00:00Thank you. Senator Rosen.
00:02Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm going to get right into it.
00:06Secretary Rubio, I'm going to embrace my Jewish mother instincts for a moment.
00:11So as a mother, a senator, and a fellow human being,
00:15I can tell you that I'm not even mad anymore about your complicity in this administration's destruction of U.S. global leadership.
00:25I'm simply disappointed.
00:27And I wonder if you're proud of yourself in this moment when you go home to your family,
00:33because I've always found you, Senator Rubio, to be a bipartisan, pragmatic partner,
00:39a true believer that the U.S. is stronger when we lead with diplomacy and development.
00:45You have a strong record on this.
00:46But I don't recognize, Secretary Rubio, a stalwart support of Israel.
00:51You've watched this administration abandon Saudi normalization with Israel
00:55in order to pursue business deals.
00:58You were once a fierce critic of Vladimir Putin,
01:01but you sat idly by as the president berated the elected leader of Ukraine
01:06for not capitulating to Russia.
01:09And worst of all, you've kneecapped foreign assistance,
01:13including programs that you previously championed
01:16and made America less safe, less strong, less prosperous in doing so.
01:20I know you know this in your heart.
01:22And I can't make this point any better than you did yourself in 2019 when you said,
01:28anybody who tells you that we can slash foreign aid
01:31and that will bring us to balance is lying to you.
01:35So with that, I'm just going to move on to my questions.
01:38And I'm going to talk about international women's issues,
01:40because during your time as senator, you were a champion of international women's issues.
01:45You helped introduce bills that would have codified the Department's Office of Global Women's Issues
01:51and Women's Global Development Prosperity Initiative.
01:55You supported several bills, including Senator Shaheen's Bipartisan Women, Peace, and Security Act.
02:01During your confirmation hearing, you committed to me that you would support
02:05women's economic empowerment abroad.
02:07And at this year's International Women of Courage Award,
02:11you waxed poetically about the administration's support for women abroad.
02:14So help me understand how to square your past with your present.
02:18You're proposing the full elimination of the Office of Global Women's Issues.
02:22You've terminated hundreds of programs that help women and girls.
02:25You provided no guidance to the Department on whether they should continue to implement
02:29the Women, Peace, and Security Act.
02:31And I'm still waiting to see your support for women's economic empowerment overseas.
02:38How can you dismiss the concerns of women around the world?
02:40Do you believe that the data shows that women's economic participation
02:44includes greater economic development worldwide,
02:47and that women's participation in peace negotiations guarantees longer outcomes?
02:52And I have a few questions, so I would respectfully ask for a yes or no.
02:55Don't you think that women's participation is important and allows for better outcomes?
03:02This is not a game show.
03:03I'm not going to ask that with a yes or no.
03:05That's an important question.
03:06And I can answer it.
03:07We're not abandoning women's issues.
03:08So do you believe the Office of Global Women's Issues should be eliminated?
03:12One thing is to eliminate an office.
03:16Another thing is to eliminate the function.
03:17The function will still exist.
03:19It will be driven at the regional bureaus.
03:21So every one of our regions will have someone who's looking at and driving that issue.
03:24And right down to the embassy, it remains a priority.
03:27The same with the law that you outlined that I supported.
03:30This is going to be executed on, but it's going to be executed at the regional level
03:33and at the embassy level.
03:34And the reason why is because the challenges facing women in Africa
03:37are different than the challenges facing women in Central America.
03:40And I have your commitment that you're going to support women around the world
03:44because without the women being able to be successful in their countries,
03:48I believe we can have peace, stability, and our countries move forward.
03:52Sure, and it remains part of our agenda.
03:54It's just going to be – the service is still going to be delivered,
03:57but it's going to be delivered at the regional and embassy level,
04:00not through a standalone office in Washington, D.C.
04:02When will we see the reports on this and how this will be delivered?
04:06Well, this is what we're engaged in with this committee now,
04:08which is our reorganization process.
04:09We've made an initial presentation to the committees.
04:13It's not final.
04:14We've received input through the comment period, including from our own building,
04:17but also from members of Congress on both sides, meaning House and Senate.
04:21Now we'll come back to you based on all of that input on what we propose to be the final reorganization.
04:26Do you have a timeline when you'll come back?
04:27Because I don't want to see women left behind around the world,
04:30and I think you'd agree with me.
04:31But I'm going to turn on to Israel.
04:33If you can give us a timeline of when you're proposing to do this,
04:36that would be helpful, and we'd maybe come back and revisit it, Mr. Chairman.
04:41Do you have a timeline of when?
04:43Sure, we're engaged now.
04:44I think we'll owe you a congressional notification here within the next few weeks,
04:47but all of that is being built on the comment period in which we've taken input from staff
04:52and members of this committee as well as in the House.
04:56Can I move on to Israel for a second?
04:57So the Office of Security Coordinator in Israel, the OSC, was established by President Bush in 2005.
05:04The OSC is widely respected, including by the IDF Central Command,
05:08for facilitating security coordination between the Palestinian Authority
05:12and the Israeli security forces, which has been crucial in preventing terrorist attacks against Israelis.
05:19However, it's reported that you plan, again, to eliminate OSC,
05:22which I believe, and many others, could lead to further destabilization in the West Bank
05:27and threaten Israel's security.
05:29So, Mr. Secretary, should the U.S. continue playing a role in facilitating successful security coordination
05:35between IDF and Palestinian security forces to safeguard Israeli lives?
05:40And if so, do you believe the State Department should continue to maintain the OSC and support it financially?
05:46Yeah, I mean, there's news reports every day about things that aren't true.
05:50So the only thing that's been discussed about OSC is whether it should be brought under the authority of the ambassador and the embassy.
05:56You're not proposing eliminating.
05:58We'll move further on this discussion.
06:00With my minute left, I'm going to talk about vaccines abroad,
06:03because GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, we are so proud,
06:08has prevented nearly 19 million children's deaths since it was created by providing vaccines to 50 countries.
06:16Diseases, they don't know borders.
06:18So a small investment from the U.S. can save American lives by stopping outbreaks, really,
06:24before they reach our shores.
06:25You were previously a champion of global vaccines, twice leading resolutions in support of continued U.S. investments
06:32in these programs.
06:33So, Mr. Secretary, again, do you consider vaccines, including for malaria, Ebola, to be life-saving?
06:40Given GAVI's proven track record of saving lives, preventing global disease outbreaks that could reach our borders,
06:46will you commit to prioritizing continued U.S. support for GAVI?
06:50But we haven't canceled U.S. support for malaria or any of these other communicable diseases and or vaccines.
06:56There are some individual programs that may have been canceled because they weren't being delivered in the appropriate way.
07:01All of these functions will continue.
07:02The difference now is the function will be happening under the Department of State,
07:05as opposed to a set-alone entity, which you had very little oversight over, by the way, in this committee,
07:10even though we tried in the years that I was on it with USAID.
07:13And I don't want to – I may respond to one point you made just because I'm curious.
07:18We have not abandoned Saudi normalization with Israel, as you pointed.
07:22The Saudis are the ones that have expressed their inability to move forward on it so long as the conflict is happening in Gaza.
07:28But we would love to see normalization.
07:31You know, when it comes to the Saudis' normalization, and we can have this as a –
07:37I'd be so happy to have you in my office or come to your office and talk about this.
07:41It was quite apparent on the last trip that the president was more interested in making business deals
07:47and trying to move forward peace in the region.
07:49It's not just about the business deal.
07:51There's a lot going on, and there is pressure to bear.
07:54But we did receive a list, I just want to say for the record, that showed Gavi was terminated.
07:58And so if you could send us something to show that it's turned back on, we'd be glad to see that.
08:05I know I'm over my time.
08:08Senator Scott.
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