00:00Chairman, Mr. Edwards, you're recognized, sir.
00:02Thank you, Mr. Chair.
00:03Mr. Secretary, thanks for being with us.
00:07Thanks for taking on the task that you have.
00:11Contrary to the comments you heard immediately before Mr. Desbellar called on me,
00:19I applaud the work that you're doing.
00:21I firmly believe that you're doing the job that the American people asked of President Trump.
00:27And I'd like to associate myself with the comments from Chairman Desbellar.
00:32Although I'm not part of the Florida Mafia, I have a great deal of confidence in the job that you're doing.
00:40And I applaud the work that you're doing.
00:42It takes a great deal of courage to make bold decisions like you have, like President Trump has.
00:52in looking at funding that many of us for years have questioned.
00:59The American people have questioned the money that goes out of Washington into foreign countries.
01:05I applaud the fact that you reminded us that the United States is a humanitarian nation,
01:11that we're going to perform our duties to humanity,
01:15that we are committed to help development in other countries,
01:22and that you're going to demand that in return the United States get a return,
01:31that we're building relationships and allies.
01:36I look at what you're doing as what most fiscal responsible folks in government would want us to do.
01:46It's a form of zero-based budgeting.
01:49There are so many programs.
01:51I've gone through the list of programs.
01:53There's so many.
01:55None of us on this panel can read or understand.
01:59I believe that it was the right decision to hit the pause button and ring out some of the things
02:07that most of us on this panel would agree that don't need to be there and then begin to rebuild.
02:14I think it's the right thing to do, even though it takes quite a bit of courage.
02:21And I also thank you for your openness to restart those programs.
02:27The thing that is not being talked about up here is the State Department,
02:33as you're learning of the programs, as you're hearing from the embassies,
02:38are restarting programs every single day because you recognize our role in the world.
02:45I'm going to ask one simple question, but I need to use another moment just to reiterate my observation in Ukraine.
02:57I had an opportunity a year or so ago to spend several days in Ukraine.
03:03There's no question that Putin is the aggressor.
03:08He has committed atrocities beyond the comprehension of most average Americans.
03:15I realize the difficulty that it is when you've got two very egotistical leaders, world leaders, that we do.
03:23And I thought you eloquently pointed out the difficulty in getting those folks together to stop the killing.
03:32I would urge you and the president to continue applying the sanctions that we have available to us.
03:41With all that pontification, now I'll just ask a simple question.
03:46While I was in Europe, I realized that Radio Free Europe is an organization which has traditionally gotten funds
03:54from this subcommittee through U.S. Agency for Global Media to educate the folks as to really what's going on out there
04:03and to fight the propaganda war, which most of us just do not realize that's taking place.
04:10I had a chance to witness that.
04:12What are your thoughts about continuing to fund organizations like Radio Free Europe?
04:18Well, I think a couple things.
04:19First of all, they're not in the State Department.
04:21We don't operate those.
04:22They're operated independently.
04:23I know that they're going through their own process that the administration is reviewing,
04:27so I don't want to speak about their reform efforts or what their plans may be
04:31because it's just not a portfolio that I'm working on.
04:34I'm working on a lot of other things, but that's just not underneath the State Department.
04:37There are some that have suggested that global engagement or global media be brought under the auspices of the State Department.
04:45That is not a concrete proposal.
04:46I've seen that bantied about by some.
04:48If that's a decision that's made, then we'll look forward to creating programs that are effective at delivering news
04:55and, most importantly, access to unfettered and free information given changes in the way people consume information in the world today.
05:03But that's not something I'm involved in right now because that's outside the umbrella of the State Department.
05:08It is under the umbrella of your committee, Howard.
05:11Thank you to the vice chairman.
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