at 9:00 p.m., we'll have coverage of the french president's remarks from george washington university from earlier today. you can see that on c-span 2. friday morning, in salt late city, utah for the next stop for the 50 capitals tour. gary herbert will be the guest starting 9:45 a.m. eastern. coming up tonight on c-span 3, a look at the 2019 u.s. budget. and the guard and reserve budget and followed by a debate nationalism versus globism. and later a hearing on oversight of the congressional budget office.

the u.s. agency for international development known as usa id is responsible for administering civilian aide and assistance in foreign countries. mark green spoke before a senate appropriation committee on the 2019 budget request. this is just over an hour. subcommittee will come to order. sorry we are late. we are at the state department for president macron and we're republicans, we should know how to run things. we're an hour and a half late. we have to up our game. senator is on the way, he said go ahead and start.

thank you for coming, mark. we have a new senator, i want to welcome her and the 2019 budget proposal from the administration will not make it. we're going to kill it. and replace it with something that makes more sense. if you send a rescission package over here from the house, we're going to can i will that too. so i want everybody who knows about this account and cares about this account that senator and my colleagues on the committee, republican and democrat are going to protect this account and make it better and more efficient. we're always in the market for trying to make things better. it is 1% of the overall spending

for assistance in general. and general mattis said it better than anybody, if you cut the state department's operational budget, you need to buy me more ammo, and he said that when he was head of set com. so to the administration, we want to work with you where we can. but i reject the whole attitude being displayed about developmental assistance. being a military hawkish guy, you can't hold and build without a presence of the private sector and a force that the leader will always be the state department. the usaid budget, we can always make it better. i appreciate mark's leadership over the years. anything he can do to make it more efficient, let us know. i want to let you know that all of those who work on your behalf and all of the people in the

foreign nationals who help us, we appreciate it and that you and those under your leadership serving very dangerous places and i think some of your biggest fans come from the military itself. so with that, i'll go to the -- how it compares to the 2018 budget. it is about a 30% cut. 26% over the 2018 enacted level and 30% over the fy-'17, i'm sure, mark, you've got your marching orders. with that, would you want to say anything dick? >> no so i'll turn o over to mr. green. >> thank you, senator. thank you mr. chairman. ranking member ladies and

members of the subcommittee. thank you for this opportunity to summarize my written testimony, which you you have. i want to begin by recognizing the -- of pompeo. i look forward to working with him closely should he be confirm. in the meantime, we have urgent work to do. from unprecedented humanitarian challenges to exciting developing opportunities, i believe our work has never been most important. that's a clear take away from my travels owe the last eight months. i returned to peru and while acting secretary, sullivan and i met with activists in cuba. urgedtous support seeds of true liberty and democracy.

not only for cuba and venezuela and elsewhere. in fact, mr. chairman, much of the recent focused on venezuela. the vice president and i announced $16 million for the humanitarian response frp the flight. the displacement of families is unprecedented in latin america history. what makes more painful is that it is entirely man-made. caused by the regime's continued mismanagement and corruption. similar crisis. all man made. as i know you agree, in order to fully respond to these cry cease, memphis address the underlining causes. as we lead the world in humanitarian assistance.

we must lead to democracy, human rights and responsive governance. our request includes funding for the programs that support civil society, democratically elected legislature and the free flow of information. last month i addressed the u.n. security council on the humanitarian crisis in the democratic public in the congo. to hold elections by the end of the year. i'm deeply concerned as i know you are, over the reports of ror i have i can human rights abuses in the northern state. i will soon be traveling to ber ma and bangladesh myself to assess the situation. i discussed with you the rising negative influence of russia and

china. you have noticed a global trend -- our fiscal year '19 request includes targeting informs meants in europe and asia, while countering the kremlins influence. china's investment and developing countries -- often, they come with strings attach it had. we must offer these countries a better choice. we should offer to help them on the journey of self-reliance. not burden them with unsustainable indebtedness. managed accounts is approximately $16.8 billion represents 1.3 billions requested last year. we acknowledge that this request will not provide enough

resources to meet humanitarian need or seize every development opportunity. indeed, no budget modern times has. this request attempts to balance fiscal needs at home with the leadership role on the world stage. and our work has never been more important or dangerous. in april alone, we have seen humanitarian workers killed in south sudan and yemen to try to ease the suffering in both count ris. we are committed to extend the reach and effectiveness and protect our staff and partners. we are committed to working closely with this committee to ensure that your ideas are reflect in our agency transformation plan. i would like to say words about sexual abuse by aide workers.

i am deeply troubled by the allegations. sexual exemployeeation violates everything we stand for as an agency. i met with organizations to make clear that usa id will not collarette harassment or misconduct of any kind. we took numerous other steps. this is an issue i'm personally tracking. with your support and guidance, we will ensure that usa id remains as the number one agency. i look forward to your questions. thank you. >> because of delays, i will place my whole statement in the record. i join you with in welcoming the

straight t administrator, both of us have known him for a long time. i think it is great that he is there. i think there's a lot that has to be done with that budget. >> thank you. thank you very much, mark for coming. you're a great choice and i want to compliment the president for being selecting you and i think you will do a good job. the numbers don't lie. compared to the fy-2018 enacted levels, the fy-2019 budget request can you tell us. 36.2% from economic development assistance? does that make sense to you? >> well, i will say to you mr. chairman, i know the president had to balance -- >> does that make sense to you having been involved in this arena for a long time? >> as i said, mr. which i remember -- chairman this will

not meet every humanitarian need? >> so we cut it the international assistance, food for peace program? i think you just talked about more need. 23% cut from the global health program. 17.3% from operating expenses. do you think you can make it more efficient? you think you can save money on the operating side? do you know where the 17.3% came from? did anybody ask you is this a good number to save? >> no i was not asked. >> so somebody made it up. let's see. complex crisis fund of which is vital for the needs of fragile states. we cut it 100%. so we cut 5% the inspector

general's budget. regionally, cuts to economic development assistance for east asia and the pacific, 49.9%. listen to this one. africa, 52.6%. have things gotten better in africa and i just missed it? >> mr. chairman, there are great challenges in africa. >> okay. so i'm setting the foundation that for the people who did these cuts clearly don't know what their talking about. they spent zero time looking at africa. they are making up numbers to balance a budget and i support them 100% on military funding increases. but as a republican, i believe that soft power for lack of a better term, is the key to winning the war as much as hard power. we're going to give you the money and we expect you to do a good job with that money.

what is your biggest challenge as we go forward? when you look at the world, can you give us some indication of what do you think the two or three biggest challenges are and how can this committee help you meet those challenges? >> mr. chairman, great question. i think in an over arching way, the most significant challenge we face is the displacement of people around the world. what is -- >> i've been told there is more displaced people than world war ii. >> that's what i understand in south america, venezuela migrants, the largest in latin american history. how do we reach out to those families where we have children being born in camps and settlements. provide them with basic nutrition, some semblance of skpegs sie-- of education and cc

education. if we fail to meet this, i think 10 or 20 years from now, we will see the challenges reoccur. >> to hold serious, somebody has to get it on the ground and make sure isis doesn't come back. do you agree with that? >> well, when you say somebody -- you know, mr. chairman, we are providing humanitarian asis assistance 5r7around the countr- >> to make sure isis doesn't come back, you're going to need security, police force and army, right? or they will come back. does that make sense to you? >> i do believe that -- >> the answer is yes. okay. now -- but they can't do their job without people like you. so there are $200 million,

$210 million pledged by the country to help reconstruct this area. the money has been taken off the table. tell people how important this is to be present when you take an area that has been ravaged by radical islam and trying to hold it. what are some functions that need to happen and should we be there on the ground? >> mr. chairman, i was in racca maybe two be months ago and had a chance to see the defined work, restoring essential services, clean water, basic electricity, some meds and semblance of education. and i know the military believe it is is important work to solidify victory. we enjoyed the opportunity to do the work because we felt it was important and the fact that our role was carefully defined was

important to me. that's work that i saw on the ground. >> well, i just want to say that the arab coalition, the neighbors need to pay more. the world needs to do more. president trump is right to ask them to do more. if there is no presence, there's no substitute on the ground on the security side and document side. so you're the right guy at the right time and i look forward to working with you and i appreciate you comes to the committee. >> thank you very much. it is good to see you again. i share some of the concerns that chairman graham does. i think there's a lot of distance between the administration's policy documents and the budget. you said no budget can meet every need in the world and nobody is going to disagree with that. but that's not really the comparison. now, this budget cuts so much,

it would degrade what we were able to do before. we see the growing amount of extremism. china's expanding influence. the scale of human displacement and misery today. i don't know how you could possibly carry out the duties of a.i.d. there are fragile states, a lot of states where usaid have no presence. d.o.d. making big investments. we've restored the money from what the president cut out. it's not a good time to say we have these domestic needs. that's really been the -- we have had to face for years. how can we spend this 20% of

your budget? 30% of our budget on foreign needs? we have needs here at home. it is a fraction of 1% as you know. it is not 20% or 30%. if all goes to hell in a hand basket in a lot of the countries, we're going to spend more trying to put it back together. we have seen it in africa and other parts. so are there -- let me ask you this, are the changes you recommend to the fiscal year 2019 budget request, as you're playing under some reorganization. do you need changes in the 2019 budget request? >> we have been briefing the staff of the subcommittee and others on the changes we are looking to make through redesign process and the members of the

committee have been more than helpful in feedback and offering ideas and suggestions. i think there are things that we can do. for example, we're very interested in elevating the role of humanitarian assistance and we talked to the staff about that and combining food for peace and elevating it to be lead by an associationtive administrator. so that is one thing. secondly, we are strong believers in the domestic research mobilization work and that is something that members of the committee have been supportive of. we believe it is crucial as we help countries, that they have skin in the game and help them build their own capacity and revenue collection and budgeting and the transparency that goes along with that. that's a change that we think would be helpful. to be honest, your staff has

been very helpful to us in the process. >> we all agree with that. we have a role. to be self-resplieliant. we have had talented people who were motivated and want to do good in the world. you also have a bureaucracy. sometimes lumbers along and being overwhelmed by contractors or ngos and working with governments who are corrupt and the the money disapiercpears. i created local ones to stay at the local level. i did so because there was a lot

of rhetoric. not happy, small ngos and contractors couldn't compete. for usaid funds. how is your reorganization locals work? >> i'm a big fan of local works and the mote skprags philosophy behind it. our 2017 funds, 60% went to the largest 25 contractors. we want to make sure we continue to reach out work with small partners and dij noindigenous ps and most importantly, the motivations in work of local works will continue to be a key part of the way we approach our work. to me, the journey towards self reliance is building capacity to our workers, civil society, ngos

so they can lead the journey themselves and local works is a key part of that. we think it's a good program. and we want to enshrine the principles in the redesign efforts. >> i want you to look at the -- the mediation we call it as we did -- the secretary of defense agrees with us and worked hard at that t. i will just close with this, time is running out. i will put the rest of my questions on the record. i heard that a recent meeting at the united nations, a senior --

member on -- she says that the u.s. is a pro-life nation, is that correct? what was the context of that? >> senator -- >> because they're requesting -- the administration is requesting $302 million in the year 2019 and that is a drop of 50%. is that what she meant? we're going to drop the money for family planning? >> i think you are references a budget article, i wasn't in the meeting. it was an off the record session. so i can't comment on it. usaid supports a wide range of voluntary family planning methods and the budget request does request $302 million for such programs. so you know, in terms of actions

speak louder than words that's our approach -- >> actions speaking louder than words is a cut at 50%. which action are you speaking of? >> last year no money was requested for the programs and this year $203 million requested. we believe that voluntary family planning is an important part of maternal health into woman's empowerment. >> thank you. >> mr. green, thank you for being here. i want to thank the chairman of the subcommittee. i want to make sure he hears th this. i want to thank the ranking member for saying we're not going to pay a lot attention to the budget sent by the administration, we have a job to

do. i thank you for being here. as i read your background, i can see why you are in this job and i'm glad you are. so let me give you a challenge. two or three weeks ago i was in venezuela for four days. met with the president and spent the whole time getting an idea of what is happening in the country t. is a disaster, economic disaster where the people of venezuela stand in line each day for an hour to withdraw the maximum amount of currency they can take out. it is equal to 20 cents. they need currency to ride the bus to their job back and forth. it is a disaster. in addition to that, it is a public health disaster. they are now facing epidemics in diphtheria, measles and malaria. malnutrition is everywhere.

you can see it on the street. particularly in the legs and arms of the children that are there. from a governmental viewpoint t is awful. they are banning political parties in canada. they have a sham election on may 20th. what can we do in the united states to deal with this humanitarian crisis. we know a -- >> your remarks the other day on the floor were eloquent about the overlapping crisis we see in the venezuelan people. the system is entirely collapsed. we have been trying to provide assistance for venezuelans who fled. this is a drop in the bucket of what needs to happen and occur.

i was down in the summit and listened to some of the caribbean nations who are now starting to feel the affects of the out-migration and it is going to overload their systems as well. we support a civil society in venezuela. the challenges as you know, in providing humanitarian assistance in the country is the opposition of the government themselves of doing so. at this point, while we're able to provide assistance to those who fled and continue to support civil society, there are many challenges with being able to work there. but it is a crisis that is no longer venezuela's alone. it is affecting the entire region and i agree with the prioritizing on it. >> it is a dilemma, are you familiar with a program called world bicycle relief? >> i am not. >> i thought you might run

across it by your service in africa. >> actually, i have heard of world bicycle relief come to think about. >> this s-ram company. has now distributed 400,000 bicycles to underdeveloped count ris. i visit this company and it lights me up what they've been able to achieve. i'm going to commend this to my colleagues here. we talk about the basics in underdeveloped countries. this is a transformative act to give a young girl a bicycle. she can now go to school and get back home and the family wants her to go to school and train mechanics to repair them. it makes a difference in agriculture, public health and so many different areas. it is a modest investment in mobility. we ininvest for the disable people around the world m a

limited investment, but we do. i would like you to take a look at this. we will give you plenty to read. it's a remarkable program. >> senator, that's great. you know, it is interesting, i think we get caught up in the high end and high-tech. what you are talking about is a real difference in family lives and a real opportunity. i think that is great. >> i went to the state and i know you headed there yourself. and myanmar and bangladesh and took a look at what is happening there. one of the ngo workers told me, sadly, i said are the wahinga the most hated people on earth and they said they are. they stop you and say there is no such thing as a rohinga. that is something i never ran

into in my life. now living in basic shelters what are we doing? and what more can we do? >> i do plan on going and eyeballing it and seeing it myself. i have been byrma. we are applying relief there and bangladesh. we are making it clear to the government that we demand access from the outside. u.n. and others. but it is a deeply troubling situation. the state department declared ethnic cleansing. they have not gone further. it is under review and it is a troubling situation and having an impact not just in bangladesh but in tree lan ka and other

places. and the monsoon -- i know the u.n. security council is soon to go there itself and is looking to have access to the state. it is deeply troubling and saddening. i have seen data that bears out what you are saying in terms of the attitudes towards the rohinga. >> they literally have concentration camps. i visit some. where 4,000 rohinga are kept behind bashed wire. guarded by soldiers with guns. it is unthinkable. >> i want to welcome senator hi hydesmith to the subcommittee. >> i'm honored to be here today

and grateful to serve on the committee and look forward to working with everyone. i would like to that this opportunity to congratulate my friend, the mississippi state president -- he worked diligently throughout his career to help enhance global agriculture and humanitarian needs and under his guidance, his sip pi state committed to working with the federal government and private sector to solve international problems. i'm confident that this work will continue to serve the nation as well. i look forward to hearing about the agency 2019 budget request. honored to be here and thank you for allowing me to serve on the committee. >> it's an honor to have somebody with your background on the committee. and as we go through our work on

food security and food security reform, we look forward to working closely with you and the professor you mention sd a valued member -- and an important part of our work. >> thank you mr. chairman and thank you very much administrator green for being here and the work that you and everybody at usaid does. it is appreciated. i will echo what senator durbin said. senator graham's leadership on the committee and the commitment to support the budget that will if you rememberer our humanitarian and development efforts around the world. i want to ask you about the question that was raised by the senator relevant to the comments of the united nations commitment

in march. i know you said you didn't read the article and i would urge you to read it. i think the comments there were outrageous. one of the representatives, valerie hebert from the department of health and human services spoke about getting woman to make better choices in the future. which was, she was talking about the idea that women make bad sexual choices and what happens to them is their fault. before joining hhs, she was the president of ascend, an association that promotes abstinence until marriage, the best way to prevent teenage pregnancy. and stripg funding from the program. we have the lowest teen pregnancy rate ever in united

states history because we have provided access for young women and men to family planning and to health care. and i just want to i just want to point out, for family and women's programs, that a recent analysis by the institute found that for each decrease of $10 million in u.s. funding, 416,000 fewer women and girls around the world have access to the full range of family planning services. 124,000 more women and girls -- resulting in 64,000 more unplanned births. 53,000 more abortions would take place. and 240 more maternal deaths word -- would occur. the consequences of our outmoded policies with respect to how we treat women and girls and the importance of access to

family planning information. is just really seems to be something that this administration is unaware of. i would hope that we are making decisions about how to support women and girls around the world based on scientific information, not based on someone's ideas of what works and what doesn't work. so i wonder if you could tell me what we are doing to address support for women and families and girls around the world when it comes to access to information about family planning. >> thank you, senator. as i mentioned in my testimony, this budget request, fiscal year 19 request, does include $302 million for volunteering family planning programs with

linkages to programs involving tuberculosis and malaria and of course, as you know, we continue to be the largest donor when it comes to maternal health , women's health in the world. and those are programs that are very important to us. with the protecting life and global health assistance policies in place, we feel that these monies will go forward and can be well spent and will make sure that we get sound information out there to women around the world, where were you -- we are working. >> thank you. i patient that. i would hope that anyone that believes we should be reducing abortions in the world would understand the connections between access to that kind of information and a lower rate of abortions and a lower rate of

number of women who die in childbirth and number of babies who die because they are born in an unplanned. in ciso this is -- so this is -- that policy is pro-life as far as i'm concerned. can i ask you about russia and ukraine? because usu -- usa idea is a key partner in executing u.s. programs to help our allies on russia's proliferate and particularly in ukraine and the western balkans and other european nations that are vulnerable to russia's influence. can you talk a bit about what we're doing in some of those countries? >> thank you, sender. and we are closely linked. i am often asked about the pushback on the kremlin influence. my answer is success on the borders. so helping ukraine in the bullpen's to continue to succeed in its plans to fully integrate

in the euro atlantic alliance. in ukraine, where helping capacity building and governance. i had a chance to meet with the head of ukraine's world bank. we are helping strengthen their opacity to increase can -- transparency and accountability . that's obviously very important. the key thing in the balkans and in the ukraine is strengthening their capacity and their tools in the fight against corruption. in my opinion, is much support as we all have for that part of the world, for ukraine and the balkans, the window is narrow. they need to take on corruption. we will help them with tools and capacity building. but they need to make tough choices. they need strong leadership that is really to be accountable and transparent to their people. as strong as the exuberant protesters were for change, if

these countries don't take on corruption, they will see a similar exuberance in protests. so it's in their interest and certainly as friends and supporters of the democratic balkans in the ukraine, it's in our interest to help them in that journey. >> thank you. thank you, mr. chairman. >> hey, mr. chairman. it's good to see you again. let me talk about a couple of things that we need to cover. i appreciate what you are doing to be able to take some of these on. in the last appropriations bill, particularly the northern triangle, setting three, five, and 10 year benchmarks for success. the focus was we don't just spend money and say, look, we spent money. but actually asking the question, how are we measuring success? and how are we partnering with the local governments to be

able to accomplish that? areas of corruption dealing with economic development there and trying to reduce the flow. the basic things that not only our national security issues but are also important to them as well. how are you going to implement those three five-year, 10 year metric plant and how does that -- plans and how does that complement what you're doing worldwide. >> tanks, senator. i did enjoy our conversation very much. i think we think in similar terms. we should not measure our dedication by how much money we put in but instead the results that we get. and those results should includes -- include an all is -- and co-honest analysis -- an honest analysis. all the money in the world isn't going to get us very far. as we develop our metrics, the journey of self-reliance, we

are trained to analyze both commitment and capacity. what we hope to do is align our investments in those terms. specifically with respect to the northern triangle, i got a chance to see some of our programs firsthand. i've had a chance to see some of our citizens security programs in which we work with local mayors and police chiefs to create safe places for families. and to enhance the tools to fight back against gangs and crime in particular. the numbers are quite striking. we have seen a drop in outmigration. we've seen improvement in most crime measures. so the investments are paying off. it's something that's in their interest and certainly in our interest as well. so we support them very much. i'll go a little bit off of that to peru. i think there's some linkages. one of the things i did in the margins of the summit of the americas was go to take a look

at are so -- some of our eradication programs. so we went into the jungles and peru and first, i had the chance to allow cocaine plans, which was an interesting experience in and of itself. but what i watched was how we are encouraging farmers to plant alternative crops. chocolate, coffee, and also helping to build the capacity of local communities to create opportunities, you can eight -- educational economic for their young people and it's a very successful program by a number of measures in those places where we do both the eradication and the economic livelihoods. we've seen a reduction of something like 90% more cicada -- individually -- significantly, the program we have in peru, while a few years ago, it was almost entirely u.s. funded, it's -- we are now

the minority funders, two thirds funded by the government of peru, which is the right answer, as we show them these programs. they are taking over the funding inside of it, which is also a great measure of success. and that is very much in line with the kinds of programs we would like to do in central america and elsewhere. >> i would encourage you to continue to do that worldwide. those are metrics that are hard to be able to think through at the beginning. but it helps everyone. it certainly shows to the american people that we didn't just have a title and a name and a dollar that we committed but here's the result of that. let me switch consonants with you for a moment. the issue about israeli space has been a long-standing issue. obviously some the ears at this point. one of the areas that we have not engaged is economic activity between israelis and palestinians. there are multiple business ventures were the israelis and palestinians are working

together. in the areas where there's cooperation. are there ways that we can continue to be able to see success happening rather than try to create something and say, let's try this, to be able to find areas that's already working and to be able to encourage that. >> thank you, a senator. we have programs that we are supporting that facilitate cooperation and inclusion in the areas of information technology, agriculture, sports and arts, civic education. i would like to follow up with you and talk more specifically about business creation, a small business thracian, and building on some of the natural entrepreneurship that's there. i agree with you that those sorts of programs break down a lot of barriers, break down a lot of stereotypes, and obviously link people by their common interest in their pocket book. i think -- >> there are a lot of people here that think that posting an

israeli's are always separated and never talk to each other. in a manufacturing location or sales or whatever it may be and you find that there is a lot of business corporation. to say, we don't engage in that. my concern is that we need to be able to bless what is actually working and create more cooperation rather than continue to assume that there is division. i'll follow up with you in the days ahead. i want to talk more about that and also about how they are in the same areas of reconstruction. rather than compete and be able to continue to build that cooperation together. thank you. >> thank you, chairman graham and thank you, administrator grain, for testifying today and for your continued service to our nation. i think you've made a genuine company -- conservation to our country and to the world. although you did not crafted, i

just have to begin by saying it is deeply frustrating to me that yet again the trump administration has ignored the will of congress and submitted a budget request nearly identical to last year's request, which was rejected robustly on a bipartisan effort by congress. proposed cuts overall more than 30% and some accounts 50% or even 100% threatened to reverse bipartisan targets on development and diplomacy and threaten our national security. no, i am grateful to chairman graham and ranking member leahy of this subcommittee for their determinate bipartisan work to instead find a solid footing with which we can move forward. so i will continue to work with my colleagues to support a bipartisan and robust development and diplomacy but it, which i think is critical for our international leadership and the complex and multiple crises of which you've

already spoken to. and a record number of displaced people of -- around the world. a lot of fragile states and a lot of just appalling humanitarian crises. so i want to speak about a specific area of the world and my concern about overreliance on security assistance and military operations in fragile context coupled with these proposed significant or even devastating cuts to democracy and develop programs. as i think you know, i just returned from leading a bipartisan and congressional delegation to niger, south africa, and zimbabwe. four u.s. soldiers were killed in niger. we have hundreds of troops in niger. we are also doing important developing -- development work. what do you think are the real drivers of extremism. how do you think the president's

proposed budget for the state department will either succeed or fail in addressing these root causes? >> thank you, a senator. with respect to the -- i think there are a number of drivers to extremism. this is an area that is prone to acute climatic shocks, as we've known. recurring drought has been a challenge. weak governance has been a challenge. what we have started to do at usaid and in the inter-agencies is to take a new look at how we might approach this. so step number one that we have undertaken is map out where we do have existing programs. we have programs in the area of global health and many parts of the region. some of our food security programs. we've also had conversations of just last week with our french counterparts. the french have a deep interest and long history in much of the hell.

so working with them so that we don't do big late what can -- but can compliment our work. the same thing is true with conversations that we've had. we've had a strategic dialogue not so long ago. but i think we are looking at programs, regional programs that promote economic growth, that build the capacity of local governance, but also going country by country and doing a deep dive analysis of what those drivers of extremism are. as you have i have talked about before, there are often localized factors. so we want to take a smart, careful approach and address those head-on. >> let me ask one question. just to bear down on that just little bit more, given a significant increase in terrorist activity, particularly in niger, but over

the last five years in mali as well. the administration pled $60 million to support a g5 to help joint force initiative on top of other security. and what plans do you have for the development side of the g5 initiative and how do we better coordinate between the defense side and the diplomacy and the development side. pretty ugly in countries where i think the key towards making progress is sustaining fragile democracies and sustaining of element progress particularly in the north of these countries that tends to be isolated from the majority south of these countries. >> i think we need to take on your point, too. particularly youth engagement in governance. in many of these countries, it significant. the median age is young. young people see a lack of economic opportunity.

but just as important, a disillusionment with governing structures. and so i think part of the approach that we need to take is helping governments to engage with and listen to young people. we are trying to address some of the recurring costs of climate shocks. so in a place like ethiopia, for example, we've seen a lot of success in building the resilience of communities to withstand with -- recurring drought. same kind of challenges are appearing throughout the region. an area where we're seeking to fosston -- foster artwork. >> i'll just close by saying i think there are good the moment stories in the region. i was struck that he's made a greater progress towards reducing hiv aids prevalence than any other country on the continent. is sharing the burden with the

united states. they've had real positive impacts in these two countries. and we continue to have, as you mentioned, both public health and power partnerships, development partnerships with now a democratically electric -- elected president in both countries. i hope we have a tightly articulated diplomacy and development component to this. thank you for your testimony, for your work, and i very much look forward to your work in making sure we are investing these funds wisely. thank you. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and administrative green, as i told you, when we met, i'm pleased to see you in this position. we served together in the house and it made a country proud when you were ambassador of tanzania. so i'm glad to see you at the helm here. i do want to second the comments made by both the german and the ranking member that the proposed budget for the i.d. and the state apartment is irresponsible. it represents a total retreat from american leadership in

many parts of the world. in fact, all parts. of the road. and it -- i do want to ask you about the situation in syria, and united states air power combined with the syrian democratic force, spent a lot of -- did we not? >> yes, we did. and would you agree that now that we've succeeded in liberating rocca, we have some responsibility to help stabilize the situation in rocca? >> what i can say, senator, is that the role that they've been playing is -- has been a constructive role. >> let me say it's important to win the war. we are still fighting, as the chairman said. there's a real possibility that we don't start winning the peace, at least in the place

that used to be the capitol for isis. and we will lose in the long run. i was very disturbed to see a major piece in the washington post recently headlining how americans neglect the victory over isis. i don't know if you had a chance to see that. i recommend it. six months after the militants capitol is liberated, new risks are emerging from raqqa's rebel. a reporter talked to a lot of people on the ground. i quote, the destruction of raqqa and its slow recovery are contributing -- that the united states wrecked the city but is unwilling to take responsibility for putting it back together. he quotes a lot of local leaders. now i know you were in raqqa in january. is that right? >> yes, january, february. >> my understanding that tell me if this has changed, that in

march, the white house called for a freeze on spending for stabilization areas of syria where america forces -- that we put on hold $2 million pledged for the effort and the state department officials are scrabbling to figure out which of their programs in northeastern syria would be affected. are you familiar with the freeze? >> well, senator, right now, the demonstration is undergoing a review on stabilization assistance with respect to syria. but it's important to realize this does not affect humanitarian assistance. we continue to provide humanitarian assistance in every region of the country. and not only for formula and syria's -- syrians inside the country but 5 1/2 million syrians outside the country and so we are continuing to work throughout the country on the humanitarian side. >> i would just urge you because to the german's earlier comments, they are quoting a lot of leaders on the ground in

raqqa. the comments they make with respect to u.s. aid is it's been -- the first one has been virtually invisible. the second comment, barely visible. i really worry that if we do not engage their after -- there after succeeding with the liberation phase that the militants will come back. now, of course, our success was due to our airpower but also do -- to our allies, the syrian forces, led by the syrian kurds, right? >> i can't speak to the military operations. i can tell you that we've had a close partnership with centcom and the boots on the ground and our work has been on the stabilization side in the area in and around raqqa. >> while you are there, i believe turkey was engaged in offensive operations against the kurds in a different part of syria, right click >> that's true. >> is your assessment that the turkish role today is helping

our efforts or hindering our efforts? >> i can't speak to the military consequences. i can't say it's a very complicated situation. >> has it hindered your efforts in providing relief? >> on the humanitarian side, we provide humanitarian assistance on the basis of need. we provide assistance throughout the country. certainly, anytime the security situation is uncertain, it makes it more difficult to do our work. >> i think the reality is that turkish actions essentially require the syrian kurds to focus on defending themselves from the turks instead of finishing the job against isis and getting the job of rebuilding. i hope this committee will look carefully at that. let me ask you about the internally displaced people because as you know under this administration, we dramatically reduced the number of refugees admitted to the administrators -- united states.

even though the refugee agency estimates that 65 million people that have been made refugees around the world -- we talked about that yesterday. you expressed concerned -- concerned, which i shared you got the people who work festering in camps around the world, including lots of kids, half of the refugees are kids. what we've heard from the as emaciation is we want to focus on internally displaced people and keep them in those countries which is a goal i share. my question to you is, how do we further that goal by cutting 700 million dollars the budget that's focused on internally displaced people? >> senator, as you might imagine, part of what we need to do is ask others to do more. and i think other countries are doing more. we are seeing japan, germany, south korea increasing their contributions. i think we also have to -- i have to do a better job in making the dollars go farther.

>> so you're okay if we cut the internally displaced budget by $700 million? >> senator, as i've said, my job is to make this money go as far as a possible -- it possibly can and as effectively as it possibly can. >> i understand. we want to stretch every dollar to its full potential. mr. chairman, i agree with your statements that cutting this account by 700 million along with the others is a real retreat. >> if we gave you more money, do you think you could use it wisely? the answer is yes. >> every dollar that you provide, i will squeeze and make it go as far as a part -- it possibly can to serve our interests. >> i appreciate efficiency, but it's ridiculous to cut this -- these accounts. >> thank you, administered are green. good to have you here. i'm going to explore a little bit the situation in burma and

in good/. as you're well aware, 700,000 refugees in bangla just. bangladesh deserves accolades for having opened the border. everybody is in a tight spot now. one idea is to -- that they are pursuing pretty actively in bangladesh is to put 100,000 people on an island and say you can't leave. you'll be proposed -- patrolled. will that be -- is that an appropriate strategy? >> senator, as you know, i'll be heading into the district myself. and i look forward to meeting with bangladesh, the officials, to learn more about the challenges that they face. but clearly, as you're pointing to, they need assistance. to help meet the costs and demands of the rohingya population. we certainly have been supportive. but we are deeply concerned, as you are, about the plight of

the rohingya, certainly in burma but also in bangladesh. >> thank you. i think it's important that america has put in $180 million in 2007-2018, which has been noticeably helpful. i'm glad you're going, because it's really difficult problem to solve. the sandy cox's bazaar hill that they are on now it's going to be a big mess as a monsoon hits. we've been working with other groups to make the shelters stronger. but still big challenge and meanwhile, the idea of repatriation is extremely difficult. in part, the military in burma wants no part of it. another at an -- i think groups that have been led in hatred against the rohingya want no part of it.

safety for return is extremely difficult. it's going to involve international organizations having to be intimately involved. is the u.s. pushing for the refugees to be able to return to their same villages, rebuild those same villages, and get the protection of a government that so far has been own -- and willing to provide such protection? >> senator, i won't get out ahead of the state department. i think what you see consistently from both the state department and u.s. cad is that we support the voluntary safe return of the rohingya to burma and demand that the conditions be safe before they do return. i think everyone has concluded this will not happen without an extremely coordinated international response. one is our own president going to speak to the issue of this ethnic cleansing and bringing

the world together to help address it. >> i think the administration has been clear that we have concluded this does constitute ethnic cleansing. >> i'm asking, when is our president going to speak on this ? >> i can't speak as to what the president has said. i'm not aware of whether or not he's commented. >> i'll make you aware then since you are not aware. that disappoints me that you're not aware because everyone in the state department is where that our president had not weighed in on this. and that it's a huge missing factor. and that it's not just weighing in. it's rallying the world to a -- address it. i just request, as i've asked other folks, please that we really want the president to take a stand on this. this is not going to resolve itself. maybe after you come back and study the situation, it will be a good time to encourage the president to take a new initiative on this. >> in fairness, dr. tillerson has visited burma. i

think we've seen strong statements at the u.n. i think the state department has been a very clear that this constitutes as ethnic cleansing. i plan on going myself and certainly will look forward to meeting with you and comparing that. >> you've probably seen the reports by nicholas kristof, who went into this area. the leader of burma invited the world to come and see. five members of congress went to see and were denied access. nicholas kristof got in through subterfuge. these areas. this is what nikki haley had to say. even before the violence started, malnutrition was a serious problem. now there are reports the rohingya, the manager's actions compay -- camping a purposeful starvation. homes are being looted. girls and women are being objected into sexual slavery.

i'm glad our ambassador to the u.n. has spoken out. again, it's such a horrific situation. but it's important that the u.s. rally the world to respond . we all have a lot of respect. in the past. but now she needs really the clarity of the world that this is unacceptable. and it's going to take u.s. leadership. so i wanted to to -- turn to the food budget. i just returned from northern africa. two famines and the refugee camps. 20 million people at risk of dying. are the numbers you are presenting us today, your best judgment of these numbers? >> senator, as i've said, we

don't pretend that this budget will meet every single need that's out there. it's an effort by the administration to balance needs here at home with american leadership overseas. again, we recognize that this does not meet every humanitarian -- >> would you like to see this committee be on the president's budget? >> well, senator, as i've said, my obligation is to make sure our programs are effective as they can possibly be, produced the outcomes they want to see, and that's my obligation to all of you. >> the camp, eastern edge of the congo, when i went in bike helicopter -- by helicopter, there are gangs rampaging through eastern congo, through the villages. young men are being objected

into these gangs after their families are slaughtered. as i was there, there was a major distribution of food. they said they were doing this every month. and when i really pushed them, they hadn't done it in february because they didn't have enough food. maybe if we could get a member of congress to go every month, there will be monthly distributions of food. my point is that food was american food. zeroing out that budget means putting millions of people at risk of starvation. i hope we can work with you to make sure that doesn't happen. >> senator, as you know, the ida is a way that we can provide food assistance. again, i admit that this is not going to meet every need that is out there. we don't pretend that it will. but what you're pointing to in

drc, to me, the great tragedy of the drc is the fact that this is a country pretty much like venezuela. it should be a country because of its vast natural resource, it should be assisting others. bad leadership, authoritarian leadership and human rights violations. it is what it is. it's terrible in so many ways. >> your point is taken. it's a vast criminal enterprise. it's hard to change, but we are testing for elections. hopefully that will give new opportunity for someone to be elected who shares the desires of the people and i was impressed by the new president of somalia. who is a dual citizen -- citizen with the u.s. taking on the issues. if i could indulge one moment, one of the issues that we saw on this trip in somalia was

somalia has lost 80% of its force in the last 30 years. and as i talked with the new president about this, he also noted that it's causing a microclimate problem. the evaporation the provided additional rains. without the forest, it's accentuating the climate chaos. what was the term used? climate shocks. he also noted that the reason for the disappearance is because of the sale of charcoal cutting down the -- this is funding al- shabab. it's also finding everybody else who can make money off of this. the ability to provide an alternative strategy for cooking farms could be a very significant factor in cutting off funding for also bob and cutting -- the d4 station. this is right up usaid's alley.

it did have a significant program. i think -- i wanted to encourage you to take another look at it. and how we could completely substitute some other strategy from cutting down trees for fuel and charcoal. for the village and also submitting them when they leave the camps. they are submitted to a daily risk of assault. that is, an additional piece of that fuel heating problem that could be addressed if there's an alternative strategy. >> senator, as you and i spoke really, in my days as ambassador, i got a chance to see some of the raqqa supported alternatives to charcoal programs that are out there. jim goodall in fact, is a partner in tanzania as we look to replace the weed trees that

are often planted to provide the charcoal with revenue producing coffee trees and other trees that do less damage to the soil. i also agree with you that somalia is a country and a government that is starting to make some progress. and so i think we have in the government there a better partner in some ways. it's a young government. but i was impressed in that meeting that i had with the representatives last year. and so we are hopeful that if their capacity grows, we will be able to partner with them in more areas to provide some opportunities in the areas that have now been liberated from also bob -- also bob. >> thank you. trying to get informed about the role. it's hard to do it here. about the rohingya. the subcommittee provided resources for investigation and documentation against the rohingya. i look forward to

that report. thanks again to mark for coming. you are very helpful. i appreciate your service to our country. if there any questions that need to be submitted by this friday, i asked that usaid spend testimony on the request, which will be made part of the record. the subcommittee stands in recess.

>> french president emmanuel macron wraps up his visit to washington on wednesday. at 10:30 am, we will join president macron as he addresses a joint meeting of congress. you can see that on c-span. at non-pm, we will have coverage of the french president's remarks at george washington university from earlier in the day. you can see that on c-span 2. >> friday morning, we are in salt lake city, utah, for the next stop on the c-span us 50 capitals tour.

utah governor gary herbert will be our guest during washington journal starting at 9:35 eastern. saturday, our live coverage of the annapolis book festival starts at 10 am eastern. it includes msnbc's chris matthews with his book, bobby kennedy, a raging spirit. white house correspondent april ryan with her book the presidency in black and white. why up close view of four presents and race in america. tech entrepreneur with the scented machine. the coming age of artificial intelligence. new agenda presidents and cofounder amy six ends with her book the lift, a wee bye week reckoning of trump's first year. the story of the secret plan to save itself while the rest of us die. watch live coverage of the annapolis book festival saturday getting a 10 am eastern on c-span 2's