Virtual
ADMINISTRATOR POWER: Good evening everyone. David, thank you for challenging all of us to be more ambitious in confronting the growing range of humanitarian crises in the world. With over a quarter-billion people predicted to require humanitarian assistance in 2022, IRC’s work has unfortunately never been more needed.
I know that later tonight USGLC will be honoring the legacy of Colin Powell, who served for more than 15 years as USGLC’s National Chair.
Secretary Powell was a vital and vocal advocate for development. After his sudden passing, I went back and read his speech at USAID’s 40th anniversary in 2001, which included this immortal line: “You get less than one percent of the federal budget. I wish you had ten times that amount—you deserve it!”
Well, I want to make sure we deserve—or put to judicious use—any and all resources allotted to us. But I think the point he was making aligns perfectly with USGLC’s mantra: investments in American diplomacy and development overseas are investments in American security and prosperity at home.
The two Senators being honored tonight show what putting this mantra into action looks like. They are models for what principled American engagement in the world looks like—and their bipartisan spirit of support for USAID’s humanitarian and development work reflects the kind of broad coalition that USGLC has so successfully built over more than two decades.
Senator Young and Senator Shaheen recognize that if America doesn’t lead right now, no one will.
We need American leadership never to shy away from the world’s toughest challenges.
Senator Young has been a determined, insistent advocate for ending the humanitarian crisis in Yemen—relentlessly elevating an issue that gets far too little attention, and pushing, above all, for the US to prioritize efforts that address the suffering of civilians and bring an end to the fighting.
We need American leadership to be a voice for inclusion and equality.
And there is arguably no one in the Senate who has done more to advance the well-being of women and girls around the world than Senator Shaheen, from her work on combating gender-based violence to improving access to education for girls to empowering women. She is also, by the way, the only woman on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee—and she’s using her seat at the table to fight for all those women around the world who find themselves persecuted or marginalized.
I am grateful for the leadership of the Senators, as well as the leadership of Liz Schrayer and her team—for all that you have done to build such broad bipartisan support for development, for foreign assistance, and for USAID. So, cheers to USGLC for bringing together strong, diverse constituencies on behalf of US policies that make our world safer, stronger, and more humane.
Thank you so much.