Thursday, November 29, 2018
Chairman Ros-Lehtinen, ranking member Deutch, Members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today, alongside my distinguished colleague from the Department of State. The Syria conflict is one of the largest and most complex humanitarian emergencies of our time, driving record levels of displacement. Nearly 11.3 million people are displaced within Syria or have fled to neighboring countries as refugees — that's more than the population of New York City and Chicago combined.
For more than seven years, the regime of Bashar al-Assad has waged an unrelenting campaign of violence against its own people, even using chemical weapons, which the U.S. has strongly condemned. In 2014, the emergence of ISIS exacerbated this already protracted crisis, with the group imposing brutal tactics — including public beheadings, torture, and the taking of slaves —as punishments for minor offenses. Many innocent Syrians have been forced to flee their homes with little more than the clothes on their backs. Over the last seven years, many have resettled more than once, fleeing when active combat drove them to seek safety and shelter in yet another village or town.
Thursday, September 27, 2018
Central Asia is a strategically important region for the United States, with tremendous opportunity that is constrained by significant development challenges. If the region is to increase its stability and realize its full potential, USAID must remain engaged in areas that further our strategic interests. With the FY 2019 budget request, USAID will continue making the most of every U.S. taxpayer dollar to ensure that the development decisions our partner countries make today help move them forward on their journeys to self-reliance and achieve the objectives of the South Asia Strategy.
Thursday, September 27, 2018
USAID further believes that partner countries that build strong democracies and market-oriented economies, will be more resilient to Kremlin attempts to exploit weaknesses in their political and economic institutions.
Importantly, whether the focus is on Countering Kremlin Influence goals or other objectives, USAID is committed to taking every prudent step to extend the reach and effectiveness of taxpayer resources. This includes strengthening domestic resource mobilization programs so the partners can more effectively finance their own development future. It includes taking steps to ensure that our program and procedures are more private enterprise friendly, so that we can better leverage our resources, bring new ideas and partners to our work, and increase opportunities for American businesses.
Tuesday, September 18, 2018
USAID is committed to combating human trafficking in all forms and industries around the world. A prevalence study conducted by a USAID partner in Thailand, Issara Institute, revealed that in the research area, nearly 80 percent of the fishing vessel workers may have been trafficked. Our experience shows that Illegal, Unregulated, and Unreported (IUU) fishing and human trafficking have common drivers and USAID understands that addressing environmental and human rights challenges together creates stronger and more transformational impact on both sectors.
USAID’s FY 2019 request directly contributes to the Administration’s Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS) of advancing a free, open, and rules-based order. Through our bilateral and regional programs, we will help partner countries strengthen their democratic systems (with a focus on good governance); ensure their regulatory environments for trade, infrastructure, and investment are transparent, open, and free of corruption; and encourage responsible natural resource management, upon which many countries depend for their growth. In accordance with the IPS, we are also supporting India’s emergence as a pillar of stability in the region and examining how we can further strengthen India and our relationship in this regard.
As many of you know, the United States is the only remaining donor working on democracy, governance, and human rights in Nicaragua, and it is thanks to your support that we have been able to maintain a crucial lifeline for civil society organizations, human rights defenders, emerging leaders, and independent media -- all of whom remain under grave attack.
For more than 20 years, the U.S. Government (USG) has been a leader in the global effort to increase access to TB diagnosis, treatment, prevention and care, particularly in countries with the highest burden of disease. Thanks to the generosity of the American people and the strong support of the U.S. Congress, USAID is the largest bilateral donor in the fight against TB. We work in partnership with national TB programs (NTPs) in Ministries of Health (MoHs), the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the Global Fund), the World Health Organization (WHO), the Stop TB Partnership, technical assistance organizations, civil society including faith-based organizations, as well as affected people and communities. USAID has driven and funded interventions, tools, and technologies that have helped save 53 million lives from 2000 to 2016. Our efforts to build partnerships with national governments, multilateral organizations, and departments and agencies across the US Government have developed and strengthened country capacity to end the TB epidemic around the world.
I’m proud to say that our connections with the defense establishment have never been stronger. This collaboration is evident across the spectrum, from USAID personnel embedded at geographic Combatant Commands, to our ongoing implementation of the joint Stabilization Assistance Review. And, in the field, in places like Syria, USAID experts are working hand in glove with DoD and State colleagues to help stabilize areas and allow for the safe return of people displaced for years by horrific conflict.
In my testimony before you today, I will touch upon several key ways in which the executive branch agencies leverage their unique capabilities to respond to crises around the world, and how we are increasingly not just communicating, but actively collaborating with each other and our partners on the ground, including nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), international organizations, contractors, and other nonfederal entities (NFEs).
USAID’s engagement in Latin America and the Caribbean is a reflection of the region’s proximity to and close ties to with the United States.
The Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 request for USAID fully and partially managed accounts is approximately $16.8 billion. This represents $1.3 billion more than requested last year. It requests $6.7 billion for global health and $5.1 billion for economic support and development. In terms of USAID’s humanitarian assistance, it requests over $1 billion more than last fiscal year’s request. In total, it requests approximately $3.6 billion for International Disaster Assistance.
Our supply-chain activities also provide technical assistance to build capacity and expertise in partner countries to deliver, routinely and licitly, life-saving products purchased with revenues raised locally or from other donors, while also improving trust in local health institutions and services. This technical assistance is an important contributor to Administrator Green and Ambassador Birx’s shared vision of moving countries along the path to self-reliance. I am here today to discuss with you the work we do in supply-chain management and the procurement of medicines and commodities; provide an update on the performance of our current contractor in this area; share our experience and lessons learned to date; and describe the path forward.
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Last updated: December 13, 2018
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