00:14First of all, thank you for the first of all this opportunity but also for the
00:18constructive way in which we've engaged both with the committee and and with
00:21your staff. We know we have more work to do and we look forward to making that
00:24work. I think that you've touched upon it and then look like I said this is
00:27always a work in progress but our goal was always to align foreign assistance
00:31generally with the strategic lever with the strategic interest of the United
00:37States and how we prioritize and we can go through some of that today but but I
00:41think we're on our way to doing it whether it's realigning so that more of
00:44our assistance is going into the Asia and in the Western Hemisphere than it has
00:48historically in the past, whether it's entering into compacts with individual
00:53countries, 32 of them now, that we can strengthen their domestic capacities and
00:57their national health systems, whether it's our ability to arrange new agreements
01:01with like the Global Fund and others, OCHA, to be able to more effectively deliver
01:07the donations, you know, the taxpayer dollars of the United States to these
01:13entities. I think all that's been very valuable. Obviously there's a process by
01:18which money is appropriated in this country and that involves us like sharing
01:21with you a proposal. Again, this is my experience having served here for 16 years. I did
01:27not expect that you would take up our budget and our proposal and pass it as is. I know that
01:33Congress is an important role to play in making determinations. I take the point that
01:37the ranking member has made about the role that Congress plays once it passes that
01:42bill and having compliance with those conditions. We'll work through some of that
01:44with you today as well as after that, after our meeting today. But what I wanted you to understand is,
01:49and I think this has been largely misunderstood, the goal of moving these
01:52programs, with the exception of the Food for Peace program, which has been moved
01:56over to the Agriculture Department because we think they're, given their links to
02:00America's agricultural sector, they're in a better position to deliver on that. I
02:04think the goals we had was to say, what is our foreign policy and our national
02:07interest, and then ensure that foreign assistance is a part of that strategy, not a
02:12standalone strategy of its own that was not in any way coordinated or related to our
02:17broader foreign policy and national interest. In addition, I always have a, even
02:21in my time here, and I was a supporter of foreign assistance, but I've always
02:24believed the best foreign assistance programs are the ones that end. They end
02:28because the country that you're helping no longer needs it. I think one of the
02:31examples I always cite is South Korea. South Korea used to be an aid recipient, a
02:35massive aid recipient. In fact, at one time, South Korea's economy was smaller than
02:39North Korea's. Today, South Korea is not only not a recipient, South Korea is the ninth
02:43largest economy in the world, and they are a donor state. Now, obviously, not every
02:47nation-state has the capability to achieve what they did in that regard, but I
02:50think every nation-state has the ability to become more self-sufficient, and
02:53frankly, many of them asked for that. Many of them want that. Many of them welcome
02:57that. I know that in my travels and in my interactions with leaders around the
03:01world, they did express concern and frustration that in the past, our foreign aid
03:05came either with massive strings attached in the sense of you had, you know, focus on this or that, or
03:10it came with...
03:25All right. And also, because I know that every country doesn't have the capability
03:29to do that, but a lot of countries expressed concern that oftentimes we were
03:33doing aid in their countries through NGOs without coordinating with a government at
03:37all. They had their own priorities, they had their own systems they wanted improved, and
03:41we were just doing what we thought they needed, not what they were asking for. So
03:45I think that's helped in that regard. So we can go through all some of these
03:47details today. I'll stop here to save you the time, I know. Do you guys have a
03:51Voterama tonight, is the rumor? Oh, tomorrow? Oh, well then I can go all night. I'm kidding.
04:01See, that's the one part of being in the Senate I don't miss.
04:04The one part of being in the Senate is the one part of being in the Senate, in the Senate.
04:04The one part of being in the Senate. Yeah.
04:05Voteramas. Thank you.
04:07Voteramas. Thank you.
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