Marco Rubio Discusses Cutting Funding To Global Programs Engaged In 'Anti-American Positioning'

7 months ago

At a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing last week, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) questioned Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Transcript

00:00Mr. Secretary, it's very good to have you back here.

00:03I want to say it's good to see the fauna in its natural habitat, but it's more like

00:08its former habitat because your current one is also where you naturally belong.

00:13And I, for one, and I know the majority of us feel the same way, have every confidence

00:18in your ability to serve us and are very grateful for your service.

00:22One of the many things that I've always liked about you and always agree with you on is

00:26your clear-eyed vision for the Western Hemisphere.

00:30You seem to share the understanding that many of us have, which is that we've been blessed

00:33as a country throughout our 250-year existence by the fact that we're protected by a big ocean

00:40to our left, another big ocean to our right, and friendly neighbors to our north and south.

00:48Those natural barriers are good for us and gave rise to the Monroe Doctrine and things

00:53like that, and I appreciate the fact that we now have a Secretary of State who understands

00:59and appreciates the importance of the Western Hemisphere.

01:02So I want to ask you where the Western Hemisphere fits relative to other regions of the globe

01:11and with the current administration.

01:12Now, as I understand it, the America First Opportunity Fund is intended to support, quote,

01:19America's most enduring and critical partners.

01:23As you as Secretary of State work to realign State Department priorities and funding programs

01:28with our national interests, will the countries in our immediate periphery, those in our hemisphere,

01:37our neighbors, be counted among our most critical partners?

01:40MR.

01:41Yeah, absolutely.

01:42And look, by the way, the new Prime Minister of Canada was here a couple weeks ago.

01:48We had a very productive engagement with the President.

01:53Their new Foreign Minister is coming on board, wasn't able to join us at the NATO gathering

01:57a few days ago, but look forward to interacting with her as well.

02:01We've obviously had some disagreements with Canada with regards to the nature of trade

02:05between our countries.

02:07But I think there's hope here that we can work something out on the trade front with

02:09them, although that's not something that I'm involved in negotiating.

02:12And then we have a lot of other mutual interests.

02:14As an example, national security on our shared obligations to NORAD and the defense of the

02:20North American continent.

02:22They've been a strong partner, and we look forward to building on that.

02:24And one of the most encouraging things is that Canada, that has historically not spent

02:28a lot of money, at one point less than 1 percent of their GDP on the military, it's now increasing,

02:33has made a pledge to get to 2 percent and has signed on to the NATO pledge to get to

02:375 percent over the next decade.

02:40So I think that's going to strengthen our partnership as well in providing security to our hemisphere.

02:46I want to touch next on the contributions to international organizations' account.

02:54This multipurpose account has been used to facilitate U.S. payments to over 40 international organizations.

03:02I think the current tally might be at 44.

03:05Now as someone who has been skeptical of international organizations in the way we fund them, the way

03:13they've been used, and the way they've used our money, I very much welcome the proposed reduction

03:18in funding of international organizations.

03:21But the budget request before us mentions only the U.N. in that context, not the dozens of other

03:27organizations that we're also funding, as you keep up your efforts to review our participation

03:34in and funding of international organizations, can you offer us some kind of a glimpse into

03:39the universe of organizations as to which we might be terminating our funding this year?

03:46Well, I think there are some already that you know we have with UNRUN, some of the other

03:50programs that we are not happy with what they do.

03:53But the assessment is very simple, and that is, is our participation in this organization

03:57further our national interest or not?

03:59It doesn't mean we have to agree with everything the organization does, because sometimes there's

04:02benefit to being at the table.

04:04Sometimes there's benefit to being there and being able to influence the direction that

04:08it's going.

04:09In other cases, these are just forums that are used for anti-American positioning, but

04:12we're paying for it.

04:13So you start to ask yourself, why are people?

04:16And in other cases, you're legitimizing it.

04:18So you look at the Human Rights Council at the United Nations, which basically doesn't

04:22do anything to sanctions.

04:24In fact, it has become a place where some of the worst human rights violators on the

04:27planet go to hide.

04:28And yet we're funding that, and we're participating and giving it credibility.

04:32So I do think there are agencies like this.

04:33And here's one that I would say, because you asked about the Western Hemisphere, and I'm

04:36not saying it's one of the ones we're going to walk away from.

04:38I'm not claiming that right now.

04:40I am saying this.

04:41We have a catastrophe in our own hemisphere right now in Haiti.

04:44That we are seeking to come up with an alternative strategy, because the one that's in place

04:49right now isn't working.

04:50And Haiti's heading in a very bad direction very quickly.

04:53And everyone's bending themselves, twisting themselves into pretzels to try to figure out

04:58how can we get the United Nations or some other entity to fly a flag over the country

05:02that you could put a mission that deals with it.

05:04And I ask myself, the Organization of American States has not led a mission since 1965, I believe.

05:11Why do we have an Organization of American States if it is unable to collectively respond

05:15to what is a severe catastrophe in our own hemisphere?

05:19Again, I'm not threatening we're going to pull out of the OAS.

05:21That's not what I'm saying.

05:22What I am saying is we need to challenge some of our existing memberships to step up.

05:26Because you would think that one of the reasons why the OAS exists is to deal with a crisis

05:31like the one we have in Haiti, which is not like a crisis anywhere else.

05:34Because these are not warring ideological movements.

05:38This is a country being taken over by criminal gangs, or in fact, much of it's already been

05:42taken over by criminal gangs, and you have to deal with that very differently.

05:45And I want to say one thing here publicly.

05:48We are grateful to the Kenyans and to the mission.

05:50We remain committed to it because they've done it a great sacrifice and risk.

05:54But that mission alone will not solve this problem.

05:57And so that is one example of something that I want to see us be able to lead on.

06:01And that is to get organizations like the OAS, which we contribute to quite a bit, step forward

06:07and provide a mission with member countries to deal with the issue of Haiti, which is

06:13about to take a very dramatic turn, if not addressed very quickly.

06:17That's a great point.

06:18I'm glad you raised OAS.

06:19I know that Lee Rizzuto, who's been named by President Trump to be our ambassador to that

06:23organization, has a vision that aligns closely with that of the President and of your Secretary

06:29of State.

06:30Now, the Biden administration used the Development Finance Corporation as yet another vehicle

06:39for pursuing international climate alarmism with U.S. funding.

06:44Under the Biden administration, the DFC committed $20 million for sustainable tilapia production

06:50in Kenya, $50 million to purchase new vehicles for a car rental business in Ukraine, and $350

06:57million for wind power in Turkey.

06:59These are just a few examples.

07:01As the Trump example seeks to lean on the DFC as an alternative for foreign aid, what sorts

07:08of projects and in which regions would you advise the U.S. to fund through the DFC?

07:15Well, I think that's exactly...

07:16First of all, the DFC obviously is independent from the Department of State.

07:19So they have an own board and an own governing structure, although I'm a member of it.

07:22I don't control it.

07:23But I think the broader question that you're asking is exactly the point of this reorganization.

07:28And that is, it will now be incumbent upon our regional bureaus.

07:31Our regional bureaus and our embassies under those bureaus to identify those opportunities

07:35for us.

07:36And then to elevate that at the leadership level and say, here's what we need to be funding

07:39in this country on the basis of our interaction.

07:41For example, in the Caribbean Basin.

07:43When you talk to leaders there, they will tell you their number one need is to build up the

07:46capacity of their local law enforcement so they can take on these gangs.

07:50If they can get control of the gangs and the security situation, then they can expand to

07:54economic development and things of that nature.

07:56But it's difficult to do as long as it's insecure on the ground.

07:59These are the kinds of things that we want to be able to pursue, which is why we want to

08:02empower the regional bureaus and our embassies to have a role to play in determining what we

08:06fund and what we put our money towards.

08:09Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

08:10I see you.

Marco Rubio Discusses Cutting Funding To Global Programs Engaged In 'Anti-American Positioning'

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