Opening Statement of Chairman Howard L. Berman at hearing, “Building Capacity to Protect U.S. National Security: The Fiscal Year 2010 International Affairs Budget”

It’s a pleasure to welcome Deputy Secretary of State Jack Lew to the committee this afternoon. For members that have come here in the last 8 years, and haven’t worked with Mr. Lew, I think I can safely say that you won’t find a fairer, more accessible, more straight-talking public servant.

Jack, your former position as OMB Director makes you uniquely qualified to serve as Secretary Clinton’s deputy for Management and Resources.

Your familiarity with this institution, as Speaker Tip O’Neill’s counsel in the 1980’s, assures our Members that you will be uniquely attuned to their concerns.

The purpose of today’s hearing is to give you an opportunity to present and to justify the Obama Administration’s fiscal year 2010 international affairs budget.

At the outset, I want to commend you and your talented team for putting together this impressive and ambitious budget document. There are many important proposals in the budget request, but in the interests of time, let me highlight just three.

First, the budget proposes significant funding increases to rebuild capacity at the State Department and USAID.

Our national security stands on three pillars: defense, diplomacy, and development. Yet, for far too long, we have failed to provide our civilian foreign affairs agencies with the resources they desperately need to fill critical overseas posts, provide adequate training, and ensure effective oversight of programs they manage. This has greatly limited the effectiveness of American diplomacy and development. It has also resulted in the migration of traditional State Department and USAID responsibilities to other government agencies that lack the requisite expertise, including the Department of Defense.

This budget is an important first step in addressing these debilitating capacity problems. And we await the appointment of a USAID administrator to assist you in those efforts, which we hope will take place in the very near future.

Second, the budget request proposes to pay our current dues in full and much of the debt we have accumulated in recent years in our accounts with international organizations, including the United Nations.

The U.N. system is far from perfect, and it often doesn’t live up to our expectations. But it should be clear to everyone that we are simply not capable of solving every foreign policy challenge on our own.

And, in so doing, we should set the example of a member in good standing by paying what we owe.

On a wide range of issues – from Iran’s nuclear weapons program, to Darfur, to climate change -- we need to cooperate closely with the international community.

Third, I am pleased to see that the budget request puts the United States on track to double foreign assistance by the year 2015. Providing assistance to those in need reflects the values and generosity of the American people. Foreign aid also supports our national security interests by promoting stability, economic growth, and respect for democracy and human rights. And from a financial perspective, preventing a failed state today is much more cost effective than paying for the negative consequences resulting from that failed state in the future.

Secretary Lew, tomorrow I plan to introduce a State Department authorization bill for fiscal years 2010 and 2011.

This legislation will authorize State Department operations and related accounts, in most cases at the level requested in your budget submission. It will also include a number of authorities requested by the Department, including a provision to end the 20 percent pay cut that junior Foreign Service Officers suffer when they are assigned to overseas posts. Finally, it will incorporate a variety of congressional initiatives from both sides of the aisle.

I am very hopeful that we can move this bill forward on a bipartisan and bicameral basis, and look forward to working closely with you and your staff.

To conclude, many of my colleagues and I are committed to getting you and Secretary Clinton the resources you need to conduct skillful diplomacy and effective development.

At the same time, we are also committed to upholding our responsibility to conduct oversight of the executive branch, and to ensure that tax dollars are spent wisely. This will be reflected in the State Department bill as well as legislation we hope to introduce later this year on foreign assistance reform.