Tammy Duckworth Presses Blinken On Bolstering U.S. Relationship With ASEAN

4 months ago

At today's Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) questioned Secretary of State Antony Blinken about policies relating to the U.S. relationship with ASEAN.

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Transcript

00:00of us on AI. Senator Duckworth. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Secretary Blinken, before I start,

00:05I just want to acknowledge the medical and humanitarian workers who need to secure safe

00:09access to provide badly needed care. Israeli Americans, including Hersh Goldberg, Poland,

00:14who remains hostages of Hamas, the over 100 other hostages who remain unaccounted for or

00:19trapped by terrorists in Gaza, and the tens of thousands of lives, Palestinians, Israeli,

00:24American, Jordanian, Thai, the list is long and overwhelming, already lost to the latest tragic

00:30conflict in the Middle East. My staff and I have relied heavily on the department's close support

00:35and collaboration to advocate for Illinoisans and others in Gaza. And I expect we'll need to

00:39continue to work closely together to provide assistance and ensure oversight and accountability

00:43of the situation. So I want to express my appreciation for all of the department staff

00:47for working around the clock with me and my team. My first question has to do with ASEAN.

00:56It goes to something we've discussed here last year, the need for sustained,

00:59strong investments in our relationships with allies and partners in Southeast Asia.

01:04And I applaud the elevation of the US ASEAN relationship to a comprehensive strategic

01:08partnership last year, and the increases in resources for the US mission to ASEAN.

01:12But as I said at the opening of the new US ASEAN Center in December,

01:16China continues to increase its engagement and gain in popularity in the region. And

01:20there is so much more that we can do. And that includes showing up. High level participation

01:26at ASEAN summits and ministerial meetings is no longer a nice to have option. It's a must do.

01:32I'm still hearing about Indonesia's deep disappointment over last year's ASEAN

01:35summit. And I'm sure you are as well. In this chair year for Laos, are we doing enough to

01:41support Embassy Vientiane and through them the host government in carrying out successful ASEAN

01:46meetings? And can you commit to high level participation in the upcoming ministerial

01:50and ASEAN summit? Thank you very much, Senator. And I fully agree with you. And I believe the

01:55answers to both questions are yes and yes. We're determined to build on what has already been a

02:03deeply strengthened partnership and relationship between the United States and ASEAN,

02:07including the president hosting, as you know, a special summit with ASEAN here in Washington.

02:14My own engagement with ASEAN and going forward, our support both for Laos as it's in the chair

02:21to do what we can to help it succeed in its chairmanship. And also, yes, be present.

02:26Thank you. I also want to touch on internal reforms you've led at state every year and

02:31especially in an election year. The strength of our republic depends on resilient institutions.

02:35So I want to commend the critical work of modernizing and strengthening the state department

02:40itself. Important progress has been made. But when it comes to physical accessibility at department

02:45facilities, it's been my experience that there is still a lot of work to do. The lack of basic

02:49accommodations like ramps and working buttons to open heavy security doors are still serious

02:54obstacles to the full participation of persons with disabilities, whether they're employees

02:59who need accommodations for themselves or for family members who would join them abroad

03:03or our counterparts and guests. So in last year's state authorization, I included a requirement for

03:08the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations to report on accessibility at overseas diplomatic

03:14missions and estimate the cost of making our facilities usable by persons with disabilities.

03:20Will that report be delivered on time next month? And do you have any insight into what has been

03:24learned through the assessments so far? And can you speak more broadly to what the department is

03:29doing to ensure employees receive the accommodations they need when they need them

03:33through a streamlined and common sense process? In short, Senator, I'm committed to that. We're

03:40committed to that. I want to come back to you on the timing of the report to make sure that it's

03:45on time, or if it's not, why not? So I'll come back to you on that. We have a request for an

03:50additional 11.5 million dollars in the budget for bolstering accessibility in the department and

03:58in our facilities. It's something that I take very seriously. And of course, there is physical

04:04accessibility, which is critical. We're also doubling down on efforts with technology to make

04:11sure that we have the right technology in the right hands. I think we've made real progress on

04:14that. But as always, more can and should be done. Thank you. Secretary, staffing and retention

04:21continue to be challenges. So I'd like to use the rest of my time to speak in more detail about that,

04:25including what you've done to address the perennial challenge of employment for foreign

04:30service employees. Late last year, I helped introduce the Readiness Act to support federal

04:36employees who are relocating to join their spouse on an official assignment. It would require

04:40federal government agencies to make the maximum effort to retain them by simply allowing telework

04:45or transfer, or as a last resort, a period of leave without pay status. Would you say that

04:51current policies at state support this type of common sense flexibility so that a civil servant

04:56isn't needlessly faced with a choice of either stay with their family on an overseas deployment

05:00when the spouse is being sent to represent our nation overseas, or keep their job and continue

05:05their public service career? We're very much working in that direction. And I think we've

05:09made progress. Again, still more to do. We also have the Foreign Service Families Act that we're

05:16working to implement to create greater flexibilities, greater opportunities for

05:21family members. We have more and more people who are now serving as eligible family members.

05:27We have greater flexibilities for people to make sure that they are able to continue their

05:33employment as a spouse or partner when they're overseas. And I think that's part of an ongoing

05:41effort to improve those opportunities and to support families. Because we know that if we want

05:47to not only attract, but retain the best people in the department, we have to make sure that we're

05:53also providing the support they need for their families. Otherwise, they'll do something else,

05:57go somewhere else. Thank you. Can you speak to the importance of being able to pay competitive

06:03rates to local nationals who work at the embassies? I've heard this at many of our

06:07embassies as I've traveled. And it's not limited to a particular region. I mean, I've heard it in

06:13Europe. I've heard it in Asia, where it is often very hard to maintain quality local staff because

06:19they can't be paid at a rate that is competitive. And even though they want to stay with us and

06:26they're very loyal. Can you speak to the challenges in your budget? Yes, that's correct. And I think

06:30it's important to start with this. Literally the heart of our enterprise, the State Department,

06:39are locally employed staff. About two-thirds of the State Department employees are locally engaged

06:47staff. Our embassies can't function without them. And not only do they fill vital functions in the

06:55embassies, they're also the most extraordinary connectivity between our embassies and the

06:59countries in which we're engaged. In so many countries, the local staff has borne the brunt

07:09of global inflation. And trying to keep pace with that in countries around the world that are not

07:14doing as well as the United States has been a challenge. And you're right, it's in many regions.

07:19It's not in any one place. We've taken steps to address this. First, for a number of people

07:26to try to deal with the impact of that, and then just coming out of COVID, which was so

07:29devastating for so many, one-time increases in their compensation. Second, we've looked at the

07:35way we assess compensation. And we've tried to bring in more criteria so that we better take

07:43into account what the actual cost of living is in a given country, not simply a sort of equation to

07:50someone in a similarly situated job. So that's now coming into effect. We have worked to budget

07:56in, including in this budget, a guaranteed 2% increase every year so people can see that they

08:01will have sustained support. And of course, there are other one-time measures that we're looking at

08:07to help people. But the bottom line is, we have to do this, we need to do this if we're going to

08:12sustain our missions, and the budget reflects that. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Tammy Duckworth Presses Blinken On Bolstering U.S. Relationship With ASEAN

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