>> sunday night at 8 pm eastern on q and day. listen to q and a and all the podcasts on our free c-span now at >> we are funded by these television companies and more including comcast . >> you think this is just a community center? it's waymore than that . >> comcast is partnering with community centers so students from low income families can get the toolsthey need to be ready for anything . comcast supports c-span as a public service along with these other college providers, you proceed to chrissy. >> now secretary of state anthony blinken field

questions on china, the invasion of ukraine and us in withdrawal from afghanistan. this is about 3 and a half hours.

>>

. >> the committee on foreign affairs will come to order. his hearing is to discuss the state department fy 2024 budget, explore the myriad challenges facing the united states and diplomats around the world. i now recognize myself for an opening statement. secretary welcome. and we have no shortage of crises around the world that's for sure. there's a lot to talk about i believe that we are in a very

dangerous period in history the likes of which we have not seen since my father's war on world war ii. after the debacle of the fall of afghanistan we had a room and on that, we saw our adversaries respond and we saw weakness and we projected weakness, not strength. history proves when you project strength you get peace and when you project weakness it does invite aggression and war and you only need to look back to neville chamberlain and other and really the course of time to agree on the prudence of action so we need to project more strength and deterrence we saw not too long after the fall of afghanistan on satellite imagery the russian federation moving towards

ukraine. it was never a question of if , it was a question of when for mister putin and what he saw, he decided it was the time we saw the truth residents and then we saw the invasion we see chairman xi threatening taiwan as we i speak. they pose a threat internationally as you know . the security conference after a spinal over the united states: our most sensitive nuclear sites. so this is an intense time we started to see this alliance not to very similar in my judgment to what we saw in world war ii. russia, china, iran and north korea .

now mister putin is betting on, the happier drones in friday as those iranians roads gebut it will happen to you was given to them the longer-range artillery, i don't want to see them bleed over the winter and spring, i want to see victory not a drawn out conflict that has no resolution in sight. the threat of communist china cannot be overstated. they are the number one threat long-term to our national security. it's like this chipset to fully some supply-chain a semi conductors taiwan and china nathan here in the united states. but still 90 percent of that advanced manufacturing takes place in taiwan. so when people ask why is taiwan importance in action

in china invaded taiwan so control 90 percent of the global supply. we would be in the world of hurt ppi personally think chairman xi will influence the election . if he fails i think plan b will be a blockade and an invasion that will be on a scale that will make ukraine looklike a very small thing . on massive cyber attack, taiwan is not prepared. we have no joint military exercises. the weapons i signed off on three years ago and yet into country. i don't understand why this takes so long as we don't have insurance when we didn't have that insurance with ukraine, i call for sanctions and weapons before the invasion. i think we should be doing the same thing with taiwan . we need to arm them and prepare them to provide

deterrence along with the client to deter the chinese from an invasion. which i think again would be devastating. iran is 85 percent enrichment . but bonds bombs on hiroshima and nagasaki were 80 percent enrichment. there already there mister secretary. 90 percent they say is weapons grade. what are we doing to stop them? are we given the iranians a strong message that the nuclear is notacceptable ? we're seeing china come in from the middle east negotiate agreements between salaries and you ran out and seen the. >> and all your tender but we have to make it clear to them what a nuclear iran would

mean. and we have to support tisrael in that fight. we meanwhile, your president, our president rescinded the migrant protection protocols to remain in mexico the state department was involved in our orders into a wide open invitation from the cartels now using your own border control and operational control of the word as my home state of texas and dealing with this issue as a prosecutor and what obviously i've seen, you and i have not. i want your to talk to the leadership in china about the precursors coming from china into mexico that killed 100,000 young people in this country just over the last year. with that in perspective

that's more than who died in the vietnam war. it's an attack on our young people. mister secretary my time is limited. there are so many things i could talk i don't have time. but right now you are in a very important position and a very important time in history. and the parallels to 1939 when i go to poland, they say it's hitler in the a and all over again slits in their backyard, war crimes the same war crimes place in ukraine is to just you see the mass grave sites and went to kyiv to meet with president zelensky. those two threats, european theater and pacific that my

father's generation liberated from too many in strong support of freedomand democracy are now risk . are now threat. now they want to change the next what the greatest generation liberated. we cannot allow that to happen to her. i want to work with you for all americans. and i believe most numbers on this committee agreed with that assessment but i have to point out my concerns and i think the weaknesses and we will have more time to discuss that in our questioning. i want to close with thisso . we had a marine sergeant vargas anders testified before this committee. he had a suicide bomber in his sights before the bomb went off. he met with his team, met

with his intelligence team and his intelligence bulletin without destroying the sidebar. the identification. the sites. they pushed it up the chain of command and the response was i do not have authority to give you mission to engage . against the threat. the question was asked who has the authority? i don't know, i'll have to get back to you and guess what, nobody. and guess what, hours later the bomb went off killing 13 servicemen and women, 140 afghanistan's, and injuring 50 including sergeant major artists who cllost his limbs, his leg who had 40 surgeries. we had some other, a mother, a woman a marine sergeant killed and that deadly blast.

and i'll never forget, giving her a hug and she said i'm devastated to know that this tragedy could have been prevented and my daughter could stillbe alive today . but for the negligence of what happened in afghanistan that day and i wanted to recognize her, christie shamblin, the mother of nicole jean who was killed at abbey gate. she is in this room today. and let me say to her and all the veterans in that conflict , you did not get wounded in vain, did not die in vain. what you did was worth it. because you protected america or 20 years from tax and i

would ask that christie if you could stand so you could be recognized. i was told she was going to be here. there she is. [applause] let me just close by saying i will not rest christie, until we get answers. until people are held accountable for what happened to your daughter and the other servicemen and women. i will not rest until we get answers and we will. if we have to go all the way up the chain heof command to do it with now i recognize a

number mister nice. >> let me begin by thanking secretary blinking for a hearing before the committee betoday to discuss the by administrations proposals for 2024. let me also thank you your secretary for the foreign affairs committee for your focus on diplomacy. that's what this committee is allabout . beyond eethe arms committee goes with defense and dod. and we know the significance and importance of diplomacy. going alongside the defense department. and what the state department and what we're here to discuss today has to deal with the responsibility that the department of state has and i am extremely glad to

see the administrations budget requests prioritized diplomacy and development. and ensuring that we have the tools necessary to lead or go to this stage leverage the united states soft power which better positions the united states to text global challenges, and even our alliance and advance our us interests. fact of the matter mister secretary , had not president biden led when we talk about particularly the ukraine, led by having our allies going with us, if we had jumped out there ourselves, who did would have been right. we hope would have been divided nato would not be strong. the eu would not be where it

is, all working together to fight back. the aggression of vladimir putin and russia. it is that unity that's what put us there we are today. with ukraine which the time no one thought we would be your layer ukraine still standing but it is a leadership strength that the ion administration shown in working our allies together. that where to say where going to stay and continue to give the ukrainians what they need until they win and where not collect any decision without the ukrainians. i think that is what is extremely important to make sure that we follow that model. even as we deal with china which is why i do think that the chairman trip to south

korea and japan and taiwan similar to the trip i did along with former speaker nancy policy is important because we can't just say where going to go to china by ourselves. we need alliance with together in the europe, and africa and essentially stopped and in fact around the world. it has to be on the leading other nations not america alone. it is your leading you have to leave and bringing our folks together is what you do at the state department and the men and women of the state department who do a job every day. in fact i'd say they are unheralded heroes that we sometimes forget about. so it is vital to our national security for the

state department to cube adequately funded. it is also incumbent on congress elto regularly pass authorization legislation for the state department so that we can ensure our diplomats have the tools they need to advance american interests around theworld . you know, during my chairmanship, i worked on a bipartisan basis to publish this. passing the department authorization bills into law in both 2021 and 2022. it was the first time in two decades that such bills became law i know worked with karen mccall we can continue that bipartisan work and make a state authorization as routine as the ones passed in the aa. and i hope we can make similar progress on foreign

assistance and the us agency for internationaldevelopment . i don't see moving these types of bills as optional or as favors to the apartment or usaid. rather it is its core to our job as authorizer's. in discussion surrounding the budget i must admit i am concerned by some of the extreme proposals and a the other side of the eye if implemented would threaten the united states capacity to carry out bowl diplomacy in the development world has impacted so many lives. the across-the-board cuts that i hear coming from my colleagues on the other side of the eye are arbitrary and counter to our most you sneeze. some of these same extreme voices who claim in one breath that provided administration is not doing enough to counterterrorism

with another breath advocate cutting the diplomatic and development budget necessary to compete china which is it? as president biden famously said don't tell me what your values are, show me your budget and i'll tell you what your values are. if my colleagues truly want to address the rise of china, not to mention any other complex global challenges cutting our diplomatic capacity and the funding of programs that strengthen american power is exactly the wrong way to do it. you know, china has passed the united states in the number of diplomatic post worldwide . 280 votes compared to our 275 . and from 2013 to 18, china double its diplomacy but.

moreover this debate can't focus only on china. united states must broaden our clothes footprints expand our political presence and influence. our relationships around the world will be to meeting the global challenges we face. where is ken's renewed aggression in ukraine the root causes of migration in south america is essential change, had four rights of users around the world. this may have to consider all that is our jurisdiction. the united states will play in shaping the role we we should utilize every opportunity to build coalitions allies and partners share our values that's who we are. we once again alone only foreign policy our

competitors and adversaries will fill that void. we will just open it up for china. we have a choice to make. this committee should make clear where it stands. do we want to strengthen the global or are we going to allow the extreme wing of the party, of the republican party to weaken our national security? our state department is vital to our national security. it makes americans more secure advances of more prosperous and stable world. that is why to ensure that apartment at the funding it needs is so crucial we can work in a bipartisan manner to not only give our diplomats the tools they need to succeed but ensure the best individuals are being hired at state to represent

our great nation around the world. so i say that mister secretary and you know one of my top priorities have been to address inequities in career progression for historically excluded groups at the apartment. and i am happy, glad to see the steps they accept this issue but i know we can do more. i will continue to make progress on the diversey any institution on that note, let me thank you personally what is your house yesterday and practice assignment restrictions on security clearance. many calls have been about this is that this has caused harm to the careers of many employees because of their racial ethnic or national origin. this was the decision i commend you for the so

secretary, let me say thank you for being here. and i look forward tohearing your testimony and answers to what i know will be awful questions from our members . what we lastly say to all that are here and particularly those who lost their lives in afghanistan, those doing the evacuation i would hope that this committee go look at the entire 20 years. the entire 20 years so we can n look and learn and make sure mistakes that we made the make sure there's not one life of an american soldier and our allies because none of them i agree with the chairman on this there's not a single life that was lost in vain. we thank them men and women of our service and those who

served in afghanistan for their bravery, and providing for the interests of the united states of america. we will never ever forget and make sure we work collectively together this is one area several veterans hours in a greater service to our country and those that put their lives online to defend our country. we should never ever ever forget those and the families that have lost their loved ones in the line of duty supporting the united states of america and with that mister chairman i yield back tax members of the committee are reminded opening statements may be submitted for therecord . we're pleased to have the 71st secretary of state

anthony blinken before us. your statement will be made part of the record and we ask that you keep your remarks to five minutes and i now recognize you for your opening statements. >> thank you very much. to you and all the members of the committee iq for the opportunity to speak with you about the administrations was budget for the state department and international development. let me say at the outset t.i joined every member of this committee in saluting all of our veterans in afghanistan, saluting those who lost their lives, gave their lives so that our citizens could enjoy a sgreater measure of security and particularly here today i am humble in your presence. i think of the 2402 americans

who lost their lives in 20 years in afghanistan protecting our country. i think of the 20,000 plus wounded nkand so many others who served and have injuries of a different kind including members of my state department team and i join you mister chairman, ranking member pace and every member of this committee in being determined that we look not only look but dropped the lessons from 20 years including the last year in afghanistan. we do need we are at an inflection point l. there is intense competition underway to determine what .omes next the united states as a positive vision for the future, oral history, open, fewer prosperous budget meeting before you will in our advanced issue deliver on

issues that matter the people i need to make challenges also. the first is by our competitors, the russians he aggression through this brutal war against ukraine and launcher from the peoples republic of china. this headset is posed by local rats including the climate crisis, migration, energy security, all which impact the lives and life is at the around the world. what with this's leadership and support across to build the united states installer you will position and there were two years. we missed our investments we made in our you're at all. including infrastructure investment andjobs act, checks and science at an inflation reduction .

our unmatched network as runs over. we're expanding our presence in the indo pacific, we are leading unprecedented coalitions including a number of nuances to address humanitarian crises aroundthe world . presidents request from the state department meets this moment head on. what will sustain our security energy support for ukraine to ensure that president clinton's war remains a strategic failure. but it will our efforts to outcompete the prc. president by and is scommitted to advancing in the which is like this proposal or an 18 percent increase in our budget over fy 23 contain discretionary and mandatory policies to compete with china including by enhancing our partners in the region entering what we have offered including things like

maritime security clean energy infrastructure, visual technology and more effective than the alternate post. but it will cost the fact that authoritarianism lby strengthening democracies including for supporting independent media corruption and defending free elections it will allow us to pay our conservations to the international organizations because the united states needs to be on the table wherever and whenever the liinternational committee asked why the article. the budget will allow us to continue leading the world in investing in energy energy security. and on that last point where celebrating the 20th anniversary i think of one of the greatest achievements in american foreign policy over the last decade. it's safe 5 million lives around the world. this budget will continue the fight against aids advancing security more idbroadly you

euro i'm forward to working with congress to establish here will tomorrow the state department by expanding our training, pairing diversey equity and inclusion including our overseas missions. i'm grateful for the progress we made together including supporting and updating the secure infrastructure ask review board to give us more flexibility to open these issues and better manage the risks we face. we know there's more to do and look forward to working with congress to accelerate the modernization efforts so the department can attract maintain and support our forces as they advance our interests in what is a very complex world . the budget will further a personal priority for me shared by the members of this committee and that is important our whole of government efforts.

keeping our promises to those who serve the us remains an unwavering priority in this budget will continue to make it . mister chairman, when i have this role i committed to working to restore a partnership between the executive branch and congress . when it comes to our foreign policy making and i will continue to work with you and the ranking member to do that . i very much look forward ndto close coordination over the coming year. i'm grateful for the chance toappear for you to answer any questions . >> you mister secretary. let me say we had a very powerful compelling hearing on the events in afghanistan c at the end. when the abbey gate was compromised with a suicide bomber that went off and people were killed whand i think the american people as are the answers they want

people to be heldaccountable . for that. we haven't had a public specifically on afghanistan until the one we had two weeks ago. and we heard testimony that quite frankly i was not even aware of the suicide bomber was that we had him. in our sites, the sniper had him and he could have been taken out. and the threat could have been eliminated and lies that have been saved. this is why we asked you for documents. and so i want to go through the documents requests we made. on january 12 i sent you this letter requesting documents related to the afghanistan withdrawal. we did not get those at that time, did not get that reduction so january 30 we

requested three specific items to be delivered february 7, most importantly the cable. 23 of our state department officials at the embassy took the extraordinary measure to raise their dissent to the policy certain that you and your administration were actuating. i think the american people need to see this. we need to know what their dissent was. why were they objecting to your policies and the failed withdrawal from afghanistan. they sent you a letter march third. and another one march 20. chairman meeks requested this specific cable. in august 2021 letter.

that again no response. yet here we are today. the after action report, i want to thank you for that correction and i know the ambassadors after action review is going to be presented in three weeks. but we need this cable and i think the american people deserve tosee it . to know what in the world is going on in those critical weeks. especially after the testimony of sergeant tyler vargas anders, he deserves enough. kristi shamblin deserves enough to know what the dissent was.i have the

speech right here and i'm prepared to serve this and we had discussions and i think as a former federal prosecutor you want to work things out but when you can't , you have to go forward with ee us and you on a restless so sir i'm going to give you until the close of business monday to produce cable to this committee and this congress so the american people can see what the employees at the embassy were thinking about your policies that they dissented from. you have any response, thank you very much. >> and first i want to make clear r that we are working to provide all the information

that the committee is looking for an is oversight responsibilities get into the authority to secure as you noted we produced the embassy action plan the pages that go along with that. we are committed to making available and sharing the substance of the after action review within the next three weeks your that from the white house and i appreciate everything you say and let me put this briefly and prospective members of the committee who may not be on office. this tradition of having the dissent challenge is one that is cherished in the case is unique way for anyone in the apartment to see power as they see it without fear or disfavor and they do it by the regulation we established for this table in a privileged and confidential way. it is vital to the that we

preserve the integrity of that process and of that challenge that we not take any steps that could have a chilling on the willingness of others to come forward in the future to express dissenting views on the policies being pursued. i read every dissent channel i get respond to everyone and we factored into our thinking what we hear from colleagues who have a different view. by our regulations these cables may only be shared with senior officials to protect the process and make sure we don't have a chilling effect noting that tthey will have their identities protected and they can do so again without fear of disfavor but having said that i aiunderstand and appreciate there's a real interest in the substance of that particular cable this committee and in that spirit

following up on conversations we've already had we are prepared to make the relevant information in that cable available including through breathing or some other mechanism . i'm determined to have our team follow-up mister chairman as we discussed so we will continue to work in the coming days and i'll we can reach accommodation she the importance of that information being shared with the committee and i hope we can do that in a way that meets our needs. >> specifically you asked for the cable and i know it's classified as well. i appreciate that but i wanted to mention your department cited secretary henry kissinger's refusal to produce a dissent cable to congress in the 1970s. i would argue you do not have executive privilege on this cable and we reached out to

the author of that cable, the ambassador earlier this week and he said henry kissinger refused to release the cable because itwas so damaging . ambassador boyd is emphatic about the need for the state department to produce dissent channel cables and in a statement he provided to the committee he said any claim provided by those to congress that would have a chilling effect as your staff has claimed is and i quote him directly, bullshit. not my words, the ambassador. i spoke to congressional oversight that enhances the responsibility and enable us to learn from the inevitable so i believe this committee

and people after what happened in that dreadful august need to see this cable and we need you to respond and if you fail i am prepared to serve you with a subpoena. with that i yield to the ranking member. >> let me start off by saying the chairman is correct i gave a copy of any dissent cables dating back to 2017. i'd like to work with the department on appropriate handling of the requested material but i hope the chairman also agrees that we should take care to avoid a chilling effect on employees as youstated . see space for dissent is important. even as i hope the department

works to accommodate this congressional request because i think the substance that is in the cable is tremendously important for members of this committee to know. if we do it in a classified session i understand the reflection of what you talk about as far as the members of the state adepartment so they have their discretion. let me go now also to say thank you mister secretary because we did have hearings in afghanistan and the fact of the matter is you were the first to testify before this committee. you are the very first cabinet official to do so right before this committee and we had several other hearings in regards to

afghanistan. but let me get to what we are here for today. the presidents budget proposal asap a strategic vision for us global engagement that would allow the united states to tackle the most pressing global challenges effectively compete with our adversaries. cedar mccarthy and the house republican majority have put together a different vision. one that would see american leadership and threaten national security by slashing the budget by up to 22 percent. now, bmy colleague had sent a letter to the agency requesting details on the projected of these types. that the republicans are proposing. let me ask a few questions on it because the department is saying making cuts deeper than 22 percent would 'samong other things went

significantly scale back our efforts to counter aggressive and horses tactics of the prc and implement the indo pacific strategy, is that correct? would it reduce ethics to deter aggression and coercion including through countering prc and slow our ability to open the pacific islands? >> yes it would with it reduce assistance crucial to handling military interoperability, training, operations as well as fighting money laundering in our. >> yes. >> with the treaty-based commitments and payments of assessment of international organizations would also jeopardize? >> it would be. >> would be required to impose a hiring freeze and potentially reductions in force while also rolling back

training and professional development programs recently authorized in the state authorization bill on a bipartisan basis not be true to all investment and security upgrades are most vulnerable. >> that is correct. >> and reduce support for ongoing programs that support antidemocratic and economically viable ukraine that could defend itself against external aggression, would it not also do that? and three first gains made to combat infectious diseases through grants for aid relief, programs to prevent material and funds to support our workers in global health security, is that not also true? >> that is true. >> i have in my limited time

remaining have i missed anything mister secretary? what are your greater experiences on the cuts imposed by the state department. >> i think across the board when it comes to the priorities i laid out it's my statement to advance the security of citizens around the world and strengthen our alliances and partnerships to deal with challenges coming from russia and china, deal effectively with the many transnational threats on americans. to make sure our own institution is extra strong as it can be from cyber threats, that our personnel are safe across the board. these cuts would have in my judgment devastating consequences and i'm happy as well to lay out in detail that we see those consequences today. >> chair recognizes the

gentleman from new jersey mister smith. >> ogi have four questions, welcome to the committee. the pandemic treaty that the administration and others were pushing to get in effect to who starts off with a harsh criticism of the international committee with a study showing solidarity. >> i'm concerned about it, article 4 pays lip service to sovereignty and then the language says however activities within your jurisdiction do damage to people in their countries so who is empowered to step in by the people's republic of china. obviously it showed terrible judgment in the beginning and even to this day for

recognizing the origin of the covid-19. article 10 says 20 percent of the united states would be obligated, ni20 percent of our medical supply including vaccines and medication and the like to who saying they have to get it by treaty obligations. the issue that's the biggest in my opinion is pushing forth next year's probably when they get adopted. the executive agreement which is a terrible threat of ratification and yesterday i chaired a hearing on worsening dictatorship and nicaragua. that would be two days ago journalist owen jensen asked

john kirby are you aware of any efforts the us is making to treat and he got 26 years in prison in what is a war on the catholic church.the spokesman john kirby said i'm going to have to to sotake the question and get back to you. i'm not tracking that particular day. if you could the issue of what ortega is doing we need to look at every type of pressure we can bring to bear as the foreign minister to his country as you know, so i hope you would that. thirdly on nigeria i appeal again to you to designate them as a ccp country. i think the commissioner has called your decision incalculable and it's turning a blind eye because of the

pressure they feel in nigeria . and over 70,000 churches were destroyed, i've been to several of those churches . we saw evidence from vocal or almond others and finally china, when you meet and talk with your counterpart in the prc and the president, do you raise names in particular, because it's very important, that they be front and center. >> good to see you again as well. first i'll try and bebrief , we are not engaged in a treaty, what we're engaged in is trying to strengthen the global architecture for dealing with a pandemic in a way that for example makes sure if there's a next time and there will be a next time that countries actually are committed to transparency, to sharing information and giving access to international inspectors, that we have the tools to do

that in the country that agreed to that. that is not what china did in this instance we paid a price for that but at the same time i think we clearly demonstrated that over the course of the pandemic the united states was ldthe leading and most generous country making sure that vaccines were made available to those who needed them. we did it through free of charge, did it with no political strings attached and that has dramatically benefited our diplomacy and standing in the world in countries that have done this but we're happy to work with you on this and i appreciate the points you've raised. bishop alvarez and on my mind and the mind of the state department. nicaraguans expelled more than 200 political prisoners, the good news of course is they were failing, the bad news is they can't live in their own country. i met with the leaders of the democratic opposition who were freed at the state department and i believe me

bishop out perez should be released so we will continue to work k on that. when it comes to nigeria i appreciate what you said. we are working day in and day out getting up for the rights of persecuted religious minorities around the world and i think it's important that it speaks for itself and speaks to why we epdo certain designations, and i'm happy to follow up with you off-line naand then on china absolutely.we name names, i name names and i've gone over repeatedly the names of people who were being in our judgment detained for political reasons and should be freed and at the same time there are of course american citizens who remain unjustly detained. we're working onthat as well . >> the chairman yields, secretary has until 1:30 p.m. so i'm going to hold members to five minutes until he gets all the members on the committee.

the chair recognizes the gentleman from california mister sherman. >> the withdrawal from afghanistan involve dissent for many people who said we should have leftthousands of troops there, but first told we were leaving the american people will not stand . there's never a pristine casualty fee free withdrawal in that situation. especially when you have hundreds of thousands of people who are desperate to leave their country. you saw that in our withdrawal from vietnam. we saw with the partition of india where hundreds of thousands of people moved and hundreds of thousands died. the as to ever and, the chairman is correct that karen is very close to a nuclear weapon and i will point out the prior president put holdout of the jcp oa without a plan to do anything to stop iran from having a nuclearweapon .

so the saudi's seem to have taken action on the assumption that iran was about to become a nuclear power is your secretary, i want to do for you on an issue that may not otherwise, . your focused on the great issues of war and peace, historians will about that competes for your time with the basic operations of the statedepartment . passports and svisas. the passport system is broken, has been the beginning of coated. that would be the most amazing thing we can do with this program arts and minds and when it comes to business , it's impossible to get people to invest in america that's going to take six months to do business visa and i would hope as we proceed at the speed of private-sector business implore you on that. last september more extreme

pipelines were blown. can you assure the world that t no agency of the us government blew up those pipelines or facilitated it ? >> put in once to restore the soviet union. there are those that argue we should have done nothing to help ukraine. that what goes on in ukraine stays in ukraine and we don't have an interest there. obviously, we announced we the world nothing would have done nothing and might have beenin kyiv in a week or two . if that happened i think presidents will be emboldened but let's focus on russia. if russia had taken over the ukraine in a matter of weeks with cca or encouraged him to go over multiple.

>> in my view the latter. >> the state department released a summary determination indicating that all parties were guilty of war crimes, the ethiopian military, airtran military and armed forces committed crimes against humanity and that the armed forces committed ethnic cleansing. during testimony last year the assistant secretary committed the united states will not support international loans or the restoration of agoa to thethiopia until the government fulfills its obligations under the agreement including unrestricted unitarian aid, protection for civilians, human rights monitoring and the restoration ofservices including the internet . ..

are getting better. can you think of anything that would help president xi expand his power more than if the united states were to cut our diplomat efforts by 22%? >> there may be other things but that would beyond the top 5 list. >> finally, what can we do to help those who are so desperate they fled to bangladesh? >> i made a genocide determination when it comes to mahindra last year. we are doing everything we can

to give humanitarian assistance into burma despite the situation including to help ravindra. many of them are refugees, we work to make sure countries don't engage -- >> i want to employ you to try to open up the core door, thank you. >> the chair recognizes mr. wilson. >> the chairman is correct. there's an alliance of war criminal putin invading the ukraine, ccp threatening taiwan, the rogue regime planning to vaporize israel and then vaporize the united states. i agree with president donald trump, to surrender in afghanistan was the most damaging foreign policy, military decision in american history by the president of the united states, mr. biden. i want to submit to the record

letters, the president claims to have had the top military officials, and these letters remained on answers, i look forward to your response as the state department was in charge, >> >> i appreciate those who protect america since 9/11 and particularly always in mind the 13 who were murdered. with that in mind, how many american citizens and license permanent residents are in afghanistan today and are any of them held hostage by the taliban and? >> there are several americans being detained by the caliban. we are working to secure their

freedom, to protect their identities and don't speak publicly in their cases. >> those are being detained. >> approximately, since august 31st last year, we helped 975 american citizens to do so. americans who identify themselves who are in afghanistan, some have been there since the withdrawal, some went back to afghanistan. about 175, 44 of them ready to leave and we are working good to effectuate their departure. >> there securities important to the american people. is inexcusable they surrender and the consequence of the invasion of ukraine, threats to taiwan, threats of vaporization of the people of israel and america because the weakness

that has been displayed. >> i see ascending america's longest war, it freed up our ability -- >> to rise -- >> we are in a global war on terrorism. it is not over and by allowing a safe haven in afghanistan you are putting the american people at risk. it is my understanding there are 27 terrorist organizations actively working, osama bin laden operated out of the cave in afghanistan. we don't need to learn that again. >> we took out the leader in afghanistan, the successor leader of al qaeda, we took out a leading financier in somalia helping to finance any return of al qaeda in afghanistan. >> doesn't address those who do us harm. >> you created a safe haven in afghanistan. it is inconceivable. donald trump was correct, bog room never should have been abandoned. with that in mind, the

administration has been inexcusable in its delay providing weapon systems to ukraine, the long-range missiles that are provided and delayed. they do a lot -- the irani and drones, in crimea. what is being done to release the latest equipment, let's stop a war. we do that by providing proper defensive equipment. >> i share your equipment to get the ukrainians what they need what they needed to deal with russian aggression. this goes back before they won, including drawdowns of equipment, september before the aggression in december, to make sure they have in hand. the allegation we were not doing that is wrong. we led an international

correlation between the secretary of defense putting together a remarkable reference to rally country knees -- >> i want to quote the washington post, march 10th, had a lead editorial that the legacy of the president and you would be whether we have success. than expelling putin, a war criminal, from ukraine. that his is victory. expelling him and his murderers from ukraine. with that, i yield back. >> the gentleman yields. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. >> welcome, secretary blinken. the statement of the chairman, i am reminded of the line in the wizard of oz, lions and tigers and bears, oh my, because apparently you have single-handedly left the world in a mess. there is no historic context. i want to ask a series of

questions to get my mind around the history behind things. the chairman mentioned iran is about to become a nuclear power. how could that happen? was there an agreement anywhere that actually pushed back the nuclear develop and of iran, and if it was working in terms of metrics? >> there was, the jc poa, put iran's nuclear program in a box, verified not only by international inspectors but our own intelligence community. >> i remember that now. i recall my friends on the other side of the aisle opposed it. and what happened to that agreement that was working? >> the previous administration decided to leave the agreement. >> i couldn't hear that. >> the previous at ministry she decided to leave the agreement. >> the trump administration. >> terrible thing that happened

in august of 2021, but did it have any -- for example, was there anybody who said we are going to negotiate with the caliban and move the governor of afghanistan we are supporting, did that happen? >> the previous administration negotiated an agreement with the caliban that called for the withdrawal of all american forces from afghanistan by may 31, 2021, released 5000 caliban prisoners. >> those terrorists mister wilson was concerned about. >> drew down our own forces over time to 2500. >> that was also the biden administration? >> the previous administration. >> did it have a name? >> the trump administration. >> okay. was there a president who said he believed the word of sociopath vladimir putin over his own intelligence committee with respect to russian interference in american

elections? did that happen? >> i recall press accounts to that effect. >> did that have a reserve name? >> donald trump. >> with very president who denied javelins, critical part of the arsenal for ukraine to defend itself before the war that began last february and march over a political issue trying to get dirt on a political opponent? >> based on press accounts in testimony before congress i believe that it did. >> who was that? >> the previous president, donald trump. >> was there a president who disparaged that it was obsolete and we probably don't need it anymore? any president ever say that? since the founding 73 years ago? >> based on public statements i believe donald trump said that. >> from your point of view as the current secretary, playing any kind of non-obsolete role in the current war in europe?

>> nato playing and absolutely essential vital role in ensuring the security of europe and deterring further aggression by russia against europe. >> most of us are worried about the climate, was there any kind of international agreement on the climate record that had every nation on earth as a number except two? >> the paris agreement. >> what happened to that. >> the united states withdrew from the paris agreement, president biden reengaged us in paris. >> and again, did that president who withdrew from the paris climate record, that all countries on earth but two, what was the name of that president? >> the trump administration withdrew from that agreement. >> >> it is not the biden policy,

cost lives. the decisions made or not made with respect to relations across the board. >> we appreciate that performance, it was quite entertaining. >> i say to the chairman, did not mean it to be entertaining. i meant it to be -- >> chair recognizes mr. perry. >> >> we are honored by your presence. i know from your resume you have been at this a long time, from 1994 to the present. the national security council, center for strategic and international studies, director of the senate foreign relations committee assistant to the president of the united states national security adviser to the vice president, deputy national security adviser,

deputy secretary of state, a lot of experience. do you consider the will on institute of virology a civilian institution as it presents itself? >> particularly in china, institutions that present themselves as civilian and practice are usually organs of the state. even when they are on paper, private, answer to the state. >> does that mean -- >> any instances of wuhan? >> can't speak directly to it except in a sense it doesn't matter because they answer to the state. >> in 2,005, when you were director of the senate foreign relations committee, did you know the china was not in compliance with the chemical and bio weapons treaty obligations for which it was supposed to be? >> we had concerns over many years about compliance -- >> that's not the question i asked you. were you aware they were not in

compliance in 2005? i went through your resume. deeply and at that point. were you aware? did you know, i have to go back and look almost 20 years ago, can't tell you -- >> we have real concerns. >> i know you have concerns. i'm asking if you know. >> i'm telling you we have concerns about their compliance. >> are they in compliance or art they? >> this is something we can take up in a different setting but have no concerns about compliance. >> did you know about china's biological weapons program, the ctp academy of military medical science? >> i can't speak to individual institutions and would have to go back -- >> you are the secretary of state, this is important stuff. can't tell what the ccp is complying with, the bio weapons treaty obligation, can't tell us whether you know about

china's offensive biological weapons program. are you familiar with the fact that the academy of military medical sciences work with the wuhan institute of virology who received money from the united states of america particularly the state department, defense department, usaid, nih, are you familiar with that? >> i'm familiar with the fact that as a practical matter there is little difference between purportedly private organizations and the state and the factor that there was collaboration between this particular institute including the chinese military, no surprise. one of the reasons it is helpful that we have programs. the cdc, in places like wuhan to have a better understanding -- >> i know you are concerned.

are you familiar with the fact the chinese commonest party announced they were collaborating on viruses, the ccp declared coronavirus's where the leading edge of genetic weapons warfare? do you know that? secretary of state? >> i'm happy to look at each of those statements, the documentation behind them, can't speak to the specifics. i can tell you we have for long time continued to have real concerns. >> i know you have concerns. during your time, during your time, in all these lofty positions, contracts including ones with the state, the department of state, dod, usaid, pay for research at the wuhan institute of virology and academy of military medical sciences and reports that the ccp may have double billed the us? >> since we have declared the

ccp has an illicit bio weapons program, should american taxpayers be funding this number one, number 2, should we trust the china will do the right thing with the who proposed convention? >> we should not trust. we should verify. >> the american taxpayers paid for this. >> not sure what this is. >> the research at the wuhan institute of virology in collaboration with the academy of military medical sciences for biological weapons. >> we are not paying for that. in the past, we have had programs where scientists and our embassy had the ability to have eyes and ears in these places precisely so we would have a better understanding of what was going on and to see if there were any safety or security concerns. one program before my time ended in 2019 that usaid was

engaged in and that ended in 2019, wasn't involved in gain of function research but as a general proposition the benefit of these programs is to give greater visibility to what is going on where we don't have eyes and ears. >> the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. >> there is not a hotspot in the world you haven't been at since you assumed this office and i want to thank you for your commitment, your family's sacrifice in the tradition of your late father for all this work. thank you for trying to -- 53rd birthday in a russian work camp. four years detained by the russian federation and vladimir

putin. i am holding in my hand a memo, a letter from the russian federation dated february 17, 2022. 7 days before putin unleashed 190,000 of his troops amassed on the ukraine border with an effort to overtake ukraine's capital, topple its government, set up a puppet government and control ukraine. i assume you are aware of this letter? it is an important letter because it makes clear what putin's military demands were, they go far beyond ukraine in this memorandum, in this letter. putin made no bones about the fact what his military demands were as he is prepared to amass

these troops. his demands were that he would take measures necessary if things didn't change beyond ukraine. he wanted to unwind:00 of history back to reinstituting the soviet like era boundaries and restrictions and he wanted to effectively disarm one half of nato particularly areas most vulnerable in the baltic states. here is. in black-and-white. if we fail to help ukraine to defend itself, we know what is next. we know what the us will honor in its article 5 commitment should he do what he threatened to do here if he didn't have his demands met. that means deploying american troops on the ground as we are

required to, president biden has reaffirmed, president bush has reaffirmed, every republican and democratic president after. has reaffirmed since this was relevant. is it clear to you that we will do everything we do to honor those article 5 concerns including boots on the ground. >> the president made that clear. >> i say that because there are voices, voices seeking to be commander in chief in this country, that say a mere phone call to vladimir putin, an agreement to seize all that territory that was illegally garnered by russia, war crimes, through horrors that are

unspeakable. the type of things we haven't seen in europe since the 1930s. but merely seed that away and walk away from our obligation. other voices too, voices dismissing the actions putin has taken, illegal, horrific actions, calling them a territorial dispute. we have toby aware of what is next. aware of where we stand in this terrible time in history. we don't stand alone because of the commitment of president biden, yourself, and others, to put together a coalition that putin thought was unattainable. it was necessary, we couldn't win by ourselves.

this coalition is in place. what we withstand in a way is not just defending ukraine's interests, not just defending nato's interest or europe's interests but defending the us's self-interest and that is the point of our involvement in ukraine. here it is in black and white. putin is declaring exactly what it was. let's not fail to acknowledge what he himself wants and i yield back. >> the chair recognizes mr. issa. >> mister secretary, looking backwards and forwards. next month, you will mark your 61st birthday. >> don't remind me. >> at my age, i am jealous.

mister secretary, you are one of the most qualified secretaries during my tenure. you have spent a long time learning history and being prepared to not repeat it. i will give you a couple names. saigon, tehran, benghazi, tripoli and kabul, each one of those, to most people in the state department, represent a failure to smoothly withdraw, a failure to anticipate and the like. the chairman had a lengthy discussion with you about what the committee wants and needs to do its oversight. in a very -- you gave answers not to his questions but answers that were the ones you came here prepared to give. what we have with me, this is what your discovery looks like

often, actual discovery from the state department. i might suggest to you, after our mutual many years of doing this, your best choice is accommodation when appropriate, compliance when a subpoena comes, which means this sort of read action cannot and shall not be accepted by congress once a subpoena is issued. i might also suggest if you deliver something under the cloak of being secret or top secret, the redaction is by definition inappropriate. if we view in camara the read action is an appropriate. if today you can make the commitment that when accommodations to this and other committees, when the accommodation is that we

receive information in some in camera form that it be delivered sooner, not later in redacted only for actual claimed privileges. if you can make that commitment i think the chairman could be rest assured not what i call a black cow eating licorice at night. >> i appreciate that and i commit to getting the committee the information it needs to conduct its oversight. i need to do that in a way that of course as i said, protect the integrity of the process, making sure you get the information more broadly when it comes to documents, national security considerations, legal consideration -- >> since you sat behind the senators and been on the other

side, you're well aware that this coequal body determines what it believes it needs to be seen and with the exception of actual stated privileges, the court, if we have to go that far, we determine, not you, what our legislative needs, and need to know is. in a very kissinger -- i appreciate it. >> i will take that as a complement. >> put the other hat on that you wore when you sat on this side of the dais and recognize that the accommodation of sooner rather than later, if the chairman of the committee agree to it allows us to deviate the smaller portions that might need to be made public or in some other way disseminated. i want to take an opportunity because the world is listening, to speak past you for a second.

the people who wrote the dissent cable are free to come to this committee, free to come to our staff and the chairman as legitimate whistleblowers, to be fully protected and if they come foreword and produce their name is, i submit to you that at that point the statement you made here today is moot, that in fact, any member of the state department comes forward as a whistleblower on behalf of dissent of any sort leading up to the failed withdrawal from couple, would be taken as a waiver of that history that we noted all the way back with the not late, and in good health in new york, henry kissinger, and with that, i thank you and yield back. >> the gentleman yields, the chair recognizes mr. sicily any --cecillini.

>> we owe you a great deal for the work that you do every day. i want to thank you for that. over the past two years the biden administration has reestablished us leadership on the global stage, deepening our strategic alliance and advancing our values and interests which i'm grateful for mr. connelly. i was listening to my republican colleagues wondering did they miss the last four years? did you inherit an agreement by the prior administration to withdraw from afghanistan by date certain and that includes the release of 5000 taliban fighters? did you inherit a decision from the prior administration to withdraw from the jc poa that kept iran's nuclear program and check? >> that is correct. >> you inherited departure from the paris climate accord? >> that is correct. >> you followed an administration that undermined the imports of nato? >> that is a -- a judgment. >> the prior president made

public statements about the obsolescence of nato, correct? >> i believe that is correct. >> now proposed a budget that would decimate the develop intent planet budget by 22%. is that correct? >> we shared our concerns about proposed cuts to the budget proposal. >> i don't remember hearing from my republican colleagues on this committee criticize any of those five events. so it is rich to here today this, mr. connelly said, lions and tigers and bears, oh my. i want to ask you, with respect to the us obligation in multilateral organizations and peacekeeping entities, how do you assess the damage caused to us credibility by our failing to stay current with our obligations and if congress were to grant the requested funds and authorities, how would the us able to change the dynamics in these institutions in our favor and the national security interests? >> thank you for raising that. is an important point.

we find ourselves in almost a contorted ourselves in that we are by far the largest contributor to most of the programs in these organizations. and yet precisely because we find ourselves in some instances in arrears, our competitors and adversaries point to that and say we are actually not doing our part. .. our part were serious about those organizations, so it actually undermines our standing and our diplomacy if something we constantly have to direct and i think that could be easily rectified by making sure we are current with our obligations. >> thank you. earlier this week i traveled to united nations in new york for meeting at the un security council focused on specific vulnerabilities of lgbtq+ people and you heard a lot of anti-áuntran17á rhetoric coming from africa.

can you what the embassies are doing in terms of staff and resources and coordination to confront these threats and what policies would help in that effort >> we've seen marginalized groups particularly the lgbtqi+ community in many countries is under increased threat and as i think you know we put out personally are annual human rights report and one of the things it documents is precisely that so we're very much engaged around the world in a variety of ways in trying to make sure we are advocating , encouraging, impressing countries to uphold the rights of all marginalized communities, including the lgbtqi+ community that they are protecting and defending those rights, not taking pressures that wouldfurther undermine those rights . we tried to make sure we are

both sensitive to local considerations because we want to be as effective as we can so sometimes it's private, sometimes it's public, sometimes it's a combination of both but our embassy proceeds with this goes to a core tenet of the view that i believe many have which is all democracies are strengthened by protecting vulnerable populations whatever they are. we're against the persecution of religious minorities around the world and we see that as a relief problem . >> to the use of existing fleets to challenge sovereignty and its refusal to rollout using graded f-16s to do so and continuing to violate airspace to undermine a nato user i know that's important. to what the k administration is doing to ensure american weapons are not used to threaten allies and partners in the region and in syria. >> the focus of our efforts

with turkey whether it's with any other nato ally to ensure they have the equipment and technology they need to be fully interoperable and do e everything they need to do as nato allies while ensuring that any equipment and technology were provide is not used to hurt those differences so we believe that turkey should get the upgraded f-16s and modernization package. it's important to nato and important to the alliance. at the same time we're working to try and ensure that no tensions exist between nato allies and that they do not engage and in either actions or rhetoric that would inflame the situation. i was just in both turkey and

greece and turkey had the devastating earthquake shortly after i was in greece we had a train accident. our hearts and our hands go out to help both countries ns but at the same time ... >> the chair recognizes the chairman of the full committee miss wagner. >> i thank you secretary blinken for your service and your time today. yesterday the house passed the taiwan assurance implementation act. this is by bipartisan legislation i worked on with mister connelly and others that requires the state department to provide robust reporting on engagement with taiwan and asks that the us removed self-imposed barriers

to engagement, i am purging my colleagues to take up my legislation incentive to the president's desk so we can work towards tangible and sustained progress in the us taiwan relationship. the us must demonstrate resolute and unflinching support for this important democratic partner and this increased bullying and coercion by the peoples republic of china. in the meantime i hope you will help understand how the state department's budget will move this critical partnership in the right direction as i am worried frankly that the current approach is overly concerned with avoiding even the slightest chance of offending beijing. mister secretary, i hope that e we can all agree our competition with china represents a generational challenge to the united states and its partners. however i see so little

priority in the us arms sales and other security assistance program in the indo pacific. the indo pacific is a decisive theater , why is foreign military financing for asia and the pacific third in the priority with only two percent of the proposed funding going towards these regions? >> i appreciate your focus and look forward to reading but let me mention quickly by the way we liberalize our contact data to our engagement with taiwan precisely to make sure us engagement better reflects the broadening and deepening unofficial relationship we have and that guidance has been out for about two years. when it comes to the military advancing sales let's focus

on taiwan for a second. i have signed more of these agreements than any previous secretary of state in the last couple of years, we've provided an additional 5 billion in sales to taiwan. >> but that foreign aid is to taiwan. it >> there you have an important point in the ch challenge we are facing across-the-board lies not th with my department even as we work to streamline everything we're doing and i signed off on more than any previous secretary but we have production challenges across-the-board built up over many years as relates to supply-chain problems, all these things come to a head and that's what the defense department industry is working on right now and my

anticipation is where going to see significant progress but it's not for want of trying to make it happen for all ourpartners . >> but time is of the essence and in a situation and the confrontation that occurred between china and taiwan and our other partners is before us. and most recent national defense authorization act congress authorized $2 billion in this military funding grant to taiwan for each fiscal years 2023 through 2027 which would allow the united states and taiwan to engage in long-term planning for the deployment and sustainment of critical capabilities. why is taiwan not a priority to ask funding or attention? >> taiwan is a priority and we've got many different ways of doing this so we appreciate the importance but

we put together in the budget looking at emerging priorities for the imf. at the same time the most effective way today to ensure that they have what they need is going through the foreign militarysales budget . they have the capabilities and capacity to make the acquisition if they need and at the same time we've been working closely with them in terms of the advice they provided to make sure they have an effective deterrence capacity. sometimes that goes to significant budget concerns and sometimesit goes to things that may not be the most expensive . >> thank you and i do have additional questions i will submit for the record because i think we do submit to you our bipartisan taiwan assurance limitation act that will pass the house and i hope the state department under your leadership make a very clear look at this important issue as we move

forward in the correction of china. i think the chairman's indulgence and ideals back . >> chair recognizes mister bear . >> i want to first acknowledge and thank miss chapman for being here. i know you're in my district in sacramento county and from what i've learned about nicole , she loved serving our country. she loves serving humanity e and when i think about what i love i don't think about this as a democratic or republican issue, i think about what our values are of democracy and t the obligations we have in terms of security . mister secretary i want to applaud you and the administration. you acknowledged that the world has changed. there are new threats out there and the coalition

building with the administration keeping it together and protecting and preserving the freedom of the arabian people and the country. i also want to applaud the trilateral alliance with japan and korea which is at a very different place today then we came into office. and in this 21st century secure architecture it will take coalition of values of countries that share those values and the best way to serve her manner of memory is to continue to serve our american values. you're here to talk about the budget but the competition in that in the pacific, i appreciate the budget that you put forward. in our competition with the people's republic of china,

and the proposal there's 400 million in discretionary funding but there's also over $11 billion in funding that is part of our effort to actively compete with china. it's unusual to see mandatory group and i think staff informs me we will have to authorize legislation but i'd like to give you a chance to talk about why the mandatory funding is so important to our efforts to outcompete china. >> i think it reflects what i'm hearing from many members , democrats and republicans alike which is recognition that this is a generational challenge for us in our judgments discretionary funding alone will not help us get the job done in terms of competing china, where we are. we are providing in the

budget and the plan that goes along with it new and innovative ways to provide viable alternatives at scale that discretionary funding alone, when i say alternatives i think things around the world, existing partners need and are looking for and the united states hopefully can comply. we've got long-term projects that need funding upfront to cover longer period's then discretionary funding allows and the insulation from annual fluctuations for this discrete set of programs we think would be incredibly valuable. it's modeled on what we see as the success of the chips in science where the government was given money to work with other countries to secure semi conductor supply chains downstream as well as to try to make sure that countries that were developing information communications technology

were doing so in secure ways with trusted vendors of those networks were safe and secure . it replicated more broadly in the budget request. >> it sends a signal to not only the prc but to other countries in the region and certainly the 7.1 billion that there country have sends a strong signal that america is committed and we have their back and again, this committee will have to work on authorizing a bill which i will help but that language reflects the concern with china and we can do that and work with the situation to make sure that funding is there. just in the brief time i have left , can you talk about the importance of the trilateral relationship heand the place where i applaud the president for his leadership as well as

the prime minister. >> i share that view and for us to make sure our two closest allies and partners in the region, japan and korea not only are strengthening our relationships and partnerships but are doing so between themselves and among the three of us trilateral he to further enhance not only our security but our ability to get lots of things done around the world . of course dealing with challenges posed by china, north korea again in many other areas including humanitarian assistance and how to make a secure maritime, working in outer space together. there are multiple things we're doing through this trilateral coordination. president biden broughtthe two leaders together . >> the gentlemen's time is expired and i recognize myself, thank you mister secretary . i'm going to start the board behind me we had a database of individuals coming forward

to talk about their experiences withafghanistan . we had sergeant vargas andrews, amputee injured in the withdrawal of afghanistan . nobody asked his story even though nhe was at the tip of the spear of what happened in the withdrawal so we want to hear as we are doing oversight what happened in the withdrawal of afghanistan, we want to hear a story where there is it, whether this so they still stuck in afghanistan,with a marine, a soldier , somebody brought in to assist the department inaccept the cable, we want to hear from those individuals because it's important to us as we oversight over the withdrawal that we hear everybody's story which has not happened today i want to start with a couple of questions was july and inaugurated sworn in as president january 21st 2021 and where you confirmed?

and i do have a copy of ?your hearing. i want to reference one part with senator brown on page 38 that you actively state any withdrawal should be based on contingencies, would you agree ? >> that was certainly the preferred course. >> moving backward in time, president trump was, rather his team in doha that secured an agreement with the transfer taliban. his agreement for parts guarantees an n enforcement mechanism that would prevent the use of soil of afghanistan by any group or individual against the security of the united states and its allies.thst so the president agreed there needed to be conditions, you agreed there needed to be conditions . every member of this committee so far today has

asked about afghanistan to include yourself bringing it up and i want to ask right now will you get a commitment you will come back here to discuss omthis typically the withdrawal of afghanistan? >> we will make sure going forward to work with this committee waand i can the state department will be recommending engagement. >> will you come back and answer questions about the withdrawal of afghanistan. e>> i'm not going to prejudge. >> we think you should answer questions on afghanistan. >> i will answer questions on afghanistan one way or another. >> will you answer questions on doha. i think you answered yourself will you come back here if invited to answer questions. >> i look forward to making sure i and other members of the state department provide the information needed by this committee on afghanistan . >> i hope you do a better job of that and you have done to date.

on april 14, president biden announced the full withdrawal of all us troops from afghanistan, do you know the date heannounced that ? >> the dates he announced. >> yes, september 1. >> he announced it by september 11. so not early september, by september 11, that's not just a day. >> underscores the fact that the mission. >> enough the withdrawal of september 11. >> your correct. let's not be bashful. >> my recollection is your correct . >> nkhe said that i concluded it is time to end america's longest war, i concluded another quote from him. i called president bush to inform him of my decision to withdraw from afghanistan,

was the president by his decision? >> he was as commander-in-chief. >> one other question here, and this is specific to the s withdrawal. on june 24 of that year it was announced and president by that we would be drawing down the 650 troops visited lake to provide security for diplomats after the main military forcepolice withdrawal . here's my question. of anybody that has ever spent five minutes or five hours in afghanistan, what idiot would believe it is smart to remove the military force and leave the diplomats behind and obviously it ended with them 50 days later bringing back 50,000, 80,000 troops. >> pursuant to the agreement

with the previous administration which call for the withdrawal of all our forces. >> what idiot decided to pull out the main fighting force before pulling out the diplomats resulted in 3000 2000additional troops being sent back into afghanistan, was a decided . >> ppursuant to the agreement reached by the previous administration ... >> par for the course, thank you for answering my questions today and i look forward to more of them later . i'm going to recognize mister phillips. mister phillips is here. >> thank you mister secretary i lost my father in the vietnam war when i was six months old in 1969. just last week i was able to visit that country. on the other side of the globe and actually go to the very dirt on which he took his last breath and as you

imagine it was one of the most meaningful experiences of my entire life. i returned to washington on a bill sponsored by tax that honors goldstar familiesto look at the small children , american children in the eyes who lost loved ones in iraq and afghanistanand i want to honor you gave so much of yourself in that effort . so it's an awfully difficult thing to do and all of us every goldstar family, brother sister mother father wondering if it was worth it, i want to thank you for being so dedicated personally and professionally to doing your best to ensure the community of goldstar families does not expand and i would ask my colleagues on this committee as we litigate the past and what we've learned from our mistakes and we strung a lot of them that we spend equal time and energy to ensure monday children who lost their moms and dads interact and afghanistan also returned

to a country that's seeing growth and prosperity in no small part because of our investments and to that and mister secretary i want to speak about flexibility that you need. let's take advantage of opportunities and windows whenever i the east which is proposed in a new budget would allow you to respond to opportunities as they might emerge in that region of the world. i'm curious how you envision using such a program and how those decisions would be made between students with usaid. >> this funding in particular , the flexibilities go a long ak way to take advantage of opportunities that, to use our democracy and development program to further peace, further security and o try to create virtuous cycles. i think the chairman before

referenced the abraham records. we have been working assiduously both to help the root of the existing partnerships that have come on the floor as well as to expand the circle and part of that has been something we put together last year called negative forum that brought together israel, united arab emirates, egypt and that in so doing it focused on concrete projects among those countries to include the palestinians that can effectively improve the lives of their citizens so some of the funding we have that we are asking for would be to go to support those kind of programs and put together another program that brings interestingly israel and india together. it draws it in but across the board, we're looking at

programs and flex abilities that allow us to address the needs of the livelihoods, security and opportunity for people because when you provide that , you take away one of the usual instigators for conflict, for instability, for things that inevitably one way or another draws others to spend more money. >> i have high hopes for that and i hope we can achieve it. my second question is relative to special immigrant visas in afghanistan. i don't think i'm the only one who's receiving an extraordinary number of calls to our offices from people trying their best to fulfill our promise to those who supported our efforts in afghanistan or dismayed and troubled by the challenge in obtaining those so what is the state doing to affect them, do you need more

resources, is there anything we can do because it is a great challenge for all of us and i think we are missing an important opportunity to fulfill our promise t. >> we are determined to get this right and we've dedicated resources to make sure we are doing that. we have well over 100 people at the department whose sole focus is this program as well as helping others at risk get out of afghanistan. we have at present a process you know very well that is pursuant to legislation over many years with a dozen or so requirements o. in terms of moving people through the usaid process and we've worked to streamline that, totry to make it more effective . we haven't present on a large number of people in the ppipeline, most of those in the pipeline are the pre- admission stage of this. that's the point at which is

determined whether in fact they've met the requirements of the program. typically when you have people in the pipeline we found historically unfortunately about half of them washouts which is to say it turns out they're not eligible. sometimes it's because they are genuinely not. people are trying to get in through that program and one of the problems. >> the gentlemen's time has expired. thank you mister phillips. the chair recognizes mister buck for five minutes. >> i think the chair, thank you for being here. during our freshman orientation when i first got to congress the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff sort of informed us of the various histories of war. it started on land and it went from aland and water to see , toair . we are now faced with an

expanded area of warfare. we're looking at evidently cyber war and space war . it's clear that before during and after russia's illegal invasion of ukraine they used cyber warfare to try to shut down government functions including public utilities, to try to shut down the banking system, health care system and other areas. it is clear that cyber war is an integral part of any of our adversaries strategies. in addition, facebook isn't allowed in china. the communist party has banded . western search engines aren't allowed in china. no netflix in china no wall street journal in china both being banned bythe communist party . american businesses like microsoft word can only operate after implementing engines restrictions to show the ccp's commitment to

stiflingoutside ideas and isolate information in china . america does not place similar restrictions on chinese companies or force them to serve under such onerous conditions. s bite dance is owned and operated by the communist party and is the parent company of tiktok, to companies that gather information aboutamerican citizens . evidence shows tiktok collect the names, phone numbers, email addresses, biometric data, facial recognition, keystroke logging that can yield bank information as well as personal medical histories, search history and proclivities, content of messages . purchasing information about what products somebody has

purchased, types of information board on a mobile device. text messages, videos and any device on the clipboard. users activitieson website and ask . mister secretary, my question ultimately will be about whether we should ban tiktok and i should pronounce it right in the united states. it's clear to me and most people that cyber warfare is a part of any future conflict with china. china particularly the ccp is an enemy or adversary depending on what language you want to use of the united states. communist china is gathering information that can be used in cyber war and does not

allow us companies to operate online apps in china. doesn't it make sense to band tiktok and capcut in the us? >> let me say as a preliminary matter we went back to july 2021, the state department prohibited the use on our devices of tiktok of third-party vendors from using it to create or manage accounts and we've been coordinating with partners across the board on data security policy to make sure they're aware of the problem and as for thelarger question , from my understanding is what's been proposed was insisted on is the divestment of tiktok by the parent company and whether that answers the demand i'm beyond

the capacity to evaluate but clearly tewe the administration and others are seized with the challenge that's proposed and aretaking action to address it .>> you say the challenge it poses, is it a threat to united states security and shouldn't a threat be banned, they do it to us, why shouldn't we do it to them m. >> it should be ended but there's different ways of doing that . >> i yield back. >> the chair recognizes mister kemp. >> thank you mister chairman, thank you for coming before us. i wanted to ask you or start with a question about ukraine . last year we passed in this body the langley efforts when it comes to ukraine but i haven't really heard anything about this ever since i guess i wanted to ask you and use, how are we trying to

integrate that into the efforts we're trying to deal with with ukraine ? >> i'm not aware that that particular one has been used today. thanks to the incredible support from congress on a bipartisan basis in fact the incredible support from the american people provided there is significant security risk to ukraine, not only that we value other countries , the security assistance we provide mostly through drawdowns from his existing accounts as answer needs of the ukrainians as well as the work that our partners are doing and in addition there are direct sales but the main focus has been the drawdown dod h. >> if you don't mind i'd love to follow up with your team as well as with the pentagon about what was that determination that does not need to be used but you and i could agree we want to make

sure we're being asked forward leaning as we can in a critical year for ukraine. if it does drag on that's something that very much benefits, benefits russia and they have the ability to this out but we have to make tosure that coalition ends there. i want to switch gears a little bit. i had a meeting recently with my constituents s and they were raising their concerns about how russia was spending from the start, how we are seeing increased nuclear weapon development by china it feels like this place we are starting to slide again after progress over previous decades on nuclear nonproliferation , drawing back down you and i were both dads of young kids and i worry that my kids are going to grow up in an era with just an even greater threat of nuclear weapons so i want

to get a sense of how central isthis in your prioritization thinking about global competition . >> i think we have seen backsliding when it comes to arms control and nonproliferation because countries have chosen to move in the wrong direction . you mentioned a new start, that was a regrettable and irresponsible decision as the agreement benefited both our countries in terms of its visibility it gave us of course the limitations. the russians say they will continue to abide by a but in absence of the verification measures that makes it more challenging to be sure. across the board we've seen movements backwards but at the same time we have been, the united states has been deeply engaged with the nonproliferation treaty of those countries and at the last review conference we took 's to strengthen the nonproliferation regime. same with the biological weapons convention and it

remains a strong core for countries that want to make sure those agreements are held. >> we're seeing rising challenges when it comes to this competition vis-c-vis china and russia but you were at the table with them, is there any appetite all as we increase this competition which continues to increase to take some of that nuclear weapon concern off the table? >> there is on our behalf. i've engaged oour chinese counterpart on this repeatedly saying that we should at the least work on greater safety security visibility. risk reduction. >> they are rapidly increasing their stocks, there still significantly lower than where the united states and russia are so it feels iklike an opportunity to

presson it . >> i agree with you. the same with russians despite the aggression in ukraine, despite the other areas where we are obviously on polar opposite sides of re things we've said all along we believe it's imperative to sustain and build on arms control agreements cause it's in the interest of the world and the american people. >> i don't have any more otime left but i want to follow up after this about t what we can do to make the visit of the south korean president as successful as possible. that's key as we talk about regarding korea so thank you. >> the chair recognizes mister pritchett. >> many of the documents you're providing are heavily redirected. here's one of the documents you produced yesterday with no explanation for the reaction. that looks like the kennedy

assassination files for a ufo file honestly, i think it's a joke . can you explain whyit was redacted ? >> i cannot intel what the document is, i'm sure if there's concern about reactions edwe will go. >> i am raising them. this one behind me on my right seems to be talking points document with redacted answers . a can you give us reason why the department redacted this information. >> without the specific document i can't answer that. >> your attorneys told them it should be grateful having received any documents at all after a month and is exceptional for the state to respond to any germans letter organizing the meeting. that's an insult to congress, and insult to transparency. it should be an insult to the media . i believe goldstar families and veterans deserve these answers. do you think your attorneys

was appropriate anyway. >> i can't it but what i can tell you is this, i'm determined to make sure this committee receives the information they need particularly to conduct oversight. second as a matter of long-standing practice at least in my understanding that previously before the committees have been organized the executive branch did not engage with those committees. nonetheless despite that we began to work on requests before thitting organized in an effort to get ahead of things. >> i would suggest what you need and what you say you need is in direct conflict with what congress is asking for. you stated the climate crisis is at the center of your policy. the war on ukraine, fentanyl and tensions with taiwan,

iran, mexican cartels, violence against americans and the caliban controlling afghanistan is that stillyour central policy . >> distill the issues, the statement we listed reflect the priorities we are focused on. >> are there us sanctioned personnel in ukraine and ifso why are they receiving tax dollars ? >> i'm not aware of that, i welcome any information . >> tax dollars going to ukrainian pensions, how is that any in any way justifiable? >> the program of assistance to ukraine as on the ground right now in my embassy or the seven percent responsible only for oversight. we sent a report by inspector general's office looking at the oversight of the taxpayer funds in ukraine .

the report was positive in terms of the work being done to make sure money is being spent as well as wisely. at the same time we have in place a process for example that taxpayers provide that goes through a world bank program that only disperses money upon receipts or for authorized expenditures and we have third-party validator's to include their working directly with the ministry of finance. >> i appreciate that but we can't find medicare and where funding ukrainian pensions. let me move on. i constituents of mine staff sergeant ryan cassie, the last person who was killed in afghanistan and anti-gay, why can't his family know the full story of his death? can somebody get with me on that? it's aggravating to me that the family is there, they are neighbors of mine h.

>> i appreciate that and would refer you to i think other departmentsthat would be able to help . >> are you aware of chinese spy equipment on us infrastructure particularly in the gulf of mexico and what's your plan to stop the chinese buying on domestic infrastructure ? >> this is at the top of our priority list. making sure any adversary competitor be engaged in undermining our cyber security and we're dealing with that effectively both in terms of our government institutions and my department where we elevated that as a priority as well as partners around the world. >> what's your plan to stop it. >> we are engaged with countries including mexico to make sure they do not take on trusted vendors in their on communications networks in ways that impacts our security. >> this is on us infrastructure.

>> i refer you to the department of homeland security and other agencies that focus on it and i look forward to seeing information you have to follow up on it . >> the chair recognizes miss manning. >> thank you mister chairman and thank you mister secretary for being with us for your service. mister secretary we are experiencing a frightening global rise in anti-semitism including violent attacks against jews and jewish institutions, the spreading of conspiracy theories on line and scapegoating of jews for the pandemic, for a wide variety of problems and rater peril were jews around the world. the pew research center released a report with evidence of increased anti-jewish hate and harassment in 94 countries around the world adl released a report showing a dramatic increase in anti- hatred and violence across the us

including on college campuses . we had our special envoy to monitor anti-semitism a highly highly qualified and motivated person has embraced her job and traveled around the world but we understand from her office is hampered by a lack of resources. they are having to use contract people rather than be able to hire their own staff asking for a commitment from you to evaluate whether additional funding is needed for her office as we have requested in a letter to increase the resources for that office to work on this critical issue. >> first of all i share dyour deep concern about this both personally as well as professionally. second the ambassador, we are fortunate to have her leading our efforts in this generation on the question she's doing a remarkable job and third we work to make sure the resource is there. >> awe have a very active

bipartisan task force to combat anti-semitism in the house and have engaged with the second gentleman and are anxious to work with the biting administrations interagency task force and we hope you will be engaged in back as well . i want to go to something my colleague raised. you detailed yothe very important work being done to strengthen theabraham records in response to his comments . with the working groups that have come out of the summit the opportunity for countries to work together on issues that are critical to building a strong relationship and stronger economy for all those countries. the one major player that did not join the accords is saudi arabia and we hope bringing saudi arabia into the accords with what enhance the

effectiveness of those records and create an alliance to counter the maligned activity of iran as we all know china recently brokered a deal between china and saudi arabia, how do you view that the moment and what impact do you think it would have on the future growth of the abraham records ? >> saudi arabia and iran have been talking for severalyears . those relations were cut off i think back in 2016 when saudi arabia puts that on the cleric and there was an attack on iran. they've been talking a lot in baghdad . in terms of china, to the best of our understanding how they have in effect closed in the final session that led to the agreement. nothing more, nothing less.

to the extent that agreement if included that's the question if implemented actually does reduce some tensions and herbs some of the deeply objectionable iranian behavior particularly for example i tax on saudi arabia facilitating tax by the huthis, that would be a good thing and efforts around the world to include china if they act responsibly to bring countries together to less intentions, reduceconflict that's a good thing . i have some questions about et whether this would be implemented . on the abraham records i don't think it's affects them which is to say we are very focused both on deepening the accords among the existing participants and broadening it of course as israel makes no secret.

if saudi arabia would sign on and that remains an objective . president biden's trip to saudi arabia i think those further and we will look to see in the months ahead more progress on that and that would be good for israel and good for the arabia. >> i do have specific questions about your budget with regards to the middle east and north africa and we will submit those to your office. thank you and i yield back. >> the chair recognizes mister barr. >> in the readouts from your february 18 meeting with the top chinese diplomat is noted you raised this as a violation of us sovereignty. we thank you for that but it's clear from our own state department bcc never gave an explanation for the balloon in your meeting this meeting to their understanding they

said the way for the resumption of future high-level dialogue between the two sides and the two countries can now talk to the balloon issue come back to the negotiating table. that does not sound like you offered any deterrence whatsoever for future so incursions into our airspace. why is that concern because this balloon flew over our nuclear triad, warren air force base, offutt air force base, fort leavenworth kansas, for leatherwood misery, fort campbell in my state of kentucky, georgia, shaw air force base carolina, joint air force base charleston south carolina. this spy balloon should have been shot down as soon as it entered the airspace on january 28.

tell me specifically what your plan is to prevent further prc incursions into the ushomeland . >> we told our chinese counterparts and i told them directly the balloon lying over the united states was unacceptable and could not happen again taand we were certain to make sure it doesn't. not only that as you know we were able to dispose of the entire program that affected 40 countries across five continents resulting in not just us going into china and making clear their opposition to what china was doing and its unacceptability so i think the fact that that program has been exposed edto the world to see as clearly put the brakes on it and we will take whatever action is appropriate to the security of the united states and in this particular circumstance we made a determination first

of all that when it was clear the balloon was flying over sensitive sites we made a determination to protect those sites with measures that were taken and make sure that the earliest opportunity that it does not in danger of population on the ground and that's exactly what we did. >> i appreciate your dialogue and as you've noted not not that we were expecting an apology but the fact that we didn't shoot it down before it entered our airspace over the pacific, knows the atlantic was an position for further incursion. deterrence requires force when our sovereignty is at issue let me move on to another question . this week's than chinese leader xi jinping reinforced the limit between those and he described it as a chapter from relations . they are saying this was

portrayed in china as a bold initiative to create anew world order . in your meeting of china's top diplomat wong you warned about the implications and consequences of china providing materials to russia for its ongoing invasion of ukraine but on february 27, we finally received a required report from my adversaries getting full and classified as russia's illegal invasion of ukraine and were said russian records indicated prc firms have provided russian cities with dual use costs can be used in russia's fusion of this war against ukraine, is issued he , government owned defense companies, new york times since russia's invasion of ukraine china saw more than 12 million drones to the country and then according to

trade customs data chinese companies including one connected to the governments of beijing sold russian entities assault rifles that could be used for military purposes so my question is why are you saying on february 18 you're just warning of consequences for providing russian material support when the state department comes out with years worth of unclassified evidence china's material or? >> focused on legal material support . >> what legal support. >> we are tracking the provision by a private enterprise of dual use technology to the officer. >> i think we need to sanction china legal support. it's not just buying the oil and gas. we have workers and legal support now we need to get tougher on the ccd. they are financing this war

in russia and providing legal support in according to trade customs data. i urge this administration to follow soon you'll back. >> chair recognizes mister phileas mccormick, i got that back. >> thank you so much for being here. the political and economic climate in haiti, the situation is so severe that 20,000 people are facing basic insecurity, the first in our history. this insecurity is driving up the cost of delivering the. humanitarian access led ngos and civil society are working tirelessly to meet the needs of people but a political solution is required to address bullshit this places and conditions is january to march 531 people were killed and 300 five gang incidents

how is the budget reflects the apartments outlook on political solutions to the crisis in he does it prioritize ? >> we have at least two not inmore intersected problems that you point to. we need a political way forward in haiti that produces a fully government enables it to do business with the asian people at the same time the absence of security, is very hard for patients to move forward on a political track nevermind elections and the profound insecurity is driven primarily by the fact that gangs have authority over critical parts of the press, other major cities. gangs who are doing in many cases the dating of political and other elites. and at the same time are overwhelming in many cases the asian national police and working on things to try to reverse the situation. one nexus between gangs with

a very focused sections approach to go with those elites and not just us, canada and other countriesare focused on doing this with us . secondly and working to work in the low asian national police other countries through provision of equipment, etc. that has been a challenging process. we continue to work on more needs to be done third our diplomats are engaged with the asian governments and key stakeholders in haiti to try to move forward on the political track and try to find some kind of agreement among them including with the montana group that would allow them to move forward with elections assumed that the security situation improves. so we're working on all those tracks resources in the to provide it primarily functions in the smallest of

our policy also policy with other countries engaged in theasian people . >> also this week writing member rodriguez and i introduced that the criminal collusion transparency act which requires the state to submit an annual on criminal gain and political economic elites in haiti and imposing sanctions on political economic elites inthe involved in such activity . how is the budget address the corruption taking place in the in addition to your asset using any advancescaused a transition ? >> i think youóimportant point that this nexus is critical. that's exactly what our focus has been primarily targeting those duties supporting gangs were trying to use them for their own purposes including denying them the ability to

come into the united states, going after other assets, many of these people in question left to go back and forth so i head focus has some real potential and as i said, our diplomats are deeply engaged working both with, with holders like the montana to see if we can support and read way forward to theactions . >> eei've led the charge on many issues concerned with he, a few of my colleagues were briefed on the situation in haiti. in the present there were many consultations about potential interventions. does this budget have any allow any money for the potential advancements in haiti? >> what we're looking at and we're talking to a number of other countries to include canada is what would be necessary to again help strengthen the haitian national police and help improve the security environment that the political process can move forward. it's been the discussion of

some kind of multinational force without the united nations, something we're actively participating in. the president will be going to canada tonight in fact to pursue conversations with the canadian government about what we might do along with other countries in the region to support that we're looking at the best ways we can find in to deal with the insecurity problem. we are looking at additional measures that need to be taken if that's the case and where not there yet, we will make sure they're properly released. >> my final question which i'll be submitting about the files where seeing in haiti and we will be dressing that. s >> the gentle lady yields, chairman recognizes mister green . >> ..

we talked about things your department did a wonderful job inviting input the secondly i think you should own some of the stakes, would give you incredible credibility if he did. both mistakes made mistakes being made. one of the worst decisions and i want to take the opportunity to show this, i think the state department made, abandoning the corporation agreements, negotiated guatemala, also from honduras in the previous administration.

i think this was one of the first actions he took in office in february of one of the most damaging to our only security and i speak as the chair of that committee. as you know there currently no legal mechanisms to return a migrant to transitory country way to the united states. despite the ministering crisis on the border withry mexico you withdrew from the central agreements with allies stemming human trafficking and the flow of illegal drugs through central america and i think shameful and preventable. the border chief recently gave testimony to the committee on homeland security and he didn't divide empowerment of the cartel using waves of people to control five of the nine sectors on the southwest border, one of the reasons to return people and this is a complete utter disaster on many of the metrics

in the budget process say support. he said you are pursuing free secure open prospers world but i want to tell you don't get a prosperous free world when you allow cartel to smuggle narcotics and traffic migrants across the western mr. into our country. you've allowed relationships for latin american countries to i deteriorate. i look at the metastasis of cuba's layla across latin america. recently, here is an example, mexico with increasingly becoming lawless public of the cartel's almost, mexican military recently illegally seized private property of american company, a company with significant presence in my district in tennessee and rather than working to stop the violent cartels and the conventional

taking american lives, mexico is using military law enforcement to occupy private property of american citizens and businesses it is unacceptable and shows how perpetual this was sometimes portrayed in this administration is emboldening the mexican government lawlessness. my first question is on fentanyl and it's killed 70000 americans last year the mexican cartels primarily use chinese source precursor chemicals in what is the most surveilled society on the planet. they can't tell us where that'sl coming from. i'd like to ask what steps 2023 department23 plans to take to counter the cartels production and trafficking of fentanyl into the united states. >> thank you, appreciate, i share not only deep concern, it's an absolute top priority for us as i know it is for you as you pointed out. fentanyl is the number one killer of americans 1949.

we see the consequences of community after community and we seized more that's the last year to kill every single american so we are -- >> i don't mean to interrupt, you do understand those increased seizures are the neutralization, they are flooding crossing sites so your numbers are going to go up, cvp put at the crossing sites because they have to because the waves run by the cartel allowing him fentanyl, the dollarta price of fundable in my district according to sheriff's with from $85 and generate a 21 to $28 so the supply you get -- >> i do appreciate that. this is usually important and want to work with you on this. we are engaged in a copperheads of approach in the things we are doing at home to reduce demand and increased treatment are usually important and necessary insufficiency. the border itself you know from

your work at least according to dhs about 90% -- 95% coming into the database for mexico is coming through legal points of entry. we have technology you i know are well aware of to detect efforts to smuggle through points of entry, the fentanyl being deployed. third, we working with yl mexico to try to disrupt the cartel to dismantle places fentanyl is manufactured. mexico usually is a security challenge, that's no secret. they put increased resources in, seizures of fentanyl are up, forces they've deployed to deal with it are up, we put together last year a joint program bring resources together to deal with this in mexico to include other agencies, let me quickly two things, third because your report, international component is usually important like us to china.

one thing we know is happening his legal precursors are being diverted into illicit use to synthetic opioids like fentanyl so i've seized the g20, 20 leading economies in the worldnt to include china on this, we had a meeting where for the first time fentanyl was put center on the agenda will establish a working group to bring companies and private sector together to work on one of the things we can do effectively that we haven't in the past, information sharing, labeling, know your customer the company's unintentionally having alex diverted into legal use willnt have a way of dealing more effectively. one way or another we need to bring china in. my hope would be profitably but in the absence of that we have to look at other steps to make. >> on a separate note, i like to connect with your office about cyber stuff that sits in both as i straddle on this great

committee chairman is only security ideas to run by you. >> thank you. >> the chair recognizes christine. >> thank you and i think you and the member will for this hearing today, welcome secretary. missus herrera, i wanted to offer my heartfelt simply and heartbreak of our nation of sgt. nicole gate. a beautiful and powerful woman. we share i think the chairman for allowing to express more information about what the state department is doing about my colleagues concern about fundable and illicit use of the precursors as well as closing as you pointed out 85% of fentanyl pouring in thegh country is comg through legal ports of entry. sadly many times in the hands behind the wheel of an american so i wanted to let you know we recently begun bipartisan

fentanyl preventionno focus, loh to work with you and the state department. represent a pice of the committee, jonah andep i are cochairing that. thank you and look forward to doing. in theoo little time to have wanted to but what i read last night in your testimony and what you said again today, we make at inflection points, there's competition underway to determine what comes next. united states has a positive vision for the future, a world that is, secure, open and prosperous hand thank you and the administration for that patient, that mission. you also really and this is about your request and i want to root my questions in your budget request to be as effective as we can pave the budget will help push back on advancing democratic backsliding. two areas the world of conflict i want to talk about that is quite different, ukraine and

israel. in both cases united states is hthe indefensible nation. israel near the ukraine, that's what everyone tells us, it is not a party statement, it's a statement of truth. i'm proud of the of menstruation to bring together 50 nations for ukraine and by ambition like so many others is this indispensable nation bringing together a coalition bring an end to the work as quickly as possible and it not be sustained war so tell us about the state department budget request and look in the budget request do? what can the demonic efforts do and are doing right now make sure we bring a quick end to the war in ukraine? >> thank you. first, we didn't want y this fo,

we did everything possible to try to prevent it. i engaged in intense diplomacy my russian counterparts inserted other numbers of the administration. we tried to address concerns russians purportedly had about security as we insisted they address ours. unfortunately became apparent and you have to take my word for it, president putin says it directly but it's never about concerns russia had about security from nato or ukraine of all things. it was always about putin's belief ukraine is not an independent country, needs to be erased from the bed and assumed into russia ass a russian empire and that's exactly what he set out to do and what we stopped. ukraine's independence and sovereignty is clearly established, not going anywhere. ukrainians are not going anywhere but of course where this settled and how is usually important. in my judgment and the judgment of the administration we want to see peace although ukraine is

one of more than anyone, they are subject to this everyday but it needs to be addressed in peace, a peace that reflects basic principles that underline the system of united nations integrity, sovereignty, independence and needs to be durable in the sense that don't want this to settle in a place where it's easy for russia to refit and re- attack six months, a year or two later so the limits of critical. if we saw any indication that russia was ready and prepared for diplomacy to end the aggression would jump on it. what we seen today is the absence of that. >> forgive me because my time is so short i want to ask you about israel, another country took with his own secret without and thera threat of its erasure but struggling internally. i want to echo thehe words of president biden in new york times last month, the genius of american democracy and israeli

democracy is that they are both built on strong institution, checks and balances an independent judiciary as we know, there are troubling crises in israel, what is it the united states can do? and others in conversation or conversations held yesterday to push back against what's going on to undermine institutions and undermine independent judiciary there. , what are we going to move forward with the two state solution, is there any hope?th >> we see vibrancy of israel's democracy everyday as they have this debate about the future of their judiciary that's to israel's credit as israel's closest friend and strongest supporter, we talk about these issues all the time and as president biden said i think aptly and eloquently for both of

us when with the significant reforms, i think we both found in history the best way to have a sustainable outcome and support is to find consensus which usually requires compromise on all sides so our hope is that's what they will do but it's not for us to tell them what to do or how they should do it, they have a strong democratic system. >> your time has expired. we want to keep you on time so the chair recognizes ms. kim. >> thank you, chairman. thank you secretary blinken for being here, it is good to see you. the biden administrationch highlightedd as critical to u.s. national security. in the biden national security threat strategy the end of specific important highlighted stating no region will be of more significance to the world

of everyday americans than the indo pacific". yet the fiscal year 2024 to provide programs budget east asia and pacific affairs was the fourth largest girl. why is it the department is saying indo pacific is the most important region for training at as the fourth most important? >> thank you. i think you are right, for us this is the most dynamic growing region in the world, generating 75% of economic growth in recent years. trading partners and strategically usually important and we are a pacific nation ourselves but precisely because of the, we have infused the work we are doing in the indo pacific across all of our bureaus to all as a result, we have european affairs bureau, expertise can work with colleagues in europe

to make sure we are coordinated in approaching these issues in the same way. >> i want to know what resourcee you intend to use to support human rights stopping genocide and other acting minorities by this. >> i agree and it's a central focus of our diplomacy. we've put a spotlight on the genocide against uyghurs and other minorities and the abuses committed. we have declared it such an rallied other countries to sanction china for the actions it's taking there which has resulted in reactions from beijing against the countries including economic coercion which we are combating. we have our own human rights report i put out every single year including last week include other things continues to highlight andnd expose it. >> thank you for highlighting

that and i want to talk about the important issue in taiwan area, last year i spearheaded got signed into law the delivery solution act that calls upon thn state department to find ways to expedite sales to taiwan in your budget your propose a budget increase for the feel of political military affairs that oversees the foreign military sales so what is the state department's plan to use that proposed increase in budgets to speed up sales to taiwan? we are thankful the biden administration stated we will allow taiwan market it underscores the need to delivera what they purchased and paid for. >> i appreciate that and appreciate what you did. one thing we worked on and i've directed is to look what we can do as part of the process to streamline the work we t are dog

on our sales for couple of reasons. one as you noted, is so important in the case of taiwan needs to deter and defense against aggression but we also have countries in different parts of the world rethinking lost relationships with other countries particularly russia and looking to see what direction they might move in. part of that goes to making sure they have equipment they need to defend themselves and often close to us so we look at this across the board. first, if you look at what is going on, the longest pool when it comes to production, process issues are real and we are looking to streamline but principally the longest pool by far is the actual production for a variety of reasons. a big focus on that. >> i appreciate that but i have one important issue i want to

bring up but i do want to thank you but please find out what the delay is and let's deliver what they paid for. even hernandez is an attorney wrongfully detained in venezuela in march 2022. last year i sent a letter led by representative bass going on the president biden's necessary steps to bring him home. can you provide with an update on this wrongful detention and steps your administration is taking to secure his release? >> i share your determination to bring any wrongfully detained american home. i spoke with the family myself i think late january, we have a team i think you know well that engages with the family on a regular basis led by roger carson. he and had a venezuela, multiple

occasions to secure the release of those wrongfully detained. you were able to bring home a number of americans detained by an israeli. we will continue that until we bring any others home. thank you for keeping a spotlight on the. >> ms. jacobs. >> thankl you for joining us, great to see you. we've heard a lot of talk about afghanistan, a key thing out of our last hearing on afghanistan was the need for the state department to be resourced to have the capacity to the missions we are asking toav do d i think part of that is congress looking at how we have historically underfunded and under invested in the state department and velvet efforts. as we move forward to look at competition from affluent to make sure we don't make the same mistakes so if you look at investment in the state department the past ten years, how would you characterize them

versus the need? >> it won't surprise you while we have made progress especially the last two years which i'm grateful for on a bipartisan basis, we can always do more and should always try to do more. of course we have to be responsible stewards of taxpayer money. the budget we put forward i think is a reflection of what wo believe we need to not only sustain cut strengthen these programs and look forward to working with congress hopefully to achieve it. >> i appreciate that and i am supportive of the 14% increase you've asked for. if you look at the past ten years, how does it compare with that of china?

have they been increasing investments in development and diplomacy? >> dramatically. we've seen a dramatic investment by china in terms of resources they put in as well as presence. one reason we are determined to build back buildup our presence in the pacific islands is because they are there and was opened up the islands and we are looking at tonga, we need to be there but across thee board we see this but i want to make it clear, when it comes to investments china is making, they have the ability in their system to direct statet

resources. system is different. what we can do effectively is serve as a catalyst primarily for the private sector to be more engaged in critical areas and we have tools like the development of finance corporation critical to doing that. one thing we like to see is lifting some of the existing restrictions to better deploy equity investments which will leverage ten times, 100 times from the private sector, that's our comparative advantage. >> we are the port of of us as well. i was hoping you could talk to the committee how the disparity in the way we invested in diplomacy and the way china invested diplomacy, impacting our ability to compete around the world. >> part of it goes to our actual presence and appreciate new authorities have for the state department to establish and find

ways to manage risks in a reasonable way including construction of new facilities but itak does go not just to the present the resourcing of the programs and we have to be smart and effective by which i mean one. leveraging partners and allies. one thing we've done for example, minimum. partnership, who put together a coalition to pull information and pool resources in the countries are making investments around thes world in critical minerals we want to make sure no country has a monopoly on given how important they are including semiconductors. >> as the ranking member of the subcommittee, i can tell you q i've heard from partner countries noticed lack of s american countries and other places and eager to see presence grow. the quickly, i appreciated you

mentioned in your opening remarks about medic support and security act, my bill passed last term which we leave and incentivized, has this been action to the overseas doublepl medic court? >> toe the foreign double medic war? yes, very much and i think i recently referred to these new authorities in communication with our personnel, you have people around the world who want to make sure we are leaning in and make sure we have the ability to do that while managing risk appropriately. my top five is looking up the security and safety of our people but want to make sure you engaged in managing risks in a smart way. >> i appreciate that and look forward to looking to make sureo they have what they need to get the folks out and do their job.

>> wonderful to see you again. the countries in latin america, love you to short answer because we have five minutes. many can. to address theai concerns raised but got to where we thought it was important to make sure -- put in the economy, tourism is specifically you need proof you cannot having said that, you have the power to retract the band, are you planning to do that anytime soon? >> we will do it -- >> the fact we can ask for proof to us to provide evidence that

proves dominican republican government is expecting african americans and you have not provided anything. >> we will look to see what information we have. >> i've been asking you and you have not provided me she determinations are made and we work with them to try to addres- >> when you think you will make a decision to keep the ban or redress question. >> it depends on the facts. >> there are there are. >> what are you then provide the class that proof to you in the state department the big report affecting african americans? is also not a travel ban, it is. >> affecting a lot. >> there are multiple areas of concern. i will make sure to share. >> could you commit -- >> we will commit -- >> thank you. united states preparing to remove cuba from the list of terror states. that would>>ng mean the cuban re

would then have a series of more ability a to borrow money, oxygn estate planning remove cuba from a list of terror states, yes or no? >> we are not planning to remove them from the list. >> good. >> let me be clear, as you know, there's no automatic or required review. there are a number of members interested in this question. the law provides clear that syria to recent designations, extremely high bar to do that. >> to do you think up to this hour cuba has met or not met the high bar? >> clearly is not. >> good. that means you commit right now in public under oath the state department is not planning to remove cuba from the list of terrorists?

>> right commit to his if there is such a review is based on the law and criteria in the law established by congress and it is high bar. >> i interpret that you are not thinking of doing that in the n near future. thank you. let's go to argentina. there's a chinese military satellite station. chinese military satellite station, that sounds really scary because i'm sure the chinese are not looking at the source. all right. so last month your assistant secretary told me he'd never heard of it and we are talking about the size of 500 football fields so in 2019, a few years ago, the pentagon said it is a threat. no kidding, a chinese military satellite station in our hemisphere. you know anything about it? >> i'm happy to follow up on that and i was not here in 2019.

>> but you are ahead of the state department talking about satellite station next to us. >> we are focused around the world including our own hemisphere on concerns that we have about the placement. >> i'm asking, have you spoken with the argentinians? argentinians cannot even walk ia chinese military satellite station in argentina and the government cannot even visitat ? what you think the chinese are doing? >> i will follow up with you. >> what can we do about this? >> i will follow up with you. >> please do. thank you, sir. i think my time has expired to your benefit. thanks. >> let me say, the secretary has until 1:30 p.m., maybe a h litte longer.

i would ask we cannot get you see from the minority one that questions three minutes so i asked that everybody tried to be as brief as possible. the chair recognizes mr. stanton. >> thank you very much mr. chair, thank you for being here today. their topics are like to cover let me start with a simple thank you. brittney griner is in a foreign part of the arizona community, someone i know well, a friend of mine and i want to thank the president, the team at the state department the speed team as well as you personally for your commitment to securing herl return to the united states. my staff work closely with your team throughout the process but cannot say enough about how the professionalism and commitment to returning wrongfully detained americans, i am truly in awe. we both know there are many more wrongfully detained americans abroad including paul quillen and we committed to supporting you and giving you the tools to

work toward a return of the citizens. my first question on afghanistan, i'm sure you know better than anyone one of the most important things our nation needs and you need personally when carrying out double medic mission is quite ability. we issue a guarantee, who better deliver, and obligation to take care of those who helped protect our nation's security. two weeks ago the committee heard about continued struggles facing afghan allies including those who work alongside american forces and risk their own lives to keep americans s r safe. i've been working with a group of about 50 afghan women called female tactical platoon embedded with our cultural support teams and other units and problems securing their status here in the united states. the clock is ticking. if we don't secure permanent status soon, not only will we have fallen short and commitment to do what is right but i fear it will be remembered by the next group of people we asked to help us. can we count on your personal involvement with the administration to secure legal

status of afghan allies? >> yes, i support the afghan adjustment act. >> i want to turn nafta fentanyl, many because this is law enforcement issue but there's an important medic connection because our ability to fight the epidemic in our own country relies on cooperation from other countries. the chemicals used to make fentanyl that comes across our border originate in china, cooperation began to deteriorate between 2019 under the previous administration and continued on that path since. challenges of mexico as well. president lopez got all drug enforcement cooperation with united states in the last administration and continues to be a difficult partner. drug trafficking and violence by drug cartel is anar important issue as a representative from arizona and a need for diplomatic effort to see a meaningful impact. how's the state department is in pressure to recount mexico and

china's cooperation stopping the flow of drugs? met with regard to mexico, top of our agenda for the reasons we've discussed in terms of the number one threat for americans. last year we agreed with mexico to develop joint synthetic action plan to expand cooperation with mexico deal with the problem of fentanyl production and transit from mexico bring in not just law enforcement which is critical but things like health and trade and regulatory because when it comes to legal precursors going to elicit use, it's important to bring those as well. we stood that up and we've seen in mexico the last year a record number of seizures when it comes to fentanyl. we seen a record number of disruptions of the places where fentanyl is produced but it goes to that there is the seat of this stuff and you know very well you can produce it in a

room the size of the corner of this room so a massive effort the mexicans are engaged because we've restored putting police resources into it as well. i mentioned the imports of technology being deployed to the ports of entry of the border, 95% of budget is coming in, legal ports of entry and technology we have to screen for it is effective and we need to get more out there as soon as possible. we are working on it and i mentioned earlier for the first time i was able to get on the agenda, the 20 largest economies in the world including china fentanyl and synthetic opioids is an issue we need to work together will be established in the g20 on this and my own engagements with china, it's very much top of the agenda. we need cooperation one way or another and i hope it will come to cooperate. if not, we'll have to look at

other actions to elicit more cooperation particularly the diversion of precursors into elicit use. >> the chair recognizes -- >> thank you, mr. chairman. before i get into my questioning, i am compelled to say something about afghanistan. i represent one of those marines wasin injured. we owe these veterans and their families a deep explanation about what happened there. i agree with not satisfactory address that. i concur with the chairman said on that. i want to turn to the border, a lot of focus on the southern border, i want to talk about the northern border and those of us from michigan eastern border quite frankly, the great lakes recently myself and my democrat colleague brian higgins led a number of colleagues in a letter

regarding great lakes task force requesting president biden urging canadian counterparts to increase their share of funding intohe efforts that have gone io great lakes quality. great lakes quality agreement in 1954 convention on the great lakes fisheries which obligate both canada and the united states to provide funding for great lakes. fiscal year 2024 united states the great lakes restoration initiative on authorized level up for $25 million by comparison the government in canada a minute $32.97 million from just under $33 million between -- i'm sorry, 2017 and 2022 combined, so five years the gun 33 billion. letters requesting the president pursue this with his counterpart justin trudeau, i want to know

if you have the expectation the president will fulfill that request and i need to know about you and your commitment to doing that. >> yes and yes. i can tell you with been discussing this in your timing couldn't be better because as you probably know we are leaving this evening. i can assure you it will be on the agenda. >> i might be new to a the committee but not new to the issues. i have been chair of the u.s. canada parliamentary group for a number of terms now. sticking to our friends to the north expand a little bit, i want to talk about the arctic and arctic council, the eight countries that touch the arctic circle and above u.s. canada, russia, denmark through greenland, finland, sweden and iceland, there's something in the ottawa declaration that states explicitly the arctic council should t not deal with matters related to military

security yet russia's increased military presence and operations in the arctic and respondent by the military and other arctic states are one source of competition and tension that has come to the arctic according to the bbc russia under putin envisions a tollroad of sorts to transit across the northern sea with goods and energy from asian ports to ports in europe as part of that, he's militarized and nuclear rest arctic to ensure tips requiring access would have to rely on russia's icebreaking escort and we seen aggressive military behavior russia in that area. additionally according to bbc in february of 2023 canvas military has said it discovered evidence of chinese surveillance efforts in the arctic, buoys they believe china dropped in their. is it time to re-examine what

the partner agencies and partners in the arctic, allies, how we interact with them and as you know after the russian invasion it was pause, i want to know what the state department and administration plans to do to address those issues. >> i took part in the council meeting, we are committed and have a strategy who put out last octoberst which i'm happy for further discussion, our goal is to do what you can with the other countries to try to preserve the arctic as a peaceful and stable, prosperous cooperative place but if there are challenges to that to useful nature we need to deal with it. >> we have to dance a dance with

russia because they are part of the arctic council. china has to be at the forefront of the discussion of what's happening in the arctic and my time has expired.. i look forward to continuing the conversation. >> thank you, secretary blinken for your time and knowledge of the issues. in your written statements you talked about conflicts and challenges, great power competition. we spent three and a half hours, talking about the east and the west and the north and south dynamics, the world has changed greatly. africans are one eighth of the human race and less than 1% talking about the relationship going forward. could you share with us your thoughts we may be missing on the importance in the world? >> i appreciate that. you may know from ethiopians, my

third trip in africa, secretary including the vice president was almost quite literally on her way and as you know, to reflect the importance ofte africa where 20 years one in four people on this planet will be african. we put out a strategy last year and we have the summit where they've brought together the leaders of more than 40 countries. we made significant commitments and joint plans coming out of that summit. we've named the senior diplomat thatam is well known, johnny carson's to oversee the limitation of the agreement and commitment made at the summit and we are in many ways across many areas digging into building up and building out partnerships and that goes to a host of issues, some particularly urgent when it comes to food insecurity where we are not only working to

address immediate needs, the real focus we arerk trying to bring and this is what i've heard from african colleagues from out is the strong desire investments in theirs own sustainable reduction capacity engaging not only the government but private sector and the potential is enormous in many parts of africa not only to feed itselflf but other countries wih sustainable production. we are digging into trade investment and we have existing vehicles set to expire in 2025, a dramatic positive impact on the ability of african countries to trade including the united states and we would look to work with congress on that. at the same time there is a free trade area sending a, a usually important thing because we've had this abnormal situation where in the absence of these connections among african countries, they are doing more trade with countries outside of

africa and with each other it will help write the balance and investment from the united states and markets tied together. we are working with that with infrastructure including localen partnership on infrastructure investment projects focused on africa are going to do that. we have the challenge corporation invested think in significant ways to help african trade investment move forward, and ethiopia we've had -- one of the worst countries in africa, they are making a huge difference. for example paving 300 kilometers of road working to connect the common ability to trade in a common mark between the. a lot to be said about this and i welcome following up b particularly with the african leader summit. >> the 43 of 54 african leaders

were in russia this past week so you talk about new alliances and competition for the new market that they are speaking the relationship but the lastt question is the statement that i think we lose credibility when we let katie be so close and so far distance from them with the most powerful nation with the poorest nation at the border at our store. i'd like to know can move in like we have another countries without a host of cooperation to gain their independence in some of their democracy. >> chair recognizes mr. home. >> thank you for being here, grateful your participation. i want to talk on syria. twelve anniversary of the city and war russia and iran

well-known disputable and i am deeply concerned the administration has not been even more robust encountering creeping normalization in the admit to medical community to the asad regime. you've issued those countries you think arere romancing the phonetic relations. i'm concerned about the usaa, oman, egypt for the first time since 2011 so they been spoken to. >> they have including by me. >> i think it's important and we sent the wrong message. we talk about the catholic on act included in last year's national defense authorization committee requires an agency strategy with the state department to target, disrupt, degrade trafficking, you're

familiar withev this? >> i am and we are working on that and will submit a report. >> a major illicit drug producing country or drug transit country under foreign assistance act of 1961? >> need to come back but i can say the regime has the law are clearly a threat to public health rule of law by way of trafficking, notably of cap them so we are concerned and i can't tell you without looking at it. >> senator marshall and i wrote you, urging you to take a position and we never got an answer in writing the president did not add syria as a major drug producing country, i encourage that to be done this year. i think we are overwhelmed poisoning people and another reason i don't understand

diplomatic relations syria, we have 150 examples of seizures between january the 2022 and the date of our letter and 200 more between january and the day of the presidential determination, i'd like to submit the letter for the record. >> happy to come back to you on the. >> just recently fabric 2023 in uae 4.5 million bills interdicted so i think it's it is of concern and hope you look forward to working on that strategy. >> do you have a date? >> i can't give a date, we are actively working on it and will submit it and i'll come back to youra office. >> come back to my office if you would between now and first of may and let me know where you stand. let me yield the gentleman the balance of my time and yield to him.

>> i want to thank you administration for extending humanitarian role for ukrainians. i have a large community in my district and i applaud this. first question in 2016 obama administration recognized the genocide occurring against iraqi christians and other minorities. the trump of menstruation followed by fighting to preserve the rights of individuals hrisincluding missions to practe cultural beliefs. i implore you to make sure the biden administration ensures rights and freedoms of iraqi minorities are protected. will youn raise the issue of religious persecution of iraqi christians with prime minister opportunity? >> i will and could not agree more and it's something i will cease with the obama administration, something i workedlk on and we will keep a focus on. >> second question, i believe africa has many opportunities not just the continent of the

world in particular. on the continent the chinese communist party the place exploitation and political influence campaign to act with key natural resources threatened supply chains and national security. i am concerned about the items produced by slave labor and supply chain. would you be open to working with me on legislation to create 21st century national strategy to strengthen industrial base and restore critical minerals? remove slavery from supply chain? >> yes and yes. we have a number of initiatives moving forward. we would share that with you and doesn't do your thoughts both on the supply chain side and when it comes to slavery and modern slavery. we want to eliminate that whenever and wherever. we'd welcome to working with you on that. >> appear before the appropriations committee. >> much less important.

>> if you want to stay -- >> all right. just thought i would make the offer. i apologize to the members we did not get to but you may submit questions in writing and you will respond. pursuant to committee rules, members have five days to submit statements, questions and materials for the records without objection, the committee stands adjourned. >> look forward to following up on this.

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> the name of america which belongs to you in your national capacity, fourscore and seven years ago.

>> asked not what your country can do for you. >> presidents delivered pivotal speeches during an operation, kinds of challenges and farewell. saturday, watch ten part series, speeches that define the presidency on american history tv. the words of george washington and abraham lincoln, ronald reagan and barack obama. this week will feature former president first president george h.w. bush's 1991 state of the union address. twelve days after coalition forces at work against iraqi president saddam hussein, mr. bush invoked allied unified run and hard work of freedom president bill clinton in 1995 about race relations university of texas. he cited the work of those who've gone before like lyndon johnson and doctor martin luther king jr. and talk to new opportunity to confront racial divide. >> this moment in which racial divide is so clearly out in the

open, let it not be a setback, it presents us with great opportunity and we dare not let it pass us by. >> watch ten part series, speeches that defined the presidency. saturday's 9:30 a.m. and p.m. on american history tv on c-span2. ♪♪ >> c-span now with three mobile app between unfiltered view of what's happening in washington, live on demand, keep up with the biggest event live streams and floor proceedings and hearings from the u.s. congress. white house offense, the court, campaigns and more for the world of politics all at your fingertips. stay current with the latest episodes of "washington journal" live scheduling information for c-span's networks and c-span radio plus a variety of compelling podcasts. c-span not available at the apple store and google play, download free today.

c-span now, front row seat to washington anytime, anywhere. ♪♪ >> book tv every sunday on c-span2 features leading authors discussing the latest nonfiction books. 9:00 p.m. eastern, former university president john, author of the death of learning offers suggestions on how to increase the value of liberal education and bridge the divide between academic and american culture. then 10:00 p.m. on "afterwards", science journalist angela explores the origins of patriarchy and how it spread to societies around the world with the book the patriarch interviewed by author and women's media center director soraya. watch book tv every sunday on c-span2 invite a full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at book tv network. ♪♪