the state department and usaid are very active in our border security efforts. we don't have the lead. that is not our mission, but we are very active participants and supporters in our country's policy. yes. >> good morning, madam secretary. my name is lauren nesbitt. i work in the messaging office of irm and i'm also a staton school student and i'm very excited to be in the program. but i was wondering if you had any interest in promoting the co-op program? it's a little bit broader and it, i think, brings in more students especially from the area. i go to the catholic university of america, columbus school of law and i know a lot of students will look for an internship or something that would bring them in and be able to keep them in the federal government. >> i very much support those programs. and i wanted to add to the young woman who spoke earlier about the internship program. i know it's a financial hardship on many students who cannot afford to do unpaid work. i don't know what the legal constraints are, but it might be possible to provide some minimal

these would be offset by the capital investment fund and usaid's capital investment fund. the amendment would also restrict foreign military financing to sri lanka but the base bill includes up to $1 million for demining activities upped the nonproliferation, demining and related programs, to continue the work with the sri lanka government to high displaced people return to their homes. this amendment includes a restriction on first class travel by employees of agencies funded by this act. i'm pleased to have worked with representatives blumenauer, cuellar, jim marshall and gwen moore to address these concerns and i urge my colleagues to support this amendment and i resevere the balance of my time. the chair: for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois rise? mr. kirk: seek time in opposition. i yield myself four minutes. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. kirk: i rise in reluctant opposition to this amendment. there are many parts of the amendment that i support, like moving funds away from accounts that receive significant increases from the stimulus bill i

i know that there are interns over at usaid. we want to use the hard work of people like yourselves. we appreciate it. we run a very good intern program year. by the hands that went up, it has a lot of good out reach. any of your ideas about how we can improve its, utilize you more, whether there is a way to solicit opinions from young people like yourself about your experience and desire and interest to work full-time for the government, i am very interested in what you might have to offer us. i think it would be useful to have an organized way of soliciting the opinions and ideas of the interns who are here. i also find it very telling that technology is changing so quickly. you may have new ideas we have done even thought of. we have a vigorous effort under way to make us more techno- friendly to be involved in the new technology. we're always looking for new ideas all the time. you can use the sounding board. you can make sure that the people with whom you work no of any ideas or suggestions that you have. we're looking for

it involves usaid and the mcc. some of those countries are mc eligible. it involves diplomatic relations. in order to have a country understand how important it is in terms of our support to have a sustainable government approach, it involves the ambassador and the leadership of the department engaging with the leadership of the country at the presidential and prime minister level as well as the health minister level. i think we have an outstanding new leader. it is not within those boundaries to sustain it. we are doing the review in parallel to this, but it is part of it. we have a report to the congress in september on a strategic review of pepfar. i use that as an example because i think it cuts across as many lines of the programs that are -- that we are responsible for as anything does. i hope that we come up with answers that are different, because we are asking the questions in the qddr. >> the two examples you mentioned are both bush administration initiatives. you said you will take the good programs that the foreign minister russian put in plac

chairman, ranking member lugar for giving me the opportunity to speak on behalf of usaid.we appreciate your continued dedication to the sudanese people in your commitment is peace and stability. >> thank you very much administrator gast. general, share with us if you will your perception of the situation on the ground, the dynamics on the ground in darfur now, and particularly the current status of activities of the principal rebel groups. >> sir, what we are doing right now is trying to cope with the situation that is very dire and very severe. obviously the hands continued to have great problems and we are trying to ensure that they have the basic necessities to ensure the essentials of life. on the ground we still see instability and insecurity and what we are trying to do right now is the chief a lasting and durable peace. to do that we have got an agreement from the government of sudan to put a unilateral cease-fire in. were trying to reduce the tensions between chad and sudan and reduce a cross-border rubble activities that have continued to stir instability and we a

i mean, 10, 15 a year maybe, about how state and usaid can do a better job. what will be different about this. >> on the first question, even if we were doing everything well, it would still be our job to ask questions, how could we do it better. we've been very candid about the fact that we don't think we're doing everything as well as we should. that there are areas of, of our program that we need to change, some in cases how we do business and in some cases how we define the objectives. the pentagon had a very serious program to defend the united states and have an armed forces before they had a qdr process. i think they learned by going through a disciplined systemtic process they could look down the road and envision what the future challenges would look like in a way that better informed the decisions that they make. there is no agency that freezes in place its plans for four years or five years at a time. so it is organic process that's ongoing. but there ought to be a longer view where you ask the question, what do we think our objective is? when you

usaid has key personnel that run important partss of africa command. so it's an despiting departure, and -- it's an exciting departure and the goal is to synchronize our efforts in support of what the state department wants to accomplish on the continent. >> and u.s. sorn command for example is -- southern command is also like that, where the deputy is from the state department. for the time being, you only have two sort of c 130s, that you control the 17th air force at this point. what are some of the other capabilitys that your air force needs, whether in terms of training aircraft, transport aircraft, strike aircraft, and even c4 isr, commanding control unmanned air vehicles. >> we have the spectrum of specialties that we need to support whatever we're doing on the continent. now, we do have two aircraft that we brought forward, but we actually give great support from other commands, like u.s. transportation command, european command, where they will send aircraft to support whatever might be going on in the continent. for example, i know that you k

in addition, a usaid officer will ride in helmand this weekend with three more to follow in the nextuple of weeks. these are stabilization experts from our office of transition initiatives, as well as senior development advisers who will be developed -- working directly with the marines to assist holding and building. these added civilians are part of the larger increase of more than 450 civilians that state and civilian agencies are sending to afghanistan to work alongside our military personnel. their deployment have been, and will continue to be, a closely coordinated by the industry in a couple and u.s. forces in afghanistan. -- by the embassy in kabul, and u.s. forces in afghanistan. >> are you planning on sending anymore to supplement those? you mentioned the three so far. do you expect that to increase? >> as i said, we have two more -- two there now and we have another one that is planning to arrive this weekend. but then, as i said, we also have this larger civilian effort that we will a lot over the next few months. >> so, there will be something -- >> the larger civilian o

the global alliance for improved nutrition is investing three million dollars with the support of usaid to help market sprinkles. the aim is to reach nearly 7 million children. >>bhagwat: gain has always opted to work in countries where the need is high and where also there is a potential of showing some success. bangladesh the problem is huge. there is a malnutrition problem. in addition bangladesh has also capacity to run a program. it has a robust private sector which can actuallydo such things. >>reporter: with the successful roll out of sachets through private-public partnerships -- hopes are now pinned on adding micro-nutrients to cooking oil, rice and wheat flour. >>: the focus: fortifying not only food, but bangladesh's future generations. >>chowdhury: we are trying to lift our country out of poverty...at the route of everything lies the question of health. we need a healthy population. we need a population that is productive -- as productive as therest of the world. >>abirached: the head of gain was inspired to tackle the problem of malnutrition by the fall of apartheid and wha

they conducted more than 125 meetings with employees of the departments of defense and state, usaid and the military and employees of contractors working on a range of projects. the commission continues to develop tasks for research and investigation to extend and deepen its knowledge and to cope with new or changing issues. our plans include many or trips to theaters of operation, additional hearings involving government agencies, nongovernmental organizations, academics and members of the contracting community and continued liaison with congress. before we conclude, we'd like to say a few words about the commission's staff. virtually all of the commission staff are federal employees, some are detailed from agencies and services including the army, the air force, the departments of state and defense, u.s. agency for international development, the defense contract management agency, the defense contract audit agency and the u.s. army corps of engineers. some have served one or more tours in duty in theater including working for the special inspector general for iraq, reconstruction or a

it will also be used as an instrument for reinventin usaid. the development has been hollowed out, neglected, needs to be reconstructed in a deliberate fashion. it's turned back towards rural development, long-term investments. it's going to be one of the avenues for doing that. i'll just stop there. i'm happy to answer any questions. >> i'd like to open it up to questions right now. >> i just wanted to follow up on two things. you mentioned the climate change thing. dot other g8 leaders like what the president is doing and congress is doing on climate change or do they just like it because it's more than bush? and secondly, on protectionism and free trade, dot other leaders -- do the other leaders view president obama as the protectionist was in the campaign or the free trade or he says he is now? >> thank you. i think i'll address the climate change. maybe steve and reuben, you'll want to talk about the protectionism i think there's a complete recognition of our european leaders that president obama is quantitatively and qualitatively differ

it is why we worked so hard to secure additional funding for state and usaid. it is why we put ourselves on a path to double for assistance over the next few years and why we are implementing a plan to dramatically increase the number of diplomats and development experts. . we must tackle the urgent, important, and long term at once. we are witness to and makers of significant change. we cannot and should not be passive observers. we are determined to channel the current of a change, free of violent extremism, poverty, and abuses of human rights. above all, a world in which more people and places can live up to their god-given potential. the architecture we seek to build willet bans all these goals using our power not to dominate, but to solve problems. this is the architecture of progress for the nation's and america. we have it within our power to start the world over again. today in a new era, we are called upon to use that power. i believe we have the right strategy, the right priority, policies, president, and we have the american people, differs, committe

has been one of the areas that, you know, jack lew my deputy working with ambassador holbrooke and usaid and everybody involved, we've actually been heartened by the numbers of people who have volunteered to go but we've limited the areas that the united states is going to focus on. you know, 70% of the people of afghanistan live in rural areas. afghanistan used to be in some descriptions a garden of central asia and south asia and because of the soviet invasion and the resistance to that and then the warlords -- i mean, now it is so eroded and dry and the whole agricultural base has to be reinvigorated. so we're really focused on that. we're not promising to be all things to all people and, in fact, we're working with our allies so that, you know, they will focus on areas that we are not able to any longer. so this is very complicated and the whole idea is to be able to clear and hold, which is what our marines are doing in the south right now, and to provide security for people and to begin to see life return to markets and other means of common activity. and then to go in and work wit

we have the usaid inspector general, and the special iraq reconstruction.between him and the aid inspector general, it is their issue. host: how often did you have to visit there? guest: well, this was the first embassy-wide inspection we have had since the war. we have had many special inspections, investigations, and audits, more than i could count, as a matter of fact. but this was the first sort of taking a photo at 5,000 feet type of inspection where we tried to look at the overall foreign policy, how well is being administered, and the embassy itself. again, as a whole. host: harry geisel with us till the top of the hour. 202-737-0002 for democrats, 202- 737-0001 for republicans. independents and others, 202- 628-0205. matthew, on a republican line. good morning. guest: caller: this embassy was a boondoggle. obama is expanding bush policies, expanding the war. why didn't obama go to afghanistan and visit the troops when he was in russia? he is being another george bush, and i voted for him. host: harry geisel, is it the biggest in the world? guest: is

million for fiscal years 2010 and 2011 for foreign treatment centers and programs administered through usaid's victims of torture fund. the funding is intended to give particular emphasis to supporting centers and programs abroad in emerging democracies and in post conflict environments. i would note parenthetically as i travel on human rights missions abroad, mr. speaker, i often visit those centers and the good work that's being done to help people like in bucharest where the legacy of the brutal tyrant of romania, people are being assisted who spent time suffering torture under his secrete police. lastly, mr. speaker, the measure encourages international cooperation and awareness of this issue by authorizing $12 million to the u.n. voluntary fund for torture victims. the type of humanitarian assistance provided by organization that receive grants from the fund, including organizations in the u.s., consist mainly of, again, psychological, medical, social, and legal assistance. i hope my colleagues can support this legislation and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the

>> i am really impressed by the quality of the people i work with at both the state department and usaid, the level of passion and commitment, the willingness to work long, all hours, you know that from your experience. the excitement of being part of the newer administration, which has meant so much to so many people around the world, has certainly cause people to rethink who we are as americans, and maybe give us a break, cut us some slack as we get organized and get going. i still think it is hard to justify not having our full government in place six months after we started. that is something we have got to do something about. we are trying to get our political leaders in place to work with our very dedicated foreign service and civil service employees, but we are still not there yet. i have no idea, when i was in the senate asking a million questions, how really shortsighted that was. it is amazing. the other thing i didn't realize, when all else fails, if there was a problem that had a foreign policy implication, write letter when you are in the congress. our new undersecretary for

since 1986 the united states agency for international development, usaid, has provided over $7 billion in assistance. with other international andp private sector partners, the u.s. has succeeded in reducing child deaths from diseases related to diarrhea by 50% since 1990. provided over 100 million immunizations to children each year. and reduced malnutrition among children under the age of 5 by 25%. but much more needs be to be done. for this reason i support h.con.res. 550, and with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from american samoa. mr. faleomavaega: madam speaker, i yield such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. faleomavaega: madam speaker, i want to commend the distinguished chairman of the our subcommittee on africa and health, world health care, and his ranking member, the gentleman from new jersey, mr. smith, not only for their leaderpship but for the tremendous -- leadership but for the tremendous commitment and efforts in trying to help establishing programs t

usaid, the delay of funding the president's malaria initiative, which was enacted in order to reduce deaths due to malaria by 50%, lasted until february 15, 2007. five months, or 138 days into the fiscal year 2007. doing the math, this delay in funding relates to the loss of people, 198,000 lives unnecessarily. in other words, by delaying it, the money wasn't there. we didn't get the job done. and this resulted in the deaths of individuals. nasa, on june 8, 2008, the federal times reported the following from nasa administrator michael griffin -- quote -- "any time congress passes a continuing resolution that hauls agencies to that i were current spending levels at a time when the economy is experiencing inflation translates into a budget cut. and so we will be cutting the budget at nasa, and the only question is: how much? and then the second question after how much is decided is will the continuing resolution be broadly applied and left to the discretion of agency heads to implement or will special programs be targeted to be either favored or disfavored?" end of quote. fema, in fisc

government so usaid, the agriculture department and other entities are not working at cross-purposes. we do that by establishing a new position, a special coordinator for food security in the white house who would report directly to the president and would forge a comprehensive u.s. food security strategy. secondly, the bill expands u.s. investment in the agriculture productivity of developing nations so the nations facing escalating food prices can rely on emergencied for assistance and instead take steps to exexpands their own crop production, a leading agricultural expert recently estimated that every dollar, every dollar invested in agricultural r&d subsequent rates $9 worth of food in the developing world. i'm grateful to senator lugar for his bold proposal by the acronym hectare, to establish a network of universities around the world to corroborate on agricultural research. and thirdly the bill would modernize our system of emergency food assistance so it's more flexible and can provide aid on short notice. we do this by authorizing a new $500 million fund for u.s. emergencied

it will also be used as an instrument for reinventing usaid. within the obama administration there's an acknowledgment that the u.s. agency for international development has been hollowed out, has been neglected, needs to be reconstructed in a deliberate fashion and this turn back toward rural development, long-term investments, is going to be one of the avenues -- avenues for doing. that i'll just stop there. i'm happy to answer further questions. >> thank you, steve. we'd like to open up to questions right now. >> george. i just want to follow up on two things. you mentioned the climate change thing. do the other g-8 leaders like what the president is doing on -- and congress is doing on climate change or do they just like it because it's more than bush? and secondly, on protectionism and free trade, do the other leaders view president obama as the protectionist he was in the campaign or the free trader he says he is now? >> thank you. i think i'll adjust to climate change and you can talk about the protectionism. . what europeans have passed

it will also be used as an instrument for reinventing usaid. within the obama administration there's an acknowledgment that the u.s. agency for international development has been hollowed out, has been neglected, needs to be reconstructed in a deliberate fashion and this turn back toward rural development, long-term investments, is going to be one of the avenues -- avenues for doing. that i'll just stop there. i'm happy to answer further questions. >> thank you, steve. we'd like to open up to questions right now. >> george. i just want to follow up on two things. you mentioned the climate change thing. do the other g-8 leaders like what the president is doing on -- and congress is doing on climate change or do they just like it because it's more than bush? and secondly, on protectionism and free trade, do the other leaders view president obama as the protectionist he was in the campaign or the free trader he says he is now? >> thank you. i think i'll adjust to climate change and you can talk about the protectionism. .

it will also be used as an instrument for reinventing usaid. within the obama administration there's an acknowledgment that the u.s. agency for international development has been hollowed out, has been neglected, needs to be reconstructed in a deliberate fashion and this turn back toward rural development, long-term investments, is going to be one of the avenues -- avenues for doing. that i'll just stop there. i'm happy to answer further questions. >> thank you, steve. we'd like to open up to questions right now. >> george. i just want to follow up on two things. you mentioned the climate change thing. do the other g-8 leaders like what the president is doing on -- and congress is doing on climate change or do they just like it because it's more than bush? and secondly, on protectionism and free trade, do the other leaders view president obama as the protectionist he was in the campaign or the free trader he says he is now? >> thank you. i think i'll adjust to climate change and you can talk about the protectionism. . 20% commitment by 2020, bu