At Tuesday's Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) questioned Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00I agree with what you said about it being a foreign policy crisis, the great debt and the downgrading that we just saw.
00:07To be pushing a bill right now that would add $2.7 trillion to our national debt is just outrageous.
00:15And I've been grateful for the small group of Republicans here in the Senate and a number in the House who have just called this out as plain as it is.
00:22To do this now will shake America's economy, give tax breaks to the wealthiest amongst us who are doing quite well and not help with the current economic crisis we're facing.
00:36But that's frankly just something I didn't want to talk about right now where I really want to just continue our conversation about Sudan.
00:42And I know you know, as was said passionately by one of my colleagues, the gravity of the crisis is over there.
00:49Full stop, it's the greatest humanitarian crisis on the planet Earth.
00:53There's ethnic cleansing going on, an act of genocide as described by our own government and others.
01:00People are fleeing right now with the recent attacks on Zamzam and more, but I know you're very aware of this.
01:06What I want to ask you about specifically is that not only did you acknowledge the genocide and say, I quote,
01:13being backed by countries that we consider allies elsewhere in the world.
01:17This is being fueled, you were saying, we must draw a clear line on that.
01:22You specifically mentioned the UAE and you said, and I quote, take UAE, for example.
01:27They are an important partner in the Middle East, but we must be clear they are currently supporting an entity that is carrying out genocide.
01:35I'm just wondering, have you been able to draw that clear line in your conversations with the UAE,
01:40specifically addressing the issue of the supplying of arms?
01:44Well, again, and I'm always, I wasn't satisfied when people would answer this way when I was sitting on that side,
01:51but now on this side with diplomacy, you always want to be careful what you say publicly,
01:55because then people don't want to talk to you if they think it's going to happen in the future.
01:57Let me say this to, we have expressed, not just to the UAE, but to other countries,
02:02that they are turning it into a proxy war, that it's destabilizing the region,
02:06that in fact it's creating an environment, not just in Sudan, but it's threatening to destabilize.
02:11South Sudan already faces pretty substantial challenges, but some of that threatens to spill over and make it even worse.
02:16Can I interrupt, Marco, because I think your answer is justifiable.
02:20The UAE is a vital ally to the United States and a lot of other critical areas of the world.
02:24But it doesn't serve their interest, but my point is it doesn't serve the interest of some of these countries involved
02:29to continue to pursue this, Rob, because instability there is going to create a breeding nest for radicalism.
02:33And I guess what my hope is, and I know you and I can have further conversations privately,
02:37is that we are pressing hard on those people that are fueling the conflict.
02:42But I want to ask the next part of this question is,
02:46the U.S. leadership is critical to end this.
02:49This is actually something that we can achieve, not only alleviation of the suffering, but an end of this.
02:57If a humanitarian quarter is created and respected, this is something we can help to do.
03:02Finding diplomatic resolution to the conflict is something we can do.
03:07Now, there's a bipartisan commitment in this committee, a mandate to appoint a special envoy for Sudan.
03:13We know that that kind of leadership can help address this global, the worst crisis on the globe.
03:21Time is not in our favor.
03:23Are you going to get a special envoy appointed as colleagues on both sides of this aisle want to happen?
03:28We do. We want to.
03:29We'd love to have somebody in charge of that.
03:31We have a similar arrangement with DRC Rwanda and have seen it play dividends.
03:35Mr. Secretary, all I'm looking for is a sense of urgency and an answer yes.
03:39Yes, the answer is, but we have to find the right person, and that's the challenge.
03:44Next, 30 million people in Sudan require humanitarian assistance.
03:48In February, it was reported that, and you heard this passionately,
03:52that the freezing humanitarian assistance is causing untold suffering.
03:59I was there myself in Chad last year and saw the role that we were playing,
04:04and frankly, I saw how great American companies like Plumpy Nut here were doing good at double bottom line.
04:11They were helping to alleviate the crisis over there as well as helping American businesses here.
04:17I just am hoping that you can say that you will commit to resume and even surge United States humanitarian assistance,
04:25particularly food aid, as soon as humanly as possible.
04:27Well, all of that has been approved.
04:30All of the life-saving food and medicine programs have been turned on.
04:33To the extent that there's been impediments, it's been one of two things.
04:36Either, A, on the payment system front, where we faced a couple of weeks where we couldn't get money moving through Treasury
04:41because of a variety of different reasons, including changes to the technology,
04:45but that's largely been resolved.
04:46And the other is the ability to distribute it once the aid arrives at site.
04:50Marco, I mean, Mr. Secretary, you and I have been friends for a very long time.
04:54A sense of urgency is what I'm asking for right now, that every day that we delay
05:00or that we don't plow through the line of defense here, that stopping this from happening, people are dying.
05:06I know you, and I know we can do better.
05:10And as you and I both were taught back in the days we were playing football,
05:12better is possible, good is not enough.
05:14I want to move to my next question for you.
05:17It's the refugee camps, the U.S. main corridor to life-saving assistance, which I said to you I visited.
05:25I'm just hoping that we can make sure that we are doing more.
05:30And I'll be specific in an example of another area.
05:33Despite the escalating humanity crisis, the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service is vital.
05:40The termination of it, of those flights, makes it likely that all of Chad's aid into Chad will stop and end,
05:49and they will have no resources by the end of July.
05:53It can take a week to reach Chad's border from the capital via motorcade.
05:58And so this is a vital lifeline that we were supporting.
06:01During the rainy season, you can't make that trip by road at all.
06:05And I know, again, that you know this.
06:06Why was the award terminated for these flights?
06:11It is, to me, this is just very plain.
06:13This is the lifeline.
06:15And it was denied a waiver, which we reached out for.
06:19It's just, again, a very plain way that we could save lives.
06:23And I'm not sure if it's just because it had the U.N. in the title.
06:26But can we get a resumption of these flights that will literally save lives by getting the resources?
06:33I think the answer to your question is that while you were talking about a mode of transport versus the actual aid,
06:38and I understand how important that is, then the question is what percentage of responsibility the United States should bear
06:43in comparison to other countries that have capability and are actually closer to the problem.
06:48So there is a broader issue here, and that is there does come a point at which we have to understand that the United States,
06:53there's great causes all over the world.
06:54And I'm not speaking specifically about the flight because I owe you a specific answer on that question.
06:58I don't recall that waiver.
06:59I don't recall the denial.
07:00Marco, that's all, excuse me, Mr. Secretary, that's all I'm looking for.
07:03But all I want you to understand is that not every program we've ever funded is going to be funded in the future
07:07because we have to balance these things.
07:09Mr. Secretary, I am aware of that.
07:11I just want an answer.
07:13I mean, there are, this is like Schindler's List doing a little more saves lives,
07:20and I know we are more capable than we are right now, and I'm asking for that answer.
07:25I'll get you the answer on the flights.
07:27And the flights and some of the other things I mentioned, and I'm happy to work with you on the Special Envoy,
07:32there are people on both sides that are willing to do that.
07:34And I'll say in conclusion, because I'm over, but other people did,
07:38I do not want to lecture you, especially because I know I've had enough conversations that I know your moral core.
07:45But what my colleague brought up very passionately about the Afrikaners,
07:51I want you to know as a person that talks to countries and leaders like you do all over Africa,
07:56they are already seeing us not prioritizing ambassadors.
08:01They see embassies being closed.
08:03But the torrent I got on the Afrikaners reminded me of the torrent I got from African leaders
08:10when the president called those countries like those in Africa shithole countries.
08:17The anguish and the anger and the disappointment and the feeling of double standards.
08:21So just from a diplomatic range, where we're in a competition in many ways on that continent,
08:29you and I talked in your confirmation hearings about the profound moral urgencies,
08:38economic opportunity, security mandates, cooperations with these countries.
08:43We have got to do a better job, in my opinion, and I've worked with you on these issues when you were a senator,
08:51diplomatically in prioritizing these issues.
08:54And I will partner with you in any way possible to make sure that we are addressing
08:59what I believe is a diplomatic shortfall right now in advancing American interests on the continent.
09:08I might just, real quick, we haven't closed any embassies,
09:11so I think people are responding to, like, articles talking about the potential for embassy closures
09:15and things of that nature, but we haven't closed any embassies.
09:18And we have been engaged.
09:20Listen, Africa, to me, is one of the priorities that I've set for us in terms of our global view
09:25because of the opportunities, because of the use of the continent,
09:27because of explosive growth that we're going to foresee.
09:30And as an example of it, one of the things we prioritize,
09:32which a lot of people thought was intractable,
09:34was trying to reach a peace agreement between the DRC and Rwanda.
09:37Now, it's not done, but we brought them both here to Washington, D.C. about a month ago.
09:42They signed a memorandum of understanding.
09:44The negotiations are moving forward.
09:46They're actually moving forward very well.
09:48Our hope is to arrive at a peace deal there that ultimately ends what was turning out to be
09:53a very brutal and difficult conflict.
09:55So I take your point on Sudan and the need for an envoy.
09:58We would love to find the right person to handle that portfolio because it has to be the right person.
10:02And we have played a supportive role.
10:04For example, the U.K. about a month and a half ago led a Sudan summit in London for a day
10:09where a lot of other countries, we sent someone, we've offered to be helpful and work with them on it.
10:14But a lot of other countries either didn't make commitments or didn't live up to the commitments.
10:18The summit sort of was a minor disappointment
10:21because while everyone talks a big game around the world about it, they're not stepping up.
10:25But I take your point.
10:25I'll get you your answer on the flights because I'm not aware of that specific waiver.
10:29And on the envoy, we'd love to work with you to find the right person.
10:33And the ambassadors and other things.