states is joining together to do that. it is great to be back. announcer: now, a senate hearing on the 2019 budget request from whichternational agency is responsible for administrating civilian a day in administering assistance foreign countries. -- one just over one out hour and 15 minutes.

>> the subcommittee will come to order. sorry we're late. we should know how to run things. we are an hour and a half late, [laughter] >> thank you for coming. we have a new senator to the subcommittee. and theto welcome her 2019 budget proposal from the not make it.n will we are 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 kill that, too.

so i just want everybody who knows and cares about this account that senator lee and mike colleagues on the -- my colleagues are going to protect this account, make it better. make it more efficient. we're always in the market for making it better. mattis said it better than anybody, if you cut the state department's operational budget you need to buy me more ammo. so to the administration, we want to work with you where we can but i reject the whole attitude that is being displayed about developmental assistance being a military pretty hawkish guy, you know you cannot hold a bill without the presence of the

private sector. 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 we can do to make the usid more efficient, let know. i want you to know that those who work on your behalf and all of the foreign nationals who help us, we appreciate it. you and those under your leadership serve and dangerous places. biggestsome of your fans come from the military itself. through how will go it compares to the 2018 ajit. it is about a 30% cut. year 2017.ver fiscal

i am sure you got your marching orders. with that, would you want to say anything? is on his way. i will turn it over to mr. green. >> thank you senator, thank you mr. chairman. ranking member leahy. thank you for this opportunity to summarize my written testimony. i'd like to welcome the nomination of director pompeo. we had an opportunity to this and iiscuss look forward to working with him closely should he be confirmed. in the meantime, we have are just work to do. humanitarianented challenges. i believe our work has never been more important.

that has been a clear take away from my travels. i just returned from peru. directorre, acting secretary sullivan and i had an opportunity to meet with activists from cuba. they shared with us this is a critical moment in cuban history. they urged us to support democracy not only for cuba but venezuela and elsewhere. much of the recent summit on venezuela. the vice president and i announced 15 my dollars for our humanitarian response. -- $15 million for our humanitarian response. moremakes the tragedy even painful is it is entirely man-made caused by the regime's continued mismanagement and corruption.

similar issues are causing humanitarian crises in nearly every corner of the globe. nigeria, somalia, all man-made. in order to fully respond to the crises we must address underlying causes. also lead and our commitment to democracy, human rights, and governance. our fiscal year 2019 request includes funding for venezuela, supporting civil society, -- lastically elected year i addressed the council on the humanitarian crisis. to holdthe government credible and inclusive elections by the end of the year. over they concerned

reports of horrific human rights abuses. i will soon be traveling to burma and bangladesh. members of the subcommittee, i got a chance to discuss with many of you the rising negative influence of russia and china.

the fiscal year 2019 request is billionately 16.8 dollars. this represents 1.3 billion more than requested last year. --acknowledge no budget in modern times has. this request balances fiscal needs at home with our leadership role at home. our work has never been more important or more dangerous. in april alone, we've seen american workers killed in south sudan ended yemen simply for trying to ease the suffering that pervades both countries. we are committed to taking every and two protect our staff

partners. we are also committed to working closely with this committee to ensure that your ideas are agency'sid in our transformation plan. finally, would like to say a word about recently published reports of sexual abuse and misconduct by eight workers. like you, i am deeply troubled by the allegations. needless to say, sexual exploitation violates everything we stand for as an agency. i've met with our partner organizations to make absolutely clear that usaid will not tolerate sexual harassment or misconduct of any kind. we've taken numerous other steps and we will do whatever else it is we need to do. irish are you this is an issue i am personally tracking. this is an issue i am personally tracking. we will ensure usaid remains the

world's premier agency. i look forward to your questions. thank you. ofmr. chairman, because delays i will place my statement on the record. i join you in welcoming the administrator. after remember not to come congressman but call him "administrator" with of us have known him for a long time. a lot has to be done with the budget, but the >> thank you very much. you are a great choice. i want to complement the president for selecting you. i think you'll do a great job. the numbers do not lie. request cutsudget 36.2% from economic development

assistance. does that make sense to you? >> i will say, 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, this will not -- and i do not intend it will -- meet every humanitarian need. >> so if we cut it by 39.6%, the international assistance food for peace program -- i think you just talked about more need -- 23% cut from the global health program. 73% cut from operating expenses. do you think you can make it more efficient? do you think you can save money ?n the operating budget >> i certainly can over the 17.3% income. ask if this was a

good number? >> no, i was not asked. >> then somebody made it up. let's see. complex crisis fund. needs offor the fragile states. we cut it 100%. usaid to 5% from the inspector general's budget. regional cuts to economic development assistance for east asia and the pacific, 48.9%. africa, 52.6%. have things gotten better and africa and i just missed it -- it?frica and i just missed >> there are great challenges in africa. >> the people who did these cuts clearly do not know what they are talking about. they spent zero time looking at

africa. they are just making up numbers to balance the budget. 100% on military funding increases, but i what the committee to note that as a , soft power is key as much is hard power. we're going to give you more money, it will be closer to us numbers then we expected, we expect you to do a good job at that money. what is sure biggest challenge when we go forward, when you look at the world can you give us some indication? two or three business challenges and how could this committee help you meet those challenges? >> great question mr. chairman. i think in an overarching way, the most significant challenges we face is the displacement of community and displacement of people around the world. everywhere we look at teams from what is happening -- >> with more displaced people than world war ii. >> that is what i understand.

in venezuela, we now see the largest migration and latin american history. how it is we reach out to those families where we have children being born in camps and settlements, provide them with basic nutrition, some semblance of education and civic education, to me that is a great challenge that we have to meet. if we feel to me did i fear 10 years from now, 20 years from now, we will be seeing these challenges recur. fail to meet these, i fear 10 years from now, 20 years from now, we will see these challenges recur. >> you know, mr. chairman we are providing humanitarian assistance across the country. we have to make sure isis is not come back to the area they used to occupy.

you need security -- if we are going to make sure isis does not come back to the area they used to occupy, you need security. cannot do their job without people like you. money pledged by our country to help reconstruct the area. that money has been taken off the table. tell the committee in your view how important it is for people whenyourself to be present you take an area that has been you arely ravaged and trying to hold it. what are some of the functions shoulded to happen and we be there on the ground? raqqa maybei was in two months ago. i had the opportunity to see the fine work we are doing there.

clean water, a sick electricity. medicine. i know our partners believe that was important work to solidify victory. we enjoyed the opportunity to do the work because we thought it was important and the fact that our role was carefully defined was important to me. >> i want to say they are coalition, the world needs to do more. president is right. they asked them to do more financially and for other countries to contribute. guy the rightght time. i look forward to working with you and appreciate your coming. >> thank you very much. it is good to see you again.

i have the same concerns as chairman graham does. there is a lot of disconnect between the administration policy documents he and its budgets. to disagree with that but that is not really the comparison. this budget is cut so much it would degrade what we were able to do before. see the growing amount of extremism. china's expanding influence. the scale of human displacement and misery today. i do not know how you could possibly carry out the duties of aid. we have a lot of states, countries where usaid has no

presence but the state department and dod are making big investments. restored the money from what the president cut out. it is not good while we have these domestic needs. that is what we have had to face for years. how could we spend 20% or 30% of our budget on foreign aid when we have needs here at home. it is actually a fraction of 1%, as you know. not 20% or 30%. if all goes to hell in a handbasket in one of these countries, we will spend much more is american taxpayers to try to put it back together. we have seen this in the middle east, and parts of africa, we have certainly seen it in other parts. so, either -- let me ask you this are there changes you would

recommend to the fiscal year 2019 budget request? you are playing under some reorganization. do you need some changes to the 2019 budget request? mr. green: we have been briefing the staff of the subcommittee and others on some of the changes we are making to the redesign process. members of the committee have been more than helpful in feedback and offering ideas aunt suggestions. suggestions. i think there's some things we can do. we are interested in elevating the role of assistance. combining food for peace and another organization and having it led by an associate administrator as a way of making sure we have a strong hand in the interagency process. that is one thing. we are strong believers in our domestic resource mobilization work.

members of the many a been very supportive. we believe it is crucial as we help countries on their journey to self reliance that we can help them build their own capacity and revenue collection thebudgeting and transparency because along with that. that is certainly a change that we think would be helpful. to be honest, your staff has been very helpful to us in the process. lehigh: -- senator senator leahy: we've had many talented administrators who want to transform how you do business. we've had many talented people who want to do good in the world. there is a that sometimes bureaucracyg --

that sometimes lumbers along. being overwhelmed by ngos, governments that are corrupt. the money disappears. doing local work, for sustainable work at the local level. not a lot of rhetoric. small ngo's and contractors usaid compete for funding. do you feel about localization? mr. green: i'm a big fan. went to funding, 60% the largest 25 contractors. we want to continue to work out and reach with -- reach out and

work with smaller partners. importantly, the motivations and work of local work will continue to be a key part of how we approach our work. to me, the journey toward self-reliance is building the capacity of our partners. notches governing partners but civil society, ngo's, so they can eventually lead the journey themselves. we think it is a good program and we want to re-shrine -- and shrine its principles. its principles. sen. leahy: the secretary offense agrees with us, he has worked -- the secretary of

defense agrees with us. he has worked hard. a senior advisor for usaid in gender equality and women's and so on -- she --nation..s. is a is that correct? the administration is requesting that what she is meant? we are going to drop the money? mr. green: i believe you are referencing a buzzfeed article.

i was not in the session, so i really cannot comment. what i can say is that usaid supports a wide range of family planning methods. the budget request does request $302 million for such programs. so, you know, in terms of actions speak louder than words, that is our approach. speak louderctions than words is a cut of 50%. what are you speaking about? no money was requested lester, this year we have seen 302 million dollars requested. last year,ning is -- this year we have seen 300 $2

billion requested. family planning is an important part of what we do. want to thank the chairman of the subcommittee as well as the ranking member for basically saying they're not going to pay a lot of attention to the budget sent by this administration, we have job to do. we're going to do the best job we can with the resources at our disposal. as i get to know more about you are good for you this job, i can see you are. let me view a challenge. with the president and venezuela, tried to get an idea of what is happening in that country and it is a disaster. it was an economic disaster were people in venezuela stand in line, each one of them, each day, at atm machines four hours to draw out the maximum money

they can take out. the maximum currency is equal to $.20. they need money to ride the bus back-and-forth. in addition, they are facing epidemics with diphtheria, measles, and ammonia. malnutrition is everywhere. you can see it on the street. armscularly in the spindly and legs of children there. from a governmental viewpoint it is awful. they are banning political parties and candidates. it is determined they had a sham election on may 20. what can we do in the united states to deal with this humanitarian crisis where we know one million or more will stream out to columbia if they can. remarks the other day on the floor i thought were very eloquent about the overlapping

crises we see facing the venezuelan people. it is about 5000 per day leaving the country. the system has entirely collapsed. what we have been doing is provide some assistance for venezuelans who have fled to colombia and brazil in particular. listenedthe summit and to some of the caribbean countries who are now starting to feel the effects, if you will, of the migration. it will overlook their systems as well. insupport a civil society venezuela. the challenge, as you know, in trying to provide humanitarian assistance in that is the opposition to government itself. so at this point while we are able to provide assistance to those who have fled and continue

to support civil society, there are many challenges there. it is a crisis that is no longer venezuela's alone. it is affecting the entire region. youet me ask you, are familiar with a program called -- bicycle relief? i thought you might have run across it and your service and africa. it is sponsored by company in chicago. >> actually, i have heard of world bicycle relief, come to think of it. the company has now distributed 400,000 bicycles to undeveloped countries. it lights map what they have been able to achieve. i am going to commend this with all of my colleagues. this is a transformative act, to give a younger girl a bicycle. she can now go to school and get

back home. the family wants her to notice go because they want to keep the bicycle. they train mechanics to repair them. it makes a big difference in agriculture, public health, so many different areas. it is a modest investment in mobility. right now we invest in a limited way around the world. i would like to commend the usaid and i hope someday you can come to chicago and meet the people put it together. it is a remarkable program. >> it is interesting. i think we oftentimes get caught up in the high-end and high tech. what you are talking about is a real

>> i also went to the state, i understand you are headed there yourself. and in meyanmar and then into bangladesh and what's happening there. and one of the ngo workers told me, sadly, are the row minhingya most hated people on the earth? he said i'm afraid they are. it is something i've never run into in my life. and now with the million of them in bangladesh living in basic shelters, what are we doing and what more can we do? >> well, first off, senator, as you point out, i do plan on going and eye balling it and seeing it for myself. has emerged, so as you know we're providing humanitarian relief as you might imagine as we do in both burma and in bangladesh. look, we're making it very clear to the government of burma that we demand unfettered access from the outside, u.n., and others, but it is a deeply, deeply troubling situation.

the state department has declared ethnic cleansing. at this point they have not gone further. it is under review, but it is very troubling situation, and it clearly is having an impact not just in burma, not just in bangladesh but in sri lanka and other places, and the monsoon season is upon us we makes it particularly dangerous, and these poor people are particularly vulnerable, so we're doing what we can working with our partners. i know that the u.n. security council is soon to go there itself, and it's looking to have access to rakind state, but it's deeply troubling. sadly, i've seen data that bears out what you're saying in terms of the attitudes towards the rohingya. >> they literally have concentration camps. i visited one in myanmar where some 4,000 rohingya have been kept behind barbed wire for five

years. they cannot go out there guarded by soldiers with guns. it's unthinkable that it's the 21st century, but that's a fact. thank you, mr. chairman. >> i want to welcome senator hyde smith to the subcommittee, and it's your turn. >> thank you so much, mr. chairman, an i'm just honored to be here today. grateful for this opportunity to serve on this important committee and look forward to working with everyone. i was at the over mississippi state university over the weekend i would like to congratulate dr. mark keenum as chairman for the board for international food and agricultural development. he's working diligently throughout his career to enhance agricultural development and humanitarian needs, and under his guidance mississippi state has committed to working with the federal government and in the private sector to solve international problems. and i'm confident that this work will continue to serve our

nation as well, so i look forward to hearing from you about the agency's fiscal year 2019 budget request, and, again, honored to be here. thank you for allowing me to serve on the committee. appreciate you. >> senator, it's an honor to have someone with your background also 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 mentioned is a valued member bifad and an important part of our work. >> senator shaheen. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you very much administrator green for being here and for the work that you and everyone at usaid does on a daily basis. it's much appreciated, and i will echo the comments of senator durbin about senators graham and leahy's leadership on

this committee, and the commitment to support those budget for usaid that will further our humanitarian and development efforts around the world. i want to ask you about the question that was raised by senator leahy relative to the comments during the annual united nations commission on the status of women in march, and i know that you said that you haven't read that buzzfeed article. i would urge you to read it because i think the comments there were outrageous. one of the representatives valerie huber from the department of health and human services spoke of trying to get women to make better choices in the future which is -- she was talking about the idea that

women make bad sexual choices and that what happens to them is their fault. before joining hhs she was the president of an association that promotes abstinence until marriage is the best way to prevent teen pregnancy, and she's been involved in stripping funding from hhs' team pregnancy prevention program. now, i think this is significant because one of the things we know now is that we have the lowest teen pregnancy rate ever in the united states history because we have provided access for young women and men to family planning and to healthcare. and i just want to point out, notwithstanding what you had to say about support for family and women's programs, that a recent analysis but the gutmacher institute found for each decrease of $10 million in u.s. funding 416 thousand fewer women

and girls around the world have access to the full range of family planning services, 124,000 more women and girls carry unintended pregnancies resulting in 54,000 more unplanned births. 53,000 more abortions would take place and 240 more maternal deaths 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're making decisions about how to support women and girls around the world based on scientific information, not based on someone's outmoded ideas about what works and what doesn't work, so i wonder if you can tell me what we're doing to address sbpt 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 voluntary family planning programs with linkages to programs involving aids, 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. 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 we'll make sure that we get sound information out there to women

around the world where we're working. >> thank you. i appreciate, that and i would hope that anyone who believes we should be reducing abortions in the world would understand the connection 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 pregnancy, so this is -- that policy is pro-life as far as i'm concerned. can i ask you about russia and ukraine because usaid is a key partner in executing u.s. programs to help our allies on russia's periphery and particularly in ukraine and the western balkans and other european nations that are vulnerable to russia's influence.

can you talk a little bit about what we're doing in some of those countries. >> thank you, senator. and -- and they are closely linked, in my opinion. i'm often asked about the best way to push back on kremlin influence, and my answer is success on its borders so helping ukraine and the balkans to continue to succeed, ukraine and its plans to fully integrate in the euro-atlantic alliance. in the ukraine we're helping to do capacity building and governance. i had a chance to meet with the head of ukraine's national bank last week as part of the world bank meetings, and we're helping to strengthen their capacity, increase transparency and accountability. we think that 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, as 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'll walk at their side, help them with tools and capacity-building, but they need to make tough choices. and they need strong leadership that's willing to be accountable and transparent to their people. as strong as the exuberant protesters were in the euro meydan for change, if these countries don't take on drugs, they will see a similar exuberance and protests of anti-government. it's in their interest and certainly as friends and supporters of a democratic balkans and ukraine, it's in our interest to help them in that journey. >> thank you. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, mr. chairman. a couple of things that we'll be

able to do and taking some of these things on. in the last appropriations bill we included language dealing with the triangle and setting three five-year benchmarks in their success. the focus is we don't just spend money and say, lock, we spend money, here are the program names that we have, but actually asking the question how are we measuring success, and how with we partnering with the local governments to be able to accomplish this. that in the northern triangle area, it's dealing with corruption. it's dealing with economic development there. dealing with drug trafficking and reducing the flow, basic things that are in our national security interest and also important to them as well. how will you implement the three, five-year, ten-year metric plan to be be able to put that in place and how does that complement to what you're doing world wide to set metrix for what you're doing? >> thanks, senator, and i did enjoy our conversation very much, because 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 include an honest analysis of each country's capacity and commitment. if a partner country doesn't have skin in the game and they aren't willing to make tough choices, all the money in the world isn't going to get us very far, so as we develop our metrics, the journey of self-reliance metrics as we call them, we're trying to identify commitment and capacity. what we hope to do is align our investments in those terms. specifically with respect to the northern triangle, i've had a chance to see some of our programs firsthand. i've had a chance to see some of our citizen security programs in which we work with local mayors and police chiefs to create safe places for families and to enhance their tools to fight back against gangs and crime in particular. and the numbers are quite striking. we have seen a drop in outmigration.

we have seen an improvement by most crime measures so the investments are paying off, and it's something that's in their interest and certainly in our interest as well, so we'll support them very much. i'll go a little bit south of that to peru, but i think there's some linkages. one of the things that i did in the margins of the summit of the americas is go to take a look at some of our eradication and alternative livelihoods program. so we went into the jungles in peru, and first off i had the chance to actually pull out cocaine plants which was an interesting experience in and of itself. what i watched was how we are encouraging farmers to plant alternative crops, cacao, chocolate and coffee, and also helping to build the capacity of local opportunities to create opportunities, educational and economic for their young people. 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 significantly i think in some ways the program that we have in peru while a few years ago it was almost entirely u.s.funded, it's now -- we're now the minority funded. it's two-thirds funded by the government of peru which is the right answer as we show them these programs work and build out their capacity. they are taking over the funding side of it which is also a great measure of success, and that is very much in line with the kinds of programming we'd like to do in central america and elsewhere. >> okay. i would encourage you to continue to be able to press that worldwide. those are metrics that are harder to be able to think through at the beginning, and it also lends towards evaluation at the end. but it helps everyone. it certainly shows to the american people we didn't just

have a title and a name and a dollar that we committed, but here's the -- here's the result of that, from that aid. let me switch continents with you for a moment. the issue about palestinian-israeli peace has been a long-standing issue. obviously 70 years at this point. one of the areas that we have not engaged in a lot is economic activity between israelis and palestinians, where that is already occurring. as you know, there's multiple business ventures, joint business ventures where there the israelis and palestinians are working together. the judeo chamber of commerce, for instance, and multiple other areas where there's cooperation. are the there ways to continue to partner where we see success happening rather than creating something and saying let's try this, to find other areas that is also working and help encourage that that's already functioning? >> thank you, senator. we have programs that we're supporting to facilitate corporation 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, small business creation 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 and stair types and obviously link people by their common interests and their pocketbook so i think they are a sound program. >> there are a lot of people here that think palestinians and israelis are always separate and never are talk to each other. when you actually go there and meet them and they are in a shop working right next to each other every single day in a manufacturing location or a sales or whatever it may be and you find there is a lot of business cooperation. there have been some rails that have been put around the u.s. government for a long time to say we don't engage in that. my concern is we need to be able to bless what is actually working and creating 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 how dod and usaid in the same areas and reconstruction and such work together to be able to cooperate together rather than compete and to be

able to continue to build that cooperation together. thank you. >> thank you, tharm graham, and thank you, administrator green, for testifying today and for your continued service to our nation over so many years and so many roles. i think you've made a genuine contribution to our country and to the world. although you did not craft it, 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 and bicameral effort by congress. proposed cuts overall of more than 30%, and in some accounts 50% or even 100% threaten to reverse bipartisan progress on development and diplomacy, weaken our global standing and threaten our national security. i am grateful to chairman graham and ranking member leahy, to paul grove and tim reser of to subcommittee for their continued and bipartisan work to reverse the proposed cuts and 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 budget which i think is critical for international leadership and to meet the complex and multiple crises, mr. administrator, which you've already spoken, to a record number of displaced people around the world, a record number of manmade conflicts, a lot of fragile states and a lot of appalling humanitarian crises. 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, be coupled with the proposed significant or even devastating cuts to democracy and development programs that address the root causes of extremism. as i think you know, i just returned from leading a bipartisan congressional delegation to niger, burkina facea before soldiers were killed in niger.

we have hundreds of troops in niger and we're doing important development work and work to support democracy in niger and burkina faso. how do you think the president's proposed budget for usaid and state department will either succeed or fail in addressing the root causes? >> thank you, senator. with respect to the sahal, i think there's a number of drivers of extremism. this is an area that's 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 interagencies begin to take a new look at how we might approach the sahal so

step number one that we've undertaken is map out where we do have existing programs. we have programs particularly in the area of global health in many parts of the region, and some of our food security programs. we've also had conversations just last week with our french counterparts. the french have a deep interest and long history in much of the sahal so we're exploring ways to work with them so we don't duplicate but can complement our work because our interests are much aligned. the same thing is true with the conversation we had with dvid, a strategic dialogue with them not so long ago. i think we're looking at programs, regional programs, that promote economic growth, that build the capacity of local governments, but also going country by country and doing a deep dive analysis what have those drivers of extremism are. as you and i have talked about before, there are often

localized factors, and so we want to take a smart careful approach and try to address those head on. >> thank you. let me just ask one more question if i might if the two minutes that i have left. >> sure. >> just to bear down on that a little bit more, given significant increase in terrorist activity, particularly in burkina faso and niger but over the last five years in mali as well, the administration pledged $60 million to support a five-country g5 sahal joint force initiative on top of other security assistance and a number of our security partners you just referenced are also goes to be engaged. what plans do you have for the development said of the g-5 sahal initiative and how do we better coordinate between the defense side and diplomacy side, particularly in countries where i think the key towards making progress is sustaining fragile democracies and sustaining development 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 as you point to questions of government, particularly youth engagement in governance. in many of the countries the youth bulge is significant. the median age is young. young people see a lack of economic opportunity, but just as importantly 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're 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 recurring drought. same sorts of challenges are appearing throughout the region.

that's an area where we're seeking to foster our work and strength and, of course, as is we've been talking about in the area of global health as well. >> well, i'll just close by saying i think there's good development stories in the region. i was struck that burkina faso has made a greater path of progress towards reducing hiv/aids prevalence than any other country on the continent and is sharing the burden with the united states. challenge compacts have 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 democratically elected presidents of both countries. my hope is that we'll have a tightly articulated component to this as well as the defense side of it. thanks for your testimony and i very much look forward to working with chairman graham in making sure we invest the funds wisely this coming year. thank you. >> thank you. mr. chairman, and administrator green. as i told you when we met, and

i'm pleased to see you in this position, we served together in the house, and you have made our country proud when you were ambassador in tanzania, so i'm glad to see you at the helm here. i do want to second the comments made by both the chairman and the ranking member that the proposed budget for aid in the state department is irresponsible. it represents a total retreat from american leadership in many parts of the world, in fact, in all parts of the world. i do want to ask you about the situation in syria, especially in raqqah. the united states air power combined with the syrian democratic forced led primarily by the syrian kurds spent a lot of treasure and lives liberating raqqah, did we not? >> yes. >> we did. and would you agree that now that we've succeeded in liberating raqqah we have some responsibility to help stabilize the situation in raqqah?

>> what i can say, senator, is that the role that usaid has been playing in the stabilization front we think is -- has been a constructive role. >> let me say it's important to win the war, and we're still fighting as the chairman has said. there's a real possibility that if we don't start winning the peace and at least the place that has been the capital for isis, that the militants will come back and that we'll lose in the long run. i was very disturbed to see a major piece in "the washington post" recently headlined "how american neglect imperils the victory over isis." i don't know if you've had a chance to see it. did you? >> i have not. >> i recommend it to all the members of the committee. subheeding, six months after the militant's capital was lib rated, new risks are emerging from raqqah's rubble, and the reporter talked to a lot of people on the ground, and the takeaway was and i quote the destruction of raqqah and its slow recovery are contributing

to a growing sentiment here that the united states wrecked the city but is unwilling to take responsibility for putting it back together. and he quotes a lot of local leaders. now, i know you were in raqqah in january, is that right? >> yes, january, february. >> now my understanding and tell me if that's change the that in march the white house called for a freeze on spending for stabilization areas of syria where american forced helped evict the islamic state that we put on hold $200 million pledged for the effort and that state department officials are scrambling to figure out which of their programs in northeastern syria would be affected. are you familiar with the freeze? >> well, senator, right now the administration 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 in the country, and not only the 4 million syrians inside the country but 5.5

million syrians outside the country, and so we are continuing to work throughout the country on the humanitarian side. >> all right. i would just urge you, because to the chairman's earlier comments, they are quoting a lot of leaders on the ground in raqqah, and the comment they make with respect to u.s. aid, the first one it's been virtually invisible, and the second comment, well, barely visible. and i really worry that if we do not engage there after succeeding with the liberation phase that the militants will come back. now, of course, our success was due to our air power but also to our allies, the syrian democratic forced led by the syrian kurds, right? >> i can't speak to the military operations that are there. i can tell you that we've had a close partnership with centcom and the boots on the ground, and

our work has been confined to on the stabilization side, the area in around raqqa. i will just said while you were there, turkey was engaged in offensive operations against the kushds and are free of a different part of syria. >> that's true. >> is it your assessment that the turkish role today is helping our efforts or hindering our effort? >> i can't speak to the military consequences. i can 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 so we provide assistance throughout the country, but certainly any time the security situation is uncertain that makes it more difficult to do our work. >> i think the reality is that turkish actions have essentially required the syrian kurds to focus on defending themselves

from the turks instead of finishing the job against isis and getting the job of rebuilding there, and i hope the committee will look carefully at that. let me look at refugees and externally placed people. as you know in the administration we've dramatically reduced the number of refugees admitted to the united states. even though that the u.n. refugee agency estimates there are about 65 million people that have been made refugees around the world. we talked about that yesterday, and you expressed concern which i share that you've got millions of people who are festering in camps around the world, including lots of kids. half of these refugees are kids. now what we've heard from the administration is, well, we want to focus on internally displaced people and keep them in the countries which is a goal i share. my question to you is how do you fix that by cutting $700 million the usaid budget and focus on

displaced people? >> as you would imagine, part of what we need to do is ask others to do more, and i think other countries are doing more. we're seeing japan, germany, south korea increasing their contributions. i think we also have to -- i have to do a better job in making our dollars go farther and our programs as -- >> you're okay if we cut the internally displaced budget at usaid by $700 million. >> senator, as i've said, my job is to make this money to go as far as it possibly can, and as effectively as it possibly can. >> i understand we want to stretch every dollar to its full potential, but, mr. chairman, i agree with your statements that cutting this account by 700 million along with the others is a real retreat. >> let me ask you this. 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 it possibly can to serve our interests. >> i appreciate efficiency, but it's ridiculous to cut these accounts this much given the threats we face. senator merkley. >> thank you, administrator green. good to have you here. i wanted to explore a little bit the situation in burma and bangladesh with the rohingya. as you're well aware, 700,000 refugees in bangladesh. bangladesh deserves accolades for having opened their border, but 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 basically can't leave. it will be patrolled. will that be -- is that an appropriate strategy? >> senators, as you know, i'll be heading into the district

myself, and i look forward to making with bangladeshi 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 that is there, and we certainly have been supportive but we're deeply concerned as you are about the plight of the rohingya both certainly in burma but also in bangladesh. >> thank you, and i think it's important that america has put in $180 million in 2007 and 2018 which have been enormously helpful, and i'm glad you're going because it's really a difficult problem to solve. the sandy bizarre hills that they are on right now is going to be a complete mess as the monsoon season hits. we've been working with our groups to administer kits to make the homes, the shelters

stronger, but still a big challenge, and meanwhile the idea of repatriation is extremely difficult. in part the military in burma wants no part of it. other ethnic groups that have been led in hatred against rohingya want no part of it so 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 the same villages and get the protection of a government that so far has been unwilling to provide such protection? >> senator. i won't get out ahead of the state department, but i think what you've seen consistently from both the state department and usaid is that we support the voluntary safe return of rohingya to burma and demand that the conditions be safe

before they do return. i think everyone has concluded that this won't happen without an extremely coordinated and international response. when is our own president going to speak to the issue of this ethnic cleansing and bring the world together to help address it? >> well, i think the administration has been clear that we have concluded this is -- does constitute ethnic cleansing. >> yes. i'm asking when is the president going to speak to it? we've never had one word from him on this topic. >> i can't speak as to what the president has said. i'm not aware of whether or not he's commented on the topic. >> well, i'll make you aware that you're not aware. it disapoints me that you're not aware because everyone in the state department is aware that our president has not weighed in on this and that it's a huge missing factor. it's not just weighing in. it's rallying the world to

address it. i would just ask as i've asked other folks please weigh in with the president to help take a stance on this. the this won't resolve itself and maybe when you've come back and studied the situation it would be a brief time to encourage the president to take a new initiative on this. >> in fairness, secretary tillerson has visited burma, and i think we've seen strong statements at the u.n., and i think the state department has been very clear again, this conclusion that this constitutes ethnic cleansing. i plan on going myself and certainly will come back and brief the interagency and look forward to meeting with you. >> and you've probably seen the reports by nicholas kristof who went into that area, but, you know, the leader of burma invited the world to come and see, and a group of five members of congress went there to see and were denied access. nicholas kristof of the u.s. got in through subterfuge, but i hope maybe you can get

permission to visit inside burma these areas. this is what nikki haley had to say. even before the violence started, malnutrition was a serious problem in rackened state and now there's reports from rohingya that military actions are leading to purposeful staff vags forcing people out of the come. homes are being looted and girls and women abducted into sexual slavery. i'm glad that our ambassador to the u.n. has spoken out. again, it's such a horrific situation that it's important that the u.s. rally the world to respond. we all had a lot of respect for aung san suu kyi in the past, but now she needs really the clarity of the world that this is -- that this is unacceptable, and it's going to take u.s. leadership. so i wanted to turn to the food budget. i'll echo the point my colleagues have made. i just returned from northern

africa and on a four famines tour, two famines in kenya and idp and refugee camps in eastern congo. 20 million people at risk of dying. are the numbers you're presenting us today your best judgment, or are these omb numbers on food for peace? zeroing out this program? >> 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 either seize every development opportunity or meet every humanityian consideration. >> well, would you like to see this committee give additional aid beyond the president's budget? >> senator, as i've said, my obligation is to make sure our programs are effective as they possibly can be, and that's my obligation to all of you.

>> on the eastern age of the congo it's the rape capital of the world. when i when in my helicopter and you have to have u.n. blue helmet troops providing security because there are gangs rampaging through eastern congo, through the villages, tons of young men being abducted into the -- into these gangs after their families are slaughtered. as i was there, there was a major distribution of food, and they said they are doing this every month, and when i really pushed them they hadn't done it in february because they didn't have enough food. they didn't do it in january because they didn't have enough food. maybe if we can get a member of congress to go every month there, would be monthly distributioned of food. my point is that food was american food. that food was pl-480 food. zeroing out that budget means putting millions of people at risk of starvation, and i hope

that we can work with you so that that doesn't happen. >> senator, as you know, the ida is a way that we can provide food assistance, but, again, i readily admit that this is not going to meet every need that is out there, and 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 very much like venezuela that should be a donor, that should be a country because of its vast natural resources, it should be assisting others, and yet because of poor governance, bad leadership, authoritarian leadership and human rights violations it is what it is, and it's a terrible blight on the world in so many ways. >> your point is taken. the government is really a vast criminal enterprise. it's hard to change it, but we're pressing for elections and hopefully that will give a new opportunity for someone to be

elected who shares the desires of the people. i was impressed, mr. chairman, i wanted to mention that i was impressed by the new president of somalia who is a dual citizen with the u.s., a technocrat, who seems completely engaged in the day-to-day challenges of taking on the issues, and if i can -- can i indulge in one more minute. i know i'm over time. one of the issues that we saw, that i saw on this trip in somalia was somalia has lost 80% of its forests in the last 30 years and i talked with the new president about this he noticed it's causing a microclimate problem, that is the evaporation from the missing forest was the evaporation from provided additional rains and without the forest it's accentuating the climate chaos. what was the term you used, climate shocks, the climate shocks. he also noted that the reason the forest is disappearing is because of the sale of charcoal, cutting down the forest for the sale of charcoal. this is funding al shabaab. it's also funding everybody else who can make money off of this. the ability to provide an

alternative strategy for cooking fires could be a very significant factor in cutting off funding for al shabaab and cutting -- slowing or stopping the deforestation. this seems right up usaid's alley. they did have a significant program in cook stoves, efficient cook stoves. i think that ran its course and is retired, but i want to encourage you to take another look at it but also to brainstorm more widely about how it could completely subs some other strategy from cutting down trees for fuel and charcoal. cutting teens, by the way, for a village also committing 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 briefly in my days as ambassador i got a chance to see some of the usaid-supported alternatives to charcoal programs that are out there. jane goodal, in fact, is a partner in tanzania as we look to replace the wheat 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 the meeting that i had with the government's representatives that year and we're hoping as the capacity grows we'll be able to partner

with them in more areas that currently have been limited by al shabaab. >> appreciate it, senator. >> senator merkley, you're traveling and all the members on the committee try to get informed on the world to get out and about about the rohingya. there's a documentation of abuse of the rohingya in the 2018 report. thanks again for coming. you're very helpful and i appreciate your series to the country. you're the right guy at the right time. any questions for the record they need to be submitted no later this this friday, april 27th, at 2:00 p.m. i ask that the usaid ig spent testimony on the 2019 fy request that will be made as part of the record. the committee stands in recess.

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