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Transcripts For CSPAN2 Hearing On Presidents 2021 Foreign Ai
Transcripts For CSPAN2 Hearing On Presidents 2021 Foreign Ai
Transcripts For CSPAN2 Hearing On Presidents 2021 Foreign Aid Budget Request 20240712
The committee on
Foreign Affairs
will come to order. Without objection, the chair is authorized to call her recess at any point and all members will have five days to submit statements. Extraneous material and westerns for the record subject to length limitations and the rules. To insert something into the record, please have your staff emailed vesely circulated address. , physicallyr present in this room for guidance of the office of attending physician, masks must be worn at all times except when a member is speaking and a microphone. Please also sanitize your seating area. This is a safety issue and therefore an important matter of order and decorum for this proceeding. For members participating remotely, please keep your video function on at all times, even when you are not recognized by the chair. Members are responsible for muting and in muting themselves. Please remember to mute yourself after you have finished speaking. Consistent with
House Resolution
965 and accompanying regulations, staff will only mute members and witnesses as appropriate when they are not under recognition to eliminate background noise. I see that we have a quorum and i now recognize myself for opening remarks. Somebody said it was like spotting a unicorn. Pursuant to notice, the committee is convened to hear testimony on the trump administrations foreign assistance budget west for the 2021 fiscal year area your predecessor, administrator green and i did not agree on everything, but he did a good and serious job and i know he did value the importance of foreign assistance as a tool of
American Foreign
policy. Think he was terrific. Whatever mr. Green personally felt, it certainly did not align with the administrations views, which we have seen again and again in the budgets the administration has sent to congress. It budget request is a lot more than numbers on a page, it is a statement of values and priorities in the administrations values and i already stated we should cut our
International Affairs
budget by roughly a quarter. We should cut funding for
Global Health
, food aid, cut democracy assistance. Frankly, it is almost what we have come to expect and after 3. 5 exhausting years, we have all heard the administrations message loud and clear. The message seems to be we dont care, we dont care about the good our
Development Efforts
do, we dont care about the peoples come of the communities to benefit from this work, we dont care about the harm done to
American Leadership
when we pull back from the global stage, we dont care about the people who work at usaid, and we dont care about congress, which has resound late rejected the budget every time they have been sent out every week get it. This starts at the top and we all understand the president. One of the reasons foreign assistance is so important is that it is every action of our countrys compaction and generosity, the character of america at the heart of our
Foreign Policy
when we are at our best every at apparently, the president doesnt think that way. He does not look back on things like the
Marshall Plan
, the berlin air laughed airlift as
Global Leader
ship. He praised the chinese ,overnment tactics at tiananmen who writes off most of a continent using a term i wont , praising the chinese governments tactics at the tiananmen it is really offbase. Unfortunately, we know what to expect, a 50 cut to
Family Planning
because the administration is crusading against women self. Womens health. We know to expect reduced assistance to
Central America
because the
United States
has an antiimmigrant agenda. What is especially galling about the budget that was sent to us is that even in the middle of a
Global Pandemic
, one that has cost nearly 150,000 american lives, the
Administration Still
wants to cut funding for
Global Health
effort. The slight increase requested for
Global Health
security is good, but it is overshadowed by massive cuts elsewhere. Taken with the withdrawal from ,he
World Health Organization
which is the
International Body
best equipped to coordinate
International Response
to covid19, it is almost as though we are waving the white flag. Guy,fraid you are a nice but you will run into a little bit of skepticism today as you this budget. N i think we will also need answers about a number of chilling management decisions you apparently made when taking over for administrator. I will soon recognize you for five minutes to summarize your yieldg statement and the to the
Ranking Member
, mr. Mccall for opening remarks. Thank you mr. Chairman for calling this important hearing. , itng administrator barsa is good to see you again. I want to thank you and your team and our partners in the field, especially amidst this
Global Pandemic
, the tireless work of the men and women of usaid to save lives around the world is critical. United dates continues to be the
Global Leader
in foreign assistance spending, supporting
Economic Growth
and providing food, shelter, and
Health Resources
for the most vulnerable populations. Policys on key implementations including the indo pacific strategy, resources to counter malign activity and disinformation campaigns of china, russia, and iran. It is important support for our allies and partners in the middle east. Support for democracy in venezuela, as well as countries supporting venezuelan refugees fory prioritizes funding the
United States
International Development
finance corp. Ration corporation, which provides a critical alternative to chinas predatory lending. It also advances w gdp initiative to promote womens empowerment and economic opportunity, which i strongly support. Unfortunately, the writ must also cuts key
Global Health
and humanitarian assistance resources. Globally, almost 80
Million People
are currently displaced around the world. That number is expected to rise because of covid. The
World Food Program
is estimating that 270
Million People
will need urgent
Food Assistance
due to covid19 and 82 increase from last year. Covid19 is already erasing hardfought game to reduce hivaidsoverty, combat , and other
Infectious Disease
s. Authoritarian regimes and terrorist organizations are looking to ask lloyd this chaos for strategic gains, such as in areas. So the disease spreads in the middle east, latin america, existing economic hardships, political challenges, and humanitarian urgencies will worsen. Time to cutt the this key aide. Im deeply concerned the impacts of covid19 will push more fragile states into conflict. Our assistance must prioritize prevention in further destabilization. In addition to longterm impacts on education,
Food Security
, and vaccine distribution. This
Global Pandemic
continues to spread and the work we do overseas makes us safer here at home. Successful diplomacy and development is cost effective, fully funded our or and assistance programs, ultimately saving taxpayer dollars. With todays physical challenges, we must double our everys to ensure that dollar spent is strategic in advancing efforts. I look forward to hearing how assistance will be used to push back on chinas malign influence and mitigate the impacts of covid19 and ensure continued u. S. Leadership around the world. With that, mr. Chairman, i yield back. Friend, you, i think my i agree with his testimony. I think it is very important points that were made by the chairman and the
Ranking Member
. , theitness this morning acting administrator of the
United States
agency for
International Development
, we are happy to have you here and you are recognized for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Chairman,
Ranking Member
, members of the committee, thank you for inviting me to testify today. It is an honor and privilege to testify in front of the committee and i look forward to your questions. I would like to thank you for your bipartisan support, which mount awed usaid to robust response to the unprecedented covid19 pandemic that has touched nearly every person around the world, both at home and overseas. Must continuetes an aggressive comprehensive response, health and humanitarian assistance, and address ongoing secondorder effects such as
Food Security
,
Economic Growth
, and preventing democratic backsliding. Im committed to doing so all available resources and not let any opportunities arise for our adversaries to fill the vacuum in a turbulent world. Every day, usaids staff work to develop deliver
Development Solutions
and build selfreliance in partner countries, project american advance ourlly, and objectives. The president s budget for fy approximately 19. 6 billion, including 2. 1 billion for usaid
Global Health
programs and 5. 9 billion for the economic support and development for the efdf fund. They will advance
Foreign Policy
objectives by fostering stability countries, promoting free, fair, and equitable societys, and expanding opportunities for american businesses. Investments will also strengthen
National Security
by addressing violent extremism and combating the spread of
Infectious Disease
s, each of which represents a potential threat to the homeland. America hasovid19, demonstrated clear and decisive leadership. The
United States
is mobilized, but the virus at home and abroad by committing 12 million to the response. Id has acted responsibly 12 billion to the response. Rapidly as part of and all of america response. With 2. 4 billion dollars in emergency supplemental funding generously appropriated by billion, including 1. 6 implemented by usaid and the state department, we are providing health care become economic security, and stabilization efforts worldwide. This funding is saving lives by improving
Public Health
education, training healthcare workers, strengthening laboratory systems, supporting disease surveillance, and used in
Rapid Response
capacity around the world. We are providing assistance to support communities and them with the tools needed to mitigate the act of the virus. The u. S. Response to covid19 hills upon
Global Health
. The
United States
has contributed more than 140 billion in health assistance. , thethe past 20 years
Vaccine Alliance
has helped vaccinate more than 760 million children. It has prevented 13 million deaths. 1. 6nited states committed billion over the next four years with the goal to immunize more children by 2025. The
Malaria Initiative
has helped save more than 7 million lives and prevented more than one billion malaria cases. America has invested more than 85 billion to fight hivaids, the largest commitment by any nation to address a single disease in history. It has saved millions of lives in africa. Usaid continues to invest in
Global Health
security. 70 h account for more than of new
Infectious Disease
outbreaks. We invested 1. 1 billion in this area since 2009 area even as last month, we declared an end , we ar
Ebola Outbreak
now scaling up a response to fight the confirmed 11th outbreak in northwestern drc. These investments in
Global Health
or the decades have enabled partner countries to strengthen
Health Systems
and democratic institutions, enabling them to better respond to
Global Health
crises. We are in unprecedented times with a rapidly evolving situation on the ground in almost every country. We are working aggressively to allocate resources for covid19. At the same time, we want to ensure we are accountable to the effect of use of funds and are good stewards of taxpayer dollars. As we consider how to prevent the next
Health Crisis
, we have to address the root cause of these outbreaks. I remain focused on efforts to help artan or countries on their journeys of selfreliance and will continue to look forward to the data programs can end. Our investments are the cornerstone of this approach. We have learned that our nexen epidemics are often decimated failures of governance transparency. When we do not address poor governance, we wipe out basic social services. Healthgnize that emergencies have consequences that can require
Broader Development
assistance, whether support for orphaned children, prevention of
Sexual Exploitation
and abuse, addressing the deeper root causes of instability and governance. While i hallmark is using analytics to measure progress, we must also measure regression, see how we may need to adjust programs. Looking longterm, we remain committed to helping communities in partner countries. The covid19 pandemic is not simply a
Health Crisis
and our response cannot just be a health response. Ofmust use the totality
Development Tools
at our disposal. To focus on how to best operate, i established a planning cell an executive
Steering Committee
to guide the effort. While the usaid task force manages challenges, the over horizon team will perform research, conduct outreach, and prepare analyses to help usaid develop in the medium to long term. It will provide this information to the executive
Steering Committee
to craft recommendations for my consideration. We are already planning for medium and longterm impacts of covid19. Because im committed to making sure we are a trusted artan or trusteded partner and committed partner around the world. Thank you very much for your testimony. Let me say this. Several years, this administration has attempted several rescissions and other methods of slowing down or stopping distance spending as a result, we have seen funding obligated in fits and starts with a scramble at the end of a fiscal year we saw this again with the slow disbursement of the covid supplemental funding hampered by policy decisions and extra lairs of bureaucracy. The
Foreign Affairs
committee has strongly objected to these tactics and fully expects the resources provided by congress to be fully utilized in the manner for which they were provided. , how muchask you this of usaids expiring funds have been allocated to date . Mr. Barsa congressman, i dont have the exact figure in terms of the number of funds to date, but i know we are making
Good Progress
and we expect to have them obligated by the end of the fiscal year. Let me say this, do you commit to obligating all expiring funding, as well as beforeental covid money the end of the fiscal year . Mr. Barsa that is the goal and i look forward to working with you to keep you apprised regularly as we move toward that goal. Thank you. If congress provides additional supplemental funding, how will you ensure that the money will get out the door where it is urgently needed . Certainly we have had this has been a learning process. Pandemic has affected the entire world, so im happy to say that as a learning organization, we have improved our processes for getting money out the door expeditiously. Congressseful to generosity. Should there be another supplemental, im very confident we have the systems in place to get money out expeditiously in a responsible manner. Thank you. As i alluded to in my opening statement, there have been several recent management decisions under your leadership at usaid and some of those are very troubling to myself and some of my colleagues. The recent influx of appointees serving our agency with a record of homophobic, antiimmigrant, islam a phobic, and other derogatory comments appears to be in direct contradiction to the agencys aims and an affront to the dedicated career staff who serve at usaid. So, is this the kind of person you want representing usaid and the
American People
. What message are we sending to employees by allowing appointees like americorps again,
Merrick Corrigan
who has referred to the homo empire and womens supposedly quality to men. Those are troubling to us. I can commit to you that all usaid employees, regardless of hiring category, are held to the same high moral, legal, and ethical standards that usaid has always had an lace. Thank you, i now turn it over to the
Foreign Affairs<\/a> will come to order. Without objection, the chair is authorized to call her recess at any point and all members will have five days to submit statements. Extraneous material and westerns for the record subject to length limitations and the rules. To insert something into the record, please have your staff emailed vesely circulated address. , physicallyr present in this room for guidance of the office of attending physician, masks must be worn at all times except when a member is speaking and a microphone. Please also sanitize your seating area. This is a safety issue and therefore an important matter of order and decorum for this proceeding. For members participating remotely, please keep your video function on at all times, even when you are not recognized by the chair. Members are responsible for muting and in muting themselves. Please remember to mute yourself after you have finished speaking. Consistent with
House Resolution<\/a> 965 and accompanying regulations, staff will only mute members and witnesses as appropriate when they are not under recognition to eliminate background noise. I see that we have a quorum and i now recognize myself for opening remarks. Somebody said it was like spotting a unicorn. Pursuant to notice, the committee is convened to hear testimony on the trump administrations foreign assistance budget west for the 2021 fiscal year area your predecessor, administrator green and i did not agree on everything, but he did a good and serious job and i know he did value the importance of foreign assistance as a tool of
American Foreign<\/a> policy. Think he was terrific. Whatever mr. Green personally felt, it certainly did not align with the administrations views, which we have seen again and again in the budgets the administration has sent to congress. It budget request is a lot more than numbers on a page, it is a statement of values and priorities in the administrations values and i already stated we should cut our
International Affairs<\/a> budget by roughly a quarter. We should cut funding for
Global Health<\/a>, food aid, cut democracy assistance. Frankly, it is almost what we have come to expect and after 3. 5 exhausting years, we have all heard the administrations message loud and clear. The message seems to be we dont care, we dont care about the good our
Development Efforts<\/a> do, we dont care about the peoples come of the communities to benefit from this work, we dont care about the harm done to
American Leadership<\/a> when we pull back from the global stage, we dont care about the people who work at usaid, and we dont care about congress, which has resound late rejected the budget every time they have been sent out every week get it. This starts at the top and we all understand the president. One of the reasons foreign assistance is so important is that it is every action of our countrys compaction and generosity, the character of america at the heart of our
Foreign Policy<\/a> when we are at our best every at apparently, the president doesnt think that way. He does not look back on things like the
Marshall Plan<\/a>, the berlin air laughed airlift as
Global Leader<\/a>ship. He praised the chinese ,overnment tactics at tiananmen who writes off most of a continent using a term i wont , praising the chinese governments tactics at the tiananmen it is really offbase. Unfortunately, we know what to expect, a 50 cut to
Family Planning<\/a> because the administration is crusading against women self. Womens health. We know to expect reduced assistance to
Central America<\/a> because the
United States<\/a> has an antiimmigrant agenda. What is especially galling about the budget that was sent to us is that even in the middle of a
Global Pandemic<\/a>, one that has cost nearly 150,000 american lives, the
Administration Still<\/a> wants to cut funding for
Global Health<\/a> effort. The slight increase requested for
Global Health<\/a> security is good, but it is overshadowed by massive cuts elsewhere. Taken with the withdrawal from ,he
World Health Organization<\/a> which is the
International Body<\/a> best equipped to coordinate
International Response<\/a> to covid19, it is almost as though we are waving the white flag. Guy,fraid you are a nice but you will run into a little bit of skepticism today as you this budget. N i think we will also need answers about a number of chilling management decisions you apparently made when taking over for administrator. I will soon recognize you for five minutes to summarize your yieldg statement and the to the
Ranking Member<\/a>, mr. Mccall for opening remarks. Thank you mr. Chairman for calling this important hearing. , itng administrator barsa is good to see you again. I want to thank you and your team and our partners in the field, especially amidst this
Global Pandemic<\/a>, the tireless work of the men and women of usaid to save lives around the world is critical. United dates continues to be the
Global Leader<\/a> in foreign assistance spending, supporting
Economic Growth<\/a> and providing food, shelter, and
Health Resources<\/a> for the most vulnerable populations. Policys on key implementations including the indo pacific strategy, resources to counter malign activity and disinformation campaigns of china, russia, and iran. It is important support for our allies and partners in the middle east. Support for democracy in venezuela, as well as countries supporting venezuelan refugees fory prioritizes funding the
United States<\/a>
International Development<\/a> finance corp. Ration corporation, which provides a critical alternative to chinas predatory lending. It also advances w gdp initiative to promote womens empowerment and economic opportunity, which i strongly support. Unfortunately, the writ must also cuts key
Global Health<\/a> and humanitarian assistance resources. Globally, almost 80
Million People<\/a> are currently displaced around the world. That number is expected to rise because of covid. The
World Food Program<\/a> is estimating that 270
Million People<\/a> will need urgent
Food Assistance<\/a> due to covid19 and 82 increase from last year. Covid19 is already erasing hardfought game to reduce hivaidsoverty, combat , and other
Infectious Disease<\/a>s. Authoritarian regimes and terrorist organizations are looking to ask lloyd this chaos for strategic gains, such as in areas. So the disease spreads in the middle east, latin america, existing economic hardships, political challenges, and humanitarian urgencies will worsen. Time to cutt the this key aide. Im deeply concerned the impacts of covid19 will push more fragile states into conflict. Our assistance must prioritize prevention in further destabilization. In addition to longterm impacts on education,
Food Security<\/a>, and vaccine distribution. This
Global Pandemic<\/a> continues to spread and the work we do overseas makes us safer here at home. Successful diplomacy and development is cost effective, fully funded our or and assistance programs, ultimately saving taxpayer dollars. With todays physical challenges, we must double our everys to ensure that dollar spent is strategic in advancing efforts. I look forward to hearing how assistance will be used to push back on chinas malign influence and mitigate the impacts of covid19 and ensure continued u. S. Leadership around the world. With that, mr. Chairman, i yield back. Friend, you, i think my i agree with his testimony. I think it is very important points that were made by the chairman and the
Ranking Member<\/a>. , theitness this morning acting administrator of the
United States<\/a> agency for
International Development<\/a>, we are happy to have you here and you are recognized for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Chairman,
Ranking Member<\/a>, members of the committee, thank you for inviting me to testify today. It is an honor and privilege to testify in front of the committee and i look forward to your questions. I would like to thank you for your bipartisan support, which mount awed usaid to robust response to the unprecedented covid19 pandemic that has touched nearly every person around the world, both at home and overseas. Must continuetes an aggressive comprehensive response, health and humanitarian assistance, and address ongoing secondorder effects such as
Food Security<\/a>,
Economic Growth<\/a>, and preventing democratic backsliding. Im committed to doing so all available resources and not let any opportunities arise for our adversaries to fill the vacuum in a turbulent world. Every day, usaids staff work to develop deliver
Development Solutions<\/a> and build selfreliance in partner countries, project american advance ourlly, and objectives. The president s budget for fy approximately 19. 6 billion, including 2. 1 billion for usaid
Global Health<\/a> programs and 5. 9 billion for the economic support and development for the efdf fund. They will advance
Foreign Policy<\/a> objectives by fostering stability countries, promoting free, fair, and equitable societys, and expanding opportunities for american businesses. Investments will also strengthen
National Security<\/a> by addressing violent extremism and combating the spread of
Infectious Disease<\/a>s, each of which represents a potential threat to the homeland. America hasovid19, demonstrated clear and decisive leadership. The
United States<\/a> is mobilized, but the virus at home and abroad by committing 12 million to the response. Id has acted responsibly 12 billion to the response. Rapidly as part of and all of america response. With 2. 4 billion dollars in emergency supplemental funding generously appropriated by billion, including 1. 6 implemented by usaid and the state department, we are providing health care become economic security, and stabilization efforts worldwide. This funding is saving lives by improving
Public Health<\/a> education, training healthcare workers, strengthening laboratory systems, supporting disease surveillance, and used in
Rapid Response<\/a> capacity around the world. We are providing assistance to support communities and them with the tools needed to mitigate the act of the virus. The u. S. Response to covid19 hills upon
Global Health<\/a>. The
United States<\/a> has contributed more than 140 billion in health assistance. , thethe past 20 years
Vaccine Alliance<\/a> has helped vaccinate more than 760 million children. It has prevented 13 million deaths. 1. 6nited states committed billion over the next four years with the goal to immunize more children by 2025. The
Malaria Initiative<\/a> has helped save more than 7 million lives and prevented more than one billion malaria cases. America has invested more than 85 billion to fight hivaids, the largest commitment by any nation to address a single disease in history. It has saved millions of lives in africa. Usaid continues to invest in
Global Health<\/a> security. 70 h account for more than of new
Infectious Disease<\/a> outbreaks. We invested 1. 1 billion in this area since 2009 area even as last month, we declared an end , we ar
Ebola Outbreak<\/a> now scaling up a response to fight the confirmed 11th outbreak in northwestern drc. These investments in
Global Health<\/a> or the decades have enabled partner countries to strengthen
Health Systems<\/a> and democratic institutions, enabling them to better respond to
Global Health<\/a> crises. We are in unprecedented times with a rapidly evolving situation on the ground in almost every country. We are working aggressively to allocate resources for covid19. At the same time, we want to ensure we are accountable to the effect of use of funds and are good stewards of taxpayer dollars. As we consider how to prevent the next
Health Crisis<\/a>, we have to address the root cause of these outbreaks. I remain focused on efforts to help artan or countries on their journeys of selfreliance and will continue to look forward to the data programs can end. Our investments are the cornerstone of this approach. We have learned that our nexen epidemics are often decimated failures of governance transparency. When we do not address poor governance, we wipe out basic social services. Healthgnize that emergencies have consequences that can require
Broader Development<\/a> assistance, whether support for orphaned children, prevention of
Sexual Exploitation<\/a> and abuse, addressing the deeper root causes of instability and governance. While i hallmark is using analytics to measure progress, we must also measure regression, see how we may need to adjust programs. Looking longterm, we remain committed to helping communities in partner countries. The covid19 pandemic is not simply a
Health Crisis<\/a> and our response cannot just be a health response. Ofmust use the totality
Development Tools<\/a> at our disposal. To focus on how to best operate, i established a planning cell an executive
Steering Committee<\/a> to guide the effort. While the usaid task force manages challenges, the over horizon team will perform research, conduct outreach, and prepare analyses to help usaid develop in the medium to long term. It will provide this information to the executive
Steering Committee<\/a> to craft recommendations for my consideration. We are already planning for medium and longterm impacts of covid19. Because im committed to making sure we are a trusted artan or trusteded partner and committed partner around the world. Thank you very much for your testimony. Let me say this. Several years, this administration has attempted several rescissions and other methods of slowing down or stopping distance spending as a result, we have seen funding obligated in fits and starts with a scramble at the end of a fiscal year we saw this again with the slow disbursement of the covid supplemental funding hampered by policy decisions and extra lairs of bureaucracy. The
Foreign Affairs<\/a> committee has strongly objected to these tactics and fully expects the resources provided by congress to be fully utilized in the manner for which they were provided. , how muchask you this of usaids expiring funds have been allocated to date . Mr. Barsa congressman, i dont have the exact figure in terms of the number of funds to date, but i know we are making
Good Progress<\/a> and we expect to have them obligated by the end of the fiscal year. Let me say this, do you commit to obligating all expiring funding, as well as beforeental covid money the end of the fiscal year . Mr. Barsa that is the goal and i look forward to working with you to keep you apprised regularly as we move toward that goal. Thank you. If congress provides additional supplemental funding, how will you ensure that the money will get out the door where it is urgently needed . Certainly we have had this has been a learning process. Pandemic has affected the entire world, so im happy to say that as a learning organization, we have improved our processes for getting money out the door expeditiously. Congressseful to generosity. Should there be another supplemental, im very confident we have the systems in place to get money out expeditiously in a responsible manner. Thank you. As i alluded to in my opening statement, there have been several recent management decisions under your leadership at usaid and some of those are very troubling to myself and some of my colleagues. The recent influx of appointees serving our agency with a record of homophobic, antiimmigrant, islam a phobic, and other derogatory comments appears to be in direct contradiction to the agencys aims and an affront to the dedicated career staff who serve at usaid. So, is this the kind of person you want representing usaid and the
American People<\/a> . What message are we sending to employees by allowing appointees like americorps again,
Merrick Corrigan<\/a> who has referred to the homo empire and womens supposedly quality to men. Those are troubling to us. I can commit to you that all usaid employees, regardless of hiring category, are held to the same high moral, legal, and ethical standards that usaid has always had an lace. Thank you, i now turn it over to the
Ranking Member<\/a>, mr. Mccall. Thank you, administrator. The consulate in houston just got closed yesterday. Party hase communist been doing this for decades. They have been stealing intellectual property. They are currently trying to steal the research and development for our vaccine, for covid19. A virus they are responsible for coming out of wuhan, china, now they want to steal our vaccine to save the world. The irony is mindboggling. Are a force to be reckoned with. And i think if anything comes out of this experience, this
Twilight Zone<\/a> experience we are is the people waking up to who the
Chinese Communist<\/a> party are and what they have done to the world and what they have done to us for the last two decades. Your agency has a role in this. I want to commend my dear friend, i wish she was staying with us, mr. Yoho, for his probably one of the best bills ever passed out of this committee. The build act. The
Development Finance<\/a> corporation, which is going to be our key to defeating the
Chinese Communist<\/a> party and its belt and
Road Initiative<\/a> and developing nations. I thinkion to you is the doc has a major role. I do think congress should fully fund the dfc. The dfc after all does return on its investment. It is one of those departments or agencies that actually doesnt spend all the money, money comes back to the treasury. How about that . To you is i see , but canher entities you explain to me how you can transform your agency to work encounteringtaly the
Chinese Communist<\/a>
Party Initiative<\/a> that we are taking on right now . Mr. Barsa thank you, congressman. Hello . Thank you, congressman. Certainly, all of us when we come to whatever positions we have, we bring our previous experiences. I came to usaid from the department of
Homeland Security<\/a> where i have plenty of exposure to the malicious, malevolent chinese intent in any number of spheres. Initially heading up the latin american,
Caribbean Bureau<\/a> i certainly saw firsthand how the chinese were trying to exert their influence with debt diplomacy, onerous deals taking advantage, so their businesses there cant be a greater contrast in terms of our development roles. Sincerely a is construct called the journey to selfreliance where we help countries stand up on their own with their economies, democracies, where the chinese model of development couldnt be more of an opposite. Emphasize set up, free, open enter rise to build market economies founded on good government. Certainly, the chinese, their efforts to undermine sovereignty leading to unsustainable debt or forfeitures of
Strategic Resources<\/a> and assets, it couldnt be further from the truth. So i agree with you, the build act has been an incredible piece of legislation. I, he and iand communicate regularly read i sit on that or. One of the things we have been able to do is ensure we have communications at all levels between usaid and dfc. There is communication at the leadership level in washington dc and in the field we are working closely together area usaid staff in the mission, in the field are unique positioned to be able to find potential deals, potential private sector partners by having that close coordination. We are able to bring these potential deals and opportunities to the dfcs attention. Thehappy to say that relationship between usaid and dfc is very strong and looking forward to continued cooperation in years to come. Sorry, do you have west and . Question . One of the best ways to
Counter China<\/a> is to continue to do what we do. We have no
Better Development<\/a> model area our efforts to help countries stand up on their own is vastly different from the chinese model. We are very proud to provide this alternative to countries and we are very proud of our work countering china and we will continue to do so. We think you for that and thank you for your service at the department of
Homeland Security<\/a>. Also, that is exactly what i want to do here, you know . Working together, coordinating together. There is a lot of overlap between these two entities, i think. The more you can coordinate and
Work Together<\/a>, not just to provide foreign assistance and humanitarian, which is vitally important for the nation and the very, but also in this important
Foreign Policy<\/a> we are embarking on to counter this malign behavior from the
Chinese Communist<\/a> party. Let me just say thank you for that area i look forward to following up with you. I yelled back. Thank you. I hope you take back some of the criticisms and problems that we have with what was submitted. I hope you take it back and i hope we can have productive discussions on how to improve it. We met with mr. Green all the putting came up with our
Heads Together<\/a> and coming up with good things that are needed. I hope we can establish that with you, as well area i will now recognize members for westons under the fiveminute will. Under house rules, all time yielded is for the us of operating questioning the witness. Because of the hybrid format of this hearing, i will record highs members by committee betweeny, alternating democrats and republicans. If you miss your turn, please let our staff know and we will come back to you. If you seek nation, you must un mute your microphone and address the chair verbally get i will begin by recognizing myself for five minutes. We will go to mr. Sherman. You. Ank listening to the first three speakers, it is surprising to see the administration cutting our foreign assistant budget. I think the chairman and the
Ranking Member<\/a> were eloquent as to why we need to expand what we spend to help the developing world and the act he did ministry to explain how the money we do spend is spent effectively, yet the administration seems hellbent on cutting this aid at a time of pandemic, which is taking lives around the world and at a time when the disruption caused by the pandemic is leading to hunger,
Food Insecurity<\/a>, and death, and at a time when this cutback is going to increase the influence of our geopolitical rival. Is beingcular cut that suggested is a 35 cut from what we appropriated last year. Rather than the 9. 5 billion we appropriated every of this continues a trend. It would put our aid at less 1 of our gdp. When there is general acceptance in the
International Community<\/a> that nations should strive to spend seven tenths of a percent. And when the average for wealthy nations is 0. 4 sent. So i wonder if the acting administrator can explain how would you explain to our men and women in uniform that they may be deployed, they may die in future crises that could have been avoided with expenditures far lower than what we spend in defense and war . How do we explain this administrations cut . Congressman, as you know the budget you have before you today was developed over a long period of time. It started out long before the onset of the
Global Pandemic<\/a>. As you are aware if i can interrupt you, then since the pandemic has arrived and democrats have proposed substantial additional in the supplemental appropriations bill, are you a strong advocate for the supplemental creation knowing that the original budget that you put together was before the pandemic . Mr. Barsa certainly we are in touch with omb and state department on a daily basis. How much should we have in the supplemental appropriations for
International Development<\/a> aid and assistance . Mr. Barsa omb and the white house are fully apprised of the challenges. I need a number. Mr. Barsa i dont have a number for you. The number you seek is part of a larger deliberation, part of a much larger package. Can i count on you and the administration to advocate for a robust number . Mr. Barsa you can count on me to advocate for what i believe ok. Many of us cosponsored a bill to participate in the coalition for epidemic preparedness and innovations, seeking an alliance of countries and partners to finance and coordinate the development of vaccines for highpriority. Administration has talked of discontinuing the predict 2 program and moving to
Something Else<\/a> that seems illdefined. Are we going do you support it . Do we continue predict 2 . If we dont continue it, what is the
Successor Program<\/a> . That,rsa ok, regarding we certainly recognize there is an opportunity to leverage the coalition for epidemic preparedness innovations. Their mandate to develop vaccines. Their goals certainly aligned with the objectives of usaid security programs to prevent the amplification and spread of emerging threats, so we are currently looking at potential partnership. I have nothing to announce today, but we are having internal discussions about potential partnerships. Regarding the predict object, the predict object at a normal lifespan to it. Past its normal termination date, so what we have is a follow on object which is called stops glover which is a natural follow on to that. You do have a
Successor Program<\/a>. Your predecessor stated on the record that usaid is committed to the clearance of landmines and unexploded ordinance. Do you continue that dedication . It was wellfounded , we are happy to have received reports that we have almost had diminishing returns in terms of huge success rates in terms of the amount of ordnance cleared to date. We still need to finish the job. I yelled back. Thank you. Mr. Smith. Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Thank you for the work you are doing on covid19. Congress came together in a bipartisan way i did substantial new money to combat this insidious disease. In my own state of new jersey, we have had disproportionality in terms of deaths and sickness. Half of all those who have died in my state were in nursing homes. Hopefully there are
Lessons Learned<\/a> for all of us going forward, but thank you for your leadership. I would like to bring up to issues. The first is the ebola issue. I chaired four hearings on the
Ebola Outbreak<\/a>. Together and came up with significant amounts of money to combat that disease. Likewise, that is happening again. I know we have spent 342 million at usaid on the ebola issue and i want to thank you for that. And unlike liberia and sierra ,eone, the congo experience there are now therapeutics, there is a vaccine to help protect our
Health Care Workers<\/a> and other people. On june 25, the administrative the endor drc declared of the
Ebola Outbreak<\/a> in eastern drc. About 2000 2287 deaths. There is concern about a further outbreak. Vigilance needs to be robust and thank you for the deployment. It is a story that has not been told by the media or anybody else that there has been vaccinations. We had the doctor after he healed having gone to texas come and testify at my hearing. He was one of the lucky ones who survived. So many others succumbed to death. All the
Lessons Learned<\/a> from that horrible experience have now been applied and our government under both administrations, the previous end this one, continued to work hard to find therapeutics and vaccines. You might want to speak to that. Secondly, on the desert locus crisis, i introduced a bill with my good friend and colleague from california that frankly sets up a working group to try to be obviously, mr. Bass, our chairwoman, we made clear we really want a forward thinking this is not the last time the potential of a crisis here existed. We will see it again and again. This working group comes up with best practices on eradication. Hopefully on killing these bugs before they ravage the crops. And the
Food Insecurity<\/a> issue they have all pointed to a looming crisis and i dont think we have done enough. Not saying you, but saying as the world. We put 20 million into the effort. Perhaps you can speak to that as well. You and i have talked so many times of the last five months. Our ambassador to the u. N. Food agency, i have talked to him several times as well. This idea of a new bill. Thankfully the chairman put in on the docket for next week. We can create a hopi working group that can do more to mitigate this crisis. Mr. Barsa thank you for your longtime support of usaid. It is the honor and privilege of a lifetime to lead the talented men and women at usaid. Specifically when you see ebola,
Disaster Response<\/a> teams, the way they deploy into the face of whatever crisis. As you mentioned, ebola. The herculean efforts in combating ebola. We are so happy to see that while the outbreak in eastern veryas ended, we remain concerned and vigilant. 1200e monitoring nearly ebola survivors to the east drc. We are monitoring the new outbreak in the northwest drc. We are always on the lookout, we are cognizant of the new threats of
Ebola Outbreak<\/a>s in the drc and other african countries. One of the things we are able to do as the outbreak was coming to an end in the east, we can pivot resources and redeployed staff and equipment. Watching that, watching the professionalism of the men and women able to do that is a great source of pride for me. Certainly, i have learned a lot since becoming acting administrator of usaid. Part of what i learned is the lifecycle of a locust. Certainly with the
Economic Contraction<\/a>, the pandemic,
Food Insecurity<\/a> is very much on my mind, particularly in africa. So, one of the things i have aerial while israe spraying is the best form to treat infant stations, it has to happen after they hatch but before they grow wings. What is he is monitoring to ensure that available aircraft with pesticides can deploy during that window. So, it has been challenging to maintain monitoring with the rainsic and dsosome occurring right now but we are adding
Additional Resources<\/a> to ensure that our partners at fao can deploy aircraft and pesticides to get to the locust during that crucial period when they are most vulnerable to eradication. Mr. Smith thank you very much. Chair engel thank you. Ok, we now are going to call on mr. Meeks who is coming here hes not here, but hes coming mr. Meeks i know. Chair engel all new yorkers are always here. , mr. Eeks thank you chairman. , givenecho your concern the record of statements. The biggest comments she has made. There should not be any tolerance for that at usaid or anyone heading an agency such as that. I want to first say that i strongly support your comments earlier. Its particularly important because just about all of us in the
United States<\/a> congress this week are very heavy hearted and have a very heavy heart today with the passing of a
Great American<\/a> and a true humanitarian, congressman john robert lewis. And annually, representative lewis and i along with representative hastings have proposed a language to the state and
Foreign Language<\/a> appropriation bill proposing diversity and inclusion, and provide protection for majority in populations abroad. This year is no different. At my estimation, there is no greater way to honor and continue representative lewis legacy by bolstering inclusion you kno initiatives here in the u. S. And abroad. I have more questions than i expect you will be able to answer, so i will try to ask them quickly and maybe before i should say afterwards, it will give me some answers in writing if i cannot get it orally. Let me also state i want to reflect on the record that i believe this administrations requested budget cuts to humanitarian accounts on the wrong thing to do morally and also absolutely sends the wrong message to the world. So, my first question, mr. Ambassador, is do you agree upholding diversity and inclusion while allocating foreign assistance is within our
National Interest<\/a> . Do you agree with that . Sorry, i very much value diversity and inclusion. Yes. Mr. Meeks therefore, there should be accountability in that regard and the first critical step to accountability is tracking and supporting granular data as it relates to the companies, the organizations that usaid contracts with. Selfreportedture data on the composition of the companies it contracts with as it relates to gender, race, ethnicity,
Sexual Orientation<\/a> of the shareholders, the board and
Senior Management<\/a> . Chair engel we certainly have the same high standards for diversity and inclusion. Mr. Barsa you are asking about the mechanics and how we hold our partners accountable. Im afraid i dont have that data with me but im happy to respond to questions on the record or work with your staff afterwards. Mr. Meeks i would like to see the data if you have it. If it is on the record so we can see it and see the number of africanamericans that are on these various boards, the diversity of the companies you work with so we can see the transparency. I would say it would be a good idea if you have this data, that if you publish it annually for transparency and accountability. Id also like to work with you in regards to being committed to erasing the barriers for companies, including working together for small and minority owned businesses, enterprises and universities and nongovernmental organizations. Many have come to me about encountering difficulties navigating the acquisition and assistance process at usaid. Im willing to work with you on that end in the future. Time is running out quickly. Let me run this past you. Im concerned. We often talk about providing alternative
Development Solutions<\/a> to chinese loans in africa. The chinese have effectively mobilized billions of loans each year to make ports, railways and other infrastructure in africa. We have the largest
Financial Market<\/a> in the world. I believe we can make deep inroads and have a greater impact in africa by usaid. I would like to talk to you in regards to that. O the want to bring t attention that covid pandemic has been devastating to hundreds and millions in africa and those of african descent. You talk about columbia. My have been one of the cochairs of the columbia caucus. Columbia is one of my strongest allies in the western hemisphere. I would hope we have a plan we are looking at to make sure that africans and
Community Leaders<\/a> are protecting african colombians in indigenous communities with usaid funds. And assistance and efforts to protect these individuals. I see im out of time so i yield back. I look forward to talking to you. If you could answer some of these questions in writing afterwards or let us set up a meeting so we can talk about some of these important issues. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Chair engel thank you, mr. Meeks. He would like to answer some of those questions. Mr. Barsa the witness would like to answer all the questions. Theres a lot of topics covered. Congressman meeks, as we discussed before, i think former staffer here in the house of representatives, i fully appreciate the role of congress. Not just the appropriations and authorization, but oversight. I certainly value and i know intuitively the best form of government where there is communication. If i dont get to anything right now during my testimony, we will have continued conversations at any point in time. A lot of things are being touched on right there. Certainly, i will try to get them in order. Regarding
Infrastructure Investments<\/a> by the chinese in africa, as we have discussed before, the partnership between inid and the dfc is key terms of helping identify other investments that we can make. One of the best things we can do to counter chinese influence, chinese investments is to gather information of onerous deals where the chinese take advantage of other countries and their vulnerabilities and share that with other host countries so they dont go down the same path and allow the chinese to take advantage of them. So, we work on the information sharing. We also work on alternatives for development investment. Colombians,ro heading up the latin american bureau. It was a great honor and privilege to meet with afro colombian
Leaders Within<\/a> columbia and other groups that have been traditionally disenfranchised. I was proud to see the work usaid does in empowering them and helping ensure they are fully integrated into the economy and society. So, im pleased with the work going on. I understand there is more to be done, but im very proud of the steps we have made. Congressman, there was another issue. I should have written it down. Anything i have not gotten to, i am happy to respond to with followup meetings or phone calls. Chair engel a few other questions mr. Meeks had. We will followup with you. Mr. Barsa happy to. With the chair yield for a question . Chair engel who is asking . Becauseabout to call he was here, so no. Willing to go ahead if it is quick. It is simply a question mr. Meeks was looking for diversity. I was wondering is there a metric that mr. Meeks wanted to see met . Not just these numbers out of the blue. Was there an expectation . Maybe mr. Meeks can answer that later. What numbers does he want to see met for a lot of those things he was asking about . Chair engel thank you, mr. Mast. Mr. Thank you for holding this hearing and answering these questions. A number of us on both sides of the aisle have done a lot of work on
Rohingya Genocide<\/a> over the years. I want to particularly recognize someone who is not here, someone who is not in congress anymore and that is joe crawley who was very involved in this for a long time. I have worked directly with him. I cannot tell you how committed he was to this cause. He is not here to pat himself on the back so i will. He was very committed in a real loss to this institution, i believe. I was hoping that you could update us on whats going on. What is the outlook on the intermediate longterm for the rohingya and how does the administrations budget request reflect efforts to support the rohingya and hold the
Burmese Military<\/a> accountable and alleviate the desperation of one million
Rohingya Refugees<\/a> who are currently in bangladesh rather than in their home country . Mr. Barsa thank you. Ourelationship to government to government contacts, i would have to refer you to the state department. What i am proud to report, since august 2017, the
United States<\/a> has provided more than 951 million in
Emergency Assistance<\/a> to assist in the rohingya. The support is for the refugees, the affected
Host Communities<\/a> in bangladesh, and multiple conflict affected populations in burma with humanitarian assistance. We work with impacted
Host Communities<\/a> by providing support and development assistance. Live below thele extreme poverty line which is a full 5 higher than the rest of the community, the rest of the country. We fully recognize the
Host Communities<\/a> have borne the socioeconomic brunt of the influx of our efforts to go to support not just the refugees themselves, but those communities that are sheltering and giving them space. As to i had an answer when this crisis would end, but we are doing what we can to support the rohingya. Mr. Chabot with all that is going on around the globe and this country, it is easy us to not necessarily remember those people but there are a lot of people suffering. The administration is committed to improving that and we want to thank you for that. I will move to another line. Last year, congressman connelly mannern a bipartisan introduced the
Global Security<\/a> act which was included in this
Years National<\/a>
Defense Authorization<\/a> act. In which among other things, affirms u. S. Commitment to the
Global Health<\/a> security agenda. Could you discuss how investments made under the
Global Health<\/a> security agenda have helped member countries cope with the latest
Global Health<\/a> security crisis, covid19 . Mr. Barsa thank you. The
United States<\/a> of america,
United States<\/a> people by extension of the most generous people in the history of the world. Our investments over decades in
Global Health<\/a> have enabled countries not just the deal with a crisis or an outbreak at hand, but to build infrastructure and capacity. We know, for example, clean water is an essential
Health Service<\/a> and not all the countries have able to provide clean water for all the populations the way they should. So, part of the larger
Health Investments<\/a> we make our things like access to wash, clean water and access to sanitation. Countrys ability to respond to the pandemic isnt just access availability to ppe. It is the infrastructure that has been developed with the assistance of usaid over decades to help with detection, with communications, with all manner of services. Besth care responses are built upon an existing infrastructure. Proud toe proud im be leading the agency. Mr. Chabot absolutely. I am trying to get one more question so i will cut you off there, i apologize. The
United States<\/a> cannot solve every problem. We wish we could but we cannot solve every problem around the globe. Can you identify some problems you took a hard look at when crafting this budget and said this is a problem the taxpayers couldnt or shouldnt have to foot the bill . Mr. Barsa i dont have a specific example but we realize usaid cannot do it alone. Hadhappy to report weve regular meetings with counterparts in the u. K. And canada to realize a lot of developmental challenges are concepts the world should develop together. While we have the most generous country in the history of the world, fully cognizant that not all distress should be board on our shoulders and that we should be working collaboratively with other countries. Mr. Chabot thank you very much. Chair engel thank you. We now go to mr. Deutch of florida who was with us virtually. How is the weather down there . Mr. Deutch we are doing ok. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you administrator barsa for your testimony. Across the60 years democratic and republican administrations, usaid has performed invaluable lifesaving work around the world from combating hivaids, providing access to safe water,
Family Planning<\/a>, to investing in nutrition and education. In an era of unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe even before covid19, the dollars invested in u. S. Foreign assistance helps make our country safer. During the pandemic, it is only grown. The supplemental funding for humanitarian accounts is a critical tool in the
Global Pandemic<\/a> response. As chairman of the middle east subcommittee, i know how critical our aid is to north africa were over 150 million provided to countries to support
Pandemic Response<\/a> and vulnerable refugee populations. Theres more work to do. Now more than ever, reckless cuts to u. S. Foreign assistance only undermined u. S. National security and global stability. Usaids importance and the importance of u. S. Foreign assistance, particularly as we are seeking now
Global Health<\/a> is an issue of bipartisan agreement. And all of us on this committee, including my friends across the aisle, have rejected and will continue to reject cuts the work and the bipartisanship is why i must join in my colleagues in expressing deep concerns about recent appointments of the agency. For the president to knowingly appoint people with a history of braga torrey comments about refugees derogatory comments and womenugees, lgbtq wo which contradicts usaids mission undermines the important efforts of usaid around the world. Their past statements to the question the ability to lead this agency and its dedicated workforce. To im not so inclined share your full confidence in these appointees. I would urge you to reconsider your support for their appointments. Now with my remaining time, i would like to ask about what i focus much of my time on. In particular, the west bank. In august 2018, the administration announced a freeze on all assistance to the palestinians in the west bank and gaza subject to a white house review. At the end of 2019,
Congress Passed<\/a> a law to help remove barriers and restore assistance. The assistance provides funding to things like hospitals in east jerusalem, israelipalestinian coexistence programs. It fosters stability with benefits and strengthens the security of both palestinians and israelis. It furthers the prospects for peace. Since the bill passed, the administration has continued is effective freeze. The
Usaid Mission<\/a> to the palestinians is effectively closed except for a few
Staff Members<\/a> who work on regional programming. In april, the u. S. Provided 5 million in
Disaster Assistance<\/a> funds to help me the challenges of covid19 in the west bank. Congress approved 75 million in economic support in a bipartisan laws andct to all conditions that the administration has not spent. On july 9,
House Appropriations<\/a> committee passed a bill providing 225 million for development and humanitarian assistance in the west bank and gaza. Can you tell us, acting administrator barsa, what is the status of the administrations review of palestinian assistance and will it be completed in time to program the 225 million that the house recently appropriated . Mr. Barsa thank you for your question, thank you for your longstanding support of usaid. Thank you for your efforts of passing atca. I wish i had an answer telling you the deliberations have completed, but discussions and how best to implement are still taking place. I look forward to working with you and your staff once i have something to report. It is currently being reviewed to find how best we can move forward. Mr. Deutch i appreciate that. Can you provide some light into what that interagency process looks like . Who has reviewed, who still hasnt reviewed . What needs to happen for that to be completed . Mr. Barsa unfortunately, i dont have the details. As any major policy, there are many actors that need to be consulted with. These internal deliberations are still ongoing. I share your hope that these deliberations can finish surely can we report back to you on how we are moving forward. Mr. Deutch are you a part of those deliberations . Mr. Barsa my staff is, yes, certainly. Mr. Deutch ok, so presumably, they report back to you. Can you share with us who else is part of that process . It has been ongoing for a long time. Certainly, it feels like it is being dragged along. Who else is participating in this . Mr. Barsa im afraid i cannot comment on those internal deliberations that i share your desire that the internal deliberations conclude rapidly so we can move forward. I fully understand and appreciate that. Mr. Deutch i appreciate that. Again, the goal is to strengthen security and stability as to advance the prospects for peace. That is what this funding can do if we can get through this process once and for all. I appreciate your commitment to help see it through. Thanks, mr. Chairman. I yield back. Chair engel thank you. We now go to mr. Perry. Mr. Perry thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, mr. Barsa. Appreciate you being here. You said earlier this year that the usaid should not be doing and does not do works untethered from
National Security<\/a>. Is that right . Mr. Barsa yes. Mr. Perry is it your assessment that the state and foreign appropriations bill under consideration pursues agenda items that engaged in works untethered from
National Security<\/a> policy . Mr. Barsa i have not seen the details of the legislation but it is my belief with the members we are all in agreement that usaid is the method of smart power or soft power. Since our inception, usaid has played a role in
National Security<\/a> apparatus and we are proud to do so. Mr. Perry anything in particular that you would like to elaborate on based on your experience you have seen in the past that you would prefer not to, for us not to continue to engage on or expectations you have in the conversations you have had about what we will be forced to engaged in based on the agenda and the appropriations bill as you understand it . Mr. Barsa im afraid im not sure i understand your question. Mr. Perry is there anything we are going to find and force usaid to do in the past that we shouldnt be or you think we are going to be . Are you cognizant of anything . Ok, how do you think usaid can help counter the malign actors like russia and china in the arctic . Thatarsa in the arctic, is a little outside my zone. I certainly dont have a mission in my arctic. Mr. Perry should we . Im serious. You are there and you are an instrument of national diplomacy. And
National Security<\/a>. And you are not present, right . But they are. Mr. Barsa in terms of
Economic Development<\/a> programs, software ejection, no, im not currently in the arctic. Mr. Perry and we should be . Mr. Barsa we are certainly looking at opportunities. In greenland, we are proud to stand by mission there. We are looking for opportunities. We have no commitment in greenland but we are looking at ways we can build our expertise to help out if need be. Mr. Perry thats china and russia also pursuing opportunities in that location and others adjacent . Mr. Barsa in terms of their activities in the arctic, i would have to refer you to state or dod. Mr. Perry ok. What do you think there are some of more successful tactics and pushing back against the belt and wrote initiative, both one the state and local level from your agency or your director standpoint . Mr. Barsa one of the best things we can do to counter the initiative is to communicate. One of the best things we have to
Counter China<\/a> is to let people know and build awareness about our true and honest pathway to selfreliance. Our
Development Models<\/a> could not be more diverse. When i was leading the latin american hero, one of the things i was emphasizing was information sharing within the western hemisphere. If there was an attempt by the ,hinese to engage in a country whispering
Sweet Nothings<\/a> in their ear, trying to lead them down the path to leads towards debt policy or onerous deals one of the things i will try to emphasize then and now is the ability to communicate. To have my teams, my missions share information about chinese past practices because once other countries realize the pattern of behavior by the chinese, the information becomes more clear. Then when the
United States<\/a> the rep programming, the work with the dfc, we can provide alternatives. It is much easier. The best thing we have to counter chinese influence is to be honest and open and tell people what they are. Faulty ppe during the covid pandemic. Evidence toalute of show that our model is the preferred model. Mr. Perry do you think you have been successful . Does it work because obviously, the communication is important, but money talks, right . Most of these places, they are very aggressively seeking
Financial Assistance<\/a> in that regard. So while the rhetoric and the track record is certainly viable, but money talks. How successful have you been . Mr. Barsa money does talk but there is the shortterm money. Ok, you can get a whole bunch of money from the chinese right now, but longterm to show you are going to be strangled by debt for decades and you are going to lose sovereignty anatomic, that is part of the thing. Part of what we try to do by communicating is realizing that shortterm check youre are going to get from the chinese, youre going to be paying that back for decades. You will lose autonomy, sovereignty. Part of what we try to do is communicate longterm financial implications and the political implications. Chair engel thank you. We now go to mr. Keating virtually. Youkeating you say coordinate with the department of defense and health and human services. In februaryified where for the first time in our district, i pandemic put us on a level one alert for the department of defense. Did it communicate to you . Mr. Barsa in february, i was any i would beeau happy to provide the answer. Hearings in europe and eurasia, have come together in theecedented way covid19 pandemic. Dont we have a force multiplier in general by working with our closest allies . Mr. Barsa we do, absolutely, sir. Rep. Keating do you think it undercuts everything youve said this morning in that case, the
Global Response<\/a> pledge by the se allies and looking at north america alone, mexico participated in this yet the u. S. Is absent. Andountries agreed to this it undercuts us. It sends a mixed message. Can you explain why it is not in our best interest to work with our allies in the
Global Response<\/a> pledge . Mr. Barsa regarding specifics of that pledge, i cant comment on that, but i can tell you 18 billion to get around, but the u. S. Is absent. Together on this, but the u. S. s absence. Mr. Barsa in terms of the interaction, i would have to get back on details, but i am in regular contact with my counterparts in the developed world, the u. K. , canada, and other contact countries. We are in coordination. You just said money matters. Mexico is involved, 47 countries involved and we are tacit. It seems we are making a statement and a contradictory one. Mr. Barsa congressman, im afraid, we have conductivity issues. Withrms of coordinating donor countries, that is important and we do that. Beant really comment, id happy to get back with you in terms of that specific argument but just because we coordinate doesnt meanly every venue coordination happens neighbor right here ways. Rep. Keating this is such a pronounced one, it is a global pledge. And this is a nobrainer for the u. S. And we are not there. It is sendingink some kind of message to our closest allies that undercuts everything we are working for at usaid i find it. Not only contradictory, but mindboggling that we are not part of this. Questionse, i just when we are pulling out of the that impede our ability to work along the same lines you are saying . When you see these other major actions being taken, you cannot see how that undercuts her mission . Mr. Barsa congressman, again, thank you for your longterm support for usaid. We are thankful for that but context on the
World Health Organization<\/a>, last year, it received 4 overall u. S. Funding on
Global Health<\/a> issues. Funds went to organizations or activities outside of the
World Health Organization<\/a>, and since the decision was made to withdraw, weve been actively looking for alternative partners. Our commitment to
Global Health<\/a> remains strong. We will not be retreating from any corner of the world stage. We will have to leave it at that. Rep. Keating if you are looking for things, how about the global pledge . It is there writing our face. I yield back. Mr. Wilson . Wilson we appreciate your bipartisan efforts on behalf of our country. Im also grateful that you are here, your
Prior Service<\/a> as a congressional staffer, you so id with a superstar, know you are welltrained and indeed, with our colleagues deutsche and keating, i have an appreciation of what usaid has achieved around the world and we are therrectly, most generous nation in the history of the world and in line virushat, with the wuhan
Global Pandemic<\/a>, it is exacerbating the humanitarian crises around the world, including as the
World Program<\/a> food program has estimated there will be an 80 2 increase 82 increase in people needing
Food Assistance<\/a> as a result of the pandemic, how is usaid prioritizing
Food Security<\/a> . Mr. Barsa thank you, congressman. It was an honor to serve under lincoln, as well. I am thankful for that. My first full day as acting administrator of usaid was on april 13. I sent out a video for the entire usaid workforce laying out my three priorities. Priority one was physical and
Emotional Wellbeing<\/a> of staff, priority number two was continuing our corporations around the world, priority number three was thinking through the second and third order effect of the pandemic. It was clear to me as i assumed the reins of my position that the secondary her sheer effects on fragile societies and democracies were things that would be with us for a while. This, seeing this coming down, i set up a planning over thein usaid, horizon task force. Part of the goal of this task force was to break outside of silos and think collectively about the challenges that usaid is going to be faced with not just in the next three months or 6, 5, 10s, the next 3, years down the road. Food insecurity is certainly one of those challenges. Contractionomic throughout the world, which has led to disruptions in supply people toilities for harvest food, get food to market, so we are very concerned about that so our usaid partners forecast globally a 25 increase in food insecure people in 46 vulnerable countries. Atare very much looking secondary and
Third Order Effects<\/a> of the pandemic. This over the horizon task force , their work should be completed by the end of the fiscal year and the data they provide from this comprehensive view will inform not just our decisionmaking at usaid, but omb and thes with products of that analysis will be shared with you to help inform your decisionmaking as well. Rep. Wilson additionally, i am encouraged to see our relationship with india developing. I was honored to be with
President Trump<\/a> and prime thester modi in houston, largest
Welcome Program<\/a> in the history of the
United States<\/a> to welcome a foreign head of state, to see the relationship and the positive developments that prime thester modi has achieved,
Worlds Largest<\/a> democracy, america the oldest democracy, what is our relationship now with india . Mr. Barsa i think it is a wonderful
Success Story<\/a> because a has transformed from donorrecipient relationship to a peertopeer relationship. Hosting the u. S. India
Development Foundation<\/a> where we would help india address the countrys most serious developmental challenges, looking to use innovative so the tools, peertopeer relationship we have is something we are extremely proud of are working with them. Rep. Wilson on either issued another issue is
Human Trafficking<\/a>. Mr. Barsa similar to
Food Insecurity<\/a>, im concerned about
Human Trafficking<\/a>. Certainly during this covid affected world, we are seeing maligned actors, not just at the state level, but criminal elements trying to take advantage of the situation. All of our program has historically had an aspect of countering
Human Trafficking<\/a> and giving light to it, the path to reporting. Just like
Food Insecurity<\/a>, im afraid on the
Human Trafficking<\/a> front, we may be seeing increases. I dont have the data in front of me, but my gut tells me we need to be more on the lookout. Rep. Wilson we are grateful for your service. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Rep. Engel we have mr. Berra. Thank you, mr. Chairman. One of thek about best investments we have made postworld war ii, it really has development and plank, if you think about what we have been able to accomplish in the last 75 years, the
Marshall Plan<\/a> probably the method best
Development Plan<\/a> in history of the world, redeveloping japan, taking korea from one of the poorest nations in the world 40 years ago to this remarkable developed economy and you talked about a the millions of lives the investment has saved. The realestimony to impact of eight and development around the world, but also to the men and women who serve us, partnering and implementing ngos, i thank them for the work they do everyday. We face this unprecedented challenge, probably the biggest
Global Challenge<\/a> since world war ii in the
Global Pandemic<\/a>, covid19, and mr. Keating alluded to this a little bit and mr. Sherman also talked about the legislation to authorize we have introduce this a fact, securing america from epidemics. We think this is a strong piece of legislation and authorizing funding would be incredibly helpful. We also know the
Global Alliance<\/a> that is coming together and i appreciate your mentioning it in your opening remarks. , is part of the initiative. Are think of it, there roughly 200 covid19 vaccines under development around the world and that is why we need
Something Like<\/a> this pillar. We may need more than one vaccine to beat this virus. We dont know which country is going to develop that vaccine, but we do know if we all work if,ther at a global level, for instance the
United Kingdom<\/a> comes up with a successful vaccine for seniors, the
United States<\/a> may find one that works better for kids, we got all
Work Together<\/a> and i think the president said it, dr. Fauci said it, and the position i believe that until we find a safe and effective vaccine, manufacture not 300 million doses, but 600 to 700 billion that isr the world and why it is important for us to be part of this
Global Alliance<\/a> and it is atc. Principle of safety in numbers. We dont know which vaccine is going to work and we can pull resources from around the world that doesnt preclude what is being done. I believe it is continent tree to some of these
Bilateral Agreements<\/a> with manufacturers. Acting administrator barsa, would you share that it is important for us to be part of this global
Vaccine Coalition<\/a> and how best can we engage in this . Mr. Barsa i agree with you. We are proud of our work with cepi, we are looking to partner with them but one thing that is worth reiterating is vaccines are just one portion of the response. The holistic response to not just this pandemic but other health care emergencies, my belief in the importance of ,aving excess access to wash sanitation services. A response to a pandemic, while vaccines are important, the holistic approach we have at usaid gets to the infrastructure, helping governments respond to the health crises. Oftentimes you see
Health Crisis<\/a> that follows a political border because often there are challenges in governance, governments ability to provide clean water and services. Being fully integrated with the portfolio is the best way to build capacity for governments to strengthen their
Health Systems<\/a> and respond. We certainly agree with the
Critical Role<\/a> of vaccines. That is a portion of it. Access to clean water, any other thing is also critical. Proud to have that integrated here at usaid. Rep. Bera and in my remaining time, a few brought up the chinese approach. You brought up coercion, etc. The resourceshave of the single nation to combat the billions china is able to do. Multilateraln coalitions of likeminded nations and when i talked to the australia,ies in etc. , can you give an example of multilateral conversations taking place with regards to aid and development . Mr. Barsa similarly to the
Dsc Communications<\/a> occurs at different levels, certainly at the staff level, we are coordinating with the eu and others in ive participated in withct meetings and resume members of the u. K. And canada and the rest of the developed world. We are discussing at different levels. Rep. Engel we will have to go to mr. Yoho. Thank you, mr. Chairman thank you for being here. I appreciate the accolades mr. Mccall said about the dfc, but that was this body, that was
Congress Working<\/a> the way it is supposed to on a bilateral we need tomanner and continue that because we are focusing on what is best for america and if we do that, things work out a lot better instead of dividing. For the dfc does need and all the members here, is it is critical it has equity authority. He put in 150 million that would run that, but only if it has equity authority. If not, we need a billion dollars for that to work properly and you know the numbers. Youve talked with adam bowl er and it is imperative when talking to members of the appropriations committee, recommend to him how important it is to have that. Want to move on i want to go into some things and i tend to be real blunt on things and i know i offend some people sometimes. I know it is hard for people to understand. And i dont mean to. It is to call things out and i heard
Gregory Meeks<\/a> talking about and i have the utmost respect, the diversity, hiring and things like that so we have an array of all people involved and i agree with that 100 are sent, but do you feel or are you mandated by congress that that is the role of you as the administrator for usaid, or should there be a separate person to do that or special diversity inspector general, quickly if you could answer that . Mr. Barsa my time in and out of government for decades of service, every organization has an office of civil rights or diversity. The believe in having need for diverse and inclusive workforce and to make sure everyone has opportunities, not just for hiring but ability to advance in terms of responsibilities and who should be responsible. Rep. Yoho the question is, he wanted the numbers on that. Weve had that mandate for a long time. Do you have any feeling it is not being fulfilled . Mr. Barsa i am cognizant we could do better. We heard the gao report that said you could be doing better and i embrace the report and look forward to committing to myroving at usaid, within control. Rep. Yoho what i want you to do is you have people that monitor that stuff, that make sure that is done. Your job is to make the mission and get responses from mission. Chart, it is pie july 17, 2020 and it talks about where the money goes in usaid. Humanitarian, 32 health and population, 12 , but when it comes down to the things that really make a difference in a which is
Infrastructure Development<\/a> and i know that kind only 3 goes dfc, in that. We are talking about ebola. I dont want to put you on the spot, but ebola was discovered in the early 1970s, about 1974. The canadians had a vaccine that was going through phase one trials i think in 1976 or 1978 and it was tabled. Since the discovery of that virus, there has been a total of 12,950 people die from ebola, total. So we knew about it. We could have done something, and this is why it is important i havee bill cosponsored, the safeguard for constitutional avoidance is so cepi, it coordinates from other nations to bring this together so we are ahead of the next one. I think your mission and i dont want to tell you what your mission is but you should triage any country we go into and i hear this body wanting to ding a president because he is cutting budgets. In medicine, there is myopia, hyperopia and another one called fecalopia. Nearsighted,ard the other is farsighted and the other is selfexplanatory. If we dont focus 15 or 20 years from now or this country will go, you think this budget cut is bad today . Look at the pandemic. The decreasing revenues and unemployment. This body wants to ding the president. I got, it is time we looked down the road where america is going because china is killing us i shouldnt say killing. They are beating us around the world and we can do better and we need to do better, and it is people like you and your organization that if you focus on a mission, you are going to make a
Significant Impact<\/a> for generations to come and if we dont, we will be a footnote in history. I yield back. Rep. Engel thank you. Titus have missed ms. Titus, virtually. Thank you, mr. Chairman and the administrator for being here. I have to admire the work of usaid. Ive encountered parts of our members and your team all around and our democracy partnerships and i always think you do so much with so little and the soft power that you exhibit and provide is such a big part of our diplomacy and that keeps us from having to use military means, but im a little concerned not a little, im a lot concerned with some of the people you have on your team and youve defend them recently and has been carden mentioned, but she is not alone as somebody who has made statements that are contrary to what should be the mission of usaid and what has been stated as the mission. Her calling the u. S. A homo empire. The new religious freedom advisor who has shared numerous islamic phobic posts to his twitter and facebook pages, even called islam a barbaric cult. And then there is katrina on the advisor to you center of excellence in democracy, human rights, and governance. Mes from a designated hate group as being antilgbtq views and opposes sexual and reproductive rights. s role is to champion respect, empowerment, and diversity around the globe. You want inclusion, you want in equality, you have a zerotolerance policy against harassment. On and i wonder how you reconcile these peoples backgrounds and agendas with the agenda of the agency, how you are keeping track on what is going on in these various minority groups with these people in charge of it, and how we are going to deal with that during this covid pandemic, which often exacerbates the discrimination and harassment of these very same groups . Maam and thank you, thank you for your longterm support for usaid. Eluded andman yoho everyone else has alluded, the missionce of the usaid is critical. We are mission focused and i can assure you and your colleagues employee, usaid regardless of hiring category, is held to the highest legal moral and ethical standards that usaid has always had. Rep. Titus it just seems a little contrary to what you are supposed to be doing to have people in these leadership positions who take contrary positions or have a contrary agenda. How are you checking on some of this policy . Maybe, you monitoring, the impact of covid on the global
Lgbt Community<\/a> or on womens rights in some of these places where the virus has led to more violence perhaps or more harassment, or discrimination . If youve got people in charge of these divisions who dont really have that mission in their heart, even if that is what it says on their
Application Form<\/a> . Mr. Barsa certainly as i mentioned before, early on, it this pandemice was more than just a health care crisis. Effect on fragile societies, democracies, and economies are going to be longterm and haveus, so when you
Economic Contraction<\/a> in any country of the world, you often see things that flow from that. Some of that is increased levels of violence, as we spoke before and possibilities of
Human Trafficking<\/a>, and particularly for women or other minorities, more vulnerable. Have throughout the world a greater percentage of involvement in informal economies, for example. When you have
Economic Contraction<\/a>s, those informal economies are the ones that are most often affected first. In terms of the onset of the thatmic, our concern is because of the secondary tertiary effects of the pandemic, a lot of our work womening inclusion for into the workplace, into the economies and societies, our protection and lgbti, these things are at risk so we are increasing surveillance on these efforts and doing our best to rise to the challenges as they present themselves. Rep. Engel thank you rep. Titus i know people dont work for usaid because of the money. It is not a job they are going to get rich on. They do it because they care in their heart to go and pursue these kinds of programs abroad that help people there and it helps us. It just seems to me it would be extremely difficult to pursue that equality and empowerment if you dont have it in your heart and apparently in the hearts of many of the people you have at the top levels is a different kind of feeling that is not about those things usaid has long pursued. I yield back, mr. Chairman. Rep. Engel thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. G, anin this hearin argument ive heard bipartisan way is one of the most frustrating arguments that i hear coming off of capitol hill, it is bullshit. The argument is people that come into this room and stand on this hill and continually say well what do i say to the servicemember going overseas that we could have prevented it i spending some u. S. Taxpayer dollars somewhere else. That is a false narrative. It is a false argument that it is either one or the other. Send something over in terms of u. S. Aid or the u. S. Service member go somewhere else and fight. That is not the truth, and it should not be put forward on this commitee. I dont want to diminish the work that usaid does. Work insome humans ns work, but mr. Sherman said what do we say to the servicemember who comes home injured, saying we could have prevented this by sending that food over or this over. We cannot allow that argument to continue. It is a false argument. You say to that servicemember, thank you for your service. Thank you for knowing full well the hazards of your chosen profession. Army, navy, marines, air force, womenguard, our men and who put on a uniform in defense of this country, they know what they are signing up for. They know the hazards and the risks that are posed to them by the jobs that they choose to go out there and do, and they are proud of the work that they asked to go out and do on behalf of every citizen of the
United States<\/a> of america, and that is my biggest ask out of this hearing, for anybody still watching online, still in their offices are back home that didnt come to the floor of this hearing room,
Pay Attention<\/a> to that. Stop making that argument. Stop using our
Service Members<\/a> as an excuse to send the taxpayer of some u. S. Working citizen over to some other country. It is not to say there arent good uses over there, but that cant be the excuse, because it is a false narrative. Narrative. Ue every time we send a dollar overseas somewhere else, we are taking a dollar that could have otherwise been spent here in the
United States<\/a> of america, so lets ask this question. It are we are in an outbreak and a pandemic or we are not. Either we are or we arent, but if we are, is there a better dollars thatthose would have gone somewhere else, not on u. S. Soil, and keep them here on u. S. Soil, helping american citizens . Helping people in our cities . Helping people in our towns . Our areas that are affected . If not now, then when do we say keep those dollars here in the
United States<\/a> of america . We dont need to look at this as fromh if we cut 35 foreign funding this year, that goes on in perpetuity forever or 20 or 10 or whatever that cut maybe. Now is an important time to keep dollars on u. S. Soil. A moreably hasnt been important time in my generation to keep those dollars here to help americans and people in our communities and the argument is we have to send it to someone else and we are using our
Service Members<\/a> as this false narrative to say that is why it has to be done. Ill repeat my statement in the beginning, that is bull shit and i yield back. Rep. Engel mr. Connolly. Thank you. I respect my friend from floridas service. He talks about false narratives. He just presented one, that dollars going overseas are an opportunity cost because they are not being invested in america. That has been proved false for decades. Dollars going overseas through effective programs are investments for america. They are investments in laying the groundwork for trade and investment, they are great laying the groundwork for the creation of many kinds of new jobs for americans. They are investments for expanding our economy, and as we are learning in covid19, we do not live on an island all alone. We are part of humanity. When something happens over there, it can affect us over here. Investing in
Health Infrastructure<\/a> globally protects americans. So i reject the narrative weve just been given, and i hope most americans watching will as well. Assistance can be, when it is effective, a very inexpensive investment in our own american future and it protects the world from all kinds of harm. Economic. Sical, i didnt hear your answer other than to reaffirm aid is committed to equity and titus giveut miss you a catalog of individuals in your agency who have spewed lgbtul statements about members, about those who adhere to the islamic faith. You have one member on your staff from the
Family Research<\/a> council which has been dubbed a hate group. Those peoples views representative of yours or the current philosophy governing usaid . Congressman, i have to reiterate what i said before. While someone is working for me at usaid, regardless of hiring servant,
Civil Service<\/a> officer, or appointee, everyone is held to the high legal, ethical standards that have always existed. Rep. Connolly that doesnt answer the question, that begs the question. These people have a history. Are you comfortable with having them on your payroll, representing the
United States<\/a> of america . Mr. Barsa i have systems in place to ensure that people who are representing the
United States<\/a> as usaid employees do live up to the high standards. Rep. Connolly so if someone came to you with an explicitly hatefilled, racist rant and a history of it, posting it, it,king it tweeting spreading it, if they said that then, this is now, i will it is not a disqualified potential employee . Throughout the appointment of political appointees occurs as a conversation between the white house and whatever agency in place, so regarding the vetting and placement of appointees, i would have to agree you to the white house. What i can assure you, once they are an employee of mine had usaid, we have standards we uphold people to. Rep. Connolly well, ive been working with aid for over 40 years, and i have never seen it peopled with individuals who have those kinds of records, and i think it is a shameful moment that thosed shameful come from the white house. It is another blot on this white house. Quickly, theal proposal is you take a 50 hit. Given the pandemic we are involved in and its ramifications in refugee camps, its ramifications in aggravating the hivaids crisis, which is expected to grow 10 the next five years, how can you absorb a 50 cut and do your job in meeting those many crises around the world . Mr. Barsa thank you congressman. The budget you see before you was developed started longopment the process before the outbreak of the pandemic so extremely grateful for the generosity of the
United States<\/a> congress with supplemental bills. I understand there is one being negotiated now but the budget developed was before the pandemic. Rep. Connolly will there be a revised budget presented to congress in light of the pandemic and the analysis of the impact of the pandemic on your applications and opportunities to respond . Mr. Barsa my understanding is negotiations on a potential supplemental are taking place right now between the white house and appropriators, so we are in contact with omb in the challenges we are seeing here and now and one of the things i mentioned in the testimony, on out ant day, i put announcement to staff that one of my concerns was a secondary and tertiary effects of the andemic, so i have stood up analytical cell come over the horizon task force to look outside of silos at things like insecurity. Holistically, what the challenges are going to be before us, not just in six months, but six years and out. The product of this analytical horizon tasker the force will go to inform conversations we have with omb and part of that the product will be given to you to inform your decisions so we can make data driven decisions when it comes to allocation. Rep. Connolly when can we expect to see that . Mr. Barsa the planning cell is due by the end of the fiscal year, so september. Rep. Connolly a revised budget by mr. Barsa im not saying revised budget. Looking at challenges, we should have that information to inform conversations about budget. That information should be available by the end of the year. Rep. Connolly i would just say as the committee of jurisdiction, the originator of aid, ithorization for would hope we could get a revised budget that is more realistic in light of the pandemic. My time is up and the chairman has been gracious, thank you. Rep. Engel thank you, mr. Connolly. Andhank you, mr. Chairman ive made a list, i am saddened you will not be back with us. Of course, i dont know if ill be back either, but regardless, youve been nothing but classy to me and i appreciate it. I still want to take you up on that offer of hanging out with you in new york city one day. Somebody said that would be like an episode of seinfeld, so i look forward to that. Thank you, sir for being here. China andned about the felton
Road Initiative<\/a>. I guess i come from it from a different angle. My father fought in the pacific, fought the japanese across the pacific and went to china after the war and thought the comment fought the communists and i ned some of their goals that were different than some of my buddies growing up did. I looked at them, i always looked at china through rose not rosecolored glasses. Im always very skeptical of anything they do, any initiatives, and i wonder if you can explain to me a little more how we are responding to their belt and wrote initiatives . Ad initiatives . Want thisett i dont technical garbage. Just from the heart, what you are doing. Mr. Barsa from the heart, i didnt have any family that fought in the pacific, but i had a mother who fled communism as a iung girl, a young lady so have a visceral mistrust for communist systems and i know what they do and how they abuse their people, but coming income you go with the data so it is not a visceral mistrust of the chinese, when you look at the data of what they are doing with debt diplomacy and onesided deals where money talks, but they give the promise of money in the short term, but with these long ended conditions which basically tie up countries so they lose their autonomy, lose their sovereignty. One of the best things we can do is provide alternatives to the
Chinese Development<\/a> model. We truly have a model premised on what is called the journey to selfreliance, where we help countries stand up on the rhone, to stand up and get up on the own, to get their up on their own feet. Deals chinarica, did in jamaica, letting other people know so our missions in the field have a role in sharing information with countries who might be tempted to fall for chinese lies. We also help with
Infrastructure Development<\/a>. You mentioned the dfc. We find ways to invest in deep water ports and other infrastructure in ways that benefit countries. Again, the best thing we can do to
Counter China<\/a> is to be more open and talk about what we do. Rep. Burchett what is working specifically when you mention deepwater ports . For the record, china is building the deepwater port in israel, which to me is alarming but that is on another subject. I would like to know what is working and what can we do more of that is working . Mr. Barsa i can give you more followingd anecdotes up, but what we have done in the
Solomon Islands<\/a>, we supported and infrastructure assessment by
Solomon Islands<\/a> engineers, the harbor in malaysia province is one of the last underdeveloped in the south pacific. Staff led the infrastructure scoping
Mission Together<\/a> with several agencies to assess the port and complement your infrastructure and because of our efforts and our openness, ultimately the government turned away from chinese support. Id be happy to follow up with more examples. Rep. Burchett i appreciate thatrep. Burchett . Mr. Chairman, i believe im about to run out of time so i will yield back, maybe to mr. Castro. You said some nice things about me, you can how all of time you want have all the time you want. Rep. Burchett bring me one of your new york pizzas. I drove through your area. Ive never been to new york and it is not nashville, tennessee. Ill tell you that. Rep. Engel we want you to come back. Please do. Mr. Castro . Mr. Chairman and thank you administrator for being here to testify and some of these questions were part of the question may have been asked. I was on the house floor. As we speak about the influence of usaid during one of the most greatest
Health Crisis<\/a> the world has known, it is critical representatives carry out the mission of usaid in a way that reflects u. S. Values. A series of political appointees contradicts these values. At least three recent positions have been filled by personnel who have histories of homophobic, islamophobic. Statements. Some comments include america is ruled by the tyrannical lgbt agenda and islam, a barbaric cult, and ld officeuld not ho because they will always hold office the benefit of themselves. You did not make these comments but you are the administrator. Can you explain why these people remain in their leadership positions and will you take action to replace them, and if not, please explain how usaid will mitigate the damaging messages there membership to personnel who remain under the leadership of these people . Mr. Barsa as the acting , it is mytor of usaid responsibility to ensure each employee, regardless of hiring category, lives up to the highest legal moral and ethical standards usaid has always held in place. Im proud to say the work of usaid overseas and at headquarters remains unimpeded by this. We are very proud of the way we are executing our work and i can assure your colleagues that every employees held accountable. Rep. Castro and i appreciate and i dont doubt your sincerity in wanting it to be a place that respects all people, but you have some folks in key positions who have made very bigoted comments. Have you had a conversation with them . Have you admonished them at a minimum . What action has been taken . Mr. Barsa im not going to comment on personnel decisions, but i can assure your colleagues that we have the mechanisms in place for oversight and ensuring every employee, regardless of hiring category, lives up to the standards we have and has always had. Rep. Castro i just want to convey to you what a damaging message it sends around the a developmentd, organization and is supposed to help people in need, people of color, lgbtq people,
Vulnerable People<\/a> all around the world to have folks like that in the employ of any federal or
Government Agency<\/a>, but in the gem ofof what is our reaching out to the world, usaid. Can you tell me what role the ppo have in pushing these nominees . Did you or someone at usaid recommend them or were their names pushed forward by ppo . Mr. Barsa in my previous administrator service, the placement of political employees, as with all administrations, a conversation between the white house and the host executive branch agency. Back. Astro ok, i yield rep. Engel thank you very much. Chairman. Ou, mr. Thank you, administrator for being before our committee. Again, i also want to stress my to thesure, my objection presence of folks who have made antiimmigrant, islamophobic statements in an agency that is there to help other countries develop and that should be an agency that recognizes diversity and allows for those diverse groups within the agency and in our country and abroad to develop, so i am concerned these hamper if notl break the development of good programs in countries that need to help, particularly during this pandemic across the world, and i would like to see the administrator perhaps put out a statement that names these individuals and actually moves away from their statements in an unequivocal way, to send a clear and histhat the
Agency Leadership<\/a> does not stand for what the folks have to say. At the very least, look into their past and present practices to see that those would impair the agencys ability to do the great work they should be doing across the world. My question i know, mr. You have past experience in latin america and the caribbean and we see how the pandemic is now spreading throughout latin america and the caribbean, brazil, mexico. We know it hit early on ecuador the
Dominican Republic<\/a>, caribbean, and other island nations and i want to know what is our plan with regards to the distribution of and otherlators, equipment, lifesaving equipment . We could whine and complain about china, but the fact of the ander is they go in there, they take ownership of major projects. I know we have attempted to do that, but we have not done it in a significant way in the region. Writing our own backyard. In our own backyard. We are being outflanked by waya, which, in a predatory which i disagree with, they are taking on major
Infrastructure Projects<\/a> that are critical to the development of those countries so i want to know, particularly now during this pandemic in the caribbean and in latin america, what is the plan ppe,said to distribute ventilators, or other important equipment to help those nations . Mr. Barsa . My experiencee of dealing with natural disasters at the department of
Homeland Security<\/a>, one of the lessons ingrained in me how disasters befall the overtime, so a lot of the assumptions based in one period of time may be revisited as information changes. We are seeing that with this pandemic. Part of the benefit of us having our presence in this countrys missions, we are able to work with host countries in seeing what the needs are as it develops. Regarding ppe, we have a policy in place where implementing partners are able to purchase ppe locally, but we are constantly assessing what the needs are in a particularly country. The pandemic is hitting
Different Countries<\/a> friendly so it wouldnt be prudent to come up with a cookiecutter response to the pandemic. Rep. Espaillat let me say, for example example, rapid test kits, which are needed everywhere because this is ppe, rapideatment, tests are badly needed in many places across latin america and the caribbean. What are we doing to provide that to those countries . There is a comprehensive view we have the for the pandemic. Test kits are part of the response. They may not always be available in the amounts we would like. The response of the pandemic in haiti is different from the response in the
Dominican Republic<\/a> and in columbia, so we look to see what assets are available and what is needed. We try to tailor a response in the best way possible to the countrys specific needs. Rep. Espaillat let me just say, this has been difficult for the latin american and caribbean and they are in bad need of test kits, ventilators now. And we areof ppe, coming right into
Hurricane Season<\/a>. I want to know, what preparations has usaid done to help caribbean countries that are on the pathways of hurricanes and will be hit hard right in the middle of this pandemic during this
Hurricane Season<\/a>. Is there any preparation for usaid to assist these countries . Mr. Barsa this is a great point of pride coming into usaid, especially from the department of
Homeland Security<\/a> who responded with fema, finding a professional team at usaid so adept at
Disaster Response<\/a>. Responsesto fema, our based on are modified the challenges of the pandemic so we are closely coordinating up witha and coming best practices for hurricane response, particularly when it comes to putting people in shelters. How do you do that with distancing, with ppe for displaced personnel . We are in constant communication with fema and sharing best practices and how to respond during the pandemic. We are ready and braced for any hurricanes. Dont have to but we hear reports this may be a more active
Hurricane Season<\/a> than most, but we are prepared to the best way possible to respond. Rep. Espaillat im deeply concerned. Im deeply concerned about the
Hurricane Season<\/a> in the middle of the pandemic in that region. Mr. Barsa we all are. Thank you. Yes, sir . Will you put out a statement on the appointees and their antilgbtq, antiimmigrant, islamophobic statements. Mr. Barsa to ensure there is no confusion on june 24, i put out a statement, publicly available, i can give it to your staff, reiterating our values. Excellence, integrity, respect, empowerment, inclusion, and commitment to learning. Rep. Espaillat will you name the names . You that i commit to without naming names, because all employees, regardless of hiring category, are held to the same high standards. Rep. Engel we are going to have to go on rep. Espaillat thank you, mr. Chairman. I yield back. Rep. Engel thank you, mr. Chairman. Director, i want to thank you for taking time out of your schedule to be with us today. Facing challenging times as a country and challenging times across the globe. I also want to thank you, you and i had the opportunity to visit two and half, three weeks ago to talk about some of our shared interests and talk about. Ome of the goals of usaid i wanted to highlight a program usaid has and i am proud to see is housed in the third
Congressional District<\/a> at the city state university, the
Innovative Lab<\/a> for fish and is part of your agencys feed future program. 2018, and iner of partnership with other
Research Universities<\/a>,
Mississippi State<\/a> had the opportunity to manage sat program and support usaid
Aquaculture Research<\/a> and
Capacity Building<\/a> and it has been implemented in five developing countries. Bangladesh,hat in cambodia, kenya, nigeria. This is a very important project, a very
Important Program<\/a> where your agency is able to partner with
Research Universities<\/a> so that we can continue to export across the globe the opportunities for countries to better themselves, to be able to feed their populations, so first of all, i want to thank you for your support in that program and i want to thank
Mississippi State<\/a> university and my good friend for partnering with usaid and i want to thank him for being an advocate for global
Food Security<\/a>. This program will feed more than 800
Million People<\/a> across the globe who suffer from hunger. Question to ask you a as it relates to a topic you and i had the opportunity to visit on a couple of weeks ago, and that being the nation of venezuela. Youve written in the report on on pageen, you address seven at page eight, you talk about the administrations stand, you talk about how the administration is working with the people of venezuela to recover their country, and actually to change the future as they seek to throw off the under of a dictatorship which they are currently suffering. I want to ask you for a couple of minutes if you could expand before this committee about things usaid is doing specifically in venezuela as we seek to help the venezuelan people retake their country and retake their future. Mr. Barsa thank you, congressman. As i stated before on the personal level, my mother fleeing communist cuba at a young age and growing up with for the a special place suffering of the venezuelan people inside and outside of venezuelas im proud to lead an organization that is doing so much to alleviate human suffering within the borders of venezuela and helping with those displaced venezuelans and
Host Communities<\/a> and countries that are hosting them. Host communities and countries are hosting them. Today the
United States<\/a> has provided more than 856 million tohumanitarian assistance support programs in venezuela and 17 neighboring countries. Our programs expand the democratic spaces are supporting independent media, human rights organizations and a democraticallyelected
National Assembly<\/a> leader guaido. The regime led by maduro, even before the pandemic, we were seeing and hearing reports of collapsing medical systems, of malnutrition and other suffering inside venezuela. Unfortunately, with the pandemic, the situation got worse. Part of the tragedy before us maduros regime has our aid into the country. It is frustrating. Thank you, mr. Chair. At this time, i will yield back. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Barsa, i think there are a few things you can agree on. Can we agree that responded to covid19 required congress to pass emergency stimulus averages in both houses to address the viruss spread into
United States<\/a> . Forcoleman i am thankful the generosity and we have done our best to put the money to good use. Can we agree we would not have the money to deal with the pandemic without the packages . And can we agree that when we dont know when, there will probably be future pandemics . Admin. Barsa i guess it is a mathematical probabilities. Can we agree that future pandemics will require future cooperation . Admin. Barsa yes. Because eradicating a pandemic requires cooperation. Admit to investments in foreign aid . I can admit to that because that is what we decades. Doing for you would object to the president
Church Fiscal<\/a> year 21 budget which cuts foreign aid by 21 percent especially since you know that
International Health<\/a> organizations make up a large percentage of that foreign aid . Admin. Barsa this is where we part ways. Certainly the
World Health Organization<\/a>, the president s decision to withdraw from the w. H. O. Was based on a number of factors. We certainly do not disagree with that decision. Healthestment in global last year, only 4 of the money the
United States<\/a> spent on
Global Health<\/a>, only 4 went to the w. H. O. We have been looking to find partners to continue the work we have been doing throughout the world. Find we should alternative partners because we w. H. O. Out of the there is a 20 increase in modernizing our nuclear arsenal. Imbalance in priorities reflect our desire for
Global Corporation<\/a> to give a future pandemics . Admin. Barsa in my decades of service in or out of government, i have never met a government chair who said they had enough money. Decisions on budgets are difficult. Resources. Ant in terms of allocations betray different agencies, i would have omb. Irect you to all an agree that the desire for cooperation to deal with future pandemics is at odds with increasing the budget for foreign aid . Admin. Barsa i am cognizant that the decisions on the overall budget are difficult es with scant resources and nobody has everything they want to have. This budget before you is the end product of a process that started before the onset of the pandemic. But have to adjust to changing circumstances. Do you have any idea what the covid19 pandemic has cost the american taxpayer . Anyn. Barsa no, i have not of those figures. I would ask that you feed the advice of president bushs a pretty assistant administrator of usaid come that lester munson, who said prevention is much cheaper than a cure. With that area back, mr. Chairman. I recognize ms. Wagner for five minutes. And i think that chairman, wherever he may be, for organizing this hearing, and thank you, administrator barsa for your time and your service to this country. I look forward to strengthening international programming, promoting support for humanitarian aid in maintaining robust u. S. Leadership abroad. Today we are seeing rivals like exploitd russia instability and crisis to undermine
Democratic Values<\/a> and respect for human rights. She
United States<\/a> insistence on collaboration and selfsufficiency mix as the partner of choice for countries makes us the partner of choice for countries seeking a helping hand to grow their economies, improve health fight corruption, and so on. We must continue to play a leading role in helping marginalized, poor and
Vulnerable People<\/a> around the world build a better future. The, spidey continues to disseminate the communist partys wrongsseminate information about covid19 and its source. How are we using programs to correct ccp falsehoods and be sure that our partners are basing
Pandemic Response<\/a> efforts on
Accurate Information<\/a> . Admin. Barsa as part of your question, these falsehoods are being propagated by the
Chinese Communist<\/a> party. One of the best tools we have is in this information is to counter without a information lies. As expose the highlight false information. Communication is one of our best tools. What we have going for us is the honest assessment of what we do. Our developmental model. The options that we have in terms of helping companies on their journey to selfreliance. So we are doubling down on communications in the indo ,acific, latin america caribbean, and anywhere we see the chinese trying to exert influence. When this
Global Health<\/a> request was developed, we were not in the middle of a
Global Pandemic<\/a>. Working tod wer prevent backsliding in our
Health Programs<\/a>, such as hivaids, tuberculosis, malaria, and maternal and child health the
Chinese Communist<\/a> attys lack of transparency the onset of the pandemic set as act and made things more difficult for usaid. Thanks again to you and your colleagues for the generosity in supplementals so far. When we distributed our funding to respond to the pandemic, we targeted efforts to the indo africa, europe, and this is with high transit routes to africa. Because of the lack of transparency, we got there too late, so we had to expand our work. So now we are globally. Has been for decades, investing in
Global Health<\/a> infrastructure. Access to clean water, strength and epidemiological systems, a whole suite of activities. We are proud of the fact that these investments have paid off , andrms of better response it is lamentable that, because of the chinese, all these systems are being challenged. Usaid is doing great work to advance of the indo pacific strategy, reassuring our partners and allies in the region. However,
Southeast Asian<\/a> countries on the front lines of escalating competition between the
United States<\/a> and china i think worry that a strategy focused on the indo pacific will somehow diminish their role in regional affairs. Promote
Southeast Asian<\/a> countriescentrality in achieving a free and open indo pacific . Mr. Barsa, could you give a
Rapid Response<\/a> . I am told we are expecting a vote on the floor . Admin. Barsa we have the development of mission in south asia, but competition with china is not limited to southeast asia, unfortunately, it is competition worldwide. I am happy to respond further to your questions. I yield back, mr. Chairman. Thank you. Mr. Phillips. Rep. Phillips thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Barsa, i appreciate your time today. I started by recounting our phone call on june 12 which i enjoyed. I shared some of the concerns shared by many of my colleagues about the number of the hires made. Rather than go over that again, i would be remiss if i did not bring it up. I want to focus on the local works program. It looks to advance locally
Led Development<\/a> in countries all around the world, which means local people becoming empowered to take the lead in the process, including prioritysetting, decisionmaking, management and more. Program. At i believe it holds up the administrations priority of achieving selfreliance. Summation of your thoughts on the program . Admin. Barsa it is extremely what we are to achieve selfreliance, to help private sectors in each
Country Grown<\/a> their own. I firmly believe jobs are created by the private sector. Having these programs in place to help private sector economies grow is exactly what is needed for longterm sustainable development. Rep. Phillips i could not agree more. Er aware of the president you are aware that the president s budget request asked for the funds to become be combined into one fund. . S that correct how do we make sure that both programs are fully funded, when the
Core Accounts<\/a> but it funds one, and classed into come unfortunately, significantly reduced . How do we reconcile that . Admin. Barsa i have never known of a
Government Agency<\/a> that has enough money as they would like. Certainly commodities are challenging times with scarce resources, so we stand by the budget before you. But you have my commitment that i and the usaid team will be doing our best with these taxpayer dollars to further these programs. Thank you very much. Ok, we moved to miss. You, mr. Chairman. Thank you for holding this hearing and thank you very much to the witness for being here. Virtually. To see you thank you very much for testifying. The usaid
Global Health<\/a> programs diseases monitoring that spill over from animals to humans for decades. The program has been known as the predict program. They leverage the expertise of
Health Officials<\/a> to respond quickly to outbreaks and prevent future outbreaks. This lifesaving work has helped identify hundreds of viruses. This administration decided to shatter predict shutter predict. Unfortunately, this does not make sense to me given the proven effectiveness of the program especially as experts have been warning for years about the threat of a pandemic. I understand there has been a shortterm extension and a call for proposals for followup programs. That is the basis of my question today. What is the status of extending . Redict admin. Barsa predict was always planned on having a full lifecycle and end date. Beingnot that it is shopped prematurely, this is a
Natural Evolution<\/a> of the program. A followup program was always land. Mr. Barsa, how can you say it is a full lifecycle when we always have known that the future threat of pandemics existed . Why would the administration choose to end the program that so far had prevent successful without a replacement ready . What is that successor . Admin. Barsa the successor is called stop spillover. It is aimed at improving our ability to monitor zoonotic diseases. Is that may be outdated again, we are learning from the predict programming and our , is buildinggram upon all the successes of the predict program to have a more robust analytical the successes on which stop spillover will be building on . Admin. Barsa i would have to get back to you and your staff questions. And what other weaknesses of the predict program that would require a new
Generation Program<\/a> and request for proposals . Admin. Barsa happy to provide more briefing on your questions for you. With more details. Withinbarsa, typically an evolution come of evolution is continuous. We have here the stoppage of a program that is known to help our country and the world as it relates to the threat of zoonotic diseases and the pandemic, and now we are in the where we are receiving proposals for the next step in the middle of a pandemic . Do you understand the concern many have that the timing is just inappropriate and hurting respond . Ty to admin. Barsa i dont think it is hiding our ability to respond. Again, we can have more detailed discussion after the hearing. But it is always land. We are no longer receiving proposals, the window closed on june 1. But we are moving forth. In the
Global Pandemic<\/a>, when the pandemic struck, where there any discussions that you were aware of saying that perhaps during a pandemic where we are closures, the u. S. Economy is coming to a crashing end, and we need our
Public Health<\/a> expertise, was there ever a discussion of maybe this is not the right time to pursue the shift . Admin. Barsa certainly on looking at how zoonotic diseases spill over and get into the human population, that is on the front end. The response to the pandemic comes from ppe, ventilators, access to clean water. Extendedct program was. The natural followon is stop spillover. In terms of responding to the pandemic, of course we have been focused on that. Certainly given the death rate across the
United States<\/a>, i hope that when we are in a position, we should focus on what has been working. We should be focused on saving lives. I continue to think that repeated attempts to cut public
Health Programs<\/a>, including those to catch diseases before they become the outbreaks in a covid19, thats has now killed thousands upon thousands of americans, i really cannot help but wonder about the role that predict could have played in the lead up to covid19 had it been able to viruss ability to come to our country. We are currently experiencing the cost of under investing in
Public Health<\/a> domestically and in coordination with our international partners. Mr. Chairman, i yield back. Thank you for being here, mr. Barsa. Chariman engel thank you. Gentlewoman yields back. Lets go back to mr. Phillips because i cut him off prematurely. Rep. Phillips thank you, mr. Chairman. We have been speaking about the local works program. I appreciate your support on it, i encourage incremental investment because it is one of the most compelling programs we offer. Youth. Want to talk about the
House Appropriations<\/a> committee included my request in the recent report that would encourage inclusive and meaningful participation of management, and resolution as well as relief and recovery efforts. We can celebrate the fact that the youth are the majority population in many conflictaffected countries. Theuestion is, how will administration, how will you prioritize the role of youth in conflict prevention, resolution, and recovery . I believe they have a unique role to play. I would love your comments on that . Admin. Barsa thank you, congressman. The thing holds true, the same holds true an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It investment in education and making sure the youth have and also inucation, societal and political integration as well, this is especially true for women. We are always pushing for that. Wepart of reorganization, set up the organization to do just that, focus on investment to prevent conflict on the front end. Just like all the other things you have mentioned affected by the pandemic, i am also concerned about challenges in
Education Systems<\/a> throughout the world, and people not having access to education. So we are very attuned to the challenges. We are looking in our program to see what we can do in any number of countries to ensure the youth have access to education, because the consequences of youth not getting the full education are subtly negative, and we would like to are certainly negative, and we would like to avoid that. Rep. Phillips i would like to talk about the gfa. This week, i have an amendment that would require usaid assures state department atrocity isvention framework incorporated into the strategy countries at risk of mass atrocities. My question is, does usaid have sufficient staffing with the right skills and training to successfully implement the gfa . If not, what do you need . Admin. Barsa i want to thank you and your colleagues for your prescience in working on the global fragility act. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Societies, fragile t the global for jury global fragility act come what focus. Is put a somebody activities usaid is involved with over the decades which go to support the challenges of fragility. In terms of implementation of the act, as you know, the act usaid,not just of the but other elements of interagency. We are currently in discussions of the
Technical Details<\/a> of implementation of the gfa. Once those discussions are done, i look forward to following up with you on the details. Basically, we are focusing many longstanding usaid activities to rise to the challenges of fragility. On. Iman engel we move rep. Phillips thank you, mr. Chairman. I yield back. Ms. Riman engel missil houlihan. Ms. Haaland houlian my questions will surround the same questions you had on the phone. I will take you up on your words that an ounce of prevention is cure. Upon the talking specifically about the united u. N. Population fund, there was 32. 5 million appropriated for the agency that i understand will not be transferred to the
International Organizations<\/a> bureau to usaid. While i think it is clear that nobody can replace the work of da in places like venezuela and even new york city, i want to make sure will continue to support the programs with the same admission of the funds were intended for. I havent yet seen where fiscal year 2019 and fiscal year 2020 moneys appropriated for unfda will be reprogrammed. To where has the funding bid relocated and specifically what funding is being allocated, sir . Admin. Barsa i dont have that information before me, but i am happy to get back to you. Houlahan i appreciate that. Has the full scope of the agencys activities continued with any partners, specifically to beneficiaries and the original intent of that money . Admin. Barsa i am afraid it would have to give you a separate briefing or question for the record, but i am happy to do so. Rep. Houlahan can you ensure that any funds that will be going to international
Family Planning<\/a> will be going for evidencebased reproductive
Health Programs<\/a> that support access to contraceptives, and a
Maternal Death<\/a> and child marriage, genderbased female violence and female mutilation . Admin. Barsa yes. Rep. Houlahan you can guarantee that the money will go towards that question mark excellent. Thank you for the reassurance. I would like to emphasize that there are
Many Organizations<\/a> out nfda is of course, you a partner, but we want to ensure we are directing those resources to their original intent. I hope to follow up with you on a subsequent conversation about that. Next question has to do with comprehensive
Health Service<\/a>s. We can both agree that genderbased violence is a critical impediment to personal safety, economic environment, and the longterm wellbeing of women globally . Course. Arsa of rep. Houlahan in 2019, global cost of violence against women was estimated to be 2 of the global the or roughly the size of the canadian economy. It is sometimes referred to as the shadow pandemic. Congress has made addressing genderbased violence mobility a priority by appropriating 100 genderbased violence a priority by appropriating 150 million . Admin. Barsa our efforts for genderbased violence, usaid efforts have reached approximately 8
Million People<\/a> in fiscal year 2019, 62 operative units reported activities to provide critical support and care to prevent genderbased violence and child early and forced marriages. , wenow in conflict settings are especially concerned in this covidaffected world that there is a potential rise in genderbased violence. So as part of our missions, looking for ways to prevent genderbased violence is part of our programming. Rep. Houlahan why hasnt the administration specifically carved out in their resources in what they have asked for . Admin. Barsa again, as he mentioned before, the budget for you is a product of tradeoffs and difficult decisions in terms of research allocations. Rep. Houlahan i understand that budgets are tradeoffs, but they are also a reflection of our values, and it seems to me that not only should our values be in based violence, but the economics of it would compel us to put resources ounce ofat, because an prevention is worth a pound of cure. I appreciate your time and in look forward to follow up conversations with you. Thank you, sir. Chariman engel thank you. We go to miss malinowski. Malinowski. Rep. Malinowski thank you, mr. Chairman. Barsa. Ou, mr. Would you agree that when an or vaccinesccine are developed, for covid19, that they will be in the u. S. National interest for everybody in the world to have access to that vaccine or at least in country . Ected admin. Barsa pandemics know no borders, so, certainly, it would be beneficial to have a wide distribution of the vaccine. Rep. Malinowski beneficial to us, not just from a humanitarian point of view. Admin. Barsa pandemics respect no borders. Rep. Malinowski so, should the
United States<\/a> do our share with allies and partners to ensure that everybody who needs a vaccine gets one, given many of the affected countries or developing countries that may not be able to do it on their own . Admin. Barsa as mentioned before, we are proud of the work we have done with vaccines on any number of diseases. Rep. Malinowski should the
United States<\/a> play its role with our allies, our fair share in insuring that a vaccine is just omitted to everybody who needs one . Admin. Barsa i believe we should. Rep. Malinowski what have we pledged tha thus far to that global effort . You know a number of our allies and partners have made specific pledges mr. Barsa i dont have any fixed pledges to report to you awaiting the are production of the vaccine and will rep. Malinowski so the answer is nothing. You would know if we had pledged something, so the answer is nothing. I think canada has pledged 800 million, norway has pledged one billion, if i recall correctly. You were asked about u. S. Attendance at conferences and you said we have other ways of coordinating with allies and that is fine but at the end of were discussing, money talks and so far, we have not made such a pledge. This is something i think we are committed to want a bipartisan basis here, as you know. The senate is now working up their answer to our opening bid on the next
Coronavirus Relief<\/a> package. Ofe spoken to a number republican senators about this and my understanding from press reporting is the republican proposal in the senate put forward a very generous number for u. S. Contributions to eventual distribution of a global vaccine but that the white house is pushing back on this, so i want to press you, what is the
Administration Policy<\/a> . Does the
Administration Believe<\/a> we should do our share is a large and wealthy country to fund the distribution of the global vaccine . Mr. Barsa im afraid i cant communications with the white house and appropriators. Rep. Malinowski but you know what the policy is. Mr. Barsa i know the
United States<\/a> is the most generous people in history of the world and our investment in
Global Health<\/a> infrastructure are unprecedented rep. Malinowski i know, but thats a talking point. Mr. Barsa it is a reality. Rep. Malinowski i understand. Look, ive sat where you sit and then to the murder boards and read the books and know there are all kinds of ways the teacher cannot answer the question. What we need here is a clear commitment from the administration. Q have it from democrats, you have it from republicans, including strong supporters of
President Trump<\/a> on capitol hill. We want to do our share and my sense is we are getting resistance, not from usaid, but from the white house to ensuring we do that share. When a vaccine is developed, that is a critical moment and there will be a tendency by some to say lets keep it. Lets not give it to anybody else. We did it, we developed it, we invented it. He know that sentiment is out there and i want to hear and if not from you, i hope you go back and urge the secretary and others to be very clear about this. The
United States<\/a> will do its share. Mr. Barsa it is not a talking point. It is a sincere belief. It is a sincere statement of facts that i am proud and the men and women and the investments of usaid in
Global Health<\/a> and the structure, our ability to rep. Malinowski has made, past tense. Mr. Barsa our generosity is ongoing and continuing. Rep. Malinowski ok, and we pledge nothing. Thank you, i yield back. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Your holding this hearing today. Mr. Barsa, weve all seen reports of authoritarian leaders taking advantage of the pandemic to increase their crackdowns on free speech and independent press. This is why outlets are so critical, but
President Trump<\/a> undermines our to slow the spread of these farright antidemocratic ideologies that threaten our basic freedoms. How can usaid continue to ifport the independent media your tools havent proven to be effective for decades . Mr. Barsa certainly one of the things i am proud of that usaid opposingforts at malign criminal influence, which rests on four pillars, to focus on democracy and rule of law, independent media, energy independence, and
Economic Diversification<\/a> through our efforts, we have been able to turn the tide on russian disinformation, for example. In georgia in april, facebook credited usaids local implementing partner for the removal of over 500 pages, 100
Facebook Accounts<\/a> and 100 groups which were created maliciously by the kremlin to so false narratives. Built skills in
Fact Checking<\/a> and debunking false narratives to expose criminal information than i can go on with other examples so we are very proud of our efforts to bring light to efforts not just by the kremlin, but the
Chinese Communist<\/a> party, as well. Out the true facts and spend all of our time debunking the bad effects. Of outlininge criminal influences. In your budget requests, seriously reduces the
Capacity Building<\/a> and anticorruption programs, so how is usaid going to counter these russian maligned influences and programming be impacted if reductions are enacted . Mr. Barsa the budget you see before you is the product of a long process of difficult decisions about how to allocate scarce resources, so our work in fighting corruption, not just in europe, but throughout the world remains a critical part of our programming. Congressman syria, iraq, destruction of infrastructure and population displacement. The problem is trying to increase foreign governments to put investment in these areas to help them recover, but the question is, will u. S. Continue to invest more and what foreign donors have stepped up and then forthcoming . In terms of dollar figures by other donors, ill toe to get back with you brief you on who has contributed recently,this most ambassador jeffrey, the special representative from syria about 700 million in government humanitarian funding and this included 360 million in usaid funding for food and nonfood aid inside of syria to meet the needs of the region. Byterms of dollar amounts other partners, ill have to get back with you later on with that information. Forget the dollar amounts. Mr. Barsa im sorry, sir. Could you repeat the question . What other partners have contributed and skip the dollar amounts. Mr. Barsa id have to get back with you. I think i know the answer but i dont want to give you incorrect information. Ill follow up with you. What risks do you see to under investing . What happens if you dont get this right . Mr. Barsa the short answer is human suffering will continue, so that is why we are so desirous inside syria and venezuela. Hope to suffering, we get humanitarian assistance into needy populations in a free, equitable manner. That is why we value every taxpayer dollar appropriated to us and we want to ensure it is spent wisely getting to the people in need and we are proud to say we have a structure is in place to do that. I yield back. Rep. Engel the gentleman yields back. As you can hear, there was a vote on the floor. We thank members for their questions. Mr. Barsa, thank you for being here today and the committee on
Foreign Affairs<\/a> is adjourned. [gavel] her faithrelated experiences with him since then. [applause] man. God bless you. I want to introduce our first speaker tonight. Franklin,im, pastor
Senior Pastor<\/a> of free chapel ]cheers and applause also the pastor for kingdom ,onnection, viewed by millions
New York Times<\/a> bestseller i could go on and on and on and on, but i will tell you what he is. He is a trusted voice for our president , and i believe one of americas pastors","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia803208.us.archive.org\/24\/items\/CSPAN2_20200728_070300_Hearing_on_Presidents_2021_Foreign_Aid_Budget_Request\/CSPAN2_20200728_070300_Hearing_on_Presidents_2021_Foreign_Aid_Budget_Request.thumbs\/CSPAN2_20200728_070300_Hearing_on_Presidents_2021_Foreign_Aid_Budget_Request_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240716T12:35:10+00:00"}