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at her confirmation hearing to be u.s. ambassador the united nations before the senate foreign relations committee. during the committeehe republican fielded questions out the russia-ukraine war, israel-hamas cease-fire and reforming the u.n. ambassador to the united nations. live coverage on c-span 3.

[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2025] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy visit ncicap.org] no >> thank you all for coming this morning. i just got back from the white house. marco rubio is fully sworn in and installed. sworn in by vice president vance. things are good. we will start this hearing and we welcome the public. this is a public hearing of the foreign relations committee. we are doing america's work and over the years there has been

interruptions and as i said when i started this meeting last time, the new chairman has zero tolerance for interruptions. there will be no interruptions, no communicating between anyone in the audience and either witness or members of this committee. if there is, we will immediately cause the hearing, you will be removed i my good friends here in blue. you also be banned from coming back for the next 12 months. it is important we respect the first amendment here. there are all kinds of places you can communicate outside of this room, but we are doing america's business here and it is important we focus on it, we are efficient and we are always short of time so we ask everyone to respect that. if you don't, there are consequences. with that, madame chairman do you have anything to add? or ranking member? >> i support making sure this

hearing can be done in an orderly way that allows witnesses -- the witness to testify and members of the committee to ask questions. i support the chairman's efforts. chairman risch: thank you very much and with that i will make an opening statement and then refer the ranking member to make an opening statement. we then have some distinguished colleagues to introduce. you have time to sit through our opening statements. i know you both have important things you have to do. your choice. . chairman, if i may speak. let our colleagues go. don't do that to them. >> it's not that we want you out of here. >> can we go? chairman risch: go ahead. >> thank you, chair

risch and ranking member shaheen and want to thank my good friend, elise stefanik for honoring me today to have the privilege to introduce her before this distinguished committee and also say what a privilege it is to share the podium with my friend, tom cotton. congratulations to both of you, your positions on this committee. it's truly an honor to be here to introduce someone who i admire greatly. the job she's been selected to carry out for president trump is not an easy one but is extremely important. in its early formation, it was believed the united nations required u.s. leadership in its creation and actual business of the organization to prevent conflict and to advance freedom. sen. capito: lately when many of us look at the united nations this body that's meant to advance values and peace and freedom and human dignity, we don't see those values reflected and see rampant anti-semitism against the world's only jewish state as it faces

attacks from all directions. we see progressive auto kratz celebrated handel valeted to leadership positions. we see china, russia and iran empowered at this organization to advance their values and not the values of peace and freedom that americans stand for. it is clear that the need to re-establish u.s. leadership at this broken institution, we need to do that. i cannot think of anyone more qualified or more ready to fulfill that role than my friend elise stefanik. i've known her for several years in her career in public service and am excited to highlight her qualifications for this important role for which she's been nominated. as a member of the house of representatives, she's shown remarkable leadership. as a member of both the armed services and intelligence committee, she's shown an exceptional command of national security issues. elise understands the dangerous world and growing threats that our country faces, and she has the strength and the

skill to reassert u.s. leadership on the world stage, a world stage that needs moral clarity and leadership now more than ever. elise has shown that moral clarity by exposing -- she has shown her moral clarity by exposing anti-semitism on our college campuses. she's shown that moral clarity by posting on social media every single day of the innocent hostages taken by hamas on october 2 and more than 450 days later. the united states is a tough place and elise is from new york but elise never backed down from a challenge. at the time of her first congressional election she was the youngest woman ever elected to the congress in united states history. she went on to become the youngest woman to serve in a house leadership position.

she will skillfully execute for president trump and for all the american people at the united nations. additionally on a personal level, elise is a good mother, can you see her son sam back here and she's such a good mother they have legos on the hold ready to go. a great wife, a great daughter, and a wonderful friend. hjertstedty hand and genuine caring nature combined with her fierce intellect will bring exactly that person president trump and the nation needs at the united nations. i look forward to voting to support her when i have the chance and i thank all of you for the opportunity to have her before you today. thank you. chairman risch: thank you very much, mrs. capito, well said. mr. scotton? mr. cotton: senator shaheen and colleagues, i'm honored to be here representing my colleague for the united nations. sen. cotton: she is unique at fighting for

us and abroad and hope to confirm her swiftly and unanimously. the united nations has many problems and first is chinese and weeding out anti-semitism to imposing policies, the next u.n. ambassador must help ensure sanity to the united nations. i can think of no one better for the role. in congress she's unapologetically stood up to her adversaries and will do the same at 9 united nations. as a senior member of the house armed services committee and house intelligence committee, elise understands the stakes of our competition with communist china. she helped stand up the china task force in the house which later became the bipartisan select committee on the chinese communist party. she also led comprehensive legislation to deter china and strengthen the united states. i've had the privilege of partnering with elise on several of these

bills, including one to ban chinese own tutoring companies at our department of defense and another to counter chinese drones in america. i'm also confident for elise's ability to stand for you israel against the united nations' obvious blatant anti-semitism. she's long advocated for billions of dollars for israeli capabilities like the life-saving iron dome and critical anti-tunneling technology. her questioning of college presidents in defense of jewish students set off shock wavers around higher education resulting in the resignation of the harvard and university of pennsylvania presidents. she's also been a tireless advocate for hostages taken by hamas. elise has dedicated her career to public service. she started out working in the bush white house before joining congress to serve the people of northern new york. to her constituents, she's best known for working across the aisle to improve the lives of new yorkers.

at the u.n., i know she will continue to put americans first. i commend president trump for this nomination and am grateful to elise for answering the call of duty. elise and her husband are proud parents to sam, who is departing at the moment. i'm sure she'll look at her future service as something to be proud of, even like today, like my boys, thinks it's mostly boring politick stuff. so today i'm here to happily and proudly offer my strong support to this dedicated public servant and american patriot, our next ambassador to the united nations, elise stefanik. she's the right person for the job and i encourage all my colleagues on the committee and in the senate to process her nomination promptly and unanimously. thank you, mr. chairman

and senator shaheen. chairman risch: thank you, senator cotton, and again well said. both of you, i know you have things you've got to attend to and we appreciate you coming to the committee and helping us out. well, representative stefanik, welcome to our committee. you'll find us kind and generous most of the time. and we look forward to hearing from you, senator shaheen and i will make a few remarks and then yield to you and hear what you have to say. first of all, let me start by saying there's great difficulty at the united nations today, and i'm confident that president trump's nominee can help bring much-needed change and is widely recognized by those on the hill, senator cotton and senator capito made reference to it and i know you're well aware of it. one of the unfortunate

things and maybe this hearing will help, the vast majority, the vast majority of the american people do not recognize the deterioration that's happened at the united nations and how it has strayed from its original purposes. there is great difficulty there. i think that we need significant change, as threats from china, russia, north korea, and iran continue to grow, representative stefanik, your position will be at the heart of the u.s. efforts to stand up to the authoritarian axis that seeks to undermine the united states at every turn and to ensure our partners and allies are also doing their part. i know you're up to that task. the u.n. was founded to be a force for peace and stability in the world. an admirable goal. it's not working. since its founding, the united states has helped shape the u.n. and supported it in dollars,

lots and lots and lots of dollars. and in spirit. but today the united states remains the largest funder of the u.n. system. we paid 22% of the regular budget and we paid 25% of the peacekeeping budget. and what have the american people gotten for these investments. they have chaos, complete dysfunction at the u.n. and a warped sense of right and wrong. in place of needed reform, the u.s. is constantly asked to give more to the u.n. but over time the organization has drifted farther away from american values, putting american national security in jeopardy. representative stefanik, i know that president trump has nominated you to the u.n. because he knows you're not afraid to stand up for the american people, ensure that taxpayer dollars are truly putting

america first and pushback against the real problems, constant problems, that plague the united nations. as the u.n. has expanded its mission, the amount of conflict, waste, fraud and abuse has grown, and the u.n. security council which is charged with maintaining international peace, security, consensus, and partnership on the many issues the world faces has become a fantasy. critical issues that demand the counsel's attention fall to the wayside. accountability for vladimir putin's invasion of ukraine, china's grotesque human rights abuses, genocide in the sudan, regime change in syria all go unaddressed by what is supposedded to be the leading international organization to resolve these conflicts. as the authoritarian axis grows and competes against democratic nations, the u.n. will descend back into the paralysis that has

marked the cold war if it continues on its course, which it has no indication it is changing. to make matters worse, our adversaries have weaponized the u.n. against americans and democratic interest. in part of the fall of assad, putin used the security council to block any action to hold the assad regime accountable for its crimes against humanity. china has used its malign efforts to use genocide against the uyghurs and blocked taiwan from fully participating in the u.n. china manipulates the u.n. personnel system, which we all know. and they've used it to install chinese diplomats into the u.n. bureaucracy that only serve china's goals and interests. there is a deep, deep anti-israel bias within the united nations that has only grown stronger since hamas' horrendous

unprovoked attack on israel october 7. this sentiment was spearheaded by the u.n. relief agency unrwa which allowed the schools and facilities to be used by hamas. remember, these are u.s. tax dollars that partially help fund unrwa. for years i've led my colleagues on legislation to end the u.s. contributions to this anti-semitic organization which openly employs terrorists. unrwa must go. what i've just described is not what the american people want out of their taxpayer dollars. our contributions should serve america's interests first. i know you will bring that message to the united nations system loud and clear. representative stefanik, i believe it is reasonable to evaluate every u.n. agency to determine if what they are doing is directly

beneficial to america and hold them account until the answer is a resounding yes. anything less should not be tolerated but these agencies cannot be changed. and at this point, the u.s. should seriously examine if further contributions and indeed participation in the u.n. is even beneficial to the american people. i'm interested to hear your plans for change at the u.n., and i look forward to seeing your tremendous work i know you'll do for our country to make the world a safer place for future generations. thank you. senator shaheen? sen. shaheen: welcome. and welcome to your family as well. whether it's stemming the flow of fentanyl that kills americans, combating transnational crime that costs millions, negotiating political settlements to dangerous conflicts, the

work of the united nations directly affects americans all across this country. we benefit from u.n. peacekeeping missions that would otherwise fall to the american military. we are better off because of efforts to stabilize societies and provide life-saving assistance in places like sudan, syria, and ukraine. we don't just do this out of the goodness of our hearts. we fund these efforts because they make americans, as secretary rubio said in his hearing, safer, stronger, and more prosperous. equally important, if we don't do it, our adversaries and competitors will. representative stefanik, welcome again to this committee and congratulations to your nomination to the u.s. ambassador to the united nations. from working in the bush administration on the domestic policy counsel to being the youngest woman elected to congress. you have strong credentials and the relevant experience for this role.

but today i'd like to hear your vision for the united states at the united nations. i've certainly taken note of the skepticism in the united nations expressed by others and the incoming administration and also expressed by your introducers today and chairman risch. in the past, you've voted to defund the united nations and its specialized agencies. certainly, i would agree the united nations is an imperfect body, but the u.n. is also a force multiplier of american taxpayer money. u.s. disengagement is something our adversaries want, especially russia and china. at its hearing last week, secretary rubio said china is our most potent and dangerous adversary and beijing's contribution to the u.n. is almost seven times what it was two decades ago. china has had great success increasing the number of nationals employed at the u.n. and so when we cut back, they are ready and very

eager to fill that void. under the first trump administration, the u.s. withdrew from unesco, an agency that among then things com bats anti-semitism and implements technology standards that affect our industries. when we step back, beijing stepped in and is now unesco's largest financial contributors. so i'm really interested in your thoughts on how the u.s. can compete with china across every united nations agency. one agency at the u.n. i think is particularly important is the u.n. population fund, or unfpa. globally, one in every five girls is married before reaching age 18. too many girls in too many countries as you know very well face female genital mutilation and forced child marriage. unfpa provides critical reproductive and maternal care and reaches three times as many countries as our

bilateral family planning program. and in some areas like darfur and others, it is the main provider of life-saving reproductive health supplies, things like childbirth delivery kits that reduce infection for women giving birth outside clinical settings. i believe its work is irreplaceable. now, if confirmed, i hope we can work together to advance united states' interests at the u.n. because when the united states takes a leadership role at the u.n., americans and people around the world are better off. thank you, mr. chairman. i welcome the testimony of congresswoman stefanik and hearing her views. chairman risch: thank you so much, senator shaheen. representative stefanik, the floor is yours. rep. stefanik: distinguished members of the senate foreign relations committee, thank for you the opportunity to appear today. i'd like to thank the

senators on both sides of the aisle who met with me in the past weeks. it's an honor of a lifetime to earn president trump's nomination to serve in his cabinet as u.s. ambassador to the united nations. if confirmed, i stand ready to implement president trump's mandate from the american people to deliver america first peace through strength national security leadership on the world stage. before i begin, i'd like to personally recognize my family. we all know in public office that we would not have the opportunity to serve were it not for the support of our loved ones. i'd like to begin with my mom, dad and brother, melanie, ken, and maddy. my dad was here with me today and my mom and brother are watching closely from upstate new york. there is no question that i would not be here without their lifetime of unconditional love, support, and encouragement. and for that, i'm forever grateful. i also want to thank my incredibly supportive husband matt who is also here, and of course most importantly, our pride and joy, our 3-year-old son sam who made his debut in the u.s. senate. he's comfortable on the

house side and new in the senate so thank you for the warm welcome. sam is by far our greatest blessing. of all the titles i've held, congresswoman, chairwoman, representative, or ambassador, if confirmed, my most important title will always be mom. i appear before you today as a daughter, sister, wife, mother, congresswoman, a patriotic upstate new yorker, and a proud american. i believe deeply in the american dream because i've had the opportunity to live it. i was born and raised in upstate new york, the cradle of the american revolution. i grew up in a small business family where my parents instilled in me the importance of hard work, ingenuity and grit. i was blessed to be the first member of my immediate family to have the opportunity to graduate from college. i graduated from harvard with honors and then worked at the white house in the west wing on the domestic policy council and in the chief of staff's office. after nearly a decade working in public policy in washington, i returned home to work in my family's small business and decided to

run for congress. in 2014, i was elected to congress making history as the youngest woman ever elected at the time. in congress, i have fought tirelessly for the hard-working families of new york's 21st district, delivering significant bipartisan results for my constituents. i was elected by my colleagues to serve as the house republican conference chair, becoming the highest ranking woman in congress at the time and the youngest woman of either party to serve in top elected house leadership. and over the last decade, i've served on the house armed services committee, the intelligence committee, the house education and work force committee, and i'm proud to be the longest serving woman on both the armed services and intelligence committees. on these national security committees, i've legislated on a number of critical issues ranging from military readiness, emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and cybersecurity to missile defense. i've worked to enhance american intelligence capabilities, strengthen our alliances and

partnerships, and deter our adversaries. on the education committee, i've been the leader in combating anti-semitism in higher education. my oversight work led to the most viewed testimony in the history of congress. this hearing with university presidents was heard around the world and viewed billions of times. because it exposed the anti-semitic rot in colleges and universities and was a watershed moment in american higher education. when discussing this nomination with president trump, the president shared with me that he sees great promise in the united nations if it focuses on its founding mission of international peace and security. president trump has long advocated for peace and no new wars. he delivered the abraham accords, the largest step to regional peace in the middle east in a quarter century. if confirmed, i will work to ensure our mission to the united nations serves the interests of the american people and represents president

trump's america first peace through strength foreign policy. as the world faces crisis after crisis with hostages, including americans still held in hamas' captivity to national security challenges ranging from china, russia, north korea, and iran, it has never been more critical for the united states to lead with strength and moral clarity. this is especially important regarding our most precious ally israel who faced the bloodiest day for the jewish people since the holocaust on october 7, 2023. as a member of congress, i also understand deeply that we must be good stewards of u.s. taxpayer dollars. the u.s. is the largest contributor to the u.n. by far. our tax dollars should not be complicit in propping up entities that are counter to american interests, anti-semitic or engaging in fraud, corruption, or terrorism. we must invest in programs to strengthen our national security and deliver results.

to increase the efficacy of u.n. programs we must drive reform. if confirmed, i'll be the first u.n. ambassador in over two decades to come directly from congress and have deep respect and understanding of the oversight and appropriations role of the legislative branch, and i look forward to using my strong house and senate relationships to deliver these much-needed reforms. we are truly at a critical point in history. the world must be reminded of the key mission of the united nations and america's role as its formative leader. following the devastation, carnage, and holocaust of world war ii, the world was desperate for peace, stability, human rights and dignity, and world order. as outlined in article 1 of chapter 1 of the u.n. charter, the purpose of the united nations is to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations based on a shared respect for the principle of equal rights, solve international problems, and harmonize the actions of nations in the attainment of common ends. the u.n. has not lived up to this founding mission and we must

demand better. it is imperative is imperative e strong american leadership, american leadership at the united nation. i share president trump's vision by a strong america first of peac through strength and securing peace around the world. i will be forever grateful for my constituents in new york's 21st district for giving me the opportunity to serve them as their voice at the highest level of congress. 10 years ago, voters took a chance on a young first-time unknown candidate who very few believed could win. i want to thank the hard-working families, small businesses, farms come law enforcement officers, military veterans, seniors, so many with whom i have worked so closely to deliver results on behalf of our communities. thank you especially to my extraordinarily dedicated staff in both the district and washington offices reserving tirelessly for the past decade. if confirmed, my family and i

are excited for this next chapter to serve on president trump's cabinet in this role, and i commit to the american people that i will work my very hardest in the coming years to lead with more clarity and american values. thank you. i look forward to your questions. chair risch: thank you so much, congresswoman. we appreciate those remarks. what we will do now is we will do a round of questions. we will do five-minute questions. the ranking member and i have discussed that and agreed to that. that does not mean it will end. we will attempt to do another five-minute round for those who have interest in having more questions answered. with that, let me start. first of all, i was impressed to hear what president trump has always insisted on, and certainly has talked to us about, and that is the fact that the founding mission of the u.n. is such a bright and brilliant

light. the difficulty is the execution of their mission, there is no resemblance to what their original mission was, which is really unfortunate. and we have in the past, and i hope in the future, relied more and more on doing bilateral and multilateral agreements with other countries, without the united nations, and to perform some of the things that the united nations is attempting to do ourselves. we are the united states of america. we can do anything. and we certainly can perform those functions. the best example i can give is the abraham accords. the abraham accords are probably going to be looked at in history as the turning point in the middle east. it was done under president trump last time. it was president trump's administration who was the

leading was on this, and the united nations had absolutely nothing to do with it. it is a great success in the middle east, a place where you see very few great successes. so we can do these things. we put a tremendous amount of money into the united nations to do things that we can do. for instance, feeding folks. we do a lot about ourselves, but we do a lot through the u.n.. in doing that, the yuan has hired, for instance, on rough to do it. an organization -- the u.n. has hired, for instance, unrwa to do it, an organization i don't want anything to do with. i want to make a mission that is our own. your thoughts? rep. stefanik: thank you,

chairman risch. i want to point out that i'm glad you referenced the abraham accords. i think we can point to the success of our bilateral relationships and various multilateral partnerships and build on that within the u.n. for example, we have the abraham accords caucus in the congress. i think we should consider starting a in abraham accords caucus within the united nations , to build off president trump pose success, the greatest breakthrough in the middle east and over a quarter-century. i do share your commitments, chairman risch, to being good stewards of the u.s. taxpayer dollars and ensuring all of our investments to any foreign policy strategy, and this goes hand-in-hand with wet secretary rubio testified, represents american interests. does it make america stronger and more prosperous? i hope to work effectively with this committee, our oversight and appropriators, to deliver reform and ensure that each dollar is going to strengthen

our national security. i think we can look to the programs that are successes, which typically have strong american leadership and voluntary funding. one example is the world food program, which has significant bipartisan support. this committee in both chambers of congress and is committed by the -- supported by the american people. often times the most successful agencies within the you and have transparency, accountability standards, and are led with strong american leadership or allied countries. that is a bit as the book to your question -- that is a bit of feedback to your question. chair risch: thank you. i appreciate that. one thing that has concerned me in the recent years as we keep getting outvoted at the u.n. it turns out every country has one vote. then when you look at these countries that are voting against us, you look any find that the you have the chinese in there spreading money, and they buy their vote. this is a real problem. it is a kind of thing that gets

us to the point where we can even get a resolution that condemns russia for their invasion of ukraine, an absolute violation of the foundation of the united nations. when the secretary general comes to see me, i we say, we cannot even get a resolution condemning it. how are we making this work? i get a word silence in response -- word salad in response. your thoughts on the chinese buying votes of smaller countries. rep. stefanik: it's no question, chairman risch, that the ccp has made strong inroads. we need to have strong american leadership working with our allies to push back on this kid as he pointed out, every country, no matter what its size, gets one vote. i believe we need a strategy to push back, particularly on the ccp's inroads within the global south and even the western hemisphere. i think we need to build on our,

as you said, bilateral partnerships, and make sure they understand the importance of a two partnership with the united states. i also think that the personnel strategy of the ccp has been of particular concern within the u.n. china has made inroads in placing ccp leaders and chinese diplomats in positions as various heads of sub-you and agencies, but we need to have a capital strategy to push back on that. i chair risch: appreciate your thoughts on that regard. i have no problem with these countries having the vote could what bothers me is the corruption when the chinese by off that vote with money is just flat wrong. thank you for your thoughts. senator shaheen. sen. shaheen: thank you. again, congresswoman stefanik, welcome, thank you for your willingness to serve this country and for your past service in the house.

while i think we would all agree that the u.n. is not purpose, it is a force multiplier for the u.s., and it is a prime example of global burden sharing in times of crisis. i was pleased to see that the trump administration will maintain this position, u.s. ambassador to the united nations, has a cabinet level position. now, you have talked a little bit about this already in your responses, but how will you make sure that the work of the u.n. is understood to help advance u.s. interests around the world, and more important, how can you help convince members of congress who are skeptics that our contributions and leadership in u.n. agencies must continue in order to prevent china, russia, iran, and other u.s. adversaries from assuming this role? rep. stefanik: thank you so much, ranking member shaheen. i appreciate our opportunity to visit ahead of time. i will start with your question related to how we convince the american people and elected

officials of the importance of investments. i think, if i have -- as i have pointed out to chairman risch, doing a review of all of our dollars going to various you and agencies and looking at what are most effective, typically unicef is another example in addition to world food program. we voluntarily commit, and maintains bipartisan support, deliver significant results for millions around the world, and it strengthens our national security. so when it comes to those key questions, does it make america safer, stronger, and more prosperous, i believe those are examples of programs that do. i clearly think there are certain programs that are not meeting the mission of the u.n., the founding principles. unrwa is an example. we will likely have a policy disagreement on that. i think we need to roll up our sleeves and make sure our dollars are going to programs within the u.n. network, that have a basis in the rule of law, that have a basis in transparency and accountability and strengthen our national security and partnership.

sen. shaheen: well, thank you. i would point out that right now we are not funding unrwa. rep. stefanik: absolutely, and i voted to defund unrwa. sen. shaheen: one things i talked about in my opening statement is unfpa, the opportunity to provide family planning, health care, interventions to halt child marriage, to address the crisis of female genital mutilation, and help ensure healthy families. will you commit to personally reviewing unfpa's work before the administration makes any decision before invoking the law? rep. stefanik: yes, if confirmed, i'm confirmed to doing a review, as i said come across the u.n. program, specifically the unfpa, it is important we do a full review, as the president announced that the executive order today as well regarding all foreign aid. i want to make sure we are doing that to in good stewards of

taxpayer dollars. i have a strong record when it comes to standing up for women's health issues, particularly aggression women's mortality rates, pre-and postnatal care, infant malnutrition. i think that is very important, and you have my commitment to do that review, if confirmed. sen. shaheen: well, thank you. i appreciate your record on that. i think it is important to remind everyone that women make up half of the world's population, and we need to do what we can to make sure that their health is also protected. in april, you said that vladimir putin's war in ukraine constituted genocide, april of 2022. you call for the delivery of security assistance to ukraine. at the u.n., we seem inconsistent support. for ukraine we see in greater. support on initiatives to support ukraine unless support of initiatives to hold russia accountable. if confirmed, can you talk about how you might use your role as

you and ambassador to address and punish russia's ongoing attempted genocide in ukraine? rep. stefanik: i support president trump's commitment to bringing this war to a resolution, to stop the killing. he campaigned on the issue, and he feels very deeply, and i support that. i believe it falls squarely in line with the founding mission of the united nations to bring international peace and security. if you look at my record over the course of my time on the house armed services committee in the house intelligence committee, i have a very strong record when it comes to deterring russia, pushing back on russia, including during president trump's term, voting for defense and legal aid to ukraine. i believe peace through strength is our strongest deterrence, and i'm very proud that during president trump's first term, it was the only time when president putin did not invade another country because of the strong peace through leadership and the rebuilding of the defense of authorization act that president trump signed into law.

my effort will be supporting president trump's mission to bring that to a resolution and to deter russia in the long term. sen. shaheen: so how do we hold russia accountable for some of these human rights abuses that have happened in ukraine, or their destruction of infrastructure in the country, for the lives that have lost? clearly this is a war that is only vladimir putin's initiative that has started. other things we can do at the u.n. that can hold russia accountable? rep. stefanik: certainly it will be important to hold president trump's approach with a special envoy, to address, bring that to a resolution. i will work with the national spirit of counsel and my colleagues in the cabinet -- national security council and my colleagues in the cabinet to support his strategy and give him maximum flexibility to bring this to a resolution. sen. shaheen: thank you.

thank you, mr. chair. chair risch: thank you. senator ricketts. sen. ricketts: thank you for stopping by my office, so we had a chance to talk before this committee could i appreciate your service to our country and look forward to the strong credentials you bring to the table to be our you and ambassador. winston churchill said that the u.n. was set up not to get us to heaven but only to save us from hell. we talked about the corruption going on there, the mismanagement and so forth. you've mentioned already this concept that we have to have a form there. that's very important. we talked about how much american taxpayers into the u.n., $18 billion a year. and to put that in perspective, in 2022, that was more than 100 85 other member nations combined . chairman risch mentioned the percentages of the 22% of their

overall budget most recently and so forth. so we invest a lot there. we talked about these reforms. do you believe that we can leverage the money we are putting into the u.n. to drive the reforms? so, for example, can we say, to the u.n., hey we are going to put money into these programs if, for example, they establish some of the transparency you talked about, and if they don't do that, we are pulling money out of it is that one of the ways we can drive reform? rep. stefanik: absolutely. we owe that to american tax dollars to make sure all of our dollars in investments represent our values, and doesn't make america safer, stronger, and more prosperous? that is important to me as an elected official currently. i understand we have to be good stewards of american taxpayer dollars. it is a tool for us to demand greater reforms and transparency. sen. ricketts: one of the other things we talked about his help communist china has used u.n. to push its interests and

determines to lay out some of the problems with what communist china is doing. what can we do to be able to get more u.s. leadership to do different committees to combat that? rep. stefanik: we need to have a strategy. this came up in virtually every conversation with senators on both sides of the aisle, and it is to be a long-term strategy working closely with our allies and our partners, both at the most junior levels and at the more senior levels within the u.n. we need to make sure we are running candidates, either american or allied nations, in the elections process, for key leadership posts within the u.n. system. we need to pay close attention to technical organizations, whether it is telecommunications -- telecommunications, civil aviation's, and we need to make sure i want has maximum, meaningful participation in international organizations. i also believe it is important to ensure that the language, because we have seen china

trying to import their specific language, which is counter to our values. we need to have very strong man during expertise and really keep a close eye on that as well in all the documents and statements coming out of the u.n. system where large. sen. ricketts: so do you have specific plans to start recruiting more americans or allied nations people into the u.n. to be able to do it? and, to add onto that, because if we go on to between 2009 and 2021, communist china has increased its employment of its nationals and the u.n. by 85%, so it is not just about leadership of these different agencies, but it is also about how many people just work there in the u.n. that, of course, it would be naïve to think they are not driving communist china's agenda to the u.n., whatever role they have. can you talk about a strategy for getting more leadership, but also, how do we recruit more

americans or other allies to do the work? rep. stefanik: i think we have to have a mission to recruit at the most junior levels, to work their way up in the system. we need to have a strategy working with secretary rubio to ensure we have the highest caliber, which we do, of course, in terms of those that are serving at the u.s.-you admission, and also provide the expertise for the challenges at the end of a common region. i think that is important. i want to have opportunities to partner with whether it is higher education institutions, private sector, opportunities in each of your state or peach of house member regions. sen. ricketts: yeah. i think that will be a key thing for us to be able to reach out and find new ways to be able to recruit new ways, because if we don't have our people in the u.n., we are just leaving it open to communist china to do what they are doing.

i look forward to potentially another round of questions. chair risch: thank you very much, senator ricketts. senator coons. sen. coons: thank you. my welcome to your family, to matt and to sam, who i hope we'll get to enjoy some of this hearing in person. i enjoyed our conversation and look forward to working with you. i will continue briefly on the conversation you were just having with senator ricketts. i think our global network of alliances and partnerships and our values are critical to our strength, stability, prosperity, security, and we got a global network of allies. china does not. they have nervous neighbors, they use coercion, but they don't have genuine allies as we do, so they have made a concerted effort to use the u.n. system to advance their interests, both are different ideas and standards for human rights, we believe in

an individual right to liberty. they talk about collective rights. they have different standards. we want 6g to be billed out on u.s. and western friendly standards. they want their standards. i could not agree with you more that fighting for leadership of technical organizations. in the previous trump administration, i worked closely with the director to make sure the world intellectual property organization was not run by a p.r.c. national, as we spoke about. so i think it is critical. we do have a strategy. i worked closely with ambassador linda thomas-greenfield on this as the chair of the appropriating subcommittee. senator graham and i worked well with her to increase funding for jenny -- junior professional officers, to increase funding for the u.n. mission. if confirmed, will you look to continue this work to make sure that americans and american friendly leaders compete for and succeed at leaving the technical organizations of the u.n. and

compete for and succeed at staffing the junior levels at the u.n.? rep. stefanik:. yes thank you, senator coons, and i enjoyed our discussion. this is one of my top priorities. it came up in every single conversation get i think the success story of successfully having a candidate to defeat china's candidate in the intellectual property organization, that is a model we need to continue to use in these other technical organizations. there is bipartisan support, as tom cotton mentioned in his opening statement. i was one of the founding members of the china task force, which led to the setting up of the bipartisan china select committee. so there is bipartisan interest. i also support your interest of strengthening and building on our strong alliances, whether it is caucus, whether it is building on relations within the quad, whether it is asean, we have an ability to build on those partnerships. sen. coons: chairman risch

mentioned the sometimes frustrating position of the un's security council, the fact that both russia and china have used it to block accountability measures. the general assembly did pass an overwhelming solution condemning russia's brutal invasion of ukraine, but we cannot get it through the security council. the security council did in september unanimously passed because of american leadership, a resolution continuing sanctions, visa bans, arms embargo for sudan, so it is not completely without merit. but one of the things the biden administration advanced west un security council reform, to broaden its membership them as you mentioned, to include the global south and to move the council into a more functional body. what are your views on what you should do to continue that agenda? rep. stefanik: certainly when it comes to un security council reform, it is very complex and challenging with both russia and china and the veto of the p5.

i would want to work with this committee and the president primarily on un security council reform. in my opening statement, but i was referencing reforms them i was mostly talking about ensuring that all of our taxpayer dollars are going to do and embassies that function very well, but i'm open to having conversations about how to make it work better. i think we need to have a broader strategy reaching out to countries within the global south, where china has made significant inroads. they've done it by building ports, through telecom, a whole government approach. and it's obviously not the u.n. alone, it's working with secretary rubio, you can with -- working with usaid and significant economic investments. sen. coons: president trump assigned to go back into law and his first term. the development finance corporation is a critical tool in our toolkit. before i conclude, i just want to raise my profound concern about an executive order signed yesterday by president trump that puts a 90-day pause on all

development, without clarifying the scope on that. does that include our contributions to unicef and the world food program? led by americans, broad bipartisan support. part of the key mission of the u.n. to promote food security and stability by feeding hungry people and bringing stability. does that include usaid supports ukraine energy grid? as putin continues to hammer civilians through attacks on the energy grid, a.i.d. support for getting energy back online in the midst of winter for ukraine is pretty critical. does it include jordan, a sea of stability and a whole area of chaos? will development assistance be frozen for 90 days to ukraine, to our development partnerships in the philippines and the luzon quarter, to compete with china's influence in the region? to jordan? i hope we can work together to get some clarity, and i hope with obvious partnerships that

do advance american interests to move forward quickly. rep. stefanik: thank you. chair risch: thank you. senator mccormick. sen. mccormick: congresswoman, it is good to see you again. my wife and i have known you for more than 20 years, so i'm thrilled the president nominated you to this important role. my voice was celebrating make america great again a little too much. [laughter] as we discussed when we met in my office, the virulent anti-semitism and anti-bias at the united nations, on october 7, the jewish committee in pennsylvania and across our country has seen an explosion in hate. as you know, this is not theoretical for me, and as you know, we live in pittsburgh, where we have the tree of life tragedy, and a painful reminder of that hate.

in congress, you've done an incredible job of pushing back against anti-semitism in our nation's institutions. you exposed the three leading universities for their lack of moral crediting -- clarity, and i was the first to call for the firing of the president of you u penn. youths forced hers and others to leave office. let's start by how you will work to combat fighting bias in israel and the u.n. hamas terrorists have been working with complete impunity from unrwa facilities that unrwa employees even participated in the master on october 7. how will you work with allies to end unrwa's mandate and shift to other u.n. organs or trusted ngo's? rep. stefanik: thank you for

your leadership and combating anti-semitism. i know it is important to the american people and important to pennsylvanians and something i deeply committed to doing in this role. it's one of the reasons why in my conversation with president trump, i was interested in this position, because if you look at the antisemitic laws within the united states -- united nations, there are more resolutions targeting is real than any other country, any other crisis combined. we have significant anti-semitism, whether it is you and women failing to condemn the terrorist regime against innocent civilian women, using rape and targeting women specifically, taking them hostage. i'm overjoyed that the three young women hostages were returned home to it we need to make sure that we are committed that every hostage is brought home. i've met with many hostage families. this position we need for moral clarity. on the u.s. security council and

the united nations at large for the world to hear the importance of standing with israel. and i intend to do that. this year will mark the 50th year since the disgraceful zionism is racism resolution at the united nations, and at the time, our u.s. ambassador, daniel patrick moynihan, spoke out strongly against that disgraceful resolution. that is the type of leadership i hope to bring is confirmed to the united nations. president trump has a tremendous record when it comes to standing with israel, whether it is the abraham accords, his commitment to combating anti-semitism, or recognizing jerusalem as the eternal capital of israel. this is a strong, strong record, and i hope to do that at the u.n., it confirmed. sen. mccormick: thank you. as as already noted, the chinese communist party has a deliberate strategy to use the u.n. human rights council and other parts of the u.n. human system to propagate its false narrative on human rights and is

authoritarian -- it is authoritarian agenda. how we push back on the ccp's efforts to undermine u.s. interests? rep. stefanik: many senators are raising this deep concern about ccp's inroads, and i think it goes back to working with our partners and allies, making sure we are strengthening those relationships, that we are ensuring we have a strategy to ensure that the ccp is not able to make inroads at the most senior levels of the technical organizations. and agencies across the u.n. writ large. this was another of my top priorities that i have discussed in each and every meeting with all the singers on both sides of the aisle. sen. mccormick: thank you for it i will try to squeeze in one last question. i was so glad that president trump withdrew from the u.n. climate accords last night. how will you advocate for american energy dominance and in

all of the above approach to energy security at the? rep. stefanik: again, i want to make sure we are representing american values, american interests. i am united states ambassador, if confirmed, to the united nations, and that means asserting strong american dominance and not giving a free pass to the biggest polluters, like china, in the world. when we have the cleanest water, the cleanest air, and the best record when it comes to an all of the above energy approach, moving back to the successful policies of president trump in his first term, when not only was america energy it independent, we were energy dominant. that is my commitment. sen. mccormick: thank you. chair risch: thank you, senator mike lee and rick -- senator mccormick. senator kaine. sen. kaine: you and i have political differences, of course, but we talked about issues which we agree, and we had a couple of others when you

said your position was one that president trump does not agree with, and i like that candor. i like that we had a good exchange. grappling with that and some partisan comments you've made in the past, an article i would like to put in the record, national public radio article, how going mainstream on the political right for may 2022. on monday morning, stephani tweeted dennis i desperately want wide open borders and amnesty for illegals. i would like to put that in the record. chair risch: without objection. sen. kaine: now, that was a campaign tweet. i don't do things as disqualifying. but at least we had a good meeting. we had important conversations and shared ideas. i will say something i wish i could have said in an armed services meeting but we had in a closed session. all of the trump nominees to come before the committees on which i sent have a great to meet with me save one, the secretary of defense nominate pete hegseth.

he has written that he thinks democrats are people. he has written that he thinks democrats are the adversary, and he refused to meet with any democrat on the armed services committee, save the chairman kaine yesterday in a closed hearing, we were asked to forward his nomination to the floor, even though it had not been pending at the committee for sufficient time. my colleagues asked, hey, why would we give a waiver to someone who would not even agree to meet with us? that that nominee would disrespect democrats, ok, that is fine, but i would not take my committee colleagues on the armed services committee would have disrespected us. i will say to all of my republican colleagues here, if there is ever a nominee by any president who refuses to come meet with you when you are on the committee of jurisdiction, i will publicly raise hell on your behalf. nominees should meet with the committees, just as represented stephani dead. representative stefanik, while i have a question about some of the campaign rhetoric -- i will not ask you about it, because

that is in the past -- i do appreciate the fact that you are courteous, informed, civil, and candid in the meeting with me. i told you i had two concerns, engagement and the western hemisphere. you've convinced me that you were nominated for this position not to disengage but to engage, and i appreciate that. in fact, you wanted this position if you would not have wanted it otherwise, and that is great. on the western hemisphere, you are going to be working with the secretary of state we approved unanimously yesterday, our colleague, senator rubio. senator rubio talked at some length about a number of topics on americas the other day, and i want to ask you about one particularly challenging right now, and that is haiti. the situation in haiti is a disaster. you know that. you've been on these committees overseeing national security, and you know issues like haiti create immigration challenges and all kinds of other challenges that are bad on the humanitarian front and can cost problems for allies like the dominican republic, cause problems for us.

we now have a security operation in haiti, being led by canyons some assistance from other nations, assistance from the united states. senator rubio talked at some length here last week about how important it was that we stay engaged on that. i would like to know what your thought would be, should you be confirmed at the u.n., for what the u.s. can do to try to help haitians find a next chapter that is a peaceful one. rep. stefanik: yes. thank you, senator kaine. i appreciate the opportunity to sit down with you. i know we serve on the national endow it for democracy together, and there have been significant bipartisan results delivered to that program, funded by congress. i wanted to point out, i stand strongly for border security, and that was what the tweet you referenced was related to. and i would point out that in the sector that i represent, there was a border patrol officer killed in the last 24 hours. sen. kaine: are there any

democratic senators you think of for open border and mass amnesty for illegal, undocumented immigrants yucca rep. stefanik: i would point out that democratic think tanks and -- sen. kaine: any democratic senators you would love that charge against? rep. stefanik: i do think there are democratic senators who are for open borders. you are pointing out a headline from an article -- sen. kaine: not a headline. rep. stefanik: and we had just had an overwhelming popular vote for president trump where border security was top of the mind. i think it is important to note, i do stand by my rhetoric standing up for a strong border, and the american people overwhelmingly support that. relating to your question, related to haiti -- sen. kaine: my time is over, so let me conclude and say this kid when i've been on this committee and in the senate, i was part of a bipartisan deal to put $46 billion on border security in the senate about the house republican committee failed.

and another in 2018 that president trump killed for it i was part of a bipartisan deal that was significant for the border that president trump killed. the notion that democratic senators are for open borders and allowing illegal aliens to vote is a fantasy, and so i really appreciate the opportunity to meet with you, but now i have questions about them if you fall for that fantasy, i have questions about that. i will have to ponder that. i would yield back on the mr. chair. rep. stefanik: on the house i, we passed hr to come of the most significant for security package that chuck schumer failed to bring up in the senate. and, again, the american people voted loudly and clearly when it came to securing our borders and the failings of the past four years. i'm not going to apologize for my commitment to securing the border when i represent a significant part of the u.s., a major sector where we had a

skyrocketing of a legals crossing there. on the issue haiti, which i think is important, and it is a bipartisan concern, obviously there is a significant challenge in our hemisphere. working with senator rubio, we need to have a strategy. i'm deeply concerned. there's no simple solution. that is an area where we need to continue to have discussions with the committees of oversight. i'm very concerned on the intelligence committee briefings i received about the crisis in haiti, so i look forward to working with secretary rubio to support his commitment to the western hemisphere, specifically the humanitarian challenges within katie. chair risch: senator integrity -- senator hagerty. sen. hagerty: i look forward to working with you very closely. before i get to specific

questions that i want to ask you a broad one, in terms of what your mission is to the united nations, and in terms of our posture at the outset going and come and where you would like to see it four years later. rep. stefanik: thank you senator hagerty. having served as an investment in the first trump administration and your incredible work in the u.s. and and on this committee get my vision is making sure we are supporting president trump's america first peace agenda, that we are good stewards of the u.s. taxpayers dollars, very aligned with president trump's commitment to peace and no new wars. there are reform opportunities we need to work with. this committee can the hearing after hearing him with various investors, have talked about reform. i want to roll up our sleeves and get it done, demanding transparency and accountability, actually having the answers of where each taxpayer goes within the human, which chairman risch has referenced in previous hearings.

we have not gotten the answer to because there's not that amount of transparency. standing with israel is critically important, particularly if there are hostages still being cap today by hamas, pushing back on the ccp, and in strengthening our partnerships and allies, working with secretary rubio to make sure that his reform vision for the state department, as he said in his hearing, this is not about reforming, it is about improving over the long term, we want to improve results. sen. hagerty: a project that very much and look forward to working with you in multiple respects to make that happen. one of those areas will be through our commission to modernize the state department, and i look forward to working with senator coons as we co-chair that effort. senator mccormick touched on this, but i would like to drill a little bit deeper into unrwa. this is a particularly problematic organization come in my view, long before the october 7 hamas massacre took place, i've been calling for the united states to cease funding unrwa,

distant -- to send a strong message. it is very clear that unrwa textbooks glorify the murdering of jews. they build their own homes and facilities underneath them. unrwa employees even actively participate in the master on october 7, 2023. in january 2021, less than five people who unrwa met with met the criteria for refugee status. president trump would like to stop sending money to unrwa. president biden insisted on reinstating funding without insisting on reform. my question for you, is how do you think you should deal with unrwa? how do you think we should

address the u.s. taxpayer dollars as having gone to an organization like that, that has been directly complicit in the october 7, 2023. rep. stefanik: we should never tolerate u.s. taxpayer funds going toward terrorism, as with my with sick senator shaheen, i was -- my meeting with senator shaheen, i was in support of a bipartisan consensus with significant members of republicans as well as some democrats who voted to defund it. we can look at organizations within the u.n. system, such as unhcr, the world food program, working with usaid, which are proven organizations. they still need reform efforts and modernization but don't have the terrorist unrwa ties that unrwa -- terrorist ties that unrwa had, particularly in the october 7 attack against israel, whether it was the unrwa office,

the hamas data center, or individuals within unrwa who participate in the terrorist attack against israel on october 7. so i fully support the president's commitment to defunding, and i'm proud to have voted for that in the congress. sen. hagerty: great. i have several more questions, but i want to touch on one last one quickly. that has to do with the accountability of the world health organization. taking into consideration the concerns are on cover pandemic, what happened there, the w.h.o. role there. president trump i think right lead withdrew us from funding, president biden put us back in it. what are your thoughts on the accountability that we received so far? rep. stefanik: i support president trump's's decision to walk away from w.h.o. w.h.o. failed on a global stage in the covid pandemic for all the world to see and instead

spewed ccp talking points that i believe lead to not only false information but dangerous and deadly information across the globe. we cannot tolerate entities that are taken over by ccp propaganda, so i strongly support president trump, knows when to engagement knows when to walk away. he was right in his decision to walk away from w.h.o., and i was pleased to support that. sen. hagerty: i was pleased to see that as well. chair risch: senator booker. sen. booker: thank you mr. chairman. i appreciate you for the time you gave me in a very hurried inaugural weekend. it was amazing we were able to fit that income and i want to echo two of my senate colleagues who say you are very informed and seemed to be ex ordinarily committed to this task and this goal, and i'm grateful for that. i want to jump in on something you talked about right away could i'm so grateful for senator kaine bringing up haiti and the importance for us, to come up with some bipartisan

foreign policy agenda or strategy to deal with that crisis there. i want to bring attention to the conflict in sudan, which has created the largest and fastest growing humanitarian crisis in the world. we see right now tens of millions of people in need of assistance. the humanitarian crisis from hunger and malnutrition all the way to political destabilization in neighboring nations like egypt, which are seeing this extraordinary overflow of urgencies as a result of immigration and displaced people in that country. i'm deeply concerned about recent reporting from the new york times, stating that the saf has used chemical weapons on at least two occasions, and i'm really believing that we are lacking the kind of pressure on a lot of our allies and other nations that are involved in this conflict. so this is a real time, as i talk about now secretary of

state rubio about really aligning a diplomatic strategy in trying to bring about an end to this conflict, which will not be solved, ultimately, through the use of military conflicts and needs a diplomatic solution. so for now come in the short term, the need to protect civilians is paramount. this is an issue where, obviously, should you be confirmed, you can leave. in my opinion, one of the things that have been lacking is just a general prioritization. first and foremost, will you commit to prioritizing sudan and the humanitarian crisis and destabilizing reality we see now? rep. stefanik: yes, absolutely, and i think that is one of the response abilities of this role is prioritization of what we speak out against at the world stage at the united nations. and i'm grateful for this committee's bipartisan work on the sudan accountability act, the special envoy position is very important, and raising the

awareness within the public of how significant this humanitarian crisis is. sen. booker: and the challenge we have is implicated nations in supplying arms to this conflict. i'm wondering if you have some thoughts on how you can bring positions and cooperative parties that are fueling the conflicts. rep. stefanik: absolutely. we will have to have strong conversations, led by the president and secretary rubio, with uae, the egyptians, the saudis, and that will be critical. i'm not going to get ahead of the secretary of state and the president, but certainly will be supporting them at the u.s.-u.n. mission to do so. sen. booker: ok. the idea of refugee assistance in the area and some of the specifics we talked about, some of the specific u.n. agencies, they really are the lead in providing that. and it is concerning to me. i heard senator coons point this out, the idea of pausing some of

this aid at this time, for three months, could have sort of a cataclysmic ink fact, not just on these minutes are in crisis but also in the stability of our allies on that region, specifically for the chat-sudan border, to egypt as well. some of the lifesaving work done by unhcr, the world food program, and more. i'm wondering if you can share with the committee some of your thoughts about how to navigate the importance of some of these agencies and ongoing work. rep. stefanik: i think, again, the world food program is a very successful program. it is focused, its significant voluntary funding piece is a testament to that, has bipartisan support, and is important to america from an agricultural perspective, from a business manufacturing perspective as well and american workforce perspective. i think we need to look at all of our programs to an assessment of, do they answer the questions, does it make america safer, stronger, and more

prosperous? that should be our guiding light. in america first, peace through strength. i'm very concerned that we do make that assessment, and where america leads through efficacy. sen. booker: the challenges we often have through crises, investments made early on the through stabilities of nations, we could have done much better come in many ways with this world of power contests, from the chinese, we allow them to get advantages from our lack of even engagement or focus. the future in terms of humanity, one out of every four people on planet earth will be from that continent by 2050. it seems that the russians and chinese understand that, because they are playing large and significant, i would say, disrupting our force there. so having a person in the position of which you are nominated for who is focused on the continent, who is engaged in

making sure that we in the united states protect our interests, things that make us safe, strong, and prosperous, and understand that as we look to the future, we have to be now and helping to avert not only the crises that often begin to destabilize regions and cause terrorism or government overthrow but also develop the partnerships necessary for long-term prosperity for us and many of the extraordinary nations who want to ally with us and not the chinese. mr. chairman, thank you. chair risch: thank you. senator cornyn. sen. cornyn: thank you. i've heard nothing but good comments about your service and favorable impressions of your work there. i also enjoyed serving with you on the first china task

force and appreciate your work and protecting taiwan and protecting israel. if we can talk a little bit about taiwan first and china first, you and resolution 2758 has shifted a recognition of china at the u.n. from the republic of china to the people's republic of china, but did not really address taiwan, and their status and their sovereignty. china has been since working to reinterpret the resolution, to reassert sovereignty over taiwan , particularly and international organizations. one example that jumps out is international civil aviation organization that implied taiwan is part of china in a press release, most notably evident in an interview at the height of covid-19. when a journalist asked, the official avoided, saying we've

already talked about china and all parts of china, and playing time one is part of china. i think the american taxpayer would agree that we should not be subsidizing the salaries of people who undermine american satellites. can we talk specifically about how we counter china's influence in the u.n., specifically assuring that taiwan gets fair treatment, as it comes to china? and there's a lot of organizations that taiwan can. . belong to you i would love to hear your thoughts on that. rep. stefanik: yes, thank you so much. it is great to see you on the side of the capital now, senator curtis. you and i worked on the issue of setting up a china task force, and as i mentioned in some of the previous questions, i'm committed to make sure taiwan has the most maximum, meaningful participation within the u.s. system, as it should in all international organizations. we have to be vigilant, both in

the long term and the short term, to make sure that china is not able to make significant inroads with the ccp and international organizations. i want to point out i have a record on this issue legislatively. over the past decade, i've voted consistently in support of aid to taiwan. i believe in deterrence to avoid war in indo pacific. you can look at, you know, whether it was the last major vote we took on the defensive aid package, my voted in support of it. sen. curtis: thank you. i think it is very important for the u.s. and our taxpayers. i sponsored a bill over in the house that would actually require the state department to rank the agencies in the u.n. by order of importance, and you can see on one hand, we have the security council, where it is important for us to have a veto vote, and then unrwa, yet the state department insists that these are all equal and all important in the u.s. interests. i understand the president plans

to defund some of these. can you give me a sense from your perspective how you begin to, with your team, limited resources, figure out which of these agencies are actually important and in the best interest of the united states and which ones we need to address? unrwa thank you. we want to do a full assessment of all the u.n. sub agencies and making sure every dollar goes to support our american interests. as the u.s. ambassador, i believe that is my response ability to stand up and support the american people and president trump's america first, peace through strength. through the confirmation process, for example, the u.n. security council should be at the bottom of the list, and i have voted to defund unrwa, and we have discussed that extensively today could i'm interested in that bill and seeing the outcome of that bill could i would like to see a ranking. we want to do that assessment working with secretary rubio and working with president trump and the national security council to make sure the programs we are

funding represent our values. sen. curtis: sometimes you hear the call to defund the united nations, and it is more nuanced than that. so to the extent that we can better clarify which of these agencies are helpful and in the u.s. interests i think would be terrific. rep. stefanik: and i think connecting it to the american people directly, for example, take the world food program, connecting it to american farmers, and that is important to make connectivity to the american people who are very interested in where their taxpayer dollars are going, as they should be. sen. curtis: thank you very much. i yield my time. chair risch: thank you, senator curtis. senator murphy. sen. murphy: thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for your commitment to the country and your willingness to serve. i deeply appreciate the work you have done to combat anti-semitism. i appreciate your commitment to bring that work to the united nations. it is a cancer, both domestically and

internationally. you and i worked together over the last year and have to dramatically increase funding for the not for private security grant program that sends money to synagogues and jewish community centers, to invest in security upgrades. i'm heartbroken that we need to do that, but it is an important moment to support those communities. i agree that them is confirmed at the u.n., it is also a problem you have raised domestically, both on the right and the left. i think anti-semitism work is best when we call out what is happening on both sides of the aisle. what do you think of elon musk, perhaps the president's most visible advisor, during -- doing two heil hitl salutese at the president's rally? rep. stefanik: no, he did not do

hitler's salutes. when he says we need to do the visit to mars, elon musk is a visionary could i look for to his work in doge and how we can be more effective. that is simply not the case, and say so, the american people are smart. we are proud to be the country of such successful entrepreneurs. that is one of the greatest strength of americans. sen. murphy: let me share with you, "holy crab, did elon musk just heil hitler at the rally? that is incredible. we are so back." another wrote "that is incredible, things are happening," as he amplified the visual.

the proud boys in ohio posted with the text "heil trump." white lives matter posted it on telegram. i could keep going. over and over last night, white supremacist groups and neo-nazi groups in this country rallied around the visual. does it concern you that those elements of the neo-nazi and white supremacist element in the united states believe that what they saw last night was a neo-nazi salute? rep. stefanik: what concerns me is these other questions you believe are most important to ask the u.n. ambassador. i have a very strong record when it comes to combating anti-semitism. we just had a historic election where president trump and historic support from american voters, combating anti-semitism,

which has been a scorched, skyrocketing since october 7. i intend to bring moral clarity to this position and continue to speak out as a voice, as a beacon of light, condemning anti-semitism at the united nations, which is representative of president trump's record and president trump's promises that he made on the campaign trail. sen. murphy: you are right, these are the questions that i choose to asked because i think your work only comes with real impact and credibility if it holds both right and left accountable. i simply don't believe that it's a memberof "---- if a member of "the squad" made that same gesture last night that there would not be commentary from you and others. i want to make sure our work has credibility, and credibility comes with calling anti-semitism and anti-semitic behavior out when it comes from both the right and the left. let me turn to one issue that

has come up several times and ask you for a quick response. leaving the who i think is a mistake, but i think you will agree that we still need to find a way to play a role internationally in global public health standards. we do not want to let the chinese essentially set those rules for us, because ultimately pandemics will find a way to us. can you commit to this committee, notwithstanding the decision to leave the w.h.o., that you will make sure we will find arep. stefanik: i support president trump. i think we need to be the leader in terms of global health. that is very important and our programs within the u.n. committed to global health. we are the leader when it comes to global health and we need to continue to be so. chair risch: thank you very much. next up, senator cornyn.

i'm sorry, senator scott. thank you. sen. scott: congratulations on the appointment of the ambassador to the u.n. president trump made a great choice. you are the perfect person to carry out his america first policies on the world stage and defend in our best interest. the united states health fund, united nations, the goal was always a form for the world of governments especially great powers to be able to establish and keep peace if possible. this is clearly not what the u.n. is today. complete failure of many of our eyes. what are your thoughts? rep. stefanik: i think the u.n. has not lived up to its founding mission of peace and security. that is when i discuss this potential roads president trump come he said there is great potential -- if you look at the antisemitism and the amount of resolutions targeting israel,

that is not meeting the mission of international peace and security. i also think being good stewards of u.s. taxpayer dollars, looking at the organizations within the u.n. system that are transparent, accountable, and the american people support them, that they support our national security strategy versus their parts within the u.n. i'm deeply concerned about that are in need of reform. sen. scott: the u.n. has a long history of disproportionately targeting israel with resolutions, inquiries, sanctions, specifically agenda item 7 that mandates the discussion of alleged israeli human rights abuses at every seven. this item is unique to israel and does not apply to any other nation like china, russia, iran, north korea, cuba, or venezuela who have documented severe human rights abuses. given the funding indirectly supports investigations and resolutions that single out israel, what is your plan to increase transparency and accountability in the allocation

of u.n. resources and american taxpayer dollars? rep. stefanik: this is the key question. the chairman has spoken about the importance to know where every dollar goes within the u.n. system and that is my commitment, to deliver that accountability and transparency as part of this process, assessing all of our u.n. programs, funding coming to see if they are effective. if they are supportive of american values. if they are not, we need to have serious conversations with our appropriators. sen. scott: many u.n. states with barbaric human rights records are criticizing israel while avoiding scrutiny for their own bad behavior. how do you plan to hold them accountable? rep. stefanik: with our voice is very important. speaking out. that is one of the lessons in the committee hearing with higher education come the colleges and universities. when you speak out with moral clarity, and the american people listen. we need to ensure we have that moral clarity with our

u.s. ambassador to the united nations every single day. sen. scott: in recent years calls to redo her -- withdrawal funding to u.n. their anti-west and support the hostile states that use the u.n. for themselves and against us. what actions are available to you to make clear united states will no longer accept being treated the way -- this way in international organization we largely find. rep. stefanik: i think president trump is the strongest commander-in-chief in terms of he knows what to negotiate and when to walk away, when organizations are counter to our national security or counter the american interest whether it is the organizations within the u.n. system like unrwa. i hope to support his leadership in this role. sen. scott: i look forward to your tenure at the u.n. i assume you will be there at trump's entire term. at the end, what would you hope to say you accomplished in your four years?

rep. stefanik: i would hope to come supportive president trump's america first peace through strength, significant reforms to demand results and efficacy of every dollar that goes to the u.n. for decades, this committee on a bipartisan basis has talked about the importance of reform. we need to get that done. i think it fits squarely with this department of government efficiency and one of the major issues the president campaigned upon. i also want to make sure every u.s. taxpayer dollar goes to support making america stronger, safer, and more prosperous, working directly with the secretary of state to do so. president trump campaigned on peace and no new wars. he is the president of peace and no new wars most of i think we have a unique opportunity for example to build on the success of the abraham accords in his second term and i hope to support that in this role. sen. scott: thank you. chair risch: senator rosen.

sen. rosen: thank you senator ricketts. thank you congresswoman stefanik for your decade of service in the house, for volunteering to serve our country in this new role. i enjoyed working with you when we were on the house science and technology committee and i want to congratulate you again on your nomination. i do really appreciate your comments today about how you will tackle anti-israel bias at the u.n., which i'm also extremely concerned about. precisely because of that bias that i believe we must lean in a leadership at the u.n., not diminish our role. as we discussed last week, if we are not at the table, our seat will be taken by someone who does not share our values and does not defend our allies. i'm going to move on to some other questions that have not been asked. i will move on to lebanon because there is a lot going on. the u.n. security council

resolution 1701 states there should be no armed presence in southern lebanon other than the lebanese armed forces. you know phil is charged with monitoring and enforcing this resolution. instead of disarming, hezbollah has expanded its military presence, constructed tunnels, often without matching unifil peacekeepers who are not mandated for broad offensive actions. especially against a terrorist group like hezbollah. even in the wake of israel successful degrading of hezbollah, forces in the laf moving into southern lebanon, it is clear something has to change. unifil must support the effort. how can the u.s. ensure that you would security council resolution 1701 is fully enforced and how you work within the u.n. system to ensure unifil can play a significant role in maintaining security and lebanon. rep. stefanik: thank you. it is an important question and

i'm glad you raised it. unifil has failed as we have seen the digging of the tunnels come as we have seen tens of thousands of rockets from hezbollah into israel. and we have had tens of thousands of israeli families who have had to leave their homes in northern israel because of the rockets. we need to ensure unifil is a peacekeeping mission that we need to do an assessment. it has failed and we are going to have to have a strategy moving forward. i think this is an opportunity with the effective operations at israel against hezbollah and hamas leadership to continue to build on that success could not have these regime of terror continue to grow in those regions. sen. rosen: i look forward to working with you on that. i want to focus on syria for a moment because the u.n. security council has an opportunity to play a critical role in supporting syria's political

transition following the fall of al-assad's brutal regime. previously supported resolution 2254 which provided a roadmap for an inclusive, nonsectarian syrian government. this resolution was passed nearly a decade ago and a lot has changed in the last 10 years. what do you think the role of security council resolution 2254 should play in syria's future? if it is outdated -- i know you will take a look and review it -- do you have an opinion about what might need to change? rep. stefanik: i think it is the starting point we need to look at. this is a significant change within the region, within the middle east with theassad regime, which i condemned consistently during my time in congress. the brutality, chemical weapons used against the syrian people. we need to be cautious and judicious with the new leadership in syria.

we could not allow it to be a den of terror against its own people. i would view that as a starting point. as we discussed this on the national security council and the president makes his decisions for the best approach when it comes to our approach to syria. sen. rosen: and deliver the humanitarian aid we need. i want to finish talking about unesco and artificial intelligence. the field of artificial intelligence rapidly evolving, critical. we have a seat at the table to develop. unesco has become important form for global conversations around use of ai and produce the first ever double standards on the ai ethics november 2020 one. we know china has made a concerted effort to increase its engagement with standard-setting bodies including unesco. do you agree chinese influences and international ai standards posed national security risks for the united states and how would you go about working on

artificial intelligence standards? rep. stefanik: i am deeply concerned about china standards within the ai framework. i think we need to win the ai race. i worked on this extensively on a bipartisan basis. i helped set up ai within dod. we need to work with the private sector to unleash our ai capabilities to be the world leader and work with partners. i think this is an opportunity to work with partners and allies around the world to make sure our standards based upon the ethical use of ai, that that is the approach. when it comes to unesco, this will be a decision of the presidential level. i do understand the imports of u.s. leadership when it comes to ai and global standard-setting. sen. ricketts: senator cornyn. sen. cornyn: as she pointed out, the united nations has a long and shameful history with regard to his treatment of our ally israel. you alluded, and i think quite

appropriately, to daniel moynihan statement about the 1975 resolution basically calling zionism a form of racism. i think history has remembered that as a moynihan moment and i look forward to many stefanik moments during your tenure there at the united nations. i am pleased to support your nomination. i have a couple of questions. one about iranian nuclear aspirations and the other about russia. first let me start with russia. we know mr. putin does not honor any obligations with the russian federation dating back to 1994 with the budapest memorandum where he said they would protect ukrainian sovereignty in exchange for relinquishing their nuclear weapons. more recently, he has not only engaged in, provoked of a prior

art -- barbaric attack of the quite in violation of that, but also annexation of belarus. what do you think our policies should be in dealing with mr. putin? my view is he is not going to stop as long as he feels like he has an opportunity to reestablish the russian empire. something he has said he aspires to do. but do you think of our national policy with regard to mr. putin should be and has territorial aspirations? rep. stefanik: i can point to my record. i have been strong in supported our deterrence efforts to the national defense authorization act we passed on a bipartisan basis. i would point to president trump's success in his first term. as i pointed out, he is the only modern president where putin did not invade another country because of the strong leadership that president trump brings every day. we did not see that with our

previous president. i think the catastrophic withdrawal led to this cascading of weakness around the globe. of course, one of the after effects was russia's decision to invade ukraine. i think the president needs to have maximum flexibility to bring this resolution to an end, a peaceful resolution, stopping the killing, stopping the bloodshed. he campaigned on this issue. certainly, secretary rubio testified extensively on this issue as well. i want to support his commitment to do so through his special envoy and his decision as president. sen. cornyn: it seems like the biden administration has tried to use diplomacy without the credible use, threat at least, of the use of force. do you think diplomacy works without deterrence? rep. stefanik: i think you need to have deterrence. i think deterrence is key. you are talking to a member who has been on the committee,

served on the house intelligence committee. i think deterrence is our strongest way to ensure we have peace. i have been proud to help rebuild our u.s. military in the first term and president trump when he signed the national defense authorization act in my district. i am a deep believer in deterrence. diplomacy is very important as well. that is one of the reasons why i think it is important his position serve as a cabinet level. i am honored the president nominated me to be in this position. sen. cornyn: because you have a record dealing with the u.n. security council resolution 2231, adopted as part of that deal of the iranian nuclear deal in 2015, snapback sanctions iran violated the agreement, which it has done clearly time and again. president trump sought to initiate those snapback sanctions in august 2020, but it was not successful at the time.

2023, signed a bipartisan letter for the british, french, german leaders, urging them to immediately initiate the snapback mechanism. how important do you think it is that snapback occur and what threat is there to the region and to world peace of iran acquiring a nuclear weapon? rep. stefanik: it is of the most significant threat to world peace and specifically to the region. i have a long record on this issue. i think it will be an important tool to consider in the president's toolkit as he pushes back on iran. if you look at the success in his first term, we had the iranian regime -- he had the iranian regime at its weakest point. what we have seen with the hundreds of billions of dollars sent to iran during the last presidency, newbold embolden hamas who committed the bloodiest day for the jewish people since the holocaust october 7 come and embolden

hezbollah which luckily successfully israel has continued to eradicate the terrorists of both hamas and hezbollah, and that is funded by iran. it has a cascading effect. one of the greatest breakthroughs to push back on iran is the abraham accords and building upon that success. also using our energy policy and president trump was a visionary in this space, understanding energy policy is national security around the world. sen. cornyn: thank you. sen. ricketts: senator van hollen. sen. van hollen:. it was good to meet with you. we discussed many of the important issues you will face at the united nations. i was pleased to hear you say despite you are voting record in the house, you support funding for the united nations and most of its agencies. we agreed that u.s.

disengagement from the united nations was simply cede lots of territory to our adversaries will stop sadly, president trump's decision to leave the world health organization will do just that. i believe it will make us less safe. viruses don't respect national boundaries will stop also, much false information has been spread about unrwa this morning. i urge all of my colleagues to go read the u.s. intelligence assessment of unrwa, an organization that cindy mccain has described as "indispensable." one issue you will immediately face at the u.n. our discussions and resolutions regarding the ongoing conflicts in the middle east. and i associate myself with senator rosen's comments about the importance of enforcing u.n. security resolution 1701 along with other u.n. security council resolutions.

like you, i met with the hostage families. many of them. i commend president trump and special middle east envoy steve witkoff for their role. it is essential they achieve its full implementation. i would like to discuss your views about what people refer to as the day after in gaza and beyond. president trump has an opportunity to bring some light at the end of a very dark tunnel we find ourselves in. the latest chapter being the horrific hamas attacks october 7. the president's he was to bring long-term peace and security to the region. clearly hamas can have no role in the future. long-term peace must include security, self-determination, and dignity for israelis and palestinians alike.

when we talk to my office, you agreed we should stand up and protect universal human rights and human rights and self-determination for all people, including both israelis and palestinians. i would just like to hear you today say that is your view. rep. stefanik: to put that view in the context of the day after question, i think president trump is uniquely positioned at this very challenging moment to bring peace to the region, to eradicate terrorists of hamas and hezbollah, to protect israel's national security will stop if you look at the failures, we have given billions of dollars and this is just the bilateral aid to the palestinians and it has been abused by hamas. sen. van hollen:, a simple question. i'm asking if you agree with this statement in order to achieve long-term peace and stability in the middle east, we have to security human rights and rights of self-determination for both israelis and palestinians. yes or no. rep. stefanik: i support human

rights for all and i think it is a disgrace that hamas and hezbollah have stripped the human rights of the palestinian people. and we need to ensure that we are standing up for human rights and israel is standing up for human rights. it is a beacon of human rights. sen. van hollen: we agree with that. i asked you in the office about whether palestinians have the right of self-determination. my understanding was you said yes. do you have a different answer today? rep. stefanik: that was not the direct question we discussed. sen. van hollen: you believe palestinians have the right of self-determination? rep. stefanik: i believe they deserve better than the failures they have had on the terrorist leadership. sen. van hollen: simple question. rep. stefanik: of course they deserve human rights. i went to ensure number one we bring the hostages home. sen. van hollen: so do all of us. let me ask you, i have 30 seconds left, i am rarely

surprised by answers in my office but i did ask you whether you subscribed to the views of finance minister smotrich -- the israeli finance minister, former national security minister ben-gvir who believe that israel has a biblical right to the entire west bank. in that conversation, he told me, yes, you share that view. is that view your -- is there your view today? rep. stefanik: yes. sen. van hollen: and it comes to this difficult issue, if the president is going to succeed at bringing peace and stability to the middle east, we are going to have to look at the u.n. security council resolutions -- not just the ones on lebanon, which we should enforce, but other u.n. security council resolutions. it is going to be difficult to achieve that if you continue to hold the view you just expressed. which is a view that was not

held by the founders of the state of israel who were secular zionists, not religious sinus. sen. ricketts: senator daines. sen. daines: chairman, thank you. ms. stefanik, congratulations and thank you for being here today. i am pleased to see president trump lacing such a strong emphasis on this very important position of bessette or to the united nations. it is important for the united states to be active at the table at the u.n. to protect and advance u.s. interest. it is hard to imagine that the united nations, which was born out of the tragedy of the holocaust, would become a significant voice, an instrument of anti-semitism. that is exactly what has happened. not only has the u.n. general

assembly's condemned israel's right to defend itself and demand israel and unlawful presence in occupied palestinian territory, it has also attempted to recognize palestine as a state. in programs such as unrwa have actively assisted terrorists. i remember hezbollah tear tunnels in late august of 2023, seeing what was planned, if you walked down with idf soldiers to see and spray-painted and arabic on our way to jerusalem. little did we know when we were touring those tunnels between israel and lebanon, that weeks later the worst terror attack in israel's history would occur october 7, 2023. if confirmed, you will have to be a stalwart advocate for u.s.

interests -- by the way, i could not be more pleased with president trump's moral clarity on these difficult issues as it relates to what is happening in israel. secretary rubio, great to see him sworn in today. you being our next ambassador to the united nations, ambassador huckabee nominated for israel, this will be a great team that has moral clarity on these difficult issues. you will be a star worked advocate -- stalwart advocate that advocates against american values, existing only because the united states financial contributions to his budget. the u.n. i said no greater demonstration of their ineffectiveness and failure to prevent iran from advocating for nuclear weapons program. in your opinion, how could the united states as a member of the security council encouraged the u.n. to take actions to curb the

advancements ofiran's nuclear program? rep. stefanik: this is related to the question by senator cornyn, consideration of snapback sanctions, continuing to be a strong voice, pushing back against iran, supporting the president's maximum pressure campaign that was so successful in the first term that we will see a continuation of an this term. i think that is also the critical step to take to stop the excess of terror in the region as iran is the number one funder of hamas and hezbollah and the houthis. building on the success of the abraham accords, i mentioned this earlier in the hearing, we have an abraham accords caucus here, with countries who understand the importance of bringing peace and normalization to the region.

sen. daines: i remember that visit late august, my last trip to israel since the attacks, but meeting with netanyahu, the optimism off of the abraham accords, possibly restoring relations between saudi arabia and israel, there was great hope and optimism. shattered. shattered. not by the israelis, but by this horrible terror attack by hamas. my colleagues have asked about your plans for changing the staffing dynamics and putting forward more u.s. candidates for postings. congresswoman, i am very supportive at this, but how do you plan to push back against individuals like the secretary general stoltenberg who lowered flags to have staff for the butcher of tehran, their late president? rep. stefanik: we are going to push back with strong moral clarity, with president trump's peace through strength.

we are going to push back strongly and clearly. sen. daines: i appreciate your moral clarity, strong leadership , 10 years in the u.s. house. pleased to serve with you on the hill. you will be a great ambassador to the united nations. thank you. sen. ricketts: thank you very much. senator barrasso. sen. barrasso: congratulations. i believe you're going to be terrific. a couple of things i wanted to talk to you, israel has continually been subjected to biased resolutions and politically motivated investigations at the united nations. the u.n. so-called human rights council has a standing agenda item. that item is called item number seven and eight exclusively targets israel. it makes it the only member of the u.n., the only member state singled out in this manner. the council criticizes israel

will often overlooking the atrocities in countries like iran, syria. 2024 alone, the u.n. general semler adopted 17 different resolutions against israel compared to only six against the whole rest of the world. it is astonishing this is going on at the u.n. what are your views on item seven and what steps would you take to do in order of removal of this from the permanent agenda? rep. stefanik: we need to work to remove it from the permanent agenda. this is counter to our national security interests, counter to our values. this is emblematic of the antisemitic rot that is pervasive within the u.n. system. i am a big believer in transparency. we saw over the course of exposing, frankly, the failed leadership on college campuses, the importance of providing a spotlight when there is a lack of moral clarity because the american people strongly support

the u.s.-israel relationship. they understand the moral case and the importance of israel and how we should not be funding more -- or supporting or giving any platform, frankly, like the standing agenda item. sen. barrasso: are there things in mind how we can pay greater attention to the true human rights situations that are taking place in iran, syria, and have the u.n. be forceful at all? rep. stefanik: yes. when previous u.s. ambassadors chaired the security council for their month, human rights was on the agenda item. i want to make sure that continues to be a priority, speaking on human rights issues which there is significant bipartisan records on both sides of the aisle coming together to really raise the awareness and speak with that moral leadership from the united states of america on these humanitarian crises and speaking up for human rights. sen. barrasso: you insert a number of questions about china today. -- you answered a number of questions about china today. i think china continues to have

an unfair advantage due to the definition of china being the status listed as a developing nation, as a post of the second largest economy in the world. for me it is not a developing nation, which has huge advantages as a result of that, in terms of funding and ability to borrow money and others in the world stage. do you believe china is a "developing nation," and what is your plan to ensure china is no longer able to exploit what i believe is an inaccurate label currently? rep. stefanik: they are the greatest perpetrators of intellectual property theft. they are the most significant national security challenge. i think generationally this will be the greatest challenge my generation faces, and i think we have an opportunity, because if you look at the bipartisan focus and concern on ensuring we not only meet this challenge, but

that our values, we continue to strengthen our partnerships and allies around the world, i think we have an opportunity to deliver results in this space. sen. barrasso: used the words accountability, transparency. i know that is the way you have acted in congress. the u.s. contributes 22% of the u.n. total budget right now. how are you going to ensure that that financial burden at the u.n. is shared more equitably, in accordance with current economic realities? rep. stefanik: first of all, working with members of the house and senate, and specifically the appropriators, is important. as i discussed, doing an assessment of all of our funds, ensuring we are being good stewards of the taxpayer dollars. that we are looking at results-based entities, organizations that support american interest, american first peace through strength, and working with our national security team to do so. i want to provide this committee with assurances that every dollar -- which frankly this

committee has not gotten before, and we deserve that as good stewards of taxpayer dollars. sen. barrasso: i believe i heard you say, we are the united states, not the united nations. how are you going to protect sovereignty? rep. stefanik: i support american sovereignty and know i am going there to be ambassador of the united states, to the united nations, and not the other way around. and i will always stand up for american values. sen. barrasso: congratulations. chair risch: thank you, senator barrasso. senator lee, the floor is yours. sen. lee: good to be back on the committee. congratulations on your nomination. you know, to start off with i will say that i have made no secret about the fact that i have got a healthy degree of skepticism about the united nations. in fact, i have introduced a bill to defund it. but i believe you are properly

equipped and prepared to handle the challenges within the united nations between now and whenever we might have the wisdom to defund it, should that occur. i look forward to working with you on that and on your efforts to reform it from within during your time, should you be confirmed. now, the united states is one out of 190 three member states belonging to the united nations. in this setting the u.s. will obviously need to engage with allies to bring about any needful, proper reforms. who do you consider our best allies within the u.n. system? rep. stefanik: the brits are very important ally in the security council. israel is a key ally. need to continue to make inroads within eval up in countries in africa. it is important to build on the success china has had a significant effort to peel off those votes in the general

assembly. i think we need to approach it that every, you know, every country has one vote i know that as a house member no matter what your district is you have one vote. we need to build our coalitions. japan is a key ally. australia is a key ally. the brits, we share so many values. the french are also an important ally as well. and then israel. israel is a huge priority for me, and making sure the rest of the world knows the u.s. [inaudible] strongly with israel. sen. lee: how would you describe the u.n. stance toward israel? rep. stefanik: antisemitic. sen. lee: that is a problem, given the u.s. relationship with israel. it is a problem the united nations takes such a hostile approach. it is also concerning that within the security council we have people who have -- let's just say don't share our interests, who have veto power.

how does that limit our ability to effect significant change within the united nations? rep. stefanik: it is a significant challenge. it is a challenge the ambassador, and if confirmed, we will face every day, with china and russia's veto. it is a challenge we are going to need to continue addressing. it has been important to speak out and stand up for american values and be a voice representing the united states of america at the security council, but it is a challenge. sen. lee: the international criminal court remain -- maintains a liaison office at the u.n. headquarters in new york. as you are aware the u.s. granted what it refers to as an in voluble headquarters district -- inviolable headquarters district. they also negotiated a relationship agreement that obligates them to cooperate and exchange information. but as you know, the u.s. is not a party to the icc, and with very good reason. i hope we never ratified that.

in light of this, what are your thoughts on the cooperative relationship between the u.n. and the icc? and would you support a negotiation of the united nations headquarters agreement? to clarify that the u.n. should not be housing other international organizations? to which the u.s. is not a party? particularly those that take positions hostile to the interest of the rep. stefanik: united states? rep. stefanik:i have a significant record pushing back on the icc. first of all, we are not party to a. it has targeted u.s. service members, as well as targeting israel. we just pushed back on the icc's disgraceful anti-semitism. i want to take a look at what you just proposed. i'm open to assessing that and i want to work with our oversight members to do so. i think it is important that no u.s. taxpayer dollars, that there is any connection to that, because it is counter to our values. sen. lee: therein lies one of our problems.

we are the largest donor nation to the united nations. we also are in a situation in which most of the money we contribute is voluntary. nobody else comes close to what we dole out, and yet any of our interests are contravened by things that the ewing does or has been doing, has been inclined to do. and that creates a problem. that problem is compounded by virtue of how a lot of this money makes its way to the u.n. we put something in the neighborhood of $20 billion a year in there. we can say we don't want our money going to x, y, or z, but it all gets put into a large sort of balloon. and what we might take out here, they might use somewhere else, so we are still funding a lot of things that are hostile to our interests. would you support tailored funding cuts, and if so how would you bring about those cuts

to ensure that it does not just come out in the wash somewhere else? rep. stefanik: i would support tailored cuts. how want to work with our appropriators specifically on how we can be most effective and judicious in making those cuts. but it goes back to one of my main goals, if confirmed to this position, is being good stewards of u.s.-backed tape -- u.s. taxpayer dollars and representing american values. sen. lee: i see my time has expired. chair risch: thank you, senator lee. thank you for your view on the icc. there is a lot of us that share the same view. any court that wants to be a court has to know right from wrong, and for the icc to proclaim some kind of moral equivalency between israel and hamas is ridiculous. they cannot have any kind of standing in a judiciary or legal system with that kind of a view, so thank you for your view in

that regard. senator schatz. sen. schatz: speaking of every country having a vote, we had a pretty constructive conversation about the pacific island nations with which we have, i think, made some progress in terms of engagement during but it is kind of a mixed bag because of the prc influence. i would just like to hear you say in public what we discussed in private, which is it is important that we remain engaged in all of these little nations which are sovereigns and all do have a vote at the u.n. for strategic purposes. we talk about the asia-pacific region we tend to talk about south asia and east asia. very little about the countries that occupy the pacific ocean. i'm wondering if you can talk about that? rep. stefanik: yes, absolutely. considering the importance of the region -- all regions are important but a threat of a rising china in the region, it

is increasingly critical that the u.s. continue to strengthen our partnerships, our diplomatic outrage to all countries big and small within indo-paycom. and it is deeply tied to your state's national security. you know. sen. schatz: there are two theories of the case around how to use the u.n. to counter p.r.c. influence. i think you and i are on the same page as it relates to what to do next. my own judgment -- and you can tell me if you agree with this -- is that to the degree and extent we want to engage in muscular diplomacy, muscular foreign policy, muscular defense policy, it is not in our interests to proceed away from all of these u.n. bodies. obviously senator lee and i probably disagree about the u.n. itself and some of the policies

that it has made. but i think we would be cutting off our nose to spite our face if we just go away from these international convening spirit and so, -- because china is not going away where -- going anywhere. they're trying to run the meetings. i know paris is a done deal. fair enough. elections have consequences and all of that. i am worried we are going to get out of the room and relegate ourselves to observer status and then wonder why we are losing the battle in the room. i just want to know if you are committed to staying in those rooms, to fighting for american priorities and values rather than taking your marbles and going home? rep. stefanik: i think it is very important we stay in those rooms, particularly the technical organizations like telecommunications, intellectual-property, civil aviation. there was a discussion about artificial intelligence. we need to lead with our

standards and values, and frankly the world is looking for us to lead. that is an important tool and i look forward to working with secretary rubio and his strong record of the a strong voice in the u.s. senate now that he is confirmed as secretary of state. certainly there will be policy disagreements. i support the president's decision, but we need to push back against the ccp's inroads, and we need to do so with people as well, both at the lowest level, starting entry levels within the u.n. system, but also the senior level and heads of these sub-u.n. agencies. sen. schatz: thank you for that. i know senator coons may have covered this. i understand there is a 90 day pause on all -- and again, elections have consequences. every president comes in and pauses pending regulations and the rest of it. some of this is going to have material consequences pretty quickly and we don't have 90 days when it comes to our

military partnerships. people don't have 90 days when it comes to humanitarian assistance. i'm wondering how we navigate through the absolute prerogative that a president has to set their own policy course versus 90 days could be too long for some communities and countries? rep. stefanik: thank you for the question. i support the president's executive action. i think it is important we be strong voices for the american taxpayer and ensure that all of our investments go to specific results, strengthening our national security, and ringing peace through strength. if confirmed i will work through the national security council and the president and secretary of state to ensure that have the strong tools we need within the united nations to work with secretary rubio on our broader national security strategy the president has laid out for the american people. sen. schatz: i guess what i'm trying to figure out is, can we

agree that 90 days may be too long and you were going to try to figure out where to turn the spigot back on? this is a blanket freeze and i presume some of the things that are frozen are going to get unfrozen. it would be better if we could unfreeze some of these things at 20 days rather than 90, because there are real geopolitical consequences to freezing all eight for three months. rep. stefanik: thank you, senator schatz. i do support the president's executive order. we will work on the national security council to make sure all of the tools needed to protect our national security and the diplomatic peace is an important part of that. when it comes to the u.n. i have confidence the president is going to create the tools we need for the national security. sen. schatz: i enjoy the answer to your previous question better. chair risch: when you do a blanket executive order like that sometimes the law of unintended consequences takes over. having said that, every one of these executive orders can be amended, and we have a history of amend in, both sides, over

years. so, i am not as concerned about that, but it is a valid and legitimate. thank you so much. senator cruz, you are up. sen. cruz: congresswoman, congratulations on your nomination. you are going to be terrific. i want to go back to a topic you discussed with senator cornyn. i want to focus on iran's push to build a nuclear arsenal, which poses, i think, the most acute threat to national security. when the ayatollah chance death to america, he means it. and i believe he would absolutely detonate a nuclear weapon over an american city if he could. the trump administration got iran's nuclear program in a box and kept it there. president trump withdrew from the obama-iran nuclear deal in 2018.

imposed maximum pressure in 2019. he invoked the u.n. snapback mechanism in the un security council to reimpose international sanctions in 2020. for that entire time iran was deterred from making significant advances on the nuclear program. they did not even enrich uranium above 5% or cascade-advanced centrifuges. starting in november 2020 the iranian regime gambled a could start rushing to a nuclear arsenal. and the incoming biden would let them. unfortunately, that proved correct. in november the regime approved a new law calling for major nuclear advances. in january they started enriching at 20%. at the underground enrichment anchor built into a mountain that the obama iran nuclear deal left open.

the incoming biden administration responded with appeasement. in february, immediately after being inaugurated, they rushed to the u.n. to rescind president trump's snapback, allowing international sanctions to expire. the next four years the administration continually dismantled pressure on the regime and refused to impose sanctions. we know the result. today the ayatollah has achieved a nuclear breakout time of zero. we now face the very real possibility of an iranian nuclear arsenal. i do not believe this is a threat the u.s. can tolerate and i'm confident both the president and secretary of state bor agree. i asked secretary of state rubio whether he intends to go to the united nations and again triggered the snapback mechanism as part of his written -- as a

part of his written testimony to his committee. here was secretary rubio's response. "i believe it is in our national security interest to snapback the sanctions that were suspended under the jcpoa. i will execute the president's guidance and work with our allies to ensure that snapback takes place. first, you agree with secretary rubio's assessment that it is in the interest of the united states to snapback those sanctions? rep. stefanik: yes. sen. cruz: talk about how you would execute a strategy to do so. rep. stefanik: we will have to -- that will be a strategy i developed with the national security council. to work with our allies within the united nations, within the security council. there are allies that are already considering this and looking at it, and that has been publicly reported. obviously pushing back on iran

is a top priority. it was a success during president trump's first term and we have seen the catastrophic results during the previous four years when you have had an emboldened iran that has led to directly the october 7 terrorist attack against israel and hezbollah firing tens of thousands of rockets against israeli civilians. sen. cruz: let's move to another topic. you and i talked about the deeper rot in the united nations when it comes to supporting terrorism, especially israel. as you discussed with senator mccormick, you and rwa has provided support for hamas and other terrorist groups inside gaza. the world health organization has been complicit in the use of hospitals for terrorist activities, including the holding of hostages. complicity of these organizations deepened after october 7. the biden administration embraced you and rwa and --

andra -- unrwa. administration officials circumvented. yesterday the president withdrew our participation. i think that was a critical first step, but the next step is to enable american citizens to hold these organizations accountable. we currently have is very odd legal environment where these organizations enjoy more sovereign immunity then states. and thus are shielded from accountability. last congress i introduced the libel act and was joined by four current birds of this committee, as well as secretary of state rubio. the ill will allow american victims of terrorism to sue international organizations that support terrorism against this. i will soon reintroduce it in this congress. what is your understanding of the role these organizations have played in facilitating terrorism against americans,

israelis, and our allies? rep. stefanik: there were individuals in unrwa who participated and committed terrorist acts against israel on october 7. sinwar, the leader of hamas, carried an unrwa passport. you had a data center under unrwa headquarters. the rot is deep. congress made the right decision. i was proud to be one of the leaders when it came to defunding unrwa and i am committed to holding them accountable and working with the u.s. senate and house and the president if that legislation passes. sen. cruz: terrific. thank you. chair risch: thank you, senator cruz. senator duckworth. sen. duckworth: it is good to see you again. when we met last week we talked about your strategy for getting up to speed. among the many career diplomats at the united nations. what can you say here today about how you will tackle the problems facing people who have been there for a long time and may have relationships and experience at the u.n. headquarters?

rep. stefanik: i think it is important to build on their significant experience. right now there is the transition happening. if confirmed i hope to gain their expertise, particularly the regional expertise that any of the officials within the state department serving at the u.s.-u.n. mission, it is very important particularly in the technical aspects and organizations and some of the challenges within the system. typically the deputy permanent rap is a career, although presidentially-appointed, and i will support the president's nominee. our hope is that that will bring career expertise and an understanding of the human system. sen. duckworth: will you commit to proactively engaging the rotating members of the security council and investing time in relationships throughout those who represent the global south? rep. stefanik: that is very important. it was an issue you and i discussed and was asking my previous parts of this hearing. it is incredibly important if you look at china's inroads in the global south.

it is one of the greatest challenges we face when you look at the u.n. voting habits of the various countries. you need to build on our regional organizations and pushback on chinese influence in that region, and that starts with engagement. sen. duckworth: thank you. shifting gears to southeast asia, the crisis in myanmar only feels like it is escalating since 2021. millions of people are internally displaced and there are hundreds of thousands of displaced in thailand. although we have had un security council resolution 26.6 nine cents 2022, the five points consensus since 2021. and sanctions targeting the military junta, there is no in the end site. this has a major economic impact, including on people here in the united states who find

themselves targeted. if confirmed what ideas would you have to get after some of the challenges that make up this really complex case? i'm not asking you to single-handedly solve the conflict, but can you touch on how you would work with regional bodies, especially under the malaysian chairmanship year, or thailand, the longest treaty ally of the united states? or the philippines, where we have security alliance? to break through the stalemate the world find ourselves in when it comes to myanmar? rep. stefanik: this needs to be among the top priorities when it comes to standing up with human rights, and i'm grateful for the congress and senate for having such a bipartisan record when it comes to standing up for human rights. i hope to return that to a top priority when the u.s. has the opportunity to chair the security council, and i think will ding on these regional organizations is very important. i myself lead a delegation with house armed services committee colleagues, house intelligence

colleagues. we went to thailand. we have gone to other asean countries, and working within the region, because it is so important to the security within the region and the values we strongly support in the region. you point out thailand is our longest ally, oldest ally in the region. that is an important relationship and you have my commitment to continue to build on that. i think asean, we ought to build on these international organizations within the u.n., because i think that helps continue to expand our ability to deliver diplomatic results. sen. duckworth: thank you. i very much look forward to working with you in your new position. graduations. chair risch: -- congratulations. chair risch: senator shaheen. sen. shaheen: i had a couple more follow-up questions. we recognize congressman joe wilson, who i'm sure is here.

nice to have representation from the house foreign affairs committee. thank you. congresswoman, the un security council recently renewed the mandate for althea in bosnia and herzegovina through november 2025. it has been a constant challenge, and i worry that the u.n.-backed peacekeeping mission is needed now more than ever. perhaps in greater force because of the republic of serbia co.'s leader, who is sanctioned by the u.s., and he continues his succession as threats. if confirmed will you commit to building consensus for maintaining that peacekeeping mission in the long term? rep. stefanik: yes. sen. duckworth: thank you. -- sen. shaheen: another i am concerned about is the international organizational migration and the u.n. refugee agency, which is supporting thousands of displaced from the

russian occupied territory. we know we have about 7 million ukrainian refugees globally. the .6 million internally displaced in ukraine. moldova, which is sandwiched between ukraine and has significant russian influence hosts refugees that are equivalent to 5% of its population. it is dependent on you and support especially. if confirmed, will you continue to support these critical humanitarian operations in ukraine and moldova? rep. stefanik: i think it is important that we take a look at all of our u.n. entities and all of our human agencies to make sure they deliver results and represent our values and i want to work with the national security council to do an assessment and get back to you once we do that. i want to work with marco on that. sen. shaheen: that is fair, and i think it is in our interest to help ensure that those countries who are impacted by the fallout

from the conflict have the support to be able to withstand russian influence so that they don't all -- also fall as a result of conflict. let me also register my support for the unafil mission. it is one we need to examine and ensure they continue to be a strong bulwark against hezbollah and what is happening in lebanon. but we need to ensure that there is somebody there to address the peacekeeping that needs to continue now as the result. lebanon has made some real progress in getting a president in place and the prime minister who are outside of the influence of hezbollah. i think anything we can do to ensure that continues is really important.

with that said, i also want to go back to syria, because you talked a little bit about the concern about hts and what they will continue to do in syria has come up in the questioning. the fall of assad probably dealt as big a blow to iran and russia as anything that has happened in the middle east in recent years, and i think it is important for us to think about how we fill that vacuum, because if we don't, or if those people who support freedom support the opportunity for self-determination for the syrian people, then we know that iran and russia and>> can you tt about how you can ensure humanitarian aid continues to get through into syria and the u.n. can engage to ensure that we don't have our adversaries

feeling that vacuum? >> i am deeply concerned about our adversaries feeling that vacuum and i think it is important that we continue to ensure that there is not another reign of terror against the syrian people. it is a very complex thing. there are open questions. i want to work with secretary rubio and president trump to ensure we have a real verification process to verify and i think that is really important before i make any commitments here today and certainly, i will not get ahead of the president. there is no question that assad's fall is a major blow to iran and it is an opportunity in the region for people that have been human rights abuse, have been plotted by the assad regime, the use of chemical weapons and that has been over the course.

i credit president trump for his effective military response to when assad used chemical weapons. i am going to work with the national security council but we will support the president's approach in a very unique -- this moment in time where there is real opportunity and we want to make sure there is not terror. >> i appreciate that and i look forward to working with you and again, i think time is of the essence here and we don't have a lot of time to look at what the options are before our adversaries move in. >> thank you. good point. >> anything else? one very brief follow-up, senator. >> what do you see as your most important lever or levers within the united nations should you be confirmed as our ambassador to the u.n.? what are your most important

levers to bring about reform? >> i think about our vote on the security council and the fact that we are the biggest funder and we need to stand up for our american values at the united nations and i said earlier in my testimony if confirmed, i will represent the united states. that is the responsibility and that is what i am hoping to do. it is our funding and the transparency and accountability that should come along with our funding. >> you had a follow-up. >> one question. really about the rights of persons with this abilities in people with disabilities around the world. the united states is in a unique ability to lead and it is a place where you can work with other nations at the united nations. we are still dealing with unexploded ordinances from the vietnam war in places like laos and vietnam and cambodia. have you thought a little bit

about what you would do when it comes to persons with this abilities in your role as our u.n. ambassador? >> thank you for your leadership on this issue working with so many senators across the aisle. it is an important way american can lead when it comes to human rights and dignity and i hope to bring that leadership and i know secretary rubio during the testimony committed to that as well. i hope to be a strong partner in doing so. >> i'm going to order the letters of support in matters related regarding the congress men the record. with that come our thanks to you. unless there is anybody else for

the good of the order, committee is adjourned. >> house speaker mike johnson has invited president trump to address a joint session of congress.

on tuesday, march 4. in his letter to the president, the speaker writes america's golden age has begun. thanks to your strong leadership and bold action in the first days of your presidency. the united states has already experienced a resurgence of patriotism, unity, and hope for the future. to that end, it is my distinct honor and great privilege to invite you to address a joint session of congress to share your america first vision for our legislative future. we will have live coverage of the march forth speech on c-span, online at c-span.org, or with c-span now, our free video app. >> democracy. it is not just an idea. it is a process. a process shaped by leaders elected to the highest offices and entrusted to a select few regarding its basic principles. where debates unfold, decns