At Tuesday's Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) questioned Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
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00:00Thank you, Chairman Graham, Ranking Member Schatz, and good to be with you again, Secretary Rubio.
00:07I wanted to make sure that the point's been made, as I suspect it has been by my colleague,
00:12that reform to USAID and reform to some of the authorities and the spending in the legislation
00:19that we passed in the last Congress is something that could easily have been done with partnership
00:25with this committee and with Congress and should have been done that way.
00:30I wanted to touch on a few things that you and I worked on that I think deserve continued support
00:36and that I think are important for us to sustain.
00:40Senator Graham and I worked to pass the Global Fragility Act in 2019.
00:44You were a co-sponsor.
00:46It was signed into law by President Trump, and it's designed to save literally billions of dollars
00:51by addressing root causes of terrorism in fragile countries.
00:55As you put it at the time, as the U.S. responds to humanitarian crises, we must address the factors
01:02driving instability and violence.
01:04It's both moral and international security to promote stable and prosperous countries,
01:09and I'm proud to introduce this legislation.
01:11I'm planning to work with Senator Graham on reauthorizing it this year.
01:15The primary implementing entity had long been the Bureau of Conflict Operations and Stabilization.
01:20That's a Bureau that's been restructured.
01:25Do you still agree it's in our national interest to have a targeted strategy to address the root causes of terrorism,
01:31and will you work with us to sustain the capabilities we need in the State Department
01:36to continue the Global Fragility Act's work?
01:38Yes, and let me add to that because it's a good example.
01:41Number one, part of the reorg, just because we got rid of an office named something,
01:44doesn't mean the function goes away.
01:46It means that we want to drive that through the Regional Bureau.
01:48So a great example of global fragility, I keep going back to this over and over again, is Syria.
01:54And if we don't, if that fragility is not addressed, there's going to be terror.
01:59There already is.
02:00I mean, ISIS is already growing there and potentially growing even more dangerous.
02:04If there is a civil war in Syria, you're going to have an ungoverned space
02:07where multiple groups are going to break out and not just threaten the region,
02:10but ultimately potentially the homeland.
02:12So it's a great example of how global fragility can be applied to the real world.
02:16But we have to do it very quickly.
02:17We have to be able to act quickly in this regard,
02:19which is one of the things we hope to do by being able to drive this down to the regional and local levels.
02:25I also work closely with Chairman Graham, with Chairman McCall, with Ranking Member Meeks,
02:30and over 100 co-sponsors of both parties to enact the U.S. Foundation for International Conservation.
02:37It was enacted through the NDAA.
02:39There's funding allocated to it.
02:42You stated in your confirmation on January 15th that this was the sort of public-private partnership
02:48that struck you as deserving of support, and I would hope you would move quickly to execute creating it.
02:55It simply requires your signature.
02:57And obligating the funds and appointing the board.
03:01Chairman Graham and I are also working on a similar bill that would address food insecurity,
03:05again through a public-private partnership, a foundation that would rely on as much private sector funding
03:11and philanthropy as government funding.
03:14Do you still support these foundations, and is this something you look forward to working with?
03:18Yeah, and we'll get you an answer.
03:19I mean, we'll get you a decision on that very quickly, which is what you're looking for,
03:22is us to go through and try to implement the law.
03:24I recall the plan correctly.
03:26We'll get to that fairly quickly.
03:28We've had a lot going on over the last four months, but we'll get to it,
03:31including 100-and-something reports that we inherited that were overdue.
03:34We're working through those as well.
03:36But because you raised it here today, if you give me a few days, I'll get you an action on it.
03:42We have spoken about the MCC.
03:45The Millennium Challenge Corporation is a Bush-era initiative that used metrics and accountability,
03:52working against corruption and in long-term partnership with countries to give them an alternative to Chinese financing.
04:00As you've described it, and I agree, debt-trap financing.
04:03There are current compacts active in countries like Indonesia, the Solomon Islands, Nepal, Kiribati,
04:09where it gives transparency and cost-sharing.
04:13You are the chair of the board of the Millennium Challenge Corporation.
04:18I understand from our discussion this morning that you're aware it's in some transition.
04:23Can you just confirm it's going through reform and will not be shut down wholesale?
04:27I can confirm.
04:28We're on the board.
04:29We don't operate it, obviously.
04:30We're on the board, but it's not a State Department function.
04:33We are one of the board members.
04:34I'll be at the chair.
04:35And actually, our deputy, Chris Landau, is serving in that role when I'm not available to be at these meetings and so forth.
04:42My understanding, as of the latest updates that I've gotten with the work that's being done,
04:46is it is undergoing a reform effort or streamline effort, but not a takedown effort.
04:51I think it would be an unforced error for us to hand away the relationships and the competition with China
04:59that are metrics-based and transparent that the MCC has put in place, so I hope to work with you on that.
05:04Last, your testimony highlights an America First Opportunity Fund as a more flexible and responsive account
05:11that will address waste in foreign assistance and be more agile.
05:16But at least as I see it in your proposal, the account replaces $9 billion of programs with a $3 billion account
05:24to cover everything from countering the PRC, countering Russia, aiding Jordan, and others.
05:29Could you just briefly describe how you imagined that math working
05:34and how this fund being sufficient to meet a wide menu of needs?
05:39Well, part of it is we found that some of these programs underneath it, they were scattered,
05:44some of them were duplicative, there were some inefficiencies.
05:47So we truly believe, and what the right number is, obviously, that's what we'll have to work with you on,
05:51but we truly believe that we can deliver on the same goals for substantially less
05:57than what those combined pre-existing funds or projects would have cost.
06:02But what it's going to enable us to do is to ensure that assistance funds are directed towards the highest priority projects
06:09that we may have on any given basis, on any given moment, given global events that are happening.
06:14It provides enough, in addition to these existing programs, it provides us being nimble enough
06:18to deal with a contingency in a world that rapidly evolves,
06:22as opposed to having to go back and repurpose existing funds to do it.
06:26So that's really the goal of the fund, is to be able to move at the speed of relevance
06:29when it comes to global events and not have to wait for the next funding cycle to come across
06:35or work through some reprogramming process that could take time for us to be able to respond quickly.
06:41I do think, as a former senator, I hope you'll agree that there has to be a modicum of consultation,
06:47review, and approval by this subcommittee and others.
06:50But the target of agility, responding to world events, I suspect you'll get bipartisan support for that.
06:56But there needs to be a congressional role in oversight and accountability.
07:00Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
07:02Senator Moran.
07:03Senator Moran.