Gladly. If i can go 3 30 we will recess5 minutes and come back if i 45 so everyone can vote and be back so everyone is able to hear everyone elses questions. We thank you for being here mr. Secretary, and, so promptly. We appreciate that you made time to appear before this Committee Twice in a weeks time passing an annual state Department Authorization bill was one of the fundamental responsibilities of the committee. And when we assert thatat responsibility and declined to exercise on our oversight, we surrender our authority to the executive branch and other congressional committeecongresse failed to do the job of the constituent. Sesenc restoring this annual practice was a top priority of mine when i became the chairman and im proud of the significant progress that we have made when the first authorization bill in 14 years became law. And i want to thank senator cardin and everybody on the committee for making that happen. Er however, because of the previous inaction there are progr
Thank you for being here, sir. You know how i feel about you. I appreciate the proactive approach you took a. Its something we feel strongly about in 2017 the senate and the house and the National Defense authorization act with a take on additional responsibilities with regards to d get this informatin coming from countries intended to destabilize democracies, undermined some of our basic values and institutions. Russia and china come to mind. My question for you, is there an ability to keep some of these important entities in the Global Engagement centers, specifically from being weekend by the other organizations that could lead to a more difficult time and the responsibilities. Certainly. Thank you, senator. With respect to the Engagement Center it is a priority for something. We are flexible and there is a hiring freeze, but we are flexible and weve granted a number of exceptions, over 700 exceptions to the hiring freeze to support safety, security and health. So, we are reviewing
3. Recess for 15 minutes and come back at 5 45 so everyone can go over and vote and be back and hear what everyone elses question. We thank you for being here mr. Secretary again. So promptly. We appreciate that youve made time to appear before this Committee Twice in h a weeks time passing an annual state department bill is one of the fundamental responsibilities of this committee. When we shirk that responsibility and decline to exercise our oversight we in essence surrender our authority and we fail to do the job our constituents sent us here to do. Restoring is this annual practice was a top priority of mine when he became thachairmand im proud of the progress we made last year when the first authorization bill in 14 years became law and i want to thank everybody on this committee for making that happen. However, because of previous inaction, there are programs at the department that have not been appropriately reviewed and analyzed in well over a decade. This lack of oversight res
Will come to order. This morning, we are continue our oversight efforts with regard to the 2017 trafficking in persons report. Thank snard caenator cardinand of the committee this committee has conducted extensive oversight on this issue instituted annual briefings for members at state department. Prior to the release of the annual trafficking in persons report. We ask every nominee before this committee to commit to help fight against modern slavery. This oversight has been noted at the state department and in our embassys. We appreciate the deputy secretary of state volunteered to lead the administrations testimony today. The secretary spent about 45 minutes with the senator and i before this meeting and we thank him very much for his openness and the way that hes serving and we look forward to having an outstanding relationship were him and thank you for being here today. I know the secretary of state wanted to be here. He had an unplanned trip to the middle east. We thank you for s
Will come to order. This morning, we are continue our oversight efforts with regard to the 2017 trafficking in persons report. Thank snard caenator cardinand of the committee this committee has conducted extensive oversight on this issue instituted annual briefings for members at state department. Prior to the release of the annual trafficking in persons report. We ask every nominee before this committee to commit to help fight against modern slavery. This oversight has been noted at the state department and in our embassys. We appreciate the deputy secretary of state volunteered to lead the administrations testimony today. The secretary spent about 45 minutes with the senator and i before this meeting and we thank him very much for his openness and the way that hes serving and we look forward to having an outstanding relationship were him and thank you for being here today. I know the secretary of state wanted to be here. He had an unplanned trip to the middle east. We thank you for s