During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Tuesday, Sen. James Risch (R-ID) questioned UN Ambassador nominee Mike Waltz about his vision for the UN.
00:00Thank you very much. I appreciate that. We'll now do a round of five-minute questions. I'm
00:05going to start with myself. Mr. Walts, thank you for those remarks. Really impressive. Clearly
00:11you have a good handle on what you're facing up at the UN, undoubtedly as a result of your service
00:18in the House and head of NSC. But I think you laid this thing out absolutely black and white.
00:25It's amazing to me that the American people get this a lot better than the members of Congress
00:29do, it seems like to me. We've had some towns in Idaho that for many years had a sign outside
00:35that said Kiwanis meets at such and such a time, and this group meets at such and such
00:39a time. UN free zone. And they got it. There isn't a lot going on right now that is helpful
00:48to us. I met with Secretary Gutierrez, comes in all the time to check the box, I guess,
00:55and I go over with him and he gets pretty disgusted with me when I say, what are you doing? And
00:59he ticks off. Oh, we're passing out food here. Yeah, that's our money. What else are you doing?
01:03Well, we're keeping peace. Well, yeah, that's our money. And you go along and say, look, let's go
01:08back to the founding document that talks about keeping countries from trying to overrun other
01:12countries. What are you doing there? You can't even pass a resolution condemning what Russia has done.
01:19What good are you? We're spending all this money. What are we getting for it? And then, of course,
01:24when you get things as atrocious as the fact that taxpayer money, there were people who went with
01:32Hamas, members of Hamas, that invaded Israel and murdered people and took hostages that were on
01:40the payroll of UNRWA, which is on the payroll of the UN, which is on the payroll of United States
01:45taxpayers. I mean, it's just outrageous. You got a heavy lift there. And of course, we all know
01:52what China's doing with their penetration. Your thoughts?
01:57Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate that. I share your concerns. The President,
02:03Secretary Rubio, share your concerns. And these are the concerns of our constituents.
02:08How are we going to be great stewards, the best stewards we possibly can be of their money,
02:15their hard-earned money? There's a number of reviews underway and that have been underway to take
02:21a good look at that and how do we get the UN back to basics. There is good and meaningful work to be
02:28done. And I would be honored, if confirmed, to go represent the United States there. We have the
02:34snapback sanctions with Iran that Germany just invoked as part of the JCPOA because of Iran's violations
02:43of its obligations under the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty. Of course, we have the bold opening that
02:52the President announced in his trip to the Middle East and led in the opportunity in Syria that we
02:59have to watch very closely. But we have a number of sanctions that we need to lift there in order
03:05to realize those opportunities that many in the region are looking forward to engaging on. And I have to
03:12tell you, person after person, official after official, said, can we get, you know, some leadership up
03:19there to roll those sanctions back that the President has now done under his executive order so that we can
03:25prevent Syria from devolving back into chaos? Of course, we have a number of peacekeeping missions that
03:31all too often these mandate renewals, which typically happen every year. I mentioned two that are just open-ended,
03:37that have never happened. Those are opportunities to get better results, frankly, and to question those
03:46things that I laid out. How long, how much, what are we going to accomplish? And then, of course, we have
03:51the General Assembly, the world leaders assembling this September. So if confirmed, there is a lot of work
03:58to be done. I do think there's some goodness to be done, but it must come on the back of major reform. And I've sat in many House hearings where we've talked about
04:04reform. We don't see it implemented. I think under this President's leadership and under the Secretary's leadership, it's time to get to work.
04:11Good thoughts. I have – well, Mr. Regal, I'll take a quick run at you. You know, people in America seem to have a pretty good view of Portugal.
04:19We've had a good relationship with them. They appear to be a good friend. They got a couple of soft spots, obviously. Number one, China's got the deepest penetration of Portugal than any country in Europe. And the second thing is, they can't even get to the 2%, let alone the 5% that we're demanding now. You're going to have to get them there and hopefully bring them to their senses in dealing with China. Your thoughts?
04:38Thank you very much for that very important question. And you are exactly right. They have been, over decades, they've been down at the bottom, 25 out of 32 or lower in defense spending.
04:45It would be my job to see if we could sit down and come to the table with a – the military modernization that they need so desperately. Their F-16 fleet is quite aging.
05:00And I think the F-35 program would be one of my top priorities. I believe if we could sit down and come to an agreement there, that would push them right to the top and then over on their way to the 5%.
05:29When it comes to China's involvement, you're right. I've noticed as a private citizen, I've done some reading where – is it right to have some of the largest companies in China be owning some of the energy companies in Portugal?
05:47Is it right to have construction companies owning some of the largest – CCP companies owning some of the largest construction companies in Portugal?
05:57That probably would need to be discussed. So if confirmed, I would like to sit and discuss all the threats that we have between the energy sector, the construction, and the defense spending with Portugal to get them to do their fair share.
