Ms. Wall. Well, sir, as a leader on the act you are
probably more expert in it than I am. However, the Delta Act
would provide support for programs in the, I am going to
mispronounce the name, the Okavango Delta in Africa where
wildlife trafficking and conservation have been, well, wildlife
trafficking and other pressures have caused degradation. And
the Delta Act will promote conservation efforts through public-
private partnerships, through NGOs and other----
Mr. Fortenberry. We are very excited about it.
Ms. Wall. We are very excited about it as well.
Mr. Fortenberry. Good, thank you.
Ms. Wall. And we look forward to working with you. Thank
you.
Mr. Fortenberry. I am sorry, I think I am under time
constraints. Thank you very much.
Ms. Wall. Sure.
The Chairwoman. Thank you.
And thank you again to the panel and we look forward to
continuing the dialogue.
Welcome. We were saying that even though there are members
that have to move on to another hearing, this is such a display
of all the good work that we are doing. I am delighted to
welcome this panel.
Mr. Vince Blaser, director of Frontline Health Workers
Coalition. Ms. Jody JoDee Winterhof, the senior vice president
of the Human Rights Campaign, and Ms. Mary McQueen, the
president of the National Center for State Courts. Please
proceed.
----------
Tuesday, March 12, 2019.
GLOBAL HEALTH PROGRAMS AND FRONTLINE HEALTH WORKFORCE STRENGTHENING;
GREATER SUPPORT FOR LGBTQ HUMAN RIGHTS FUNDING AROUND THE GLOBE;
JUDICIAL REFORM AND RULE OF LAW
WITNESSES
VINCE BLASER, DIRECTOR, FRONTLINE HEALTH WORKERS COALITION AND SENIOR
ADVOCACY AND POLICY ADVISOR
JODEE WINTERHOF, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR POLICY AND POLITICAL
AFFAIRS, HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN
MARY C. MCQUEEN, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL CENTER FOR STATE COURTS
Opening Statement of Mr. Blaser
Mr. Blaser. Great. Thank you, Madam Chair Lowey, Ranking
Member Rogers, Representative Frankel. Representative
Fortenberry, for the opportunity to testify on behalf of
IntraHealth International which is based in Chapel Hill, North
Carolina, Representative Price's district. IntraHealth houses
the Frontline Health Workers Coalition secretariat here in
Washington.
I first wanted to second the comment made by Bill O'Keefe
of Catholic Relief Services earlier today regarding the
Antiterrorism Clarification Act. IntraHealth's Palestinian
Health Capacity Project which reduced referrals from West Bank
health facilities to Israeli hospitals by 34 percent was
terminated at USAID's request on January 31st.
There are 120,000-plus patients who were affected by this
closure, as a reminder of the urgent need for a clear direction
on humanitarian assistance in the West Bank and Gaza.
IntraHealth recommends urgent investment in strengthening
the Frontline Health workforce and communities of least excess,
and intervention of critical to maximizing the impact of U.S.
global health appropriations.
We urge the subcommittee to pass the Global Health
Council's evidence-based Fiscal Year 2000 recommendations of
$7.05 billion for State Department and Global Health Programs,
$4.39 billion for USAID and $435 million for water and all
accounts.
Frontline Health Workers have been critical to the
reduction of under-five deaths by more than half since 1990,
the near 55 percent decline in annual deaths from HIV since
2005 and the 63 percent cut in malaria deaths from 2000 to
2015.
Recent research has also up-ended traditional economic
thinking, that frames training and paying health workers as a
cost. A 2016 World Bank report found that the effects of higher
whole sector employment are even greater than that of the
financial sector.
The 9 to 1 return on investment and health holds particular
potential for women who comprise 70 percent of the health and
social workforce worldwide, compared to 40 percent across all
sectors.
And thanks in part of the leadership you have shown,
Chairwoman Lowey and Representative Diaz Balart and members of
the subcommittee the U.S. have played a critical supportive
role in the adoption of Workforce 2030, the first ever global
strategy for the health workforce and a subsequent action plan
to catalyze the investments and policies needed to achieve it.
The action plan recommends assistance to focus on countries
currently least able to ensure a sustainable health workforce.
Now this centers on the reality that people who die of
preventable causes are most likely living in the same
communities with the least access to frontline health workers
as the recent outbreaks of Ebola have tragically shown.
To have the greatest impact in saving lives and halting
epidemics, safe access to sustainable frontline health
workforce teams must be at the heart of U.S. global health
programming. Because health workforce strengthening efforts are
supported across several SFOPS accounts, the subcommittee
should provide the flexibility agencies need to support locally
tailored workforce solutions and to hold to account existing
efforts.
For example, major needs remain unmet in pre-service
training institutions and bridge to employment programs in or
near communities with little to no access to health workers. We
recommend the subcommittee ask agencies to annual report on
their collective frontline health workforce pre-service,
education, recruitment, training, retention, connectivity, and
safety efforts, so future appropriations can be guided toward
the highest impact interventions. And we urge the subcommittee
to support an evidence-based appropriation to global health
programs that can save lives, foster economic growth, and
ensure global health security. Thank you again for the
opportunity.
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Opening Statement of Ms. Winterhof
Ms. Winterhof. My name is JoDee Winterhof and I am the
senior vice president for policy and political affairs at the
Human Rights Campaign. It is our first time testifying before
this particular subcommittee, so we thank you for having us.
We are America's largest civil rights organization working
to achieve lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgender and queer
equality. We represent over three million members and
supporters in this country.
I am testifying today in support of funding to defend and
advance the human rights of LGBTQ people around the globe. Even
as the Congress tomorrow will introduce the Equality Act which
would provide civil rights protections for LGBTQ people in this
country and move our country to a more perfect union and is
being introduced with historic bipartisan support by members of
this body and beyond, it has business and business leader
support over--public support at 70 percent. Nevertheless, LBTQ
people around the world face daily challenges to be who they
are, safe from violence and death.
In 69 countries, same sex activity is criminalized and in
up to 10 of those it is punishable by death. In Chechnya
authorities have detained, tortured, and even killed people
based upon their sexual orientation or their gender identity.
Authorities in Indonesia have publicly flogged LGBTQ people in
front of jeering crowds of thousands.
Around the world, nearly 3,000 transgender people were
murdered between 2008 and 2019 because of their gender
identity. Nonetheless, LGBTQ advocates around the globe
continue their truly inspiring and courageous work.
They are activists like Caleb Orozco in Belize, despite
threats against his life and enormous legal battles and
barriers he successfully challenged his own government's
colonial era law outlying homosexuality in 2016. Or Hazel
Mokgathi an HRC global innovator who worked to hold the first
ever Transgender Pride Event in Botswana in October. Or Tu Lee,
a former Fellow at the Human Rights Campaign who works at the
Institute for Studies of Society, Economy, and Environment in
Vietnam.
They conduct research on vulnerable groups in Vietnam and
then use the evidence to advocate for equal rights for LGBTQI
people and ethnic minorities. Or Georgian Activist Levan
Berianidze who along with a friend was attacked and beaten by a
mob shouting homophobic slurs. When the victims sought help
from the police, the police joined in the attack rather than
protecting the victims. Nevertheless, the Georgian LGBTQ
community responded by calling on their government to conduct
an investigation and punish the police officers involved and
also to create and implement a hate crimes policy.
These are just a few examples of the incredible work being
done around the globe, but it cannot happen without your help.
That is why we strongly support the work of the State
Department's Global Equality Fund, a public-private partnership
supporting organizations that promote the inclusion and dignity
of LGBTI people. We also strongly support USAID's incredibly
important LGBTI work in their human rights division.
The need for funding in these two accounts far exceeds the
funding currently available. The State Department receives
about four times more LGBTI-specific solicitations than they
receive for non-LGBTI human rights programs.
We therefore urge the Committee to provide $10 million to
the Global Equality Fund and increase to $6 million USAID's
LGBTI portfolio to begin addressing that imbalance.
Congress has a crucial role to play in advancing this work
and protecting human rights around the globe. We must support
LGBTQ human rights advocates to continue their innovative and
inspiring work to change the hearts and minds of their leaders,
their fellow citizens, and their communities. Thank you so
much.
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Opening Statement of Ms. McQueen
The Chairwoman. Thank you.
Ms. McQueen.
Ms. McQueen. Thank you Chairwoman Lowey and I wanted to
also thank you, Congresswoman Frankel. I feel like I need to
channel Chief Justice Janet DiFiore and Charles Kennedy and say
if it please the court. And as part of that, I would invite
staff because I know how very important it is behind the
scenes. So if you have any questions, please feel free to get
in touch with me.
So the National Center for State Courts was founded in 1971
by then-Chief Justice Warren Burger and the chief justices of
all the state Supreme Courts. And I think you can say, well why
courts? You know, why justice? Why rule of law? And I don't
think we have to look any further than the Constitution as a
model because in the words of the Preamble, establishing
justice was the foundation before ensuring domestic
tranquility, providing for the common defense, promoting
general welfare and securing liberty.
In other words, all the issues that you have heard today
that are so important to this committee whether it is
healthcare, gender identity, personal security, personal
property, forced migration, a stabilized economy, freedom of
the press or families all depend on a free, stabilized and
independent rule of law and judicial program.
So the National Center for State Courts working with a
conference of chief justices have established judicial reform
programs in over 80 countries and we use a partnership, a
community engagement, youth, values, vulnerable populations as
a way to do that one-on-one sharing to improve government
accountability, to improve access to justice and to promote
media freedom, to ensure fair and open elections.
As Margie Marshall the former Chief Justice of
Massachusetts who actually grew up in South Africa said,
justice and the rule of law is like oxygen, you don't know how
much you need it until somebody steps on the hose. And so I
think that all of the things that you want to do that we want
to accomplish for the United States as well as our
international partners is through a stabilized rule of law.
And I will give you a couple of examples, if we want to
have reliable democratic partners, if we want to have
stabilized economies, we have to have a rule of law that will
enforce contracts that people can rely on that everyone will be
treated the same, that will apply the same laws and values. And
so part of what we do is go in and actually help legislative
leaders draft constitutions, write the statutes, talking about
what are the values, because we can sit here and say, Well you
are innocent until you are proven guilty. Until you go into an
Eastern European country that shifts that burden that you are
guilty until proven innocent.
And so you have to help when you are working on these types
of legislative reforms to really engage the population. I will
give you another example, Morocco worked very hard to establish
women's rights, really especially for marriage issues and
domestic violence and children. But what we found that was
really unanticipated was how strong the cultural influence was,
because even though you have the right to go in and be treated
equally in a court, to not lose your children in a divorce, the
cultural values were so deep that no one would make themselves
available to enforcing those.
So I want to talk just real quickly about some new programs
most recently in Central America, Costa Rica, Guatemala, El
Salvador, Nicaragua, and Panama, and what we know there is a
lot of the gang violence is really from recruiting from a lot
of the drug cartels, young men especially.
And so we have established a restorative justice program
that basically diverts first time offenders to try to develop a
restitutional and education option instead of jail, to try to
break that cycle. I would have to say that in Kosovo, working
with the bar and working with the courts, and especially to
establish a judicial council, and I know earlier you have
talked about the need to make sure that these democratic
institutions represented all the communities that were there.
And so we ensured in Kosovo that the Serbians were at the table
as well as the Kosovars in moving forward to implement the new
justice system in Kosovo.
And so some of our visitor programs, we have had the first
women judges in Egypt which was a major accomplishment. We have
most recently, in this fall will be hosting an international
conference for traditional training institutions, judicial
colleges in South Africa.
And so finally, I just wanted to share with you that I was
in a, it was kind of like a street fair and we had a booth set
up for different institutions in the judicial system, and one
was a crisis center, because human trafficking is a major,
major challenge in the Balkans, and without having the capacity
or any place to go, sometimes you find young women whose
families actually sell them into slavery as an economic
development.
And a young woman was standing kind of on the side, and I
looked over and she kind of looked like she wanted to come
speak to us but didn't. And so finally I just went over and
started talking to her, and she started crying because she did
not know that there was an option for her through a crisis
center.
So I think the most important thing we could hope for is
that when somebody feels that they are being threatened, that
they don't come to the police department first, they may come
to the courts.
So I thank you on behalf of our country's chief justices,
judicial leaders, and really urge you to support and expand the
efforts of the State Department and USAID to strengthen
judicial reform and especially emphasize the need for
international rule of law.
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The Chairwoman. Thank you.
Ms. Frankel.
Ms. Frankel. Thank you. That was really interesting
testimony. Ms. McQueen, I have seen firsthand so many issues
you have been talking about because I was in one of the Eastern
European countries, they were sharing that they want more
American economic development and so forth.
And we are saying to them, you have got to have a rule of
law, you can't have to bribe the port officials and all that
but that is not my question. My question is to Ms. Winterhof.
In terms of USAID or any American initiative, what are the best
initiatives to try to change either the culture or the laws in
these countries that are being discriminatory?
Ms. Winterhof. Well, it can vary by country. And so really
what we try to do is work with the groups in that particular
country to bring forward their voices about what changes are
needed.
You know, we do share experiences. One of the things we do
is we have an international group of fellows that we bring
together to let them talk to each other. Caleb has been part of
that program and others that I mentioned, so that they can talk
about what they are finding success with in their countries and
then we can work to help support those efforts, it really does
vary.
But it is almost like thinking about what is happening in
this country, but go back like a few decades in terms of people
being in the closet. There are not support for people at work
and things like that. So, you know, you can get the
international businesses to actually start speaking out, that
is safe spaces so that people speaking out in many of these
countries are truthfully are more allies at first than some of
the folks in these groups.
The folks who are leading these local groups are so brave,
it is extraordinary what they do. And so working with them to
figure out what the challenges are in the country and then how
to meet those challenges.
Ms. Frankel. Are you saying that that is where the USAID
effort should be, to help these local groups?
Ms. Winterhof. Well, not only. It should be in great part
though, because those groups were the ones that are really
going to work to make change. And we have other programs that
we do at HRC, but there are many partners who also do work in
this space.
But you do have to start with the local groups or the
individuals in the country to know what is best in those
places.
Ms. Frankel. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.
The Chairwoman. Thank you. Appreciate you appearing before
us. And our eighth panel, we still have a few more.
Ms. Joan Rosenhauer, executive director of the Jesuit
Refugee Service USA. Ms. Alice Albright, chief executive
officer of the Global Partnership for Education. And Ambassador
Stephens, vice chair of the board at the Asia Foundation. Thank
you very much. Thank you for appearing before us today. Please
proceed.
Tuesday, March 12, 2019.
REFUGEE EDUCATION; GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP FOR EDUCATION; BASIC EDUATION;
FISCAL YEAR 2020 REQUEST FOR $19 MILLION; THE FOUNDATION'S WORK ACROSS
THE INDO-PACIFIC REGION
WITNESSES
AMBASSADOR KATHLEEN STEPHENS, THE ASIA FOUNDATION
ALICE ALBRIGHT, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP FOR
EDUCATION
JOAN ROSENHAUER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, JESUIT REFUGEE SERVICE, USA
Opening Statement of Ms. Stephens
Ms. Stephens. Thank you very much, Madam Chair Lowey,
Ranking Member Rogers, members of the subcommittee.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify before the
subcommittee on behalf of the Asia Foundation. I am proud to
service Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees. Thank you for your
support of the Foundation. We are grateful for the confidence
that you have shown in our programs and our ability to advance
American interests in the Indo-Pacific region.
The Asia Foundation advances the interests of the United
States by supporting stable democracies, good governance, the
rights of women, and free markets in Asia. To build on
Congress' investment in the foundation, the Asia Foundation is
asking for $19 million for Fiscal Year 2020, a modest increase
of $2 million over current funding of $17 million.
This increase will enable us to sustain our programs and
expand technology programs to boost economic empowerment, fight
misinformation and cyber security threats, and bolster
democratic governance. These funds will also enable the
Foundation's reentry into Pacific Island nations important to
U.S. interest responding to the need for democracy and
governance, women's security and empowerment and disaster risk
management.
Established in 1954, the Asia Foundation is a private,
nonprofit, nongovernmental organization headquartered in San
Francisco. We operate through 18 country offices in Asia.
Foundation representatives maintain important relationships
with the Asian governments and leaders and at the same time
maintain links to local communities built on decades of trust
and ongoing engagement.
We have appreciated the past support of the committee in
rejecting proposed cuts and we hope that you will do so again.
We ask that you consider this increase for the foundation given
American interests in the Indo-Pacific region as signaled by
the enactment of the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act in
December.
Appropriated funding is critical to the foundation's
ability to continue operating. The foundation is an especially
cost-effective investment for the Congress in a time of budget
constraints. We make the most of the taxpayer dollar by
leveraging resources.
Over the last decade, every dollar appropriated to the
foundation has made it possible to raise roughly $4 from non-
U.S. government sources. The committee is familiar with the
Asia Foundation's work, so I won't go into great detail but I
will say from my own 40-plus years of experience in South Korea
I have seen firsthand how the Asia Foundation and its programs
contributed to South Korea's economic and democratic blossoming
as a full partner of the United States and how much those
efforts are still appreciated by Koreans today.
South Korea is just one example of how the foundation
contributes to the U.S. strategy of balanced engagement by
working with countries in transition, from assistance
recipients to enduring diplomatic, economic, and security
partners. It is the Foundation's locally driven approach that
makes its programs effective, sustainable, and welcome
throughout the Endo-Pacific region.
The Foundation's work demonstrates how democracy can
deliver. More people in Indonesia, Nepal, Laos, and Sri Lanka
have access to justice to protect their lives and property and
mediate disputes because of our Judicial Sector Reform
programs. More people are able to open their own businesses,
title their land, and expand their livelihoods without having
to pay exorbitant fees and corrupt practices in Mongolia, the
Philippines, and Indonesia.
More women have the ability to go to school, exercise their
rights to vote, and hold office, protect themselves and their
children from traffic and violence because of the foundation's
efforts in Cambodia, India, Nepal, and Afghanistan. More people
are finding opportunities through education and civic
participation rather than extremist ideology and conflict in
Thailand, Mindanao in the Philippines, and Malaysia.
In conclusion, funding at $19 million will allow the Asia
Foundation to invest in innovative programs that have received
congressional encouragement. The Foundation's track record
demonstrates that we can make effective and efficient use of
funds to advance U.S. interests in the Indo-Pacific region. We
respectfully request that the committee support the Asia
Foundation at $19 million for Fiscal Year 2020. Thank you.
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The Chairwoman. Thank you. Now we have so many good
panelists left, but we are running way behind. So if you could
possibly summarize, we would be forever grateful. Okay. Thank
you.
Opening Statement of Ms. Albright
Ms. Albright. Thank you. Thank you so much Madam
Chairwoman, Congressman Rogers and the members of the
subcommittee for inviting us here. On behalf of Global
Partnership for Education (GPE), I respectfully ask the
subcommittee to recommend at least $125 million for Fiscal Year
2020 contribution to GPE.
And further, I request the subcommittee recommend at least
$925 million in its contribution to basic education funding.
Chairwoman Lowey, I would love to thank you so much for your
leadership on global education and in particular for your
support for this Fiscal Year 2019 contribution of $90 million.
This contribution will help GPE support more children in
the world's 67 poorest countries get access to a quality
education. Over the last several weeks I have traveled to three
West African countries. The first was Sierra Leone, there years
of civil war and the Ebola crisis have taken their toll on
Sierra Leone's education system but the country is a remarkable
story of resilience and innovation. One example was the
ministry of education's use of radio broadcasting during the
Ebola crisis with the support of GPE to instruct students from
a distance.
Two weeks ago I was in Chad where nearly 80 percent of the
people are illiterate and the government's biggest challenge is
being able to deploy teachers out to the rural zones. There, I
spoke with students at a teacher training college who told me
that what they really need is books and teaching materials.
Their library was virtually empty. So we will now work with
Chad to address the lack of training and textbooks and other
learning materials to enable teachers to get out to the rural
zones.
Last week I was in Burkina Faso, where the growing threat
of terrorism is keeping more than 150,000 children out of
school. The situation there is particularly tough for girls,
and at the Nelson Mandela School I spoke with a group of
courageous young women who told me about the everyday
challenges that they face to get an education.
Eighteen kilometer bicycle rides to school, hours of chores
when they get home, and perhaps most troubling, sexual coercion
to pay for school and in fact succeed in the classroom. GPE is
working closely with the Birkinabe government to ensure that
girls are educated, healthy, and safe.
GPE is a public-private partnership, our funding is
results-based and we support the strengthening and reform of
national education systems. Overall, we reward progress on
learning, on efficiency and on equity.
Twenty-eight of GPE's 67 partner countries are classified
as fragile or conflict affected. One such example is Yemen
where the escalation of armed conflict has led to considerable
disruption in the provision of education. There GPE has worked
closely to restructure part of our work to refurbish 150
schools, provide support to 37,000 children, and basic school
supplies for over 91,000 children.
GPE-supported countries have shown remarkable results over
the past 17 years of our existence. The primary school
completion rate, one of our core measures, has climbed from 63
percent in 2002 to 76 percent.
Seventy four percent of girls in GPE-supported countries
now finish primary school compared to 56 percent in 2002. While
progress has been made, there remains a lot of work to be done
in overcoming some of the gender disparities in many of the
countries that we work in, and that is in part what we hope to
use further funding to accomplish.
Unless we increase investments in education, more than half
of the upcoming young generation will not be on track to
acquire basic secondary education skills. They will be shut out
of the economic opportunities that many others have in other
countries, and this can lead to instability and radicalization
among youth.
The United States through USAID sits on GPE's board and
contributes very strongly both strategically and technically to
our work. GPE's current strategic plan in fact is very well
aligned with USAID's new global basic education strategy, and
accordingly, U.S. support to GPE is contributing to the
achievement of USAID's global basic education goals.
GPE is also working closely with the business community in
support of our overall education goals. Recently we have
launched a public-private data roundtable which includes
MasterCard, Microsoft, Intel, HP, Tableau and others, who are
providing their time free to us and their expertise to help
improve data collection, management and utilization.
Madam Chairwoman, I would urge the committee to provide a
Fiscal Year 2020 U.S. contribution to GPE of $125 million and I
would further urge you to support the overall level of basic
education funding of $925 million.
And I, again, thank you so much for the opportunity to work
with you and for your leadership on this very important topic.
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The Chairwoman. Thank you.
Opening Statement of Ms. Rosenhauer
Ms. Rosenhauer. Thank you, Chairwoman Lowey, and members of
the subcommittee and staff. I appreciate the opportunity to
speak to you on behalf of Jesuit Refugee Service/USA on the
importance of investing in refugee education as a critical
component of the U.S. government's foreign assistance.
Thank you. We urge the subcommittee to include at least
$925 million in funding for basic education programs in the
Fiscal Year 2020 State & Foreign Operations Appropriations bill
and to support at least $21 million in additional funding for
Education Cannot Wait.
Today, as you have heard, there are more than 68 million
people worldwide who have been forced to flee their homes.
Access to education for these forcibly displaced persons is
critical. Not only does education offer essential protection
and normalcy for children, it also gives them hope that they
will have a better future that requires an education.
Helping the millions of children who have been traumatized
by violence and forced displacement build a brighter future is
not only a moral obligation, but a wise global development
strategy. How will these children someday lead a more peaceful
world if we turn our backs on them today? Yet, more than half
of all school-age refugees--4 million children--are out of
school.
Jesuit Refugee Service is an international catholic
organization with a mission to accompany, serve and advocate on
behalf of refugees and other forcibly displaced persons.
Operating in more than 50 countries, JRS offers education both
in refugee camps and in non-camp settings including early
childhood, primary, secondary and tertiary programs. In
addition, JRS offers vocational and teacher training, targets
programs to women, girls and people with disabilities, and
supports new school construction and distribution of materials.
We know from these experiences that for children in crisis
situations, education is a necessity. Lack of education makes
children vulnerable including to recruitment by armed groups,
child labor and early marriage. And it leads to greater
challenges in the future for the children themselves and their
societies and really for the entire global community. And the
impact is felt most by girls who are two and a half to three
times as likely to be out of school as boys in countries
affected by conflict.
The global response to this tremendous need has not kept
pace. In 2016, education was only 2.7 percent of humanitarian
aid. Robust funding of global education programs must become an
essential part of humanitarian assistance.
We applaud the Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations
and Related Programs for supporting many life-changing
educational programs. Of course, the U.S. cannot tackle this
global challenge alone and needs to support multilateral
efforts as well.
Education Cannot Wait is the first global movement and fund
dedicated to education in emergencies and protracted crises. It
was established during the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016 to
reposition education as a priority on the humanitarian agenda,
promote a more collaborative approach among actors on the
ground, and foster additional funding to ensure that every
crisis-affected child and young person is in school.
To date, ECW has raised over $336 million for both rapid
response and multiyear funding platforms. This includes one $21
million contribution from the U.S. at ECW's launch in 2016. By
2021, ECW aims to reach 8.9 million children, half of whom will
be girls. But it needs the support and leadership of the U.S.
On behalf of JRS/USA, I urge the subcommittee to support at
least $925 million in funding for basic education programs and
to support at least $21 million in additional funding for
Education Cannot Wait. Thank you.
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The Chairwoman. Thank you. This is an outstanding panel. I
know we could continue the discussion but we are going to have
to vote shortly. Thank you.
Our next panel is Mr. Nick Larigakis, president and chief
executive officer of the American Hellenic Institute; Ms.
Anastasia Staten, chair and board Member of HALO Trust USA; and
Mr. Van Krikorian, co-chair of the Armenian Assembly of
America.
I thank you for joining us today. We are going to have your
full testimony in the record and if you would care to, we would
appreciate if you would summarize your testimony now. Thank
you.
----------
Tuesday, March 12, 2019.
FUNDING FOR GREECE AND CYPRUS THAT HELP TO FACILITATE AND PROJECT U.S.
INTERESTS IN THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN; STATE DEPARTMENT CONVENTIONAL
WEAPONS DESTRUCTION PROGRAM; U.S. ASSISTANCE AND POLICY IN THE SOUTH
CAUCUS REGION
WITNESSES
NICK LARIGAKIS, PRESIDENT AND COO, AMERICAN HELLENIC INSTITUTE
ANASTASIA STATEN, CHAIR OF THE BOARD, THE HALO TRUST, USA
VAN KRIKORIAN, CO-CHAIR OF THE ARMENIAN ASSEMBLE OF AMERICA BOARD OF
TRUSTEES
Opening Statement of Ms. Staten
Ms. Staten. Chairwoman Lowey, Ranking Member Rogers, and
members of the subcommittee, thank you for allowing me to
present today. My name is Anastasia Staten and I am here
representing HALO Trust USA.
As the world's largest humanitarian demining organization,
HALO leads the effort to protect lives and restore livelihoods
of those affected by conflict. We remove and destroy landmines,
cluster bombs and IEDs, and help secure weapons that could fall
into terrorist groups' hands. For more than 20 years now, HALO
has been a partner of the State Department's Conventional
Weapons Destruction Program, and is the sole implementer of
USAID's demining program in Nagorno Karabakh.
I am honored to have the opportunity to draw your attention
to these critical programs and implore you to increase support
for the State Department's Conventional Weapons Destruction
Program to a level of $219 million in Fiscal Year 2020. This
investment will fund demining and weapons destruction efforts
in approximately 40 countries and territories from Guatemala to
Angola, from Kosovo to Laos.
As you know, the Conventional Weapons Destruction Program
has three primary goals, and for the sake of time I will
briefly review them--enhance regional security by destroying
weapons at the risk of diversion to violent non-state actors;
to clear debris of war, thereby returning land to safe and
productive use; and to promote U.S. foreign policy.
But the most important benefit of these programs and to be
honest, what gets most of us out of bed each day, is saving
lives. The latest Landmine Monitor Report recorded 7,200
landmine and cluster bomb casualties in 2017. The vast majority
of casualties were not soldiers but civilians. And, tragically,
more than 2,400 of them were children.
I am often reminded of a family I met two years ago, while
observing the demining operations in Cambodia. A husband and
wife approached me and told me that they had lost their son
just 2 weeks prior; their 17-year-old boy had been on a tractor
earning small extra dollars for his family. Unfortunately, the
tractor ran over an anti-tank mine and he was killed instantly.
Landmines and other debris of war kill indiscriminately and we
must make every effort to eliminate these threats.
Conventional Weapons Destruction activities also promote
economic development that transforms people's lives. Within
weeks of landmine clearance, refugees and families can return
home, plant crops, and allow cattle to graze. Demining creates
safe access to markets and enables the construction of schools,
hospitals and other vital infrastructure.
Many State Department partners like HALO further empower
communities by employing a local workforce and in many
countries these are war widows, women and other sole providers
for their families. This means that the men and women of HALO
are helping their own communities transition from the fields of
battle into safe and thriving homes and workplaces. These
programs also support security objectives through destruction
of insecure weapons such as shoulder-launched missiles capable
of downing civilian aircraft.
People aren't the only victims of mines. Wildlife suffers
as well. The presence of mines in Southeast Angola near the
headwaters of the Okavango Delta, have led to the deaths of
elephants, hampered efforts to conduct biodiversity research
and interfered with anti-poaching activities.
Since 1993, the U.S. has led global demining efforts,
provided assistance to more than 100 countries, and helped over
17 of them reach mine-free status.
For this reason, we ask the subcommittee to consider
increasing support for this program to a level of $219 million.
At the HALO Trust, we could not be more proud of our work and
grateful for your funding and partnership. Thank you for your
time today.
The Chairwoman. Thank you.
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Opening Statement of Mr. Larigakis
We will now hear from Mr. Larigakis.
Mr. Larigakis. I will read fast. Good afternoon, Chairwoman
Lowey and distinguished members of the subcommittee. On behalf
of the nationwide membership of the American Hellenic
Institute, thank you for the invitation to testify on Fiscal
Year 2020 programs impacting the United States' interest in the
eastern Mediterranean.
In keeping with the best interest of the United States, AHI
opposes any assistance the administration will request for
Turkey until Turkey withdraws all of its troops and illegal
settlers from Cyprus and ceases and desists its acts of
aggression in the Aegean, which are in violation of
international law. We also oppose any reduction in the
administration's proposed aid level of $5.7 million for the
U.N. Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus.
AHI applauds the Fiscal Year 2019 $1 million enacted
funding level for NATO ally Greece's IMET program and supports
Fiscal Year 2020 investment of $1.2 million. The U.S. strategic
interest in Southeastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean,
significant commerce and energy sources transit through the
region.
Greece, a dependable NATO ally, is an ideal strategic
partner for the United States. With its centuries enduring
presence, its close cultural, political and economic ties to
the broader region and to neighboring western-oriented
frontline countries that share democratic principles such as
Israel and Cyprus, Greece is strategically situated for the
protection of U.S. interest by virtue of its geography and by
being home to the most important U.S. military facility in the
Mediterranean Sea--NSA, Souda Bay, located on the island of
Crete.
Greece is an immensely valuable link, a pillar of stability
in the region as high level U.S. government officials have
noted. Greece is also a frontline state in the fight against
terrorism. Greece is one of five NATO members that spent a
minimum of 2 percent of GDP on defense expenditures, second
only to the United States by percentage, hence our Fiscal Year
2020 programmatic request of $1.2 million request for IMET
program.
The IMET program advances the professional military
education of the Greek Armed Forces and enhances
interoperability with the United States and NATO forces.
Our recommended funding request will be an effective
investment toward a key component of U.S. security assistance
in an increasingly critical region.
Going on 45 years, Turkey illegally occupies the Republic
of Cyprus, a member of the European Union and a nation with
which the U.S. has a strategic partnership. AHI recommends
appropriations language that any assistance provided to Cyprus
by this subcommittee should be foremost to ensure that United
Nations peacekeeping forces in Cyprus can fully implement its
mandate.
Turkey is also a threat in energy security and U.S.
interests and has exercised gunboat diplomacy. We welcome the
U.S. continued support for Cyprus' right to develop its natural
resources, especially as ExxonMobil announced last month the
largest fund thus far in Cypriot waters. Further, Turkey's $2.5
billion purchase of S-400 missiles from Russia concerns our
NATO partners and is contrary to U.S. interests.
Until resolved, AHI strongly recommends similar
appropriations language regarding a report to the Congress on
Turkey for the F-35.
For all these reasons including the suppression of
religious freedom for the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the world's
oldest Christian church, we continue to oppose aid for Turkey
including the most favorite nation trade benefits. AHI welcomes
the Administration's intention to terminate preferential trade
status under the Generalized System of Preferences program.
Finally, the region's stability took a step forward with
the ratified Prespes Agreement between Greece and north
Macedonia. However, we ask the subcommittee for continued
oversight of any assistance provided to North Macedonia to
ensure it adheres to the agreement's principles.
Again, thank you for the opportunity to present today.
The Chairwoman. Thank you.
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Opening Statement of Mr. Krikorian
The Chairwoman. Thank you. Mr. Van Krikorian. Please
proceed.
Mr. Krikorian. Thank you, Congresswoman Lowey and members
of the panel, and I will be brief. I will only make three
points because I appreciate we are pressed for time.
And perhaps even counter-intuitively, I am going to start
by paying my respects to the HALO Trust and Anastasia rather
than jumping directly in to my own agenda. I think the work
they do is critical. We support their request fully.
I am honored to be on the same panel. Last year, the HALO
Trust lost three members doing demining activities near
Armenia, two members were injured. And our hearts go out to all
of them. We respect the work that they do. Our organization has
raised funds privately to help in those efforts.
And in that regard I think this committee could do a world
of good if it removed restrictions on USAID to them removing
mines based on artificial Soviet borders. Our really deepest
respect and sympathy.
Second, I want to pick up on Congresswoman Frankel's
excellent question to the sixth panel. Of course, the American
Bar Association representative made a great point. IFES made a
great point about democracy backsliding and what do we do about
corruption. It is a question that those of us who work in this
area struggle with. It is what the U.S. wants to see, the idea
is the more democracy there is, the better. But then between
that general concept and what actually happens, there is
usually a big gap.
How can the U.S. specifically help? First of all, reward
people who have made progress toward democracy. And second of
all, when it comes to corruption, I think the United States has
to look at whether examples are made of corrupt individuals.
In the United States, how did--to go back--Eliot Ness did
it. They targeted high profile people who were corrupt and they
went after them. The United States still uses that philosophy
successfully. The fact that we fund statutes or are writing
statutes and laws and things when judges themselves can be
corrupt is completely counterproductive.
In our experience, going after people even if it is years
later to say you cannot get away with this, there will be
consequences, the rule of law will apply, is the best approach.
And I would expect that if countries were analyzed based on
that, it doesn't always have to be punitive, it can also be a
reconciliation type of process where people acknowledge what
they have taken, give it back I think might be a good metric
for this committee and the United States to start using.
Apropos of that, I think the United States looking itself
and I was glad to see and we were glad to see that the
Department of Justice is going to start more actively enforcing
the Foreign Agent Registration Act. I would be remiss if I did
not note the last organization scheduled to testify today has
been clearly identified as one that benefits from corrupt funds
from a foreign government and has not reported under the
Foreign Agent Registration Act, nor has it reported under
Congress' lobbying laws. The United States needs to look at its
own rules.
Finally, with respect to our specific request, yes, I think
Congresswoman Frankel picked up, Armenia had a remarkable year.
Economists objectively named it the country of the year because
of the democratic changes, a peaceful change in government,
extremely clean elections, rule of law, you name it, across the
board. And Time Magazine named the current leader of Armenia
Crusader for Democracy.
The kudos even, if you look at the State Department from
the U.S. trade representative and others--I am going to make it
under the time, don't worry--were remarkable. And that is why
we are asking for something substantially more. We are asking
for $100 million in economic and democracy aid to Armenia. We
are asking for $10 million in FMF and IMET. We are asking for
another $20 million because Armenia has resettled refugees from
Syria and the Middle East and given them safe haven.
And we are expecting more, frankly. We don't know what is
going to happen in the Middle East, frankly, and we are
concerned about that. And finally, we are asking for $25
million to Nagorno Karabakh, for the benefit of Nagorno
Karabakh which is one of the places where the HALO Trust works,
but has also been a model of democracy in the region.
How did I do?
The Chairwoman. Very good.
Mr. Krikorian. Okay.
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The Chairwoman. Thank you for your understanding.
Thank you and welcome. We will begin with Mr. Raffi
Karakashian and then Heather Ignatius and Ronnate Asirwatham.
Thank you very much.
----------
Tuesday, March 12, 2019.
ARMENIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY AND U.S. FOREIGN ASSISTANCE POLICY; GLOBAL
HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT, INCLUDING GLOBAL HEALTH SECURITY, MALARIA,
MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH AND INNOVATION; GLOBAL BASIC EDUCATION
PROGRAMS
WITNESSES
RAFFI N. KARAKASHIAN, GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS DIRECTOR, ARMENIAN NATIONAL
COMMITTEE OF AMERICA
HEATHER IGNATIUS, DIRECTOR OF US AND GLOBAL ADVOCACY, PATH
RONNATE ASIRWATHAM, SENIOR POLICY ADVISOR, GLOBAL CAMPAIGN FOR
EDUCATION
Opening Statement of Mr. Karakashian
Mr. Karakashian. Thank you, Chairwoman Lowey, Ranking
Member Rogers, and members of the subcommittee. Thank you for
the opportunity to represent the Armenian National Committee of
America to share our community's Fiscal Year 2020 foreign
assistance priorities.
As you know, we deeply value the U.S.-Armenia friendship
and we were particularly honored last year to be joined by
Armenia's new president at an event the ANCA hosted on Capitol
Hill marking a century of U.S.-Armenia relations.
Today, with the generous help of our Congress, Armenia is a
strong friend of the United States, having sent troops to
support our operations in Kosovo and Afghanistan and working to
address a range of regional challenges.
Nagorno Karabakh, with the support of direct U.S.
assistance stands today as a constructive partner in the search
for a democratic and lasting peace in the Caucasus. It is in
this spirit of friendship and shared democratic values that we
come to you with our priorities for the coming Fiscal Year.
First, an allocation of at least $6 million in assistance
for Nagorno Karabakh. We want to thank the subcommittee for its
longstanding support for this program dating back to Fiscal
Year 1998. The HALO Trust, with the support of this
subcommittee, is close to declaring Karabakh mine-free, but
needs continued funds to complete its life-saving work.
In addition to demining, we urge this panel to support the
operations of Karabakh-based rehabilitation centers which serve
children, adults, and seniors with physical and mental
disabilities. Besides meeting vital needs, U.S. aid to Karabakh
also represents a confidence-building measure toward peace and
a real investment in freedom.
Second, an appropriation of at least $30 million in
economic assistance and $10 million in military assistance for
Armenia. In the aftermath of Armenia's constitutional and
political transition and recent free and fair elections, we
want to share our special thanks with the subcommittee for its
longstanding leadership in fostering the bilateral friendship
of our two nations and to seek your continued support for
strengthening Armenia's independence.
Armenia, a Christian nation deeply rooted in western
democratic values, has emerged despite dual Turkish and
Azerbaijani blockades, as an important regional ally and
international partner for the United States on a broad array of
complex challenges.
As we continue to work with the Trump administration to
implement programs that promote U.S.-Armenia bilateral economic
relations such as the double tax treaty, we ask you to help
Armenia make the transition from aid to trade by appropriating
at least $30 million in economic assistance.
Third, an appropriation of $20 million to help Armenia
provide transition support to refugees from Syria who found
safe haven in Armenia. Armenia has welcomed nearly 25,000
refugees from Syria with only modest levels of U.S. and
international relief and resettlement assistance.
Armenia has provided full citizenship rights to Armenian
Syrian refugees and has sought to compassionately integrate all
arriving families into Armenian society, but faces serious
financial constraints in meeting the needs of these refugees.
Special areas in need of support include short term housing,
job-training, and social and economic integration.
Our prepared remarks also address the need to strengthen
Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act, the imperative of
cutting U.S. military aid to an over-armed and belligerent
Baku, and the benefits of lowering the barriers to U.S.
contacts and communication with the people and government of
Karabakh.
In the fall of 2017, three members of Congress travelled to
Karabakh to see firsthand the life-saving impact of the funds
appropriated by Congress. We would welcome additional trips
such as this and encourage members of this panel to consider
visiting Karabakh.
Thank you for your leadership on these important issues.
The Chairwoman. Thank you.
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Opening Statement of Ms. Ignatius
Ms. Ignatius. Thank you. And just noting that I have
shortened my remarks to 2 minutes because I understand that
time is an issue.
The Chairwoman. You are a winner.
Ms. Ignatius. I thought you would appreciate that.
Chairwoman Lowey, members of the subcommittee, thank you for
the opportunity to testify on behalf of PATH, a global team of
innovators working to solve the world's most pressing health
challenges so that people and communities can thrive.
As an organization working in nearly 70 countries including
as an implementing partner of the U.S., PATH sees firsthand the
tremendous impact of U.S. supported global health programs.
U.S. aid has saved the lives of millions and lifted communities
out of poverty. Our sustained partnership over many decades
means that a girl born in a rural village in Kenya is more
likely to live to her fifth birthday.
A person living with HIV in South Africa has access to
life-saving ARV treatment. And a family in Vietnam can sleep
under a bed net reducing their chances of contracting malaria.
Polling shows that Americans consistently support U.S.
assistance for global health. These programs save lives and
prevent needless suffering. They help our partner nations
address fundamental challenges impeding their development. And
they strengthen health systems abroad to prevent the spread of
diseases, ultimately protecting the health of Americans.
We respectfully request that this subcommittee allocate no
less than $54.3 billion for state and foreign operations in
Fiscal Year 2020 in order to maintain programs that promote
global health security, women and children's health, and global
health research and innovation.
We also support the allocation of $1.56 billion for the
Global Fund and $290 million for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance,
both which complement and reinforce the success of our
bilateral programs.
We appreciate your consideration and thank you for your
support of these life-saving sitting programs and for our work.
The Chairwoman. Thank you.
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Opening Statement of Ms. Asirwatham
Ms. Asirwatham. Thank you. Thank you Chairwoman Lowey and
thank you Representative Frankel, I would also like to thank
your fantastic staff for your commitment for public testimony.
On behalf of the Global Campaign for Education US, I thank
you for sustaining funding for global education in the Fiscal
Year 2019. The funding is critical as education increases
security and stability, spurs economic growth, and provides
proven results across development sectors globally.
The Global Campaign for Education U.S. is a diverse
coalition of more than 80 organizations working to ensure
universal quality education for children around the world. I
respectfully ask you to support effective investments in
education globally for the financial year 2020 by allocating
$800 million to USAID basic education bilateral programming,
$125 million for the Global Partnership for Education and at
least $21 million for the Education Cannot Wait fund.
The power of education is clear, brighter futures,
healthier communities and increased economic growth for
individuals and countries. U.S. partnerships with developing
countries have helped to build stronger education systems and
drastically decreased the number of out of school children
around the world.
Education is a life-saving intervention for children during
times of conflict. It provides a sense of normalcy in otherwise
challenging circumstances. It helps children heal from trauma
and offers an alternative to further migration in search of
safety and security. Access to education, access to quality
education helps create a future for children where they can
provide for themselves, their families, and help rebuild their
communities.
Fully funding our global education programs is not only the
right thing to do, it is also a smart use of U.S. resources. If
all students in low-income countries left school with reading
numeracy and citizenship skills, 171 million people could be
lifted out of poverty. Education for girls is particularly
effective. When 10 percent more adolescent girls attend school,
a country's GDP increases by an average of 3 percent. By
continued bipartisan congressional commitment to the issue of
global education, Congress can ensure millions more children
have the opportunity to reach their full potential.
Thank you.
The Chairwoman. Thank you. And we appreciate your
shortening your remarks. Ms. Frankel, do you have a question?
Ms. Frankel. No, I yield back.
The Chairwoman. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
Mr. Karakashian. Thank you.
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Tuesday, March 12, 2019.
AID TO MACEDONIA; GLOBAL HEALTH PROGRAMS AT USAID AND THE STATE
DEPARTMENT; RECOGNIZE THE PRACTICE OF UNARMED CIVILIAN PROTECTION IN
THE FISCAL YEAR 2020 BUDGET
WITNESSES
METODIJA A. KOLOSKI, PRESIDENT, UNITED MACEDONIAN DIASPORA
SEVINJ MAMMADOVA, BOARD MEMBER AT US AZERIS NETWORK
LOYCE PACE, PRESIDENT AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, GLOBAL HEALTH COUNCIL
MEL DUNCAN, DIRECTOR OF ADVOCACY AND OUTREACH, NONVIOLENT PEACEFORCE
U.S.
The Chairwoman. Thank you and welcome: Mr. Koloski of
United Macedonian Diaspora and Madam Mammadova of the United
States Azeris Network, Loyce Pace, Global Health Council and
Mel Duncan, the Nonviolent Peaceforce of the United States.
Than you, please begin.
Opening Statement of Mr. Koloski
Mr. Koloski. Thank you. Chairwoman Lowey, Representative
Frankel, yesterday was the 76th Anniversary of the Holocaust of
98 percent of Macedonia's Jewish population which occurred
while Macedonia was occupied by Bulgaria. Bulgaria to date has
not apologized to the Macedonian-Jewish community and we urge
you to use your congressional influence to change this.
UMD serves as a voice of half a million Americans of
Macedonian heritage and Macedonian communities abroad and has
been a champion for stronger U.S. relations with Macedonia. The
U.S. has invested close to $2 billion of aid to Macedonia.
Since 2008 when Macedonia's NATO membership was vetoed by
Greece due to Greece's objections to Macedonia's name,
Macedonian public opinion of the U.S. has been on the decline.
Macedonia's lack of NATO membership also saw a growing interest
by Russia in the country. Russia historically has never been a
friend to Macedonia, always supporting its neighbors to divide
Macedonian lands and people.
The decline has been largely due to the U.S. particularly
under the latter part of the last Administration and especially
under this administration which applied significant pressure to
Macedonia to change its name in order to join NATO while
jeopardizing rule of law and democratic principles. The current
Administration also supported the illegitimate election of a
former terrorist as speaker of the Macedonia's Parliament as
well as allegations of members of Macedonia--of Macedonia's
Parliament being paid to vote a certain way have yet to be
investigated.
For nearly 27 years Greece has argued that Macedonia's name
implied territorial aspirations on Greek lands, how the U.S.
and Greek authorities accepted north astonishes our community
since there--if there is a north, there must be a south. Media
outlets have recently started to shed light about the gross
violations against the Macedonian minority in Greece since
1913, and I invite you to read a BBC article published on
February 24th called Greece's Invisible Minority which can be
found in the Congressional Record.
Our organization has been a strong proponent of Macedonia's
Euro-Atlantic future, however, only under the name Republic of
Macedonia. UMD was strongly opposed to USAID providing
education funding on the September 30th referendum to change
Macedonia's name. The referendum turnout was significantly
under 50 percent needed by the Macedonian Constitution, did not
represent a mandate to change the country's constitutional name
or reflect the will of the Macedonian people.
The U.S. foreign relations and USAID funding should address
the most pressing unmet needs in Macedonia such as media
freedom, rule of law, economic problems and environmental
challenges in the country and not be in the business of
changing or influencing support for one political party over
another or harming a country's right to self-determination. The
sizeable Macedonian Diaspora worldwide which provides close to
21 percent of Macedonia's annual GDP in remittances can be a
partner in these endeavors.
Currently publicly-owned media outlets are strongly
impacted by political parties. These media outlets are used to
push their own political party agendas that may be at the
jeopardy of the country's democratic growth. Work still remains
to be done in the areas of increasing transparency and
accountability of government, fighting corruption, improving
the function of Macedonia's Parliament and the true
decentralization of local governments.
USAID should help also small and medium size enterprises in
Macedonia to team up with U.S. companies to expand trade. And
another major area of funding needed is the help of Macedonia--
helping Macedonia tackle its grave air pollution problem.
Reports state that 2,000 Macedonians die each year due to air
pollution. The U.S. can and should assist Macedonian
authorities to implement collective measures to tackle this
issue as well as give civil society organizations the necessary
resources to bring greater public awareness. Your subcommittee
has the power to impact change from Macedonia, history will
judge us if we continue to take away a people's right to self-
determination.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
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Opening Statement of Ms. Mammadova
Ms. Mammadova. Dear Mrs. Chairwoman Lowey, Ranking Member
Rogers, honorable members of the subcommittee, thank you very
much for the opportunity to testify today. Due to time
constraints, I will try to highlight the main points. The
detailed report with facts, statements and applicable laws can
be read in our written statement.
To summarize, the U.S. Azeris Network request in the Fiscal
Year 2020 aid to U.S. ally Azerbaijan, we are recommending 15
million or more in economic support funds, 1.2 million or more
in international narcotics control and law enforcement, 1
million or more in international military education and
training and 1.7 million for foreign military financing.
We are recommending not to provide any financial aid to
Armenia or the illegitimate regime installed by the official
Yerevan in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.
U.S. Azeris Network promotes a fair and needs driven foreign
assistance based on the three important criteria.
Allied relationship of the recipient state with the U.S.
and U.S. national interests. The--the second, the recipient
nation must have a demonstrated and certified necessity and
need to be able to absorb the aid. Third, legality of the aid
and compliance with the U.S. and international laws.
Why zero out foreign aid and military financing support to
Armenia? First, backed by Russia, Armenian army occupied
Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan and seven adjacent
districts in 1992-1994. The U.N. Security Council passed four
resolutions, 822, 853, 874, 884 in 1993 condemning Armenian
aggression against Azerbaijan and demanding the withdrawal of
all occupying forces. This was reiterated in the Resolution
1416 of the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe adopted
in 2005.
United Nations General Assembly Resolution 62/243 adopted
in March 2008 both reaffirming continued respect and support
for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and
demanding unconditional withdrawal of all Armenian forces from
all the occupied--occupied territories of Azerbaijan and
emphasizing no state shall render aid or assistance to
maintain--maintain the occupation of Azerbaijani territories.
Second, since its independence, Armenia has chosen to be
proxy of Russia. In May 2014, while Azerbaijan with the U.S.
and other 100 states voted in the favor of U.N. General
Assembly Resolution 68/262 reaffirming support for Ukrainian
territorial integrity, Armenia joined a number of rogue states
such as North Korea, Sudan, Zimbabwe to back Russia in its
territorial annexation policies.
Third, as a member of Collective Security Treaty
Organization run by--run by Kremlin, Armenia gets subsidized
arms deals from Moscow on sophisticated weaponry which are
directed against the U.S. allies, Azerbaijan, Georgia and NATO-
member Turkey.
In 2016, Armenia received $200 million loan from Moscow
which it spent on the purchase of hypersonic Iskander-M
ballistic missiles that have a range up to 310 miles and can
reach the energy infrastructure of Azerbaijan and strategic
NATO facilities in Turkey. On October 12, 2017, Armenian and
Russian officials announced yet another 100 million loan to
Armenia for the purchase of modern weaponry in Russia. Armenia
hosts a Russian military base with at least extended to year
2044 and has a unified Russia-Armenian air defense, so obvious
is Armenia's anti-Western position that its ex-president Serzh
Sargsyan openly declared in 2015 that Armenia will coordinate
its foreign policy with Russia, thus rendering its ties with
Washington unimportant.
Last month, despite Washington's criticism, the new
Armenian leader Nikol Pashinyan dispatched nearly a hundred
military personnel to join the Russian military in Syria to aid
the Assad regime and strengthen Moscow's political and military
presence in the region.
Finally, to summarize our position, I need to draw your
attention to the U.S. federal law that prohibits U.S. aid to
Armenia. Section 7069, the House Resolution 2029 Consolidated
Appropriations Act 2016, passed by the U.S. Congress and signed
by the President into the law in December 2015, prohibits funds
from being made available to a government of an independent
state of the former Soviet Union if that government directs any
action in violation of the territorial integrity or national
sovereignty of any Independent State of the former Soviet Union
such as those violations included in the Helsinki Final Act.
Furthermore, Section 7070 of the Act clearly states that
none of the funds appropriated by this Act may be made
available for assistance for the central government of a
country that the Secretary of State determines and reports to
the Committee on Appropriations has taken affirmative steps
intended to support or be supportive of the Russian
Federation's annexation of Crimea.
Armenia has violated the territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan and Armenia has taken affirmative steps in
supporting Russian Federation's annexation of Crimea.
Therefore, based on the Sections 7069 and 7070 of the U.S.
Consolidated Appropriations Act 2016, no financial assistance
to Armenia should be made available for Fiscal Year of 2020 as
it would literally constitute a violation of the U.S. federal
laws.
Moreover, as stipulated in the Department of State, USAID,
Treasury International Program section of Trump
administration's America First budget proposal FY 2018, the
2018 budget must refocus economic and development assistance to
countries of greatest strategic importance to the U.S., ensures
the effectiveness of the U.S. taxpayer investments by
resizing--rightsizing funding across the countries and sectors.
Considering that the fact that Armenia is a Russian
satellite with Russian troops deployed to its territory and the
Armenian commander-in-chief coordinates Armenia's foreign
policy with Russia and that Armenia is of no strategic
importance to the United States, U.S. taxpayer money should not
be allocated to this Russian proxy.
Thank you very much for this opportunity.
The Chairwoman. Thank you.
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Opening Statement of Ms. Pace
Ms. Pace. Thank you. My regards to the chairwoman.
Chairwoman Lowey, thank you very much for having us today and
also Congresswoman Frankel, thank you for your leadership and
my regards to the committee staff as well.
We once thought we could never beat smallpox or polio and
that the end of AIDS or malaria was beyond our reach. Now we
know better. Thanks to the promise and progress of global
health. So I am here today, Madam Chair asking your committee
to sustain federal funding for global health programs at USAID
and State at a minimum at Fiscal Year 2019 levels and in doing
so, we can uphold our legacy of U.S. foreign assistance and
commitment to life-saving initiatives. But to be clear, we need
more than what we have, especially since the budget has
remained relatively flat for several years and it has widened
the gap between our needs on the ground and our funding
required to address them.
Our community, specifically our community of over 75 global
health organizations, several of which have spoken today,
estimate that the total should come closer to 11 billion and be
even beyond that in order to keep pace with demand; however, we
are grateful for the resources that we have received because
they have made a tremendous impact and because global health
works.
So considering current events, you look at something like
Ebola right now continuing to plague the DRC, the Democratic
Republic of Congo and looking at that situation, noting that
U.S. investments and innovation have helped change how local
actors on the ground have responded to these and other
outbreaks. That has allowed those local actors to keep pace
with the epidemic and really keep it in check. However, global
health is more than about a single emergency as we know, and so
we have these issues and partners that are interconnected in a
way that makes progress in one area reliant on our success in
another.
So you look at longstanding investments like HIV really
leading to the creation of regional health and surveillance
systems that are used by government officials, NGOs, the
private sector to mitigate other health crises like
tuberculosis. We have also seen the value of pooling maternal
and child health funding, so for example, a--a parent seeking
reproductive healthcare can also take advantage of immunization
and nutrition services, excuse me, all as a seamless package.
And the benefit of this complimentary programming goes
beyond health to other development sectors like education and
infrastructure. So it is really important to me that we show
this interrelatedness across these various issues, because we
are all talking about specific issues but really it comes
together as an important ecosystem for people on the ground.
And that is the main point I really want to make here
today, is the fact that we need to meet people where they are
as people and the sum of their various conditions. This means
doing what we can to get beyond strict line item thinking even.
Ultimately, we should revamp the way we plan and fund U.S.
global health initiatives, so countries themselves can finally
meet their goals and address the many other health and
development priorities they will face in the future.
So in addition to sustaining U.S. commitments and
leadership in global health, we feel that this committee has
the opportunity to deliberately link overlapping objectives
through more holistic funding streams, excuse me. And it seems
like a radical idea, considering how we have come to view our
government's investments as major programs focused on singular
issues and discreet results.
And we not saying we need to walk away from that, but as we
find ourselves struggling to reach the last mile across several
U.S. global health goals, we should be asking ourselves what
innovation could really put us across the finish line. And it
might not be a magic bullet solution such as a new medicine or
technology, but rather allowing ourselves to be that much more
flexible in our funding and our partnerships.
We see the global health community moving in this
direction, and government stakeholders and implementing
organizations have been operating in a way that allows them to
address these multiple focused areas through greater
collaboration and efficiency. So some departure from a strictly
rigid framework can pave the way even for sustainability and
USAID's goals in self-reliance.
This is really also, I will end by saying rooted in what we
have been hearing from communities on the ground and countries
themselves. They feel that they have a 360 degree view of
factors that influence health in their population, and they
often argue for coordinated investments. And so we are really
hoping to find a way to better structure our programs in a way
that builds on each side--builds on each other, and best serve
the people on the ground with competing challenges that they
define for themselves. It is not an either or, it is a both and
ideally.
I will close by--by again thanking this committee for its
ongoing commitment to global health and U.S. leadership in the
world across these issues. We understand that the world is
still looking to the U.S. given our longstanding history to
define the way forward on the next era of global health, and we
feel that this committee has a critical role to play in how we
respond, not with drastic cuts and disengagement, but
substantial reinvestments and joint strategies that can foster
cross-sector whole of government cooperation. So just know that
we stand ready to work with you on this 21st century agenda.
Thank you again.
The Chairwoman. Thank you.
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Opening Remarks Mr. Duncan
The Chairwoman. Thank you. Mr. Duncan.
Mr. Duncan. Madam Chair Lowey and Congresswoman Frankel,
thank you for the opportunity to testify this day. I am Mel
Duncan. I represent Nonviolent Peaceforce US. We are here today
to urge you to include Unarmed Civilian Protection as a
recommended activity within the State Foreign Operations and
Related Programs budget for 2020 including in the following
programs, Women, Peace and Security, Transition Initiatives,
the Office of Reconciliation in South Sudan.
Unarmed civilian protection is a growing method for the
direct protection of civilians by other civilians using field-
tested methodologies that have been shown to work in a variety
of violent places in the world today. Unarmed civilian
protectors live and work in the places where they serve and
work with local civil society on the prevention of further
violence. This approach has shown itself to be especially
effective in protecting women and children.
Forty-two governmental organizations working in 24 areas
around the world are now practicing this method. An example of
that, in South Sudan where millions of people have had to flee,
women living in what are called Protection of Civilian Areas
have to leave every day to get fire wood. They are routinely
raped by armed actors. What we have found is if those women are
accompanied by unarmed civilian protectors, they are left
alone. That method has been 100 percent successful over two
years--over a two-year period.
In the island of Mindanao, in the Philippines, when there
was a ceasefire called in 2009, we were invited to be part of
that ceasefire. During that time, two armed groups were
converging on a village. The people started to panic. They
started to get ready to flee. The elders called one of our
teams close by who went to the village, in route called the two
local commanders and reminded them that would be a violation of
the ceasefire. By the time the team got there, the armed groups
had backed away and 600 people stayed home.
In Sri Lanka, we would accompany mothers when they would
retrieve their children who had been abducted by armed groups
and forced to become child soldiers. We have appreciated the
help of USAID in some of these projects, and we have found that
this method is increasingly studied, and what has been found is
lives are saved, communities are able to stay at home, peace
and human rights work is possible, and the behavior of armed
actors does change.
So we would urge you to include the practice of Unarmed
Civilian Protection in the State Foreign Operations and Related
Programs Appropriations Bill. Thank you.
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The Chairwoman. This was a grand finale. Yes.
Ms. Frankel. This is the end.
The Chairwoman. Go ahead, you can ask the question.
Ms. Frankel. All right. I really have two, but I will ask.
The Chairwoman. Proceed.
Ms. Frankel. Okay, I am going to ask Ms. Pace a question.
Could you give me a specific example of what you are talking
about in terms of I guess consolidating or coordinating
services?
Ms. Pace. Yes, ma'am. And so I do prefer the term
coordination. I think consolidation can make folks a little bit
nervous. But I think the way we see it is historically, and
this is going back before the days of PEPFAR, we did attempts
to have more of a systemic approach to health and development.
But I think what we lack at that time was this more results-
based program that we have seen since the birth of PEPFAR, PMI
and other initiatives that are very, very well directed.
And so I think what we would like to see now is a fusion of
those two ideas, really because you look at something like the
HIV epidemic and I know that there are people who can speak
better to this who work with the administration, but you see
that we are falling behind in certain key populations for
example. And so if you look at how we can better address those
issues, say among adolescents or among other special
populations, there is an argument for having a more holistic
approach so that we can----
Ms. Frankel. So you are talking about then you fund clinics
or--or programs that do more than just one disease, is that
what you are talking about?
Ms. Pace. Yes, ideally, ideally. We can sort of break down
the siloes a bit. I see it like a house. And so we have been
funding by initiative, and so you have one pillar, one beam
looking at tuberculosis, looking at HIV, looking at other
issues, but that house needs that very strong foundation often
that comes down to a health system, so health workers on data
and surveillance and other issues.
And we have been--excuse me--the programs and a lot of
implementation organizations have been able to break that down
to an extent and go into a community with a package of
services, but there are some limitations to the way we allocate
our funds that doesn't allow for as much integration or
coordination.
And so we are inviting the committee to really think about
how that can--that can be done not just by partners, like our
stakeholders, international organizations, but also by the U.S.
government. And that is done very well in humanitarian settings
for example looking at things like water infrastructure in
those settings and really going in and saying, okay, what is
the need and how we can coordinate across these various issues.
Ms. Frankel. One more, Mr. Duncan, are we not--do we fund
the Unarmed Protective Security now?
Mr. Duncan. It is funded somewhat on a piecemeal basis both
through USAID and OFDA.
Ms. Frankel. Okay, thank you, Madam Chair.
The Chairwoman. Let me say, this was an excellent panel as
well and I look forward to continuing the discussion.
Ms. Pace, what I have found in visiting in many parts of
the world, I would often bring all the people together from
USAID or from other countries who are working and they may have
known each other. I am not sure it is the system that doesn't
work or if the people who are in charge in that embassy that it
doesn't work, but I have seen this over and over again, they
all operate in their specific stovepipes and they are not
frankly coordinating as effectively as they could.
I think that is something we certainly could discuss
further and get your advice about how we do it. Because the
individual people are doing great work, but if they coordinate
and work together, they would be more effective.
So thank you so very much. This concludes today's hearing.
We look forward to continuing to work with you. This hearing
stands adjourned. Thank you very much.
[Additional testimony submitted for the record follows:]
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