Clinton’s Statement at Senate Appropriations Committee Hearing

Speaking in front of the Senate Appropriations Committee on State and Foreign Operations, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed her recent meetings with world leaders in Geneva over the situation in Libya and stated that the USAID had deployed humanitarian teams to help refugees fleeing to Tunisia and Egypt.   She also stated that the situation in the region and in Libya is an example of this administration’s use of combined assets of diplomacy, development, and defense, which is only successful with “a budget that supports all the tools in our national security arsenal.”  Clinton also stated that Americans are seeing returns on their investments in Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Sudan and across the Middle East where we have been working to “open up political systems, economies, and societies,” and are supporting democratic transitions.  She also discussed the cuts that have already been made by the department following the QDDR recommendations and argued that the 16 percent cut for the State Department and USAID, which passed in the House last month, would be devastating to our national security. “Each time we shrink from global leadership, events summon us back to reality” and often at an unspeakable cost.  She also stated, “[T]he world has never been in greater need of the qualities that distinguish us, our openness and innovation, our determination, our devotion to universal values. Everywhere I travel, I see people looking to us for leadership.”