JUST IN: Secretary Blinken Testimony Interrupted By Pro-Palestine Protestors

4 months ago

On Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken testified before the House Appropriations Committee during a hearing on the Department of State FY2025 budget request.

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Transcript

00:00 Thank you very much. Secretary Blinken, as you know, your full written statement will be placed

00:05 in the record. Obviously, feel free to summarize your testimony, as we said before.

00:08 Thank you for being here, and now you are recognized, sir.

00:11 Mr. Chairman, thank you very much. Always good to be with you. Chairman Cole,

00:16 thank you for being here this morning. Ranking Member Lee, Ranking Member DeLauro,

00:20 all the distinguished members of the subcommittee, thanks for the opportunity this morning to

00:24 testify before you. And thank you for the partnership that we have had to work to

00:28 advance American leadership in a world at a time when it is so essential having that leadership

00:34 in order to deliver on the priorities that actually matter to our people here at home.

00:37 I think the need for U.S. global leadership and cooperation with allies and partners

00:42 has never been greater. If we don't, if we're not engaged, if we're not leading,

00:46 then we know someone else will, and likely not in a way that advances our interests and values. Or,

00:50 maybe even worse, no one does, and then you're going to have a vacuum that's filled by bad

00:53 things before it's filled by good things. At the same time, we know that the very nature

00:57 of the problems that we face, greater multiplicity and a greater complexity, requires cooperation,

01:04 coordination, work with allies and partners. That's more imperative than it's been in my

01:08 time here as well. People's Republic of China is pursuing military, economic, geopolitical

01:13 preeminence, challenging our vision for a free, open, secure, and prosperous international order.

01:17 Russia is committing aggression not only against Ukraine, but against the principles at the heart

01:22 of the United Nations Charter, sovereignty, territorial independence, and integrity.

01:26 And we've been standing with Israel in its efforts to ensure that what happened on October

01:36 7th never happens again, as we do everything we can to bring about an end to the terrible

01:40 human suffering of Palestinians in Gaza and to prevent the conflict from spreading to other

01:45 fronts. U.S. leadership is needed to address humanitarian crises elsewhere around the world,

01:50 including in Sudan, Haiti. We've seen millions of people in many other places displaced and killed.

01:56 We have to focus, and we are, on them. And also to address, as many of you said,

02:01 the global issues that no one country can solve alone, whether that's food security,

02:05 changing climate, international corruption, the fentanyl crisis.

02:08 [inaudible]

02:24 We will not have disturbances in this committee.

02:27 Mr. Secretary.

02:30 Thank you, Mr. Chairman. But with the support of Congress, we can and we are approaching these

02:36 challenges from a position of strength. Because of the actions we've taken, the United States is

02:41 stronger economically, militarily, diplomatically than we were a few years ago. We've made historic

02:47 investments here at home in our competitiveness, in our innovation, in our infrastructure.

02:51 We've renewed our alliances. We've built new ones and secured unprecedented alignment with key

02:56 partners in Europe and Asia and beyond. We've delivered essential American aid to Ukraine.

03:01 And we've called the international community to share the burden. For every dollar that we've

03:06 spent in Ukraine on economic or development assistance, others have collectively invested

03:11 three more. Now, I know there was doubt about whether bipartisan support for Ukraine and other

03:17 urgent national security priorities could endure, but last month Congress demonstrated to the world

03:22 that we will not pull back when you passed President Biden's supplemental funding bill

03:26 by an overwhelming margin. Our investment abroad does not come at the expense of our strength at

03:31 home. Far from it. Most of the supplemental is being spent here in the United States,

03:36 building up our own defense industrial base, supporting thousands of good American jobs.

03:41 But we need to keep up this momentum. That requires a State Department budget that we

03:45 fully resource so that we can actually meet the challenges of this moment. The FY25 budget the

03:51 President's put forward, requesting $58.8 billion to the State Department and USAID,

03:56 does that in two key ways. First, it funds the essential missions of our department and USAID.

04:02 The budget will ensure that the United States continues to be the partner of choice for

04:06 countries around the world when they turn to us and look to us to help them solve problems

04:13 that they're trying to solve but that are also profoundly in our interest to help solve.

04:17 In an era of renewed great power competition, we have to present the strongest possible offer,

04:22 one that is relevant and responsive to countries' needs, and one that advances

04:25 our security and economic interests. That's why we're requesting, among other things,

04:29 $2 billion for a new fund to build high-quality, sustainable infrastructure around the world.

04:35 Crucially, investments like these create jobs for Americans and expand markets for

04:40 our businesses overseas. We're requesting resources for the World Bank. With $1 billion

04:45 in U.S. funding, we can unlock another $36 billion in development fund capacity to direct to the top

04:51 priorities of emerging economies. That's an enormous return on our investment and essential

04:55 for competing with China around the world. The budget also includes $1.7 billion for

05:00 international organizations, including the UN, APEC, the Inter-American Development Bank,

05:04 to help shape them in ways that reflect our interests and our values.

05:10 We're asking for $500 million to give more people around the world access to secure internet

05:15 and digital technologies. Doing that will support the U.S. economy through the export of our

05:20 technology products. It will also help ensure that we and our fellow democracies remain the

05:24 leaders and standard-bearers in key technologies, including artificial intelligence.

05:28 Our budget includes funding to address global issues that affect the lives and the livelihoods

05:35 of the American people, as well as people around the world, especially the synthetic drug crisis.

05:40 It also funds our response to irregular migration, global food insecurity, public health,

05:44 climate, and energy security. We're also asking Congress to fully fund the State Department's

05:48 educational and cultural exchange programs. They're one of the best, most cost-effective

05:53 tools that I've seen for advancing our values and interests around the world. They support the

05:56 students, the researchers, the young professionals from our communities who study and work abroad.

06:02 They connect us in the world with the world in powerful human ways.

06:06 To outcompete our strategic rivals, we need to invest in the foundation of our strength abroad,

06:10 and that is our diplomatic corps, and that's the second pillar of the budget. Our budget makes a

06:14 strong investment in expanding our overseas presence, opening posts in the Pacific Islands

06:19 and the Eastern Caribbean. As was noted, we want to make sure that we are represented at the

06:25 ambassadorial level and that we have posts everywhere so that we can effectively represent

06:30 our interests everywhere. We'll also continue our modernization of our diplomacy. We have

06:35 reorganized the Department in ways to make it better fit to address the challenges that we face

06:40 in this moment. We're working to attract and retain the best talent, again, needed to take

06:46 on these challenges. We're investing in our people in Washington and overseas with training,

06:50 with technology, with support. We're promoting greater agility, greater innovation, greater

06:54 efficiency in our processes. Last year's enacted budget represented a 5 percent cut from the year

07:01 before. That challenges our efforts to deliver results that Congress expects and the American

07:06 people deserve. So I urge you to support this budget, which helps us address the most pressing

07:10 foreign policy priorities for the coming year and lays the foundation for continued strong

07:16 American leadership in the years ahead. With that, I'm happy to address any questions.

JUST IN: Secretary Blinken Testimony Interrupted By Pro-Palestine Protestors

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