mr. menendez: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. menendez: madam president, in may of this year, terrorist groups in gaza launched more than 4,000 rockets at innocent israelis. for 11 days, hamas and others fired off thousands of various rocket systems with little guidance into heavily populated areas across israel, with no regard indeed, likely with the intention of killing civilians. in the face of this the barrage, once again israel deployed the iron dome missile defense system which intercepted 90% of these incoming attacks. because of this purely defensive system, israel is able to protect its own citizens and also direct its response to more carefully target those in gaza who are responsible for launching this brutal attack. now, i have been clear. we should all mourn the loss of innocent israelis and palestinians during this conflict. hamas further endangers palestinians by hiding their stockpiles and themselves in densely populated areas. but i'm not here today to relitigate thousands of years of conflict. i'm here to point o

mr. menendez: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. menendez: madam president, in may of this year, terrorist groups in gaza launched more than 4,000 rockets at innocent israelis. for 11 days, hamas and others fired off thousands of various rocket systems with little guidance into heavily populated areas across israel, with no regard indeed, likely with the intention of killing civilians. in the face of this the barrage, once again israel

mr. menendez: madam president. today i rise in support of the confirmation of ms.istine o'hearn to the united states district court for the district of new jersey. i was proud to recommend ms. o'hearn for this nomination. she has the qualifications, intellect to make an impartial federal judge and i'm confident she will serve the u.s. district of new jersey as well. she was born in

mr. menendez: thank you, senator risch. mr. secretary, the floor is yours. we ask you to summarize your statement in five minutes or so. your full statement will be included in the record without objection. mr. secretary. >> thank you, appreciate you having me here today. this is the first time i've appeared before you since i was confirmed in ma, i'm happy to be back to report on many of the issues you have raised in your opening statements. i know there is significant support on this committee for the department's mission and its personnel and i welcome the discussion of our authorization priorities and your priorities and hope to build on the work you have started. i first want to take a moment to recognize the state department's remarkable public servants. it would be hard to overstate the unique challenges faced by our global work force, especially during a lengthy global pandemic. their resilience embodies the true spirit of public service. i also want to speak to the department's work since i came before you in march including the steps take ton addre

mr. menendez: madam president. today i rise in support of the confirmation of ms. christine o'hearn to the united states district court for the district of new jersey. i was proud to recommend ms. o'hearn for this nomination. she has the qualifications, intellect to make an impartial federal judge and i'm confident she will serve the u.s. district of new jersey as well. she was born in camden, graduated from the university of delaware, earned his doctorate from beasley school of law in philadelphia. she has worked on behalf of both employers and workers during his impressive career. she's currently a partner at the firm of brown and connery in west mountain, new jersey, where she is highly regarded by her colleagues for her keen insight in every case she takes on. twice she was named one of the top 40 attorneys in new jersey and featured in women's law journal. ms. o'hearn previously served as an adjunct professor. she was appointed to the u.s. magistrate judge selection committee and served in various distinguished board, including the college of trial lawyers and

mr. chairman. >> senator menendez. thank you. senator daines from montana is recognized from his office. >> thank you. and i want to extend a warm welcome to our witness. appreciate this opportunity to discuss matters that are affecting the security of our nation. over the past year china's exerted increasing pressure both military as well as financially on taiwan and its neighbors in the south china sea. while at the same time edging itself from international pressure with new anti-sanctions laws. mr. adeyemo, how does china's decisions not to extend anti-sanctions laws into >> senator, thank you for the important question, and i think this speaks to why we believe it's critical that as we move forward on sanctions, we look forward to every opportunity, the ability to do them multilaterally. frank frankly, our adversaries are seeking ways around our sanctions every day, and to ensure they're unable to do that are making sure our sanctions are not just driven by the united states but by the international community made up of our

mr. chairman. sen. menendez: senator cardin. sen. cardin: thank you, mr. chairman. ambassador burns, first of all let me thank you for your incredible career of public service. you have really advanced american values globally in every post you have held. and i personally appreciated your advice during very difficult times. so thank you very much for your service to our country. and your willingness to continue in this critical role as our ambassador in china. there are so many issues that we need to talk about. and we've already mentioned a lot of of our national security concerns. we know that china is belligerent in the china seas. making claims that are outrageous. and affect international commerce and our national security. we know that they are trying to change the rules of engagement economically, so that they determine the rules based upon the government-controlled economy rather than an open economy, which is against their national security interests. we know how belligerent they are against taiwan. and the list goes on and on and on. but i want to devote m

mr. magnus: yes, i would. sen. menendez: finally, one of the jobs you would have would be to safeguard americans from the importation of counterfeit products. if confirmed, will you commit to taking steps to support our many anti-counter ship -- anti-counterfeit measures? the bridal industry is one of these industries where the dresses are made for the people in this most significant day of their lives, they think it will be something exactly what they saw at the store in new jersey, they get it from china and ultimately they find themselves with a quality that suggests something different and was far different from what they got, but it is too late and they appear to be the same exact as that which would be purchased domestically. there's a lot of counterfeiting in that regard and with this make a difference in strengthening the counterfeit measures? mr. magnus: senator, thank you for the question. the whole area of e-commerce is something i'm particularly interested in. you are right to remind us that these are dangerous

mr. chairman. >> absolutely, ambassador burns, i'm sitting in while senator menendez votes and it's my turn in theer, so congratulations to you, you're a wonderful public servant. i want to ask you a couple of questions about assumptions. so pre-2000, china had to sort of make a case to the united states every year to be granted most favored nation status. and it was an annual decision that the president would make. and china, that annual decision provided a forum for discussions about human rights issues and such. in 2000, congress granted china permanent normal trade relations status which paved their path to becoming a member of the wto. so we no longer have that annual determination and opportunity. and i think possibly we've lost some focus on some of the human rights and other issues for that reason. the decision was made because of a belief that if china was part of the wto, they would conform themselves to global trade rules. and i think everyone, whatever their thought at the time, would say that china's behavior has been disappointing, that they haven't done what we hoped. i'm curious, d

mr. secretary for being here. i'm going to follow up on a couple of things. first of all, both senator toomey and menendez others to emphasize expressions of commitment have and lead to ledo action in terms of enforcing. you said something else to senator scott about multilateral coordinations. north stream two has been strongly imposed by the european union. two votes of 400-100 and that's rounding up the higher number so it's hard for me to see the commitment when the president announces out of the blue the lifting of sanctions. and i think we've concluded that the state department determines north stream to has facilitated sanctions. on whose behalf, who is the winner here? why are we facilitating this, on whose behalf is this being done? >> i appreciate the concerns that we've shared of what we are doing in the treasury department looking for any evidence that we can. we've met with several members here to hear from them in terms of the evidence that they have and we've also worked closely with the department of justice so we have a good understanding of the legal authorities in order to be in a place

menendez: i understand senator young is with us virtually. senator young, are you with us virtually? sen. young: i yes, sir. am. can you hear me? all right. thank you, chairman. mr. mckeon, i wish we could spend this hearing looking at long-term resources for the state department. i wish we had the luxury of rethinking the state department of evaluating new horizons of diplomatic efforts throughout the world. i especially wish we could discuss how we're shifting our focus to asia to deal with the growing threats to national security from a rising china. instead, we must first attend to this administration's sub-optimal withdrawal from afghanistan. its careless failure to treat allies with respect. two it's -- to its self-inflicted wounds that sapped our nation of vital resources at a critical time in our nation's history. so i want to start with a very simple yes or no question, sir. has our withdrawal from afghanistan freed up resources at the state department to focus on other strategic priorities in asia, such as the threat posed by the chinese communist party? yes or no, sir? brian mckeon: we're spending fewer resources in afghanistan, that's correct. though

senator menendez: the hearing of the senate foreign relations committee will come to order. mr.r joining us today. as this committee continues to seek to restore its position of conducting robust oversight, we greatly appreciate your willingness, like that of secretary blinken, to come

mr. menendez: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. : madam president, in may of this year, terrorist groups in gaza launched more than 4,000 rockets at innocent israelis. for 11 days, hamas and others fired off thousands of various rocket systems with little guidance into heavily populated areas across israel, with no regard indeed, likely with the intention of killing civilians. in the face of this the barrage, once again israel deployed the iron dome missile defense system which intercepted 90% of these incoming attacks. because of this purely defensive system, israel is able to protect its own citizens and also direct its response to more carefully target those in gaza who are responsible for launching this brutal attack. now, i have been clear. we should all mourn the loss of innocent israelis and palestinians during this conflict. hamas further endangers palestinians by hiding their stockpiles and themselves in densely populated areas. but i'm not here today to relitigate thousands of years of conflict. i'm here to point out two s