Cory Booker Presses Witness On Trump Administration 'Impounding' Funds For Compacts With African States

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During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing last week, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) spoke about the Trump administration withholding funding for foreign development projects.

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00:00Thank you, Senator Coons. And I'm going to ask my staff to follow up with yours to take a look

00:04at that bill you referenced because that sounds like a very interesting policy idea. Senator

00:09Booker. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I just want to go back to the libido corridor if we can

00:14because I agree with what you're saying, but my concerns are about this all-in policy on the

00:23libido corridor, the enthusiasm. But we have seen right now $550 million in DFC funds that haven't

00:31been distributed yet. And that's concerning to me, understanding sort of the urgencies and how a

00:37little bit of U.S. investment goes a long way and would seem to reflect that belief that you are

00:43saying that we agree with, which is this all-in attitude. Again, the alternative will be China

00:50stepping in, will be China stepping up. And so I don't know why the U.S. Geological Survey in Angola

00:57on critical minerals was stopped as well. And I'm hoping you can shed some light on that.

01:04Oh, thank you. That gives me a chance to continue on. I understand the engagement of the U.S.

01:12Geological Survey is just simply a question of funding. And of course, they don't work for me,

01:16so I can't arrange that. But I certainly strongly advocate their continued participation.

01:22Regarding Lobito and the potential on that, of course, DFC was the tremendous catalyst.

01:28As it happens, I'm going to be in Lawanda in about two weeks because the Corporate Council on Africa

01:33is doing their U.S.-Africa Business Summit there, where I will be engaging with the President and the

01:39Foreign Minister, and especially their Minister of Mines, to discuss a number of these issues.

01:45In fact, the whole point of my going is a commercial advocacy trip. And there's a number

01:51of U.S. companies who have ongoing issues. The fact is, throughout the African continent,

01:58trade can be complicated. It can be difficult. It's not an easy business environment.

02:03If it was, anybody could do it. And so it requires a lot of advocacy, and that's what we're committed

02:08to doing. So in regard to getting the proper disbursements, not just for Lobito, but also

02:14for solar power and other forms of transportation that are existing, that are projects in Angola

02:21right now, we're going to engage on those. And that's particularly why I will be there.

02:26Thank you very much. It's really critical that we continue those linkages. And I know

02:31your expertise and the sort of esteem with which you're held, for you to be making the call for

02:36that disbursement, I think it would be really helpful. I know something dear to my colleagues

02:44is AGOA. And I just think that the renewal of AGOA is vital. Would you agree?

02:51Thank you. I actually spent a good bit of time today discussing that. I was hoping to get

02:57an administration position on AGOA to bring to this hearing. There are still some discussions going

03:03on. But there's no question that the last 25 years, we have seen some spectacular successes,

03:08but also some spectacular needs for reform. So we hope to have an administration position on AGOA for

03:15you. I'm hoping within hours, possibly within days. But so I can't answer that right this second.

03:22But another reflection of who you are, and your, I think, frankly, very informed opinion is the fact

03:29that you went and talked to the administration, pushing to get us knowing this would be discussed

03:32that that that encourages me. Are you thinking a little bit? I'm sure you are thinking more nuanced

03:39about how AGOA can be a really great piece, like linking AGOA with building out the libido

03:45corridor. Those could be related as a means to benefit the African communities that are really

03:49along the corridor and increasing opportunities for U.S. businesses. Is this like another possible

03:57way that we can increase that momentum within the corridor and provide alternatives to the

04:04Chinese investment model?

04:06Yeah. Thank you, Senator. I tend to use every tool that we have available to us, but that is

04:12certainly one of them. I think one thing we has become clear that when we established AGOA 25 years

04:19ago, the world was a very different place. When I was talking about how excited I am about the

04:24opportunities in Africa right now, they're different than they were 25 years ago. And thus,

04:29for me, the need to have a real conversation about what a modern AGOA should look like is important.

04:37And it should be linked to the types of things that facilitate projects like libido and other

04:42truly open society types of investment. And so that's something that we're absolutely committed

04:49to doing.

04:49Great. And I really feel bad for a lot of the young people that have packed this hearing room.

04:53I have no idea of all these letters that we're throwing out there. But so maybe you can help

04:59with MCC and explaining it, but telling me, is this something else? Because it's one of the best tools we have

05:05in competing. I'm very concerned about the modest funds that we invest. We know they have an outsized

05:13return, and they've always seemed to garner bipartisan support. But the MCC, its impact that I've witnessed

05:22myself in some of my visits, we know last year Congress on a bipartisan basis expanded the number

05:29of countries MCC could work in, because we understood of its vital. Rish, who I want to quote,

05:36has said very strongly, we want to work with you, speaking to Secretary Rubio, to ensure that we have

05:43the tools to counter Chinese influence through the Development Finance Corporation and the MCC.

05:48But again, I just see MCC being targeted by Doge and others, which really undermines what we're doing.

05:59There's at least seven MCC compacts with African countries that are currently paused. While paused,

06:05the U.S. and our African government partners are incurring costs because of project delays,

06:10which is extraordinary. Time is money. These compacts include road improvements, agriculture

06:16improvements, energy security, all that makes for a better platform for investment, for expanded

06:24economic opportunity for our African partners and for the United States. If the U.S. pulls out of

06:29these MCC compacts, how can African governments and businesses feel secure to enter into commercial

06:34diplomacy deals with the United States when the government doesn't follow through on its own

06:38commitments, when Congress, who's allocated money in a bipartisan way, has that money impounded by the

06:45administration? It seems not only to undermine what I would think is important rules of law of this

06:50government, but it burns through a lot of trust, increasing project costs, not making any kind of

06:58rational business sense whatsoever.

07:03Okay, thank you. I do stick my nose in where it doesn't belong on on many an occasion and across the

07:09investment and economic tools the U.S. government has. I don't have oversight on the MCC, but I can say

07:17that internally we've had discussions during this review of all of all assistance programming and have

07:25advocated for the types of programs, like you said, where we need to continue the funding just so that the

07:32the project wasn't at any natural stopping point. We've been quite successful on that so far, but the

07:38overall responsibility for the future of the MCC is not something that's in my purview, and I would

07:44tell you if I knew. I just don't know where that's going, but I can tell you that I visited an MCC project in

07:50Abidjan about two weeks ago when I was there for the Africa CEO Forum, and it is a dramatic

07:58a dramatic sort of investment, a dramatic symbol of America there, and it is one of the first things

08:06that the Ivorian government mentioned to me upon my arrival and upon my meetings with them, and I can

08:14tell you that the interest of the host governments has been dramatic in this regard. I have actually

08:20several pending calls that I have to make after I leave here to talk to countries about their potential

08:25future of the MCC. I've explained to them that I'm not actually the guy who who is responsible for

08:31that, but I'm still interested in our relationships with those countries, and that's why I'll be making

08:35those calls. But for that regard, I'm waiting for those who are at MCC and the end of that of that

08:44assistance review. Thank you. Senator Van Hollen.

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