00:00I now recognize Representative Barrett. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to ask you now to
00:04consent to enter into the record the Atlantic article from yesterday that Mr. Chairman was
00:10referring to. So ordered. You know, in that article, and we'll make sure you get a copy,
00:16Secretary Riggs, it talks about 500 tons of emergency aid high-energy biscuits that are
00:23going to get incinerated. Now, I come from the private sector. We spent $800,000 on shipping
00:29that aid over, and it was stored in warehouses in the Middle East. We're going to spend another
00:35$130,000 to incinerate those biscuits that have been sitting there. That, to me, does not seem like
00:41a good financial investment, since those were already sunk costs. We should have gotten that
00:47food to save lives of kids. We've not met before. I don't know you, so I'll take you as an honest
00:56public servant. I appreciate that you describe the folks that work for the State Department for
01:02USAID as talented and patriotic Americans. They are talented and patriotic Americans. I've traveled
01:07across this world, gone into refugee camps, gone into conflict zones in Africa and in Asia and
01:14elsewhere, and you see these men and women, these diplomats, these civil servants out there doing
01:19their work every day, and I think it's reprehensible how they've been treated. Again, I'm not arguing if you
01:25want to do a reorganization, if you want to go through section by section, program by program,
01:31but how these folks have been treated in terms of being laid off one day saying, hey, come back the
01:35next day, being laid off the next day, you're going to lose a ton of talent, these folks that are at the
01:41peak of their career, and when we try to rebuild these organizations, even if they're streamlined and
01:46elsewhere, these folks are not coming back because of how poorly they've been treated, and that is
01:51extremely unfortunate, and to folks that are watching out there, I am sorry that you were
01:56treated that way. You guys are, as the Secretary said, talented and patriotic Americans. I appreciate
02:02that this country has changed now. You know, part of, I'm a doctor by training, part of what led me
02:06into public service was growing up in the 70s and 80s and seeing what we did when we saw commercials of
02:13babies in Africa starving to death, swollen bellies, flies on their eyes. We didn't just sit around.
02:19We're a faith-based country. I appreciate the chairman has us recite the Pledge of Allegiance,
02:25One Nation Under God. This is not what a faith-based country does. I talk to faith-based aid
02:30organizations all the time. We're a benevolent country of abundance. Our values are saying
02:37those folks that are dying out there, even if their governments don't agree with us, even if their
02:42governments don't vote for us, we don't want to see kids die. Is that who we are? Are we going to
02:48change who we are as a country? That isn't what I believe the American, that I believe in. I think
02:55this is a great nation, the United States of America. I think we're a nation that has been
02:59blessed. And I think we have a responsibility to lead the rest of the world based on our values.
03:05I understand. I've heard my colleagues on the other side, and in your opening testimony, you said,
03:11well, this is no longer about being out there benevolent and saving lives. This is about trade,
03:18not aid. I hope that's not who we've become as a country. I hope we are not now saying, okay,
03:24well, we'll go out and save those kids' lives. But you know what? Here's what you got to do in return
03:29for that. Again, that's not the America that I believe in. We designed a system that both supported
03:35American farmers, supported our economy, saved lives, put food out there, put medicines out
03:41there. Mr. Sherman's correct. Millions of people are going to die around the world because we're
03:47not there, because of the vacuum. Secretary, do you know what percentage of our budget goes,
03:55the United States budget goes to foreign aid? Is it more or less than 5%?
03:59Oh, it's certainly less than 5%. Is it less than 2%? Yeah, I think, I believe it's less than 1%
04:06of the total foreign budget. I think it is less than 1% of our budget. So if we spend less than 1%
04:13of our budget, but we actually do good work around the world, we save lives, we, I've been to refugee
04:19camps where I see that American flag and says, from the people of the United States. I've seen,
04:25I've gone into villages post the Ebola crisis where they greet us and they're cheering us and
04:30they're saying, thank you to the people of the United States. You saved our lives. That is what
04:36we do. That is what this is about. That is who we were blessed to be as the United States of America.
04:41I don't want to be China. I don't want to be Russia. The way they operate is purely transactional
04:47and they don't do it for the betterment of the world. The world that we've created post-World War II,
04:53the United States of America, we damn well better be proud of it. And I am extremely disappointed
04:58that what is happening under this administration is going to leave us weaker and less benevolent
05:03and more transactional. And with that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back. Thank you, Mr. Barrett. I think you
05:07speak, you know, true to your heart. We've traveled together. We've been together. I think it's always
05:12an important thing as we look at the budget. And I think we can all acknowledge it's less than 1%,
05:17but it's still a borrowed 1% that we are dealing with. It's a 1% that we have to go out there and
05:25ask somebody else for money for. And just reflecting personally, most of us don't go out there and ask
05:31our local banks for a loan so that we can give that loan away. And it's something that we have
05:36to wrestle with as Americans as we deal with our budget. And I appreciate your thoughts on the issue.
05:40Can I just make one comment? I completely agree with your comments, Congressman, the life saving
05:46humanitarian assistance has been exempted from the Secretary's foreign assistance review. So that
05:52aid would continue to flow. I think we're looking at all these other examples that are not this
05:58life saving kind of humanitarian assistance. And even to the extent that we are providing that aid,
06:03there has to be some kind of graduation strategy so that one year, three years, five years down the
06:09road, these countries are able to assume that obligation themselves for their populations.
06:14But don't incarcerate, don't incinerate food aid that is out there, like the aid that is in warehouses,
06:20etc. Deliver that aid to folks before it spoils. Yeah, it's going to cost a little bit to sign those
06:26contracts and so forth. But let's not, and that, those are some costs, get that food to folks,
06:33and let's save those lives.
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